Director Compensation in SARL or SAS: Status, Cost, and Dividends

Manager or president: how to set your remuneration? The manager of SARL and the president of SAS exercise a corporate mandate, which may or may not be remunerated. In SARL, the manager's remuneration is generally set by the partners.

In SAS, it is determined according to the methods provided for by the statutes. In a company subject to corporate tax (IS), remuneration constitutes a deductible expense from profit if it corresponds to actual work and is not excessive. Dividends are paid to partners after taxation of profits.

Legalstart offers a comparison of social charges in SARL and SAS, with a simulator to compare the two statuses. Manager of SARL or president of SAS: what social status? In SARL, the social regime depends on the distribution of capital.

The majority manager is covered by the self-employed workers regime (TNS). The paid minority or egalitarian manager is considered an employee. In SAS, the paid president also falls under the regime of assimilated employees.

To determine the majority, the shares held by the co-managers are added together. Two co-managers owning 25% and 35% of the capital respectively thus form a majority management. This distinction also exists between EURL and SASU.

The sole associate manager of EURL falls under the self-employed regime, while the paid president of SASU is considered an employee. The comparison between EURL and SASU allows us to examine these differences. Social contributions and protection: what are the differences?

The contributions of the president of SAS and the paid minority or equal manager are calculated on their remuneration. They benefit from social protection close to that of employees, but do not contribute to unemployment insurance under their mandate. The majority manager contributes as a self-employed worker.

Its contributions are calculated according to the rules of this plan. Even without remuneration, he may remain liable for minimum contributions giving rise to retirement rights. Conversely, a president of SAS who does not receive any salary does not pay contributions for his mandate and does not acquire social rights thanks to it.

Dividends: an important difference between SARL and SAS In SAS, dividends are not subject to the manager's social security contributions. They are in principle subject to the single flat-rate levy (PFU), the rate of which is 31.4% in 2026, unless there is an option for the progressive income tax scale. In SARL, the portion of dividends received by the majority manager which exceeds 10% of the share capital, share premiums and the average annual balance of his partner's current account is subject to social security contributions for the self-employed.

Machine-translated from French