In a context of rapid decline in rates for tax-exempt savings accounts, this recent announcement from the governor of the Banque de France is good news for the millions of holders of a popular savings account. In a Senate hearing on January 15, François Villeroy de Galhau recommended a rate of 3.5% from February 1. That's a drop of only half a point.
This rate – which should be monitored by the government – is a real “boost” for savers. Because by applying the automatic annual revision formula of the LEP, the passbook rate should have fallen to 2.9% in a few days. By moderating the future decline, the Banque de France aims to protect the savings of households with modest incomes.
As its name suggests, the LEP is in fact intended for savers with average or modest resources whose income does not exceed certain ceilings set by regulations. These resources are set according to a scale which takes into account the composition of the household. These conditions apply to people who would like to open a LEP. With an important clarification for the latter: when their reference tax income (RFR) exceeds the ceiling during a year, they can still keep their LEP if their income falls below the ceiling the following year.
The resource ceilings applicable to the popular savings account are increased once a year to take inflation into account. This update takes place on January 1, after the publication of the finance law. However, with the abandonment of the text presented by the former government, the new scale for 2025 has not yet been formalized. We will therefore have to wait for the publication of a new text to know the new official table.
-Despite this delay, it is possible to estimate today the new ceilings that will soon come into force. According to the legal calculation formula, the LEP income ceilings are set by multiplying by 1.8 the amounts provided for by article 1417 of the general tax code. However, the old finance bill provided that these had to be increased by 2% in order to take into account inflation. A rate which should be equal, or at least very close, to the rate which will be set by the administration in a few weeks.
To estimate the future resource ceilings not to be exceeded to open or maintain your LEP in 2025, it is therefore sufficient to increase the amounts indicated in article 1417 of the general tax code by 2%, then multiply them by 1, 8. With this increase, the reference tax income for 2023 or 2024 must therefore not exceed €22,867 for a person living alone. A ceiling which increases with the number of tax shares in the household, to an additional €6,107 per half-share. That is, for example, €35,081 RFR for a couple without children, €41,188 for a couple with one child and €47,295 for a couple with three children.
As we can see, the popular savings account is not only intended for the poorest households. According to the latest figures communicated by the Banque de France, if 11.7 million French people save in a LEP to date, around 19 million meet the resource conditions to hold one.
