Farm operators can base 2027 provisional contributions on estimated income

Farm operators who pay provisional social contributions to a caisse de mutualité sociale agricole can opt to have those contributions calculated on an estimate of the current year's professional income, rather than on past income.Legifrance The option is yearly and renewable for each year of the experiment. Subscription runs from 1 October of the preceding year to 31 March of the application yearLegifrance, so the window for the first year, 2027, runs from 1 October 2026 to 31 March 2027Legifrance. It is exercised online through the service set up by the bodies concerned, except for operators living in areas with no mobile service available, who may use the approved paper form sent to their caisse.

Eligibility is narrow. The option is open to chefs d'exploitation ou d'entreprise agricole covered by 1° of article L. 722-4 of the code rural et de la pêche maritime who come under the bodies listed in article L. 723-2 of that code.Legifrance Operators whose provisional contributions are already calculated on a flat-rate base under article L. 731-16 are excluded.Legifrance

At subscription, the operator declares under their own responsibility an estimate of professional income for the calendar year concerned. That estimate can be adjusted until 31 March of that year through the same online or paper channels.Legifrance To be taken into account for a given part-payment or monthly debit, the estimate must reach the body no later than fifteen days before the due date of that call or debit. Once an online request is received, a summary of the declared items is made available in the operator's personal digital space, and where the fifteen-day condition is met the caisse sends either a bill for the part-payments or a payment schedule for the monthly debits.

The estimate does not remove the guardrails. The base used to set the contribution fractions, whether collected by part-payments or monthly debits, cannot fall below the applicable minimum bases set by articles D. 731-89, D. 731-120 and D. 732-155Legifrance, nor exceed the applicable ceiling in article L. 731-42Legifrance. For part-payments, the balance described in articles R. 731-59 and R. 731-60, and for monthly payments the balance in article R. 731-65, cannot be set later than 30 November of the application year; that balance constitutes the provisional balance of the contributions due for the year.

The following year, contributions for the option year are regularised on the basis of final professional incomeLegifrance, established under article L. 136-4 of the code de la sécurité sociale and article L. 731-14 of the code rural et de la pêche maritime through the declaration procedure in article L. 731-13-2. The final balance from that regularisation cannot fall due later than 30 November of the following year.

While the option applies, the prior-year-income option in II of article L. 731-15 is suspended; when the option period ends, contributions are again calculated on the previously applicable base under article L. 731-15. Subscription is irrevocable for the year concerned. If the operator dies after opting in, the option ceases from the date of death and articles L. 731-10-1 and L. 731-15 apply; once informed, the surviving spouse may keep the deceased's option by sending the approved paper form to the caisse no later than 31 March of the year after the option year.

Legal basis: Décret n° 2026-889 du 24 septembre 2026, implementing the experiment in article 16 of the loi du 30 décembre 2025, with articles L. 722-4, L. 731-14, L. 731-15, L. 731-16, L. 731-42 and R. 731-59, R. 731-60 and R. 731-65 of the code rural et de la pêche maritime.