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Madelin protection insurance simulator (self-employed): cover and tax savings
Self-employed people live with a blind spot they only see at the worst moment: in the event of sick leave, disability or death, no mandatory cover replaces their income. Their scheme pays only low benefits, sometimes none at all.
From taxable profit within the dedicated Madelin ceiling
Sick leave, disability and death covered
All the more so the higher your marginal tax rate
The simulator
Simulate the net cost of your protection insurance
The simulator applies your marginal tax rate to the deductible premium. Your data is neither stored nor transmitted.
Madelin protection insurance simulator
Self-employed: measure the net cost of your protection insurance after the Madelin deduction.
Indicative calculation, based on 2026 rules and the assumptions entered above.
Why
The blind spot in self-employed social protection
An employee who stops work keeps an income thanks to a structure they often do not suspect: Social Security daily allowances topped up by the company's group protection insurance, a death benefit, a disability pension. The self-employed have none of these safety nets as of right. A self-employed person who falls ill or has an accident sees their income collapse, with low mandatory benefits, or none at all depending on their scheme. The income that pays for everything — lifestyle, loans, children's schooling — stops dead.
This is precisely the gap that Madelin protection insurance fills. It rebuilds a replacement income in the form of daily allowances and a disability pension, and protects your loved ones with a lump sum or a death annuity. And it relies on a powerful tax mechanism: contributions are deductible from taxable profit, within a dedicated ceiling. At a high marginal tax rate, the tax saving covers a significant share of the contribution — the protection costs much less than it seems, with the State co-financing part of it.
It is the first building block in protecting a self-employed business owner (TNS), before any savings or tax-reduction considerations: protecting the income that funds everything else. The contract still has to be sized correctly. This is where an open-architecture insurance broker, a member of ANACOFI-CIF, makes the difference: it compares its partners' contracts and calibrates the cover to your actual situation.
What the calculation shows
What the self-employed discover too late
The most costly mistake is not having no contract, it is getting the sizing wrong. The level of daily allowances must cover your fixed costs, the waiting period (the time before benefits start) must be consistent with your emergency cash, and the death benefit must match your real commitments: outstanding loans, years of income to replace for your spouse, children's education. A contract taken out in a hurry often pays a disability pension calculated on an outdated basis, or a death benefit unrelated to the family's liabilities. The cover must match your family situation and your outgoings — no more, no less.
Protection insurance cannot be considered in isolation. Together with Madelin health insurance top-up and the PER, it forms the business owner's protection triptych: health cover absorbs everyday costs, protection insurance rebuilds income when things go wrong, and retirement prepares for afterwards. These three building blocks share the same Madelin framework and the same deduction ceilings — hence the value of arbitrating between them together rather than stacking them. A euro of ceiling used for protection is no longer available elsewhere: optimisation happens at the level of the whole, and that is exactly what an overall review helps decide.
Under-insurance never shows until a claim occurs. Many self-employed people think they are protected by a minimal contract taken out when they started out, never reviewed even though their income has doubled. Conversely, some overpay for cover that is worthless. The classic pitfalls: restrictive definitions of disability (“any occupation” disability instead of “own occupation”), overly broad exclusions, poorly chosen waiting periods, or a fixed death benefit. A protection review with an adviser avoids both under-insurance and over-funding, and rereads the clauses line by line — where unpleasant surprises hide.
Case study
Case study: Élodie, 42, self-employed dental surgeon in Lyon
Élodie makes a comfortable profit and has never seriously reviewed the protection insurance she took out when she set up. In the event of extended sick leave, her mandatory benefits would barely cover her fixed costs. She takes out a Madelin contract with an annual contribution of €4,800, calibrated to her real income. Here, at a 41% marginal tax rate, is what this protection really costs:
| Indicator | ≈ Amount |
|---|---|
| Annual premium | ≈ €4,800 |
| Tax saving (marginal tax rate 41%) | ≈ €1,968 |
| Real net cost of the protection | ≈ €2,832 |
The Madelin deduction turns a €4,800 contribution into a net cost of around €2,832: the State finances almost 41% of her protection. The leverage grows with the tax rate — at 45%, the net cost would fall below €2,650; at 30%, it would rise to around €3,360. But the real gain is not a tax one: it is the certainty that sick leave will not shake her household.
This case illustrates a simple rule: protection insurance for the self-employed is not an expense, it is the foundation that secures the rest of their wealth. And its real cost, once the deduction is applied, is almost always lower than the business owner imagines.
In practice
Protection is checked before a claim, not during one
This simulator gives an order of magnitude of the net cost. The real value is created beforehand: sizing benefits on your real income, choosing the right definition of disability, matching the death benefit to your family liabilities, and combining protection insurance with your health cover and your retirement within a single, coherent Madelin framework.
Balmont Conseil is a wealth management advisory firm based in Lyon, a member of ANACOFI-CIF, with no capital ties to any insurer or bank. Open architecture allows us to audit your protection insurance (death and disability cover): we compare contracts from among our partners and review your cover in your interest. Let's book an appointment to review your current cover and identify your blind spots before they come to light.
Frequently asked questions
What clients ask us.
What exactly does a Madelin protection insurance contract cover?
Three major risks to which the self-employed are exposed without a sufficient mandatory safety net: sick leave (daily allowances that rebuild a replacement income), disability (a pension paid in the event of lasting incapacity), and death (a lump sum or annuity paid to designated loved ones). All sized according to your family situation and your outgoings, where the mandatory scheme often pays only low amounts, or none at all depending on the scheme.
Why do the self-employed need protection insurance more than employees?
Because an employee automatically receives Social Security daily allowances topped up by their company's group protection insurance, a death benefit and disability cover. The self-employed have none of these protections as of right: they must build them themselves. Madelin protection insurance is the tool that restores this balance, by rebuilding the income that pays for everything else.
How do the contributions reduce my tax?
Madelin protection insurance contributions are deductible from your taxable profit, within a dedicated ceiling. The real saving depends on your marginal tax rate: at 41%, each euro of deductible contribution reduces your tax by 41 cents. That is exactly what the simulator calculates: it applies your rate to the deductible contribution to reveal the real net cost of your protection.
How do I know whether my cover is correctly sized?
That is the whole point of a review. The right reflexes: check that the level of benefits covers your fixed costs, that the definition of disability is based on “own occupation” rather than “any occupation”, that the death benefit matches your real liabilities (loans, years of income to replace), and that the waiting period is consistent with your cash reserves. Sizing done once and for all when you started out is almost always out of date a few years later.
What is the difference between Balmont Conseil and an insurer or a bank?
An insurer distributes its own contracts; a bank, those of its network. Balmont Conseil is a wealth management advisory firm based in Lyon, a member of ANACOFI-CIF, with no capital ties to any insurer or bank. Open architecture allows us to compare protection insurance contracts from among our partners, review your clauses and calibrate your cover purely in light of your situation — not a sales target.
