Say your SASU makes €60,000 before paying you. If you take it all as salary, you keep €31,949. All as dividends, €38,119.
Except that with no salary, you validate no pension quarter. And your four quarters for the year would only cost you €569.
In an EURL, it is the other way round: beyond 10% of your capital, your dividends carry contributions. Taking everything as pay then nearly always remains the best choice.
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In a SASU, your dividends escape contributions. In an EURL, almost none do.
Information verified on October 16, 2026. Indicative calculator with no legal force. The figures it applies are taken from official sources and dated: only your tax notice and the tax authorities are binding.
The official pages where we read the rules and amounts applied here.
As president, you are treated as an employee. Your salary therefore carries an executive's contributions, employer and employee shares, except unemployment insurance. Your dividends pay corporate tax, then the 31.4% flat tax, and that is all. That is why taking everything as dividends leaves you the most. But you then contribute to nothing: no pension, no sick pay.
As manager and sole shareholder, you are self-employed. Once your dividends exceed 10% of your capital, share premiums and current account, the excess is added to your pay to calculate your contributions. With €1,000 of capital, only your first €100 escape. The rest pays three times:
If you take everything as dividends, you validate no quarter in the year. You need €1,803 of gross salary to validate one in 2026, and €7,212 for all four. On €60,000 of profit, paying yourself that salary only costs you €569 a year more than all dividends.
By default, your dividends pay 12.8% income tax. You can choose the scale instead, after a 40% allowance: if your household pays little tax, you come out ahead. Careful, that choice covers all your investment income for the year. We calculate both, and keep the cheaper one for you.
You can only pay yourself a dividend once your accounts are approved, on a recorded profit. So it does not arrive every month like a salary: plan enough to live on between two payments. And before settling your split, show your real accounts to your accountant.
| Profit before pay | SASU, all salary | SASU, all dividends | EURL, all pay | EURL, all dividends |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| €40,000 | €22,484 | €27,167 | €26,293 | €23,375 |
| €60,000 | €31,949 | €38,119 | €36,359 | €31,989 |
| €100,000 | €48,740 | €57,141 | €56,897 | €47,283 |
For a single person with no other income. The EURL is in a liberal profession with €1,000 of capital, and your dividends are taxed the cheapest way for your household. In a SASU, we count neither the workplace accident contribution nor provident cover: in reality, your salary therefore costs you a little more.
Thomas is a developer. He lives alone, and his company makes €60,000 before paying him.
If he pays himself everything as salary, he keeps €31,949. An executive's contributions weigh on every euro.
If he takes everything as dividends, he keeps €38,119. But he validates no pension quarter in the year.
If he pays himself €7,212 of gross salary and the rest as dividends, he validates his four quarters and keeps €37,550.
His pension for the year costs him €569. That is the split he chooses.
Before taking everything as dividends, look at what your four quarters would cost you.
Keep enough to live on between two distributions. You will not receive a dividend every month.
Show your split to your accountant before the financial year closes.
Once your dividends exceed 10% of your capital, they carry contributions: paying yourself a salary nearly always remains the better deal.
Money you leave in your current account raises that threshold. Talk it over with your accountant.
If a SASU tempts you, compare both forms on your own profit before switching.
An EURL's dividends carry contributions because, as manager and sole shareholder, you are self-employed. The part of your dividends above 10% of your capital, share premiums and money left in your current account is added to your pay to calculate your contributions. Article L. 136-3 of the social security code says so. The shares of your spouse, your civil partner and your minor children count too.
In 2026, dividends pay the 31.4% flat tax by default: 12.8% income tax and 18.6% social levies. You can also tick the option for the scale in your tax return: your income tax is then calculated on the scale, after a 40% allowance. That choice covers all your investment income for the year. We calculate both and show you the cheaper one for your household.
In 2026, a SASU president's salary validates one pension quarter for every €1,803 gross, that is 150 times the hourly minimum wage of 1 January, up to four a year. Your dividends validate none.
In a SASU, the salary or dividends calculation counts every one of an executive's contributions, supplementary pension included, except two: the workplace accident contribution, whose rate is specific to each company, and provident cover, which depends on your contract. Setting those two aside, our figures match the Urssaf simulator to the euro. In an EURL, we apply the 2026 self-employed scale, on the single base reduced by 26%.
An EURL under income tax does not distribute dividends: its profit is taxed directly in your name. You will only have to choose between pay and dividends after opting for corporate tax.
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