Salary vs Dividend Optimization
As of 2026-08-16
For a SASU-run senior consultant, the salary-dividend mix is worth €10,000–25,000 a year in net cash — and the right split moves with your billing level, not a fixed formula. Below roughly €130k billed, take most of the profit as salary to keep building CNAV/ARRCO pension rights; above that, cap salary near 1×–1.5× PASS once four quarters are validated, and take the rest as dividends at the 30% flat tax (PFU). The trap: draw zero salary for a few lean years and you quietly open a pension gap that is expensive to close later. Re-run this calculation with your expert-comptable every year, before the AGM — not once at incorporation.
What you will learn
- Explain the structural difference between SASU salary and dividend treatment under French social and tax law
- Calculate the minimum salary threshold needed to validate four pension quarters per year
- Identify how the optimal salary-dividend mix shifts across three revenue levels (60k / 130k / 200k+)
- Articulate the total-cost argument to a client when justifying your TJM
What is actually at stake
For a senior SAP analytics consultant running a SASU in France, the choice between drawing a salary and distributing dividends is routinely worth €10,000–25,000 per year in net-after-tax cash — and the right answer changes every time your annual profit level changes. This is not a one-time optimisation; it is a recurring financial pillar of your freelance practice that needs reviewing each time you close your accounts.
Disclaimer: What follows maps commonly understood principles of French SASU/EURL taxation as a working framework for informed conversations. Tax law changes, thresholds shift with PLFSS and PLF each autumn, and your personal situation (previous salary history, family quotient, prior pension contributions, other income) changes the calculus significantly. Treat everything here as orientation, not advice. Work with a chartered accountant (expert-comptable) before making any real decision.
The two levers and why they behave differently
Prerequisites
- Intermediate hands-on experience on SAP analytics projects
- Review core concepts first: C075, C073, C064
Outcomes
- Calculate the salary-vs-dividend mix optimizing net cash + pension rights
- Apply the "minimum salary for full pension accrual" strategy
- Explain the core architecture and decision points for Salary vs Dividend Optimization
- Apply a repeatable implementation pattern in a 15-minute lab format
Full module available to members. The full module adds: the decision framework · the end-to-end scenario walkthrough · the KPI scorecard · the anti-patterns · the knowledge check · the diagrams.