You pay for a housekeeper, a gardener, or tutoring for your children. Every month, the bill arrives. What you may not yet realize is that you can recover half of these expenses in the form of a tax credit. The CESU allows you to declare these personal service expenses and obtain a direct tax benefit, whether you are taxable or not.
Immediate advance of the CESU tax credit: the mechanism that changes cash flow
The CESU tax credit can be received in two ways: as a traditional annual reimbursement or as an immediate advance through Cesu+. This distinction has a direct impact on your monthly budget.
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Without Cesu+, you pay the full salary and contributions of your home employee upfront. You recover the tax credit the following year, at the time of your income declaration. The result: a cash flow delay that can exceed twelve months.
With the Cesu+ service activated in your Urssaf account, the immediate advance deducts the tax credit from your monthly payment. You only pay half of the actual cost. This monthly payment option has been generalized by Urssaf since 2022-2023, but it only applies to private employers who have activated Cesu+. Others remain on the traditional annual reimbursement mode.
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Before detailing the eligible expenses, knowing how to use CESU benefits helps avoid declaration errors that delay or reduce reimbursement.
Eligible expenses and the ceiling for the personal services tax credit
The tax credit covers 50% of the expenses incurred for employing a home employee. However, not all services are included in the calculation, and the annual ceiling varies depending on your situation.
What is included in the calculation
Eligible expenses include the net salary paid, employer and employee social contributions, as well as certain salary supplements. Urssaf specifies that bonuses, mileage allowances, and transportation costs declared in 2025 are included in the certified amount.
On the other hand, severance pay does not qualify for the tax benefit. It should not be included in the declared amount.
Relevant activities
- House cleaning, ironing, home maintenance, and small gardening tasks
- Childcare at home, tutoring, and IT assistance
- Assistance for the elderly or disabled individuals (excluding medical care)
- Meal preparation at home and grocery delivery
The general ceiling for deductible expenses is set by the General Tax Code. There are increases for taxpayers with dependent children or a household member with a disability. Small gardening tasks and IT assistance have their own lower sub-ceilings than the general ceiling.
CESU tax declaration: boxes 7DB and 7DR, what is pre-filled
You have received your tax certificate from your CESU Urssaf account. The next step is the income declaration. Since 2024-2025, the process has evolved to reduce errors.
Assistance received (pre-financed CESU, APA, PCH) now appears pre-filled in box 7DR in the online declaration. This amount automatically reduces the declared home employment expenses in box 7DB. You no longer have to do the subtraction yourself.
Specifically, if your employer or works council has provided you with pre-financed CESU, their amount reduces the calculation base for the tax credit. You declare the total expenses in 7DB, and the tax authorities deduct the pre-filled assistance in 7DR.
Check rather than correct
The pre-filling limits omissions but does not exempt you from verification. Compare the amount in 7DR with the pre-financed CESU titles actually received. If you used CESU checks through a personal service organization (and not in direct employment), the declaration process may differ.
Keep your tax certificate without printing it: it remains accessible in your online account and serves as proof in case of an audit.
Company-financed CESU: a double-level tax benefit
Do you receive pre-financed CESU from your employer? This system creates a two-tier advantage, often misunderstood.
For the employee beneficiary, the portion financed by the company is exempt from income tax and social contributions, within the legal ceiling. You use these titles to pay for your personal service expenses. The portion you finance yourself (the supplement) remains eligible for the 50% tax credit.
For the company, financing pre-financed CESU benefits from social charge exemptions and a specific tax credit. This mechanism applies to all legal forms, including liberal professions and company executives.
- The employee receives additional net purchasing power, non-taxable within the ceiling limit
- The employer reduces their contributions and benefits from a tax advantage on the amounts paid
- The individual using the titles retains the right to the tax credit on their personal share of expenses
This double advantage explains why the overall cost of the home employment tax credit has significantly increased in recent years. This increase paves the way for potential adjustments to the rules (ceilings, eligible activities) in the coming years.
Keeping an eye on these legislative developments is part of effectively managing your CESU benefits. The amount you recover each year depends as much on your actual expenses as on your diligence at the time of declaration: check the pre-filled boxes, activate Cesu+ if you haven’t done so, and archive your tax certificates.