Dentists in a SELARL: splitting remuneration after the 5% rule fell

Remuneration for clinical work falls under non-commercial profits (BNC), remuneration for the corporate office under article 62 of the French Tax Code. The 5% flat rate that allowed the management share to be attributed without justification was annulled by the Council of State on 8 April 2025. The split must now be determined and documented case by case.

For two years the question looked settled. A dental surgeon in a SELARL attributed 5% of total remuneration to their office as manager, the rest went to non-commercial profits, and nobody asked for evidence. That comfort is gone.

Since the taxation of 2024 income, a partner's remuneration in a French professional practice company is read as two components.

The first rewards the practice of dentistry within the company: it falls under non-commercial profits (article 92 of the French Tax Code), unless a relationship of subordination is demonstrated, which would move it to salary. The second rewards the corporate office, meaning running the company: for a majority manager of a SELARL it remains taxed under article 62, with its 10% allowance.

The remaining question was where to draw the line. The tax authorities had offered a convenient answer: their doctrine accepted that 5% of total remuneration related to management duties as a flat rate, with no justification.

In its decision of 8 April 2025 no. 492154, handed down on an application by the French national bar council, the Council of State held that this paragraph added to the law and annulled it.

The same decision carries a second point, less commented on and yet more favourable to practitioners. The Council of State set aside the list of tasks the authorities attached to the corporate office, considered too restrictive: it excluded patient invoicing, collection and appointment booking. Those acts are therefore not outside the corporate office by nature.

The most common mistake is to reason in percentages before reasoning in duties. The right sequence is the opposite: list what the manager does in running the company, then derive an amount.

In a dental practice, the corporate office covers in practice:

• convening and holding shareholder meetings, approving accounts, deciding distributions;
• banking relationships: negotiating equipment finance, monitoring credit lines, guarantees;
• investment decisions, from the chair to the practice software;
• recruiting and supervising the team, assistants and front desk, and complying with the applicable collective agreement;
• structuring contracts: lease, insurance, collaboration agreements, relationships with prosthetics laboratories;
• regulatory compliance of the structure and dealings with the professional Order.

Since the Council of State decision, patient invoicing and appointment booking can no longer be excluded from that perimeter as a matter of course. In a practice where the practitioner handles the administration alone, that point is far from incidental.

Our view: losing the flat rate is not bad news. A practitioner who genuinely runs their structure, negotiates its financing and supervises a team devotes far more than 5% of their activity to management. What the reform removes is the comfort of having nothing to demonstrate, not the possibility of claiming a higher share.

Since evidence is free, ordinary items make the difference. Three usually suffice, provided they are established before the year rather than reconstructed afterwards.

A written definition of management duties. Annexed to the articles or to minutes, it lists the management functions performed. It is the first document the tax authority will read.

A shareholder decision setting management remuneration separately. Minutes fixing a distinct amount for the corporate office are worth more than an allocation calculated after the event from a single total.

A record of time spent on management. It does not need to be logged by the quarter hour. A monthly count of non-clinical half-days, consistent with the diary and the chair schedule, is enough to support a proportion.

The share taxed as non-commercial profits is not merely a different box on the income tax return. It carries its own obligations.

The partner must keep cash-basis bookkeeping in their own name, separate from the company's, and file a form 2035. Professional costs borne personally are deducted there: CARCDSF and URSSAF contributions, Madelin contracts, the Order's membership fee, professional liability insurance, continuing education, professional literature, business travel.

The SELARL files its own corporation tax return. The two must be consistent with each other: that is the first thing an audit cross-checks.

An general practitioner is the sole partner and manager of their SELARL. The company pays them 120,000 EUR of remuneration for the year. They run the structure alone, employ two assistants, renegotiated imaging finance during the year and handle invoicing and scheduling themselves.

Under the former regime, 6,000 EUR would have been attributed to the corporate office without discussion, being 5%. After analysing the duties actually performed, and on the basis of a time record showing roughly one non-clinical half-day a week devoted to management, a materially higher share can be claimed, provided it is documented by a written definition of duties and a shareholder decision.

The remainder stays in non-commercial profits, reported on a form 2035 in the practitioner's name, with contributions and professional costs deducted.

This example is modelled to illustrate the method. The amount retained depends on the reality of each practice and cannot be transposed as it stands.

1. Check whether the articles or any minutes define management duties. If nothing exists, that is the first document to draw up.
2. Have a shareholder decision adopted setting management remuneration separately for the current year.
3. Put in place a simple record of non-clinical time, from now rather than at year end.
4. Check that the personal BNC bookkeeping exists and that the form 2035 is actually filed.
5. Verify consistency between the company's tax return, the form 2035 and the personal income tax return.

The subject goes beyond dental practices: our general analysis of the SEL reform covers all the professions concerned. For everything else about running the practice, VAT on treatments, CARCDSF contributions, depreciation of clinical equipment and fee levels, see our dentist accountant page.

Updated 24 July 2026. Informative content reviewed by a chartered accountant registered with the Ordre des experts-comptables of Ile-de-France. It does not replace an analysis of your own situation.