Working in Saint-Martin (French Side): Labour Law, Minimum Wage, Contributions, Local Taxation and Economy

The collectivity of Saint-Martin sets its own rules in a few matters, including foreigners’ access to work (Légifrance, legislative drafting guide). Labour law is not on the list: the national labour code applies as of right, like the other laws and regulations not reserved to the collectivity. A French citizen arriving from mainland France therefore has no work permit or visa to request, and their employee rights (working time, leave, termination of the contract, sick leave) are those of French law.

On social protection, the general social security legislation applies in Saint-Martin (Article L751-1 of the social security code) and the Guadeloupe CGSS and family allowance fund are competent, each in its field (Article L752-1). According to the Assurance Maladie (French public health insurance), an employee opens their entitlements to healthcare cost coverage as soon as they take up their activity, with no minimum period, and a self-employed worker from the start of their activity. The guide to healthcare reimbursement in Saint-Martin details how it works by situation.

The national SMIC applies in Saint-Martin, as the IEDOM (the overseas issuing institute) indicates in its presentation of the island’s income and wages. The public service gives a SMIC of around €12 gross an hour, i.e. about €1,850 gross a month for 35 hours and about €1,450 net. This amount is regularly revalued by order.

There is no official pay scale by occupation specific to the island in the sources consulted. The benchmarks concern the structure of employment: the private-sector wage bill reaches more than €55 million, driven mainly by accommodation and food service and temporary work. Clerical and service employees hold a third of jobs, ahead of manual workers (22%), intermediate occupations (21%), craftspeople, traders and business heads (15%) and managers and higher intellectual professions (7%) (Insee census). Four jobs in five (81%) are salaried posts.

Modest earned income can be topped up by the active solidarity income (RSA) and the activity bonus: nearly 2,000 households, i.e. about 14.5% of households, receive the RSA, the amount of which is revised each year (IEDOM).

• Labour force: the activity rate of 15-64 year-olds is about 76% and the employment rate 54%; the labour force falls, because of demographic decline (Insee, as cited by the IEDOM).
• Unemployment: more than 4,500 unemployed people, a rate of about 29%, against about 19% in Guadeloupe and 7.3% in France as a whole; the rate for women (32.0%) exceeds that for men (25.2%). In Sint Maarten, it is estimated at 8.6% by the local central bank.
• Private-sector employment: nearly 7,700 employees, a record level; other market services account for 41% of them, accommodation and food service 23%, trade 19% and construction 8% (Urssaf, via the IEDOM).
• Job demand: nearly 3,900 category A jobseekers, including 41.4% long-term jobseekers among categories A, B and C.
• Recruitment: the Labour needs survey counts nearly 1,900 projects in the Northern islands, nearly half of them in personal services; 41% of projects meet difficulties, and 60% in trade.

Before Hurricane Irma in 2017, services accounted for nearly 90% of private-sector staff; reconstruction took construction to nearly 18% of private salaried employment, before a fall back to about 8%. Recruitment projects are concentrated in personal services (44.9%), business services (26.7%) and construction (15.5%) (France Travail, via the IEDOM).

Social contributions are a State matter: social levies are excluded from the collectivity’s sphere of competence (IEDOM). The CSG and CRDS (French social levies) apply under the general rules, as the collectivity’s tax department specifies. The Guadeloupe CGSS, whose wage bill figures feed the IEDOM publications, is the island’s contact for social security. Employers and employees find the rates in force on the collection bodies’ websites.

As a benchmark, the Saint-Barthélemy Caisse de prévoyance sociale, which applies the same national legislation, publishes the ordinary-law rates: sickness 13.00% borne by the employer, capped old age 8.55% employer and 6.90% employee, family allowances 5.25% employer, unemployment insurance 4.00% employer, CSG of 9.20% and CRDS of 0.50% borne by the employee. These values do not replace the table of the competent body in Saint-Martin, to be consulted before any hiring.

Since 2009, Saint-Martin has had tax autonomy. The territorial council adopted on 4 June 2009 the part of the tax code relating to income tax, corporate tax and other direct taxes; the collectivity draws up the tax rules, but application, checks and collection remain the responsibility of the State services. A tax convention signed in December 2010 between the State and the collectivity sets out this scheme and the information exchanges intended to prevent tax evasion and fraud (IEDOM).

• Less than five years of residence: people coming from mainland France or the overseas departments are only tax-domiciled in Saint-Martin after at least five years; until then, they file a national return with the public finance directorate. Since 2010, they also declare to the collectivity their Saint-Martin-source income alone.
• Five years or more, or settled before 15 July 2007: the household is a Saint-Martin tax resident, files an income return specific to the local rules and pays the collectivity’s income tax, progressive like the national tax, after a 40% flat-rate allowance on income.
• Ordinary taxes: property tax, lease duty of 3% of rents received, registration duties, tax on property capital gains (with a specific exemption in case of reinvestment) and 4% TGCA.
• Businesses: corporate tax of 20%, reduced to 10% in some cases up to €40,000 of annual profit; licence duty and patente (business licence) contribution for non-salaried activities.

Corporate tax represents about 19% of the collectivity’s tax revenue, consumption duties about 22%, registration duties and land registry nearly 30% and income tax about 11%. Among the State’s tax households, nearly 18% declare less than €10,000 and nearly 22% more than €50,000 (DGFiP, the French tax administration). For a personal situation, the collectivity’s tax department advises on how the five years apply.

Individuals and companies that regularly carry out a non-salaried professional activity in Saint-Martin owe the licence duty, made up of a fixed charge and an additional charge depending on the floor area of the premises, and the patente contribution, based notably on the rental value of equipment. Both are the subject of a joint declaration. The inter-professional chamber of Saint-Martin, which also acts as chamber of trades and chamber of agriculture, runs the compulsory “operating licence”, “food hygiene” and “starting a business” training courses.

A self-employed person is covered by health insurance from the start of their activity (Assurance Maladie); the contribution arrangements specific to the island are confirmed with the CGSS. Remote work from the island for a mainland employer raises questions of social and tax attachment (place of activity, tax domicile): they should be put to the CGSS and the tax office before departure, the sources consulted not detailing a rule specific to this situation.

The economy is largely services-based. Trade and accommodation and food service each account for about a fifth of private salaried jobs. Air arrivals reach nearly 580,000 passengers a year across the whole island, about 105,000 of them at Grand-Case airport, and sea traffic to Saint-Barthélemy and Anguilla grows; cruising is almost entirely on the Dutch side (IEDOM). The currency is the euro and the collectivity has been an outermost region of the European Union since 2009, which opens access to European structural funds.

The collectivity’s finances are improving: revenue rises and the result is positive. Investment goes to reconstruction and facilities: lower secondary schools of 600 and 900 places, an administrative and judicial complex in Marigot, extension of the hospital centre. On the Dutch side, services also dominate, with unemployment estimated at 8.6%; the rules on work and social protection differ from one part of the island to the other.