Other news for February 2026

Overtime Hours

Overtime hours worked by employees entitle employers to a fixed deduction from employer social security contributions. Previously, this benefit applied only to companies with fewer than 250 employees. This is no longer the case since January 1, 2026. Now, companies with more than 250 employees, benefit, for each overtime hour worked by their employees, from a fixed deduction from employer social security contributions set at €0.50 (or €3.50 per day of rest foregone by employees subject to an annualized day contract).

Automobile Penalty

The penalties due upon the purchase of a new passenger vehicle considered polluting by the authorities have once again been increased. Thus, since January 1, 2026, the CO2 penalty (WLTP standard) applies, at a rate of €50, starting from 108 g of CO2/km (instead of 113 g previously) and the highest bracket of the scale applies beyond 191 g of CO2/km for a charge of €80,000 (compared to 192 g and €70,000 previously).

New APE Code

On January 1, 2027, a new French activity nomenclature (NAF) will come into effect. Established following the update of the economic activity nomenclature in the European Union, with which it shares the same structure, this latest version of the NAF (NAF 2025) will therefore replace the one in force in France since 2007. It responds to the emergence of new activities. In practice, a new APE code, which will only come into force on January 1, 2027, will therefore be assigned by INSEE to businesses. Companies can now check their new code on the sirene.gouv.fr website (https://sirene.gouv.fr/), where they can confirm that it correctly matches their core business activity.

Meal Vouchers

The employer’s contribution to financing meal vouchers distributed to employees is exempt from social security contributions up to a certain limit. For meal vouchers distributed to employees from January 1, 2026, this employer contribution benefits from an exemption from social security contributions up to a limit of €7.32 per voucher (compared to €7.26 in 2025). As a reminder: to be exempt from social security contributions, the employer’s contribution to meal vouchers must be between 50% and 60% of the voucher’s face value. The face value of a meal voucher entitled to the maximum exemption of €7.32 is therefore between €12.20 and €14.64.