ESUS accreditation in 2027: the 1 January reform, conditions, benefits and procedure

Quick answer. In 2027, ESUS accreditation is still requested from the prefect, but the list of organisations accredited “as of right” disappears on 1 January 2027. A social and solidarity economy (ESS) enterprise pursuing social utility that falls within a category set by decree will be presumed to meet the first two conditions; the other three must still be proven, and the application goes through the ESUS platform. That decree had not been published as of 22 October 2026.

The reform comes from article 5 of Law no. 2026-403 of 26 May 2026 on simplifying economic life, published in the Official Journal of 27 May 2026. It rewrites only section II of article L. 3332-17-1 of the French Labour Code. The accreditation conditions and the method for calculating the pay caps do not change, and the rules on duration and procedure, set by decree, had not been adapted to the reform as of 22 October 2026.

Without the decree on categories, work integration enterprises, ESATs (sheltered work establishments), adapted enterprises, neighbourhood management bodies (régies de quartier) and associations recognised as being of public utility that relied on the list in the Code must prepare without knowing what will replace it.

The change concerns the legal basis for accrediting the organisations currently listed, not the general conditions. The table compares the two regimes point by point.

Even in 2026, a listed organisation is not accredited automatically: article R. 3332-21-3 provides that accreditation is issued to it if it proves that it falls under section II, in accordance with the terms set by an order (arrêté). The reform therefore does not move from automatic accreditation to an application; it replaces a list with a presumption limited to two conditions.

Sections I and III of article L. 3332-17-1 stay as they are. Collective investment schemes whose assets consist of at least 50% securities of ESUS enterprises, or of enterprises treated as equivalent under EU law, remain treated as accredited ESUS enterprises (section III, which the law does not amend). This equivalence lasts one year, on the basis of a report certified by a statutory auditor and submitted before 20 June (article R. 3332-21-6).

Accreditation remains reserved for a social and solidarity economy enterprise within the meaning of article 1 of Law no. 2014-856 of 31 July 2014. It must meet five cumulative conditions, set by section I of article L. 3332-17-1, which the reform does not change. The 2027 presumption covers only two of them.

The purpose in the articles of association (condition 5°)#

Under section II in force until 31 December 2026, a listed organisation only has to comply with article 1 of the ESS Law and conditions 3° and 4°. The new section II presumes only 1° and 2°. Reading the two versions side by side, condition 5°, which requires the social-utility objective to be written into the articles of association, therefore also applies to presumed enterprises, whereas the list does not require it.

A work integration association or an adapted enterprise whose stated purpose describes an activity without making social utility its main objective should reread it now. Amending the articles of association requires a decision by the competent body, and that time cannot be made up when the application is filed.

The impact condition: two tests, only one to pass#

Article R. 3332-21-1 of the Labour Code specifies what a “significant” cost is. The condition is met if either of the two tests is satisfied:

1. Cost test: operating expenses linked to social-utility activities represent at least 66% of all operating expenses in the income statement over the last three closed financial years.
2. Return on capital test: over the last three closed financial years, the ratio between, on the one hand, dividends and the remuneration of non-bank financial contributions and, on the other hand, equity and those same contributions stays below the average yield on private-sector corporate bonds, increased by a rate of 5%. This mark-up rate may be changed by order of the minister responsible for the ESS, within a limit of one quarter up or down. The enterprise also undertakes to keep to this ratio throughout the accreditation period.

For an enterprise less than three years old, the tests cover all of its closed financial years. In 2027, an enterprise in a category of the decree will be presumed to meet this condition; all others will continue to have to demonstrate it.

Illustrative case. An ESS SAS set up five years ago, outside any presumed category, records €3,000,000 of operating expenses over its last three closed financial years, of which €1,900,000 relate to its social-utility activity. The ratio comes to 63.3%: the first test fails. The SAS can still pass the second one if the ratio between its dividends and the remuneration of its non-bank contributions, on the one hand, and its equity and those contributions, on the other, stays below the threshold, provided it undertakes to respect it throughout the accreditation.

In practice, the 66% test is read from cost accounting that isolates the expenses of each activity. Without it, the allocation has to be reconstructed after the fact and becomes harder to justify.

The new section II sets three cumulative requirements: being an ESS enterprise, carrying out activities that pursue social utility within the meaning of article 2 of Law no. 2014-856, and belonging to one of the categories set by decree. The text specifies that the presumption applies “for obtaining the accreditation”: accreditation still has to be applied for.

