Very small businesses (VSEs) with fewer than 11 employees from five protected sectors - hotels and restaurants, tour operators, sport, culture and events - are the only ones to benefit from an exemption from their employer contributions. The other VSEs or medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), also forced to lower their curtains following the Covid-19, can defer their charges for three months or spread them out for six months ...
It is not enough worries Gérard Cattan, chartered accountant and auditor for thirty years, president of the firm Aequido in Paris. Solicited on a daily basis by these companies, he sounds the alarm and advocates radical measures.
Why should SME employers be exempt from employer charges?
GÉRARD CATTAN. Quite simply because this health crisis does not only affect the companies targeted by this government announcement. In view of our entire economic fabric, this measure only concerns 15% of French companies. It is insufficient! Take the example of a company in the event industry with more than 11 employees. Its closure is splashing oil, all related trades are affected: freelancers, photographers, communication agencies ... However for them, it is expected that a deferral of charges for three months, which amounts to making them pay from July 2020 not only the current social charges but also those which have been postponed… Even though the economy will only start to start up again. I fear a devastating domino effect on all French VSEs and SMEs if nothing is done.
A domino effect?
A significant number of companies will post accounting losses at the end of the year, leading to a drop in their Banque de France rating and refusals to renew their bank loans in 2021, when they need it most ... We can also expect bankruptcy deposits, but be aware that a company in default of payments causes two others to falter. I let you imagine the impact on employment…
What do you propose ?
I propose a total or partial abandonment of employers' charges depending on the prejudices of the companies. One solution would be to exempt from social charges all VSEs and SMEs which had to interrupt their activity 100% during the crisis. In addition, companies that have had limited activity could benefit from an exemption from employer charges proportional to the partial unemployment rate put in place. A company having put 40% of its workforce into partial unemployment would thus see its employer contributions from March to May 2020 reduced by 40%. And to help the recovery, why not freeze until the end of the year these charges owed by these companies always according to the principle of this proportion? The amounts carried over to seven months could be payable between 12 to 24 months from January 1, 2021.
Have you estimated the cost of such measures?
If we target companies with less than 250 employees - or 87% of companies in total - and if we exempt employers' contributions for around three months, this would represent an estimated sum of 22 billion euros. By modulating this figure with companies that have not fully closed, we should be around 5 billion euros.
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500,000 companies, 90% of which are VSEs, have applied for a State Guaranteed Loan (PGE) for a total of 100 billion euros. Is it not rather the banks to help, as they do, with these EMPs?
Without wanting to argue, these are requests for loans and not their allocation. The nuance is important, because on the envelope of 300 billion euros granted for these loans guaranteed by the State, only 66.5 billion were released, or barely 22% In reality, the banks are overwhelmed and struggle to process files. We have clients who get incomprehensible refusals when others have no news.
Banks are not up to it?
This crisis highlights a mismatch between the world of VSEs and SMEs and that of banks. The latter are subject to strong regulatory constraints in terms of equity and under pressure to provide dividends to their shareholders. They do not sufficiently follow the companies in their growth. It would be necessary to create a real mutual banking structure dedicated to VSEs and SMEs, via Bpifrance or another state vehicle, where the State would be present in the capital, but also in the decision-making bodies to support the risk-taking inherent in any market economy. . We could even rely on the Banque Postale network, which is totally underused.
