From Sunday 1is December 2024 and throughout the month, several changes will come into force in France. Payment of the Christmas bonus, increase in the price of doctor's consultations, opening of the Parcoursup platform… We take stock of what awaits you between now and the end of the year.
A Christmas bonus for two million French people
Two million French people will benefit from the Christmas bonus this year. As West France revealed, it will be paid on December 13, 2024, announced the Minister of Solidarity, Autonomy and Equality between women and men Paul Christophe. The amount of this bonus, which should appear in the bank accounts of beneficiaries between December 14 and 16, is the same as last year. “The bonus has never been indexed to inflation”, had justified the minister in our columns.
Read also: Christmas bonus: everything you need to know to receive this aid paid in December
This bonus concerns people who receive social minimums, such as beneficiaries of the RSA (Active Solidarity Income), the Specific Solidarity Allowance (ASS), the Retirement Equivalent Allowance (AER) or the Flat-rate Resumption Bonus. of activity. It is paid by the Family Allowance Fund (Caf) or the Mutuelle sociale agricole (MSA), and its amount fluctuates depending on the composition of the household. Thus, it will amount to €152.45 for a single person. A couple without children will receive €228.67, while a family with four children will receive €442.10.
Increase in gas prices
The year 2024 ends with a new increase in the price of gas. The Energy Regulatory Commission (CRE) forecasts an average increase of 2.5% in the benchmark sales price in December 2024. For cooking and hot water, this benchmark price is now €0.1413/kWh and it is 0.1124 €/kWh for heating.
This new increase, the sixth of the current year, is partly explained by the uncertain geopolitical context, in particular due to the war led by Russia in Ukraine, and the start of the heating season. These two factors destabilize wholesale markets.
The price of medical consultation increases
From December 22, the price of a consultation with the general practitioner increases. It will cost €30 compared to €26.50 currently. For children under 6 years old, it will increase to €35 instead of €31.50 until now.
General practitioners are not the only ones affected by this increase in prices: most specialists will also charge more for consultations. Pediatricians will increase their price from €38.50 to €39 for children under 2 years old, and from €33.50 to €35 for those aged 2 to under 6 years old. The consultation with a gynecologist will increase to €37 compared to €33.50 currently, and to €55 compared to €51.70 for consultations with a psychiatrist, neuropsychiatrist or neurologist. Regarding melanoma screening at the dermatologist, this procedure will now cost €54 (compared to €47.50 today).
These increases come at the end of long negotiations between Health Insurance and private doctors which resulted in an agreement on June 4, 2024. Other price increases should take place in the summer of 2025.
Read also: If the medical consultation increases to €30, who will pay the difference?
Wages increased in the hotel and catering industry
Employees in the hotel and catering industry will benefit from a small boost in their salary, from 1is December 2024. A decree dated November 5, published in the Official Journal on November 9, changes the salary scale for these professions. Thus, the minimum wage is set at €12 gross per hour, or a few cents above the minimum wage set at €11.88.
Opening of the Parcoursup platform
The Parcoursup information site, an assignment platform in higher education, will open on December 18, 2024. “23,000 training courses to discover” on the site, with presentation sheets for each, specifies the government. Registration to create your candidate file and express your wishes will then take place from January 15 to March 13, 2025.
Read also: Parcoursup: applications, admission phase… Discover the 2024-2025 calendar
Last days to correct your tax return
If you wish to correct your declaration of income received in 2023, “you can use the online correction service from July 31, 2024 to December 4, 2024 inclusive”, specifies the site impot.gouv.fr.
Last reminder for property and housing taxes
If you are subject to property tax or housing tax on your second home, the deadline for paying it monthly from January 2025 is December 15, 2024. If you miss the checkmark, you will have until December 31 to do so, with a first collection scheduled for February 2025.
December 16 is also the deadline for paying housing tax on second homes, with a deadline of December 21, 2024 for online payment.
End clap for the Pinel system
After ten years of existence, the Pinel system ends on December 31, 2024. Since 2014, this program, which takes its name from Sylvia Pinel, Minister of Housing from April 2014 to February 2016, offered numerous tax advantages within the framework of a rental investment. The investor had to commit to renting the bare accommodation as a primary residence for a minimum period of six years, according to specific criteria.
This tax loophole, ultimately deemed too costly for public finances, therefore ends on December 31, 2024.
No unemployment insurance reform
It was to apply from 1is December 2024. But the dissolution of the National Assembly and the legislative elections before the summer turned everything upside down. On June 30, the evening of the first round of these early elections, Gabriel Attal, then Prime Minister, announced that he was suspending the unemployment insurance reform. The text provided, in particular, 8 months of activity over the last 20 months to access unemployment benefit, compared to at least 6 months over the last 24 months currently.
No date for resuming the text has, for the moment, been mentioned by the government of Michel Barnier.
Read also: Unemployment insurance: what will change from December
End of assistance for the purchase of an electric car in Île-de-France
The Île-de-France Region is preparing to end aid paid for the purchase of an electric vehicle on its territory. The amount of this assistance depends on the reference tax income divided by the number of shares in the household. Thus, it varies between €2,250 and can go up to €9,000. Only new electric vehicles costing less than €47,000 are eligible, as are residents of Seine-et-Marne, Yvelines, Essonne or Val-d'Oise. If your vehicle has not been ordered before 1is December 2024, the order form being authentic, you will not be able to benefit from it.
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