According to the Official Journal archives published by the DILA (the French government's legal publishing department) and reviewed up to 22 October 2026, this decree has not been published. The categories are therefore not known. Section IV of article R. 3332-21-3, which still refers to section II in its current wording, has not been adapted either. Reading the text, as long as this decree has not been published, no category exists: an organisation on the current list that applies, for the first time or for renewal, from 1 January 2027 would then have to prove all five conditions of section I, impact test included.

For accreditations granted before 1 January 2027 on the basis of the list, article 5 of the law merely sets the date of entry into force. It contains no provision on these accreditations in progress.

Our view#

We advise against assuming that the decree will reproduce the 2026 list as it stands, or that an accreditation obtained on that basis will carry on without any step being taken. Four actions do not depend on any forthcoming text: find the accreditation decision and its end date, recalculate pay for the last year, reread the purpose in the articles of association and calculate the impact test over the last three closed financial years. Everything else can be adjusted once the decree is published.

Condition 3° sets two caps, which are assessed separately:

• the average of the sums paid, bonuses included, to the five best-paid employees or managers does not exceed 7 times the annual pay of a full-time employee paid at the SMIC for the statutory working time;
• the sums paid, bonuses included, to the best-paid employee or manager do not exceed 10 times that same amount.

If the minimum wage of the industry-wide agreement is higher than the SMIC, that is the base used. Both caps are compared with the sums paid “for the year for a full-time job”: in our reading, a part-time manager or one who arrived during the year calls for a calculation converted to full time and to a full year, to be documented in the file.

2026 benchmark. Service-public shows a gross annual SMIC of €22,404.20, i.e. 1,820 hours at the rate of €12.31 set from 1 June 2026 by the order of 22 May 2026. This annual amount is not set by any text. Calculated on that basis, the caps are around €157,000 (7 times) and €224,000 (10 times), unless the industry minimum wage is higher. As the SMIC was raised during the year, the result for 2026 depends on the base used: pay close to the cap calls for a safety margin.

For 2027. The SMIC is set every year with effect from 1 January (article L. 3231-6 of the Labour Code). As of 22 October 2026, the decree setting the 2027 SMIC has not been published. The 2027 caps will keep the same multiples, applied to the SMIC of 1 January 2027; an increase during the year, like the one on 1 June 2026, would change that base.

Illustrative case. A SCIC (multi-stakeholder cooperative) pays, bonuses included and for full-time jobs, €180,000 to its chief executive and €120,000, €115,000, €110,000 and €100,000 to the next four highest-paid people. The average of the five reaches €125,000, below the 7-times cap; the highest, €180,000, stays below the 10-times cap. On the 2026 benchmark, an exceptional bonus of €50,000 to the chief executive would take her pay to €230,000: the 10-times cap would be exceeded, while the average, raised to €135,000, would remain below the 7-times cap. Pay for 2027 that would only stay below the cap thanks to an increase in the SMIC should not be decided before the decree is published.

Who decides. Accreditation is granted by the prefect of the department where the registered office is located or, by way of exception, by the regional prefect in the regions designated by order. An enterprise whose registered office is in another European Union Member State applies to the prefect for the place of its principal establishment in France. The Labour Code does not name either the DREETS or the DDETS (the regional and departmental labour and economy authorities) as the reviewing department.

How to apply. The application must go through an online service, the “ESUS platform” (article D. 3332-21-3-1, created by Decree no. 2025-1416 of 28 December 2025). The obligation applies to applications submitted from a date set by order, and at the latest from 31 May 2026. Additional documents, exchanges and notifications from the authorities also go through this online service, for which an order of 28 December 2025 designates the Director General of the Treasury as data controller. Each document must bear an explicit title, failing which it is disregarded (article D. 3332-21-3-2). The content of the application file is set by order.

Time limit. If the prefect remains silent for two months from receipt of a complete file, the application is deemed accepted. As long as the file is incomplete, this period does not run.

Duration and renewal. Accreditation lasts five years, or two years if the enterprise is less than three years old on the date of the application; this criterion is assessed at each application, renewals included. To renew, the enterprise proves that it complied with the conditions of article R. 3332-21-1 throughout the previous accreditation period. Decisions are published in the prefecture's collection of administrative acts, and the minister responsible for the ESS publishes a national list.

The documents that prove the conditions#

In addition to the documents set by the order, proof of the conditions rests in particular on three documents: the up-to-date articles of association, the accounts for the closed financial years with the calculation of the chosen impact test, and the statement of the highest pay for the year, bonuses included. For an enterprise that is already accredited, redoing these calculations at each year-end avoids having to reconstruct five years of figures at renewal time.

A cash subscription to the capital of an ESUS enterprise gives entitlement to the income tax reduction in article 199 terdecies-0 AA of the French General Tax Code (CGI). Its rate is set at 25% for payments made up to 31 December 2027, by way of derogation from the standard rate (article 26 of Law no. 2026-103 of 19 February 2026, the 2026 Finance Law).

