Profit-sharing for the manager and their spouse: the limits in 2026

A company director and their spouse can be included in a profit-sharing agreement, but their respective bonus limits differ from those of salaried employees. According to Service-Public, the bonus for a salaried director is capped at €36,045 in 2026. The bonus for a self-employed director cannot exceed the highest annual salary paid in the company the previous year, and the information sheet also applies to their non-salaried spouses or civil partners (PACS) for this limit. For an unpaid spouse with the status of collaborating spouse or partner, the information sheet specifies a limit of €12,015 in 2026.

This page only deals with eligibility and limits. It does not explain how a non-salaried executive's bonus is subject to social security contributions or taxation, because the sources consulted do not provide details. It also does not cover the general mechanism of the agreement, which is addressed on our page about profit-sharing, nor does it cover the case of a non-resident executive or spouse.

Who can be included in the agreement

The starting point is the workforce. According to Service-Public (fact sheet F2140, verified on 01/01/2026), the agreement can include non-salaried managers in companies with between 1 and 249 employees.

Two additional limitations are involved.

• At least one non-managerial employee. According to economie.gouv.fr, the company must have at least one employee who does not also have the status of manager.
• The case of the sole employee. According to Service-Public, a company whose workforce is limited to a single employee, who is also the president, general manager, manager or member of the board of directors, cannot sign a profit-sharing agreement.

For the unpaid spouse, the information sheet states that the agreement may stipulate that they receive the bonus. Status alone is not presented as sufficient: the clause in the agreement must be verified. The wording of the information sheet is inconsistent: the line on beneficiaries refers to the spouse of the business owner "who is not a legal entity," while the section on unpaid spouses refers to the spouses of company directors without this qualification. For the spouse of a company director, the applicable rule must therefore be verified with the source. The status of collaborating or partner spouse is addressed on a separate page, dedicated to the three statuses of the spouse of the business owner.

The 2026 ceilings

The document provides two lines for a non-salaried spouse: the highest annual salary, and one-quarter of the social security ceiling for the unpaid spouse. The page does not explain how these two lines interact. This point should be verified with the source.

A point of reference: €12,015 represents one third of €36,045, since the ceiling for the unpaid spouse is one quarter of the social security ceiling and that for the employee is three quarters.

The €36,045 ceiling applies to 2026. The BOFiP (Official Bulletin of Public Finances) specifies that the social security ceiling used for tax exemption is that of the year the funds are received. For a bonus received in another year, the amount should be reviewed.

What the information sheet does not specify

Three points remain open. The page does not resolve them and does not publish any figures about them.

The cumulative amount is €36,045. For self-employed managers, the document specifies the highest annual salary of the previous year. It reserves the 75% social security ceiling for salaried employees and salaried managers. It does not state whether these two limits are cumulative for self-employed managers. This point should be verified before setting a high bonus.

The definition of "highest annual salary". The document does not specify what is included in this salary (gross or not, including the manager or not). It also does not say what happens if the company did not pay any salary the previous year.

Contributions and tax on the bonus received. The general rules of the information sheet concern employees: exemption from employee contributions except for CSG and CRDS; exemption from income tax if the sums are placed within 15 days of their payment in a PEE, a PEG, a PEI or a company retirement savings plan, up to a limit of €36,045 in 2026. No source consulted gives the contributions or the CSG-CRDS of a non-salaried manager. The BOFiP (BOI-RSA-ES-10-10, version in force as of August 10, 2026) contains, after paragraph 15, a note stating that "these provisions" do not apply to amounts not deductible from the taxable profits of the business or company, paid to sole proprietors, partners in partnerships and similar entities who have not opted for corporation tax, and to spouses who are business partners or collaborators (Article L. 3315-1, paragraph 3, of the French Labor Code). Paragraph 10 of the same document deals with taxation according to the rules for salaries and wages. The BOFiP does not detail the applicable tax regime for these amounts in this document.

For this reason, the page does not state that a self-employed manager or a collaborating spouse benefits from the €36,045 tax exemption. This point is verified on a case-by-case basis.

Numerical example (fictitious profile)

Situation (assumptions). A sole proprietor, head of a business that is not a legal entity, employs 15 people. His spouse has the status of collaborating spouse and is not paid. The profit-sharing agreement covers both of them. The highest annual salary paid in the company the previous year was €58,000 (hypothetical; the document does not specify whether this is gross or not). If the agreement formula resulted in a bonus of €20,000 for the proprietor and €15,000 for his spouse (hypothetical amounts), these are compared to the published ceilings for 2026. It is also assumed that the collective ceiling of €20,130 for total gross salaries is respected: this example does not test it.

Issue. The two bonuses are not compared to the same ceiling. The entrepreneur's bonus is compared to the highest annual salary of the previous year. The spouse's bonus, which is unpaid, is compared to the €12,015 line item on the form. The form also provides the highest annual salary for unpaid spouses: the example uses the line item specific to the unpaid spouse, and the relationship between the two lines should be verified with the source.

Strategy. Compare each hypothetical amount to its own ceiling. The actual distribution is based on the formula in the agreement, which this page does not detail (the document mentions a uniform distribution, proportional to salary or time spent, or combining several criteria).

Result.

In this scenario, the spouse's bonus would exceed the €2,985 limit shown on the form. The page does not describe a correction mechanism: the discrepancy is addressed by verifying the agreement's formula. The entrepreneur's €20,000 is also less than €36,045: the result is unrelated to the unresolved issue of combining the limits. The calculation does not address social security contributions or taxes, as there is no source on this. This profile is fictitious. The figures illustrate the comparison to the limits and do not predict the outcome for your specific situation.

What changes depending on your situation

• Your status: Salaried manager, self-employed manager, employed spouse or unpaid spouse. Each has a different limit.
• The staff: between 1 and 249 employees to include a non-salaried manager, with at least one employee who is not a manager.
• Drafting the agreement: The document indicates that the agreement may provide for an unpaid spouse; the clause is checked before signing.
• Salaries paid the previous year: They set the ceiling for a non-salaried executive.
• Your tax residence: This page does not deal with the case of a non-resident manager or spouse.

This page does not specify the amount of your bonus or the potential tax savings. No results are guaranteed. The outcome depends on your individual circumstances and must be assessed on a case-by-case basis.