France Prime d’Activité Calculator

About the France Prime d’Activité Calculator

The prime d’activité is France’s monthly top-up for people who work and earn modest incomes, paid by the Caf (or the MSA for farm workers) to employees, the self-employed and civil servants from 18. It adds to a basic amount for the household (montant forfaitaire) 59,85 % of the household’s earnings and a bonification for each worker who earns more than about 0,4 times the full-time SMIC, and takes away the household’s resources. It is worked out from the average of the three months before and then fixed for three months (service-public.gouv.fr).

This calculator follows the Code de la sécurité sociale step by step: the montant forfaitaire for your household (with the higher amount for a single parent in the months after a birth or separation), 59,85 % of each worker’s income, each worker’s bonification, your other resources, the flat amount the rules count for housing, and the €15 minimum. It also shows the prime at other incomes and the income at which it stops. Without a Pro pass the result is a free preview: your monthly prime d’activité in full, the first rows of the tables and the first step of the working; the other figures, the CSV, copying and printing unlock with the pass. Nothing you type leaves your browser.

Common uses

• Check whether you can get the prime d’activité before you claim it.
• See how a pay rise, more hours or a partner’s job would change it.
• Find the income at which the prime stops for your household.
• Check the amount on a Caf or MSA notification.

The formula

The prime is the montant forfaitaire of the household, plus 59,85 % of its professional income, plus the bonification of each worker, less the household’s resources — and the resources always count as at least the montant forfaitaire (art. L. 842-3, D. 843-1 to D. 843-3). The montant forfaitaire for one person is €638,28 a month (décret n° 2026-222); it is 50 % more for a household of two, 30 % more for each further person, and 40 % more from the third child or dependant under 25: €957,42 for a couple, €1 148,90 for a couple with one child, €1 340,39 with two. It is revalued every 1 April. Under €15 a month the prime is not paid.

The bonification

Each worker gets a bonification on their own income: nothing up to 59 times the gross hourly SMIC a month, then rising in a straight line to its maximum at 138 times the hourly SMIC, and constant above. The maximum is 37,7 % of the single montant forfaitaire, €240,63. With the hourly SMIC at €12,31 (service-public.gouv.fr), it starts above €726,29 and reaches its maximum at €1 698,78 of monthly income.

Resources that count

Resources are the household’s professional income (net of social contributions), replacement income such as unemployment benefit, pensions and sick pay after three months, maintenance, and most family benefits; some are left out, such as the back-to-school allowance, the birth premium and student grants. Housing counts as a flat amount when you own your home without housing aid or live rent-free: 12 % of the single montant forfaitaire for one person (€76,59), 16 % of the two-person amount for two (€153,19) and 16,5 % of the three-person amount for three or more (€189,57). Housing aid you receive counts up to the same flat amount.

The isolation increase

A person who lives alone and is pregnant, or has the sole charge of children, gets a higher montant forfaitaire for 12 months, in one or more periods within 18 months of the birth, the separation or the start of the charge, or until the youngest child turns 3: 128,412 % of the single amount, plus 42,804 % for each child.

Claiming it

You claim the prime d’activité online at the Caf (or the MSA) and declare your resources every three months; the declaration is now largely prefilled from the payslip data of months M-4 to M-2. It is paid monthly, from the month you claim, and is not taxable. The official simulator gives the Caf’s own estimate.

Limitations

• An estimate: the Caf or MSA works out the prime from your quarterly declaration and its own data.
• The average of the last three months is taken as one month; a quarter with very uneven pay can give a different amount.
• Self-employed income, students and apprentices (who qualify only above a minimum income), and family benefits with their own flat rules (the increased complément familial, the allocation de soutien familial) are simplified: enter what counts as other resources.
• Mayotte has its own montant forfaitaire and is not covered.

Privacy

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