For payments made since 1 October 2026, this special rate only applies from a date set by decree. Decree no. 2026-968 of 20 October 2026, published in the Official Journal of 21 October 2026 following the European Commission decision of 25 September 2026, sets that date at 22 October 2026. Payments made from 1 to 21 October 2026 are therefore not entitled to this rate, a point to check when declaring 2026 income in 2027.

The rules governing the reduction in 2027:

• Cap on payments: €50,000 a year for a single person, €100,000 for a couple taxed jointly; the portion above the cap gives entitlement to the reduction, under the same conditions, for the following four years.
• Holding the shares: until 31 December of the fifth year following the subscription.
• Repayment of contributions: the reduction is clawed back if the company repays the contributions before 31 December of the seventh year following the subscription, unless the repayment follows a judicial liquidation.
• Overall cap: the reduction counts towards the €10,000 cap on tax advantages (article 200-0 A of the General Tax Code); the portion of the reduction above it is carried forward to the tax of the following years, up to and including the fifth year.
• Cap per company: the reduction requires that the total payments received by the company for subscriptions eligible for the IR-PME reduction and the risk-finance aid it has received do not exceed €16,500,000, an amount that applies to direct investments in an ESUS enterprise made since 22 October 2026.
• Activity: the exclusions linked to financial activities do not apply; real estate and building construction activities remain excluded, except for solidarity enterprises engaged in socially oriented property management and those approved by the minister responsible for culture to preserve and enhance historic monuments and protected sites, parks and gardens.
• Stage of development: at the time of the initial investment, the company does not operate on any market, or has been operating for less than ten years after its first commercial sale, or needs an initial investment above 50% of its average annual turnover over the previous five years.

The 2027 finance bill is being debated in Parliament. The rules above are those voted as of 22 October 2026 and may still change with that bill.

Illustrative case: a couple who subscribe €130,000 in 2027#

A couple taxed jointly subscribe €130,000 in cash to the capital of an accredited ESUS enterprise in March 2027. They use no other tax reduction or tax credit subject to the overall cap, and their tax before reductions exceeds €10,000.

• Payments taken into account for 2027: €100,000. The remaining €30,000 gives entitlement to the reduction, under the same conditions, for the following four years.
• Reduction calculated: 25% of €100,000, i.e. €25,000.
• Reduction set against the tax due for 2027: €10,000, because of the overall cap. The remaining €15,000 is carried forward to the tax of the following years, up to and including the fifth year.
• Shares to be held until 31 December 2032, and no repayment of contributions before 31 December 2034, unless it follows a judicial liquidation.

In this illustrative case, it is the overall cap, not the cap on payments, that limits the reduction for the year. Spreading the subscription over several years is a trade-off to weigh against the household's other tax reductions and against the enterprise's financing timetable.

• Find the current accreditation decision and note its end date.
• Recalculate the average of the five highest salaries and the highest salary, bonuses included.
• Update this calculation as soon as the decree setting the 2027 SMIC is published.
• Reread the purpose in the articles of association: does social utility appear as the main objective?
• Calculate the 66% test over the last three closed financial years, or the return on capital ratio.
• Give each document an explicit name before uploading it to the ESUS platform.
• Watch for the publication of the decree on categories.
• For investors: hold the shares and compare the reduction with the €10,000 overall cap.

• On 1 January 2027, the list of organisations accredited as of right gives way to a presumption reserved for ESS enterprises pursuing social utility that fall within a category set by decree.
• The presumption covers social utility (1°) and significant impact (2°); pay, securities and the purpose in the articles of association must still be proven.
• As of 22 October 2026, neither the decree on categories nor the decree setting the 2027 SMIC has been published.
• The pay caps remain 7 and 10 times the annual pay at the SMIC, to be recalculated on the SMIC of 1 January 2027.
• The application is filed on the ESUS platform; the prefect decides, silence is deemed acceptance two months after a complete file, and accreditation lasts five years, or two years for an enterprise less than three years old.
• For investors, the 25% rate applies to payments made up to 31 December 2027, within the €10,000 overall cap.

This article presents the texts published as of 22 October 2026; a decision that commits your organisation requires a review of its situation, its articles of association, its accounts and the law in force on the date of the application. To check the pay caps or the impact test on your accounts, you can talk to our chartered accounting firm in Paris 8th and see our pages on bookkeeping and accounts review and legal advice and articles of association.

For work integration organisations, our article on setting up a work integration enterprise details the approval agreement (conventionnement); for cooperatives, see the one on SCOPs and SCICs.