URSSAF Audits On-Site, On-Documents or Digital: Key Differences, Your Right to Refuse, and Pitfalls of Paperless Inspections
Not all URSSAF audits are equal: the method chosen by the inspector determines your rights — in particular your right to refuse. Understanding the difference between an on-site audit, a document-based audit and a digital audit means avoiding a procedure you could have redirected.
This article is part of the series URSSAF Audits: The Employer’s Guide. Previous step: the notice of audit.
The accounting and assessment-base audit: the common core
Whether conducted on-site or on documents, the audit aims to verify the accuracy of the declared assessment bases and rates (Articles L.243-7 and R.243-59 et seq. of the French Social Security Code). Any reassessment must be substantiated both in fact and in law: this is a requirement whose breach is sanctioned.
On-site audit vs. document-based audit
- On-site: the inspector visits your premises. You control the practical organisation (a dedicated room, a single point of contact).
- On documents: everything hinges on the documents you submit. The temptation to “provide too much” is strong; yet each document communicated may feed a ground for reassessment.
In both cases, the contributor may be assisted by an adviser at any time (Article R.243-59-1 of the French Social Security Code).
The digital audit (contrôle dématérialisé, or CDA): an agreement you can refuse
The digital document-based audit (Article R.243-59-3 of the French Social Security Code) relies on the transmission of files (DSN social declarations, payroll files). It requires your consent.
DAIRIA’s advice: systematically exercise your right to refuse within 15 days, and request precise details of what is expected. This refusal does not constitute an obstruction to the audit and exposes you to no surcharge — it simply restores your control over the timetable and scope.
If you accept the CDA, request the precise list of the files consulted and the processing carried out (Article R.243-59-4 of the French Social Security Code). You can only effectively challenge what you know about.
Interviews: a fertile ground for nullities
The inspector may interview paid individuals (Article R.243-59-3 of the French Social Security Code; Article L.8271-6-1 of the French Labour Code in matters of illegal employment). The pitfalls of interviews are numerous: interviews without consent, without information, or outside the cases provided for. An irregular interview may result in the nullity of the findings that stem from it.
Frequently asked questions
Can a digital audit be refused? Yes, within 15 days; this is not an obstruction to the audit.
Can interviews be annulled? Yes, if the formal requirements (consent, information) are not respected.
On-site or on documents, what is the difference? The location and the practical control; the adversarial process (contradictoire) remains identical.
Written and supervised by Guillemette Watine, attorney, former URSSAF litigation inspector, head of the URSSAF practice at DAIRIA Avocats.
Next step → How URSSAF calculates the reassessment: flat-rate taxation, sampling and extrapolation