The apprenticeship-tax balance and SOLTéA: how a French CFA captures this funding in 2026

A CFA that starts up quickly discovers that the main share of the apprenticeship tax — the one funding apprenticeship contracts through the NPEC funding-per-contract levels — arrives almost automatically, with no particular action needed. The balance, on the other hand, never lands in the establishment’s accounts on its own: it has to be actively sought, year after year, from companies that freely choose who to pay it to. Many CFA founders let this funding slip by, simply because they don’t know it exists, don’t understand how the SOLTéA platform works, and above all don’t know how to get noticed by the employers who decide where to direct their balance every spring.

The 2026 apprenticeship tax: one rate, two very different shares

The overall apprenticeship tax rate remains set at 0.68% of gross payroll in 2026, paid by any company employing at least one salarié (with a few specific regimes, notably in Alsace-Moselle). This rate splits into two shares that work in radically different ways for a CFA:

• a main share of 87% (a rate of 0.59%), collected by URSSAF (or MSA for the agricultural scheme) and paid automatically to CFAs through France compétences, based on the number of apprenticeship contracts actually signed at each establishment and the applicable NPEC funding levels;
• a balance of 13% (a rate of 0.09%), which the liable company can freely direct, establishment by establishment, to the accredited organisations of its choice — this is the balance that flows through the SOLTéA platform.

This distinction matters for a CFA’s financial planning: the main share mechanically follows enrolled apprentice numbers, while the balance is project-based funding, comparable to earmarked sponsorship, that rewards visibility and an ongoing relationship with partner companies rather than contract volume alone.

SOLTéA: the platform that replaces direct earmarking

Since the reform of apprenticeship funding, SOLTéA (Solde de la taxe d’apprentissage) has been the single entry point for two distinct audiences:

1. liable companies, which log in to designate beneficiary establishments and, if they wish, split their balance across several structures;
2. establishments applying for accreditation, which submit their application online to appear on the national register of beneficiaries published and updated by France compétences.

For a CFA, being accredited is not enough to automatically receive funds: it then has to create a SOLTéA account with an authorised representative, fill in a complete establishment profile (contact details, training tracks, description of the training offer) and its bank details. This is the profile companies consult when deciding where to direct their balance — a CFA with an incomplete or sparse profile is, statistically, far less visible than competitors listed on the same tracks.

The 2026 campaign calendar

The SOLTéA campaign runs in two successive distribution periods, with payments to establishments at each stage:

Stage	Period	First payments to CFAs
First distribution period	26 May – 21 August 2026	from 1 September 2026
Second distribution period	3 September – 21 October 2026	from 5 November 2026
Unallocated funds	—	redistributed by regulatory means from 26 November 2026

A CFA that discovers SOLTéA after the first period closes hasn’t missed its chance for the year: the second period, in September-October, still allows it to approach companies that haven’t yet allocated their balance or wish to add to it. As an order of magnitude, the 2025 campaign distributed €522 million among roughly 10,000 beneficiary establishments, funded by more than 1.48 million liable companies — a figure that shows what’s at stake for an establishment that stays passive for lack of outreach.

How a CFA becomes genuinely visible on SOLTéA

Accreditation and account creation are only the starting point. To capture a meaningful share of the balance, a CFA needs to run an active outreach effort alongside the campaign, much like an ordinary sales operation:

• contact partner companies already hosting its apprentices under apprenticeship contracts, explicitly reminding them that they can direct their balance to the establishment through SOLTéA — many employers simply don’t know this option exists, or forget to use it each year;
• polish the establishment profile published on the platform, with a clear presentation of the training offer, tracks, and outcomes (data that overlaps, incidentally, with what’s required under indicator 3 on CFA completion and job-placement rates);
• communicate the two-period calendar to professional networks, chambers of commerce, or trade bodies the CFA works with, to maximise allocations before each deadline;
• track incoming payments in the establishment’s cost accounting, an exercise already mandatory for any CFA subject to analytical accounting, so as to keep this project funding separate from NPEC-based revenue.

Don’t confuse the balance with the other apprenticeship-funding channels

The apprenticeship-tax balance does not replace any of the other funding channels a CFA must manage: it comes on top of the NPEC funding-per-contract levels paid by OPCOs for each apprenticeship contract, and any ancillary costs invoiced to the OPCO for housing, meals, or equipment for apprentices. A CFA in its startup phase sometimes confuses these flows with the CUFPA that its own organisation must pay, like any employer, on its own payroll — two entirely unrelated logics: one funds the CFA’s activities as a beneficiary, the other is a payroll charge on the establishment as an employer.

Economically, this employer-directed funding model is neither unique to France nor free of debate. A note from the Conseil d’analyse économique by Pierre Cahuc and Marc Ferracci, with contributions from Jean Tirole and Étienne Wasmer, published in December 2014 under the title L’apprentissage au service de l’emploi (“Apprenticeship in the Service of Employment”), already flagged the limits of apprenticeship funding scattered across multiple channels that were hard to read for both establishments and companies, and argued for greater transparency in allocating funds toward the most effective structures. By centralising the balance’s allocation on a single public platform, SOLTéA directly addresses that transparency concern — even though the burden of actually reaching out to companies still falls entirely on the establishment.

Key takeaways

• The 2026 apprenticeship tax rate is 0.68%, split between a main share of 87% (0.59%) paid automatically and a balance of 13% (0.09%) freely directed by companies through SOLTéA.
• A CFA must be accredited (listed on France compétences’ national register of beneficiaries) and then create its SOLTéA account to have any chance of receiving this balance.
• The 2026 campaign has two distribution periods (26 May – 21 August, then 3 September – 21 October), with payments starting the month after each one closes.
• Funds companies don’t allocate are redistributed by regulatory means, generally in far smaller amounts than an active outreach effort would have captured.
• This funding adds to NPEC payments and ancillary costs, and must never be confused with the CUFPA the establishment itself owes as an employer.

Take action

Structuring a CFA’s funding means mastering both Qualiopi obligations and the funding channels specific to apprenticeships. The Complete Kit Certif (€297, 14-day guarantee) provides evidence tables for all 32 indicators of the reference framework, including those tied to tracking apprentice outcomes. If you are just starting your CFA, the ebook Create Your Training Organisation in 30 Days (€67) helps you sequence these administrative and financial steps from day one, and the Complete Pack (€347) combines both resources.