The month of September will be especially marked by a succession of aid and revaluations to deal with inflation, which rose to 5.8% in August. Fuel, scholarships, taxes… Overview of what is changing in this month of return.
• Fuel discount increases to 30 cents
Extended fuel surge. Starting today, the fuel discount will be reduced to 30 euro cents per litre. This discount will be reduced to 10 cents between November and December.
Proposed by Bruno Le Maire in early July, the financial reform bill that includes the increase and extension of the discount was adopted by the National Assembly on July 27 to counteract the increase in energy prices.
In addition to the discount granted by the State, TotalEnergies also grants an aid of 20 cents per liter on September 1, which will then increase to 10 cents in December. With the reduction of the oil giant, the aid can amount to 50 cents per liter of gasoline.
• Possibility of termination of the borrower’s insurance
The opening to competition continues for insurance companies. According to the Lemoine law of February 28, 2022, current borrowers’ insurance contracts can now be terminated at any time.
Note that the law went into effect on June 1 for new contracts. In addition, since that date, the term of the right to be forgotten has been reduced from 10 to 5 years for people who previously suffered from cancer or hepatitis C, which further facilitates access to borrower insurance. The medical questionnaire is also eliminated for real estate purchases that do not exceed 200,000 euros and for loans with a maturity of less than 60 years.
• Unemployment: the bonus-malus is applied to certain sectors of activity
As a consequence of the unemployment insurance reform, as of today, to deal with the abuse of short contracts in certain sectors, companies are subject to a “modulated” contribution rate based on the number of small contracts they complete. Therefore, the more a company resorts to short contracts or temporary assignments, the higher the contribution rates will be. Specifically, companies that make extensive use of current contracts will contribute more up to a maximum of 5.05% and those that favor stability will have a minimum contribution rate of 3%.
Therefore, Ursaff will soon transmit the unemployment contribution rates to which the 18,000 companies in question will be subject. The sectors affected by this bonus-malus are the manufacture of rubber and plastic products, the wood, paper and printing sector or even the design of food products, beverages or tobacco-based products.
• University scholarships and revalued retirement pensions
Given the rise in the cost of living for students, the amounts of university scholarships for the year 2022-2023 are increased by 4%. This increase affects all levels, from level 0 bis to level 7. Thus, if you are part of level 0 bis, the amount of your ten-month annual rate goes from 1,042 euros to 1,084 euros, and if you are part of level 4, your amount goes from 3,325 euros to 4,217 euros.
The same for retirement pensions. After a rise of 1.1% in January, all basic pensions are revalued by 4% retroactively from July 1. Specifically, this means that, on September 9, the revaluation of the month of August will be paid.
On the same date, the beneficiaries will also receive the amount of the revaluation for the month of July that was initially supposed to apply to the month of August. In short, the beneficiaries will receive a double revaluation on this date. If you receive 1,000 euros of pension, you will benefit from the revalued pension of 1,040 euros for the month of August and after the revaluation of 40 euros for the month of July, that is, 1,080 euros that you will receive on September 9.
The RSA, family allowances, the allowance for adults with disabilities (AAH), the solidarity allowance for older adults (Aspa), as well as housing benefits (APL, ALS, etc.) will also increase by 4%. Payments will be made, as usual, on September 5.
• Audiovisual license fee: 6 million households reimbursed
As one of the main measures of the reform of the finance law, the audiovisual license fee, divided with the housing tax, has been abolished. This service made it possible to contribute to the financing of public broadcasting. This means that millions of households will receive a transfer this month imminently from the tax authorities.
At the moment, this refund of the contribution to public broadcasting only affects households that pay the television license fee monthly and are totally exempt from housing tax. As for households that pay the housing tax and the TV canon, and who do so monthly, the refund of the part linked to the TV canon will be paid automatically in October.
By way of compensation, part of the value added tax (VAT) will contribute to the financing of public broadcasting in lieu of the canon.
• Payment of the exceptional back-to-school bonus
People with modest incomes will receive a payment of 100 euros on September 15 to fight inflation. According to the Minister of Solidarity, Jean-Christophe Combe, the beneficiaries of social minimums, APL and scholarship students will automatically receive this payment, which represents 11 million households.
It should be noted that this premium of 100 euros represents a minimum amount since an increase of 50 euros is applied for each dependent child.
• Change in the income tax rate
The withholding tax rate could change this month if your reported income changed last spring. The government website dedicated to taxes specifies that “the rate that applies to the month of September of year N is the rate of your declaration made in the spring”. As a result, your monthly income deduction may increase or decrease.
• Strengthen the protection of corporate whistleblowers
Starting today, whistleblowers who report fraudulent and abusive business practices (environmental or public health) will be better protected thanks to the enforcement of the Waserman Act enacted on March 21, 2022.
First of all, as of today, company regulations must inform employees of the existence of the whistleblower protection system.
The list of people who can report abuse is growing. Former company employees, job candidates, managers and shareholders can now enjoy this right.
The increased protection also applies to those around the whistleblower. In practice, anyone who has participated in a whistleblower’s complaint will be protected.
From now on, the complainant has the option between a complaint within the company or a complaint to a legal entity, the Rights Defender or a competent authority. As a result, there is no longer a hierarchy in terms of reporting channels.
Also new, companies with 50 or more employees must establish a system to collect and process alerts.
• ZFE: traffic restrictions in various cities
This September 1, several of the main French cities will inaugurate or reinforce the game of their ZFE (Low Emission Zones). A device that obliges agglomerations to gradually introduce traffic restrictions for the most polluting vehicles, classified according to their Crit’Air sticker. In Aix-Marseille, those without a vignette and Crit’Air 5 will be prohibited from circulating in an area of the hyper-centre of the city of Marseille. In Lyon, Rouen or Toulouse, people will now be affected, while only heavy vehicles and public services have so far faced bans.
• Thermal parking for two wheels becomes paid in Paris
As of today, parking is paid for motorized two-wheelers in the capital, but remains free for electric vehicles.
• Autonomous driving in the highway code
On September 1, several decrees voted last year come into force. They established a legal framework around autonomous driving in France. Clearly, and this is a first, it will now be possible to let go of the steering wheel to read or watch a movie, for example, under certain conditions and on homologated models. In Europe, Mercedes, for example, has just obtained this authorization in Germany to offer the so-called level 3 of autonomous driving on certain roads, but it still has to pass several validation stages in France.
In order to offer more purchasing power to consumers, the daily ceiling of restaurant vouchers will drop from 19 to 25 euros but not on this first day of September. Ticket holders were able to benefit from a maximum limit of €38 between June 2020 and the end of June 2022 before dropping to €19 in early July. According to Bercy, the change will take place “before October 1”.
Source: BFM TV
