How much does wage portage cost?

Management fees

In exchange for its services, a professional umbrella company charges you management fees. This is a remuneration for the umbrella company for its service, and the amount generally ranges from 5% to 15% of the turnover excluding taxes. Depending on your contract, there are also models of portage fees in the form of fixed monthly rates, which can be worth a few hundred euros. A practical aspect of the fixed rate model each month is that it allows you to have greater visibility on your upcoming expenses.

Social charges

To benefit from the same security as employees, you must take into account in your calculations that social charges can represent a "cost" for you. These charges include employer and employee contributions and represent about 45% of the turnover after deducting management fees. However, this amount will not be perceived as net income. Therefore, be sure to consider the cost that this social coverage represents in the development of your daily rate.

Professional expenses

These are not strictly speaking wage portage costs since these expenses do not depend on your choice to become an employee under wage portage or not. However, it will be interesting to see how to account for these professional expenses in the calculation of a simulation. Specifically, professional expenses correspond to all the costs related to your professional activity, including your travel, the purchase of equipment, or software. To understand how these professional expenses affect your net remuneration, you should know that they are deductible from turnover, thus reducing the base for social charges.

Example of calculating the costs of wage portage

Let’s take the example of a freelance engineer who generates an annual turnover of €80,000 excluding taxes. He chooses to work with an umbrella company under a permanent contract, which applies decreasing management fees equivalent to 8% of the turnover billed to the client. These fees amount to €6,400 taken as a commission over the year.

Meanwhile, this independent worker declares €5,000 in professional expenses (software, travel, computer equipment), which reduces the base for social charges due to the general regime.

€80,000 (turnover) – €6,400 (management fees) – €5,000 (professional expenses) = €68,600.

Applying a social charge rate of 45%, or €30,870, the gross salary amounts to €68,600 - €30,870 = €37,730.

Result: After deducting employee charges (about 22% of gross salary, or €8,301), the net salary is €29,429, which represents about 36.8% of the initial turnover.

Choose an appropriate umbrella company

If you want to reduce the costs of wage portage, the first piece of advice is to choose an umbrella company that meets your needs. Take the time to see if you prefer a model with fixed management fees for greater predictability, or a cost in the form of a percentage of your turnover.

Also consider making your choice based on the different services that will be included in the contract, beyond the management fees. An umbrella company offering personalized support, ongoing training, legal assistance, and effective administrative management can justify slightly higher fees. You may prefer an umbrella company that offers good expertise and can effectively support you over the long term, rather than benefiting from a minimum service.

Opt for an umbrella company that emphasizes trust and transparency with the Zero Hidden Fees Label, for example. Check that the pay slips clearly detail the commissions charged, employer and employee contributions, as well as contributions to social organizations. A reliable umbrella company should also inform you about the terms of termination of the employment contract and the conditions related to the status of an employee under wage portage.

Use tax and social advantages to maximize your net income

Thanks to the legal functioning of wage portage, you benefit from many advantageous schemes that allow you to optimize your net salary and improve the return of your income. The Employee Savings Plan (PEE) is a key tool: it allows you to build up savings in a tax-advantaged manner, thanks to a contribution from the umbrella company that can reach up to 300% of the employee's contributions, within the legal limit. This amount strengthens the net margin generated at the end of the year, while fitting into a long-term quality support logic.

Some wage portage companies apply optimization criteria by offering pre-financed Universal Employment Service Vouchers (CESU), allowing you to pay for certain services (such as childcare, cleaning, or home help, but not meals) while benefiting from a significant tax advantage. These benefits are directly integrated into the pay slip and help reduce the impact of taxes and levies on gross salary. These schemes are offered by several umbrella companies and help improve your net yield rate.

Compare the cost of wage portage to other statuses