Frequently asked questions

Yes. There is no residency requirement to be a shareholder or director of a French company. You do need a French registered office and, in most cases, a French bank account for the company.

Yes. The whole registration process can be completed remotely, using powers of attorney and electronic signatures for the incorporation documents. We prepare and file everything on your behalf, so travelling to France is not necessary.

No, setting up and owning a French company does not require a residence permit. If you plan to live in France to manage the business yourself, you will need an appropriate visa or residence permit, such as the 'passeport talent' or an entrepreneur/self-employed permit.

We draft your bylaws, open a share capital deposit account, publish a legal notice, and register the company via the Guichet unique to obtain your SIREN and Kbis. We handle every step of the process for you.

No. A subsidiary is a separate legal entity, so your parent company is not liable for its debts beyond the capital contributed, unless it has given a specific guarantee. A branch has no separate legal personality, so the foreign company itself remains directly liable for the branch's obligations.

Yes, a French subsidiary has full legal capacity and can own, lease or sell real estate in its own name, like any other French company.

You need the company's registration documents, proof of identity for the directors and beneficial owners, and a description of your activity to satisfy the bank's KYC requirements. We help you select a bank and prepare the file to speed up account opening.

A subsidiary is a company under French law, legally independent from its parent company. A branch remains an establishment of the foreign company. The choice depends on your strategy, your tax situation and the level of autonomy you want: we guide you towards the most suitable structure.

The most common structures are the SAS and the SARL, but other structures exist depending on your project. We analyse your business, your shareholding and your objectives to guide you towards the best-suited structure.

Once the file is complete (articles of association, supporting documents, capital deposit), registration usually takes from a few days to a few weeks. We prepare every step to secure and speed up your procedures.

Yes. Since 2003, we have supported international companies from formation to management: legal structure, articles of association, registration, registered office, bank account and accounting, tax and social obligations, with a multilingual team.

The cost depends on the legal structure chosen and the associated formalities: drafting the articles of association, court registry fees, legal announcements. We provide a precise quote once your establishment project has been framed.

No, the minimum share capital is 1 euro for an SAS or an SARL. However, we advise you on an amount consistent with your business and your credibility with banking partners.

Yes, most formalities, articles of association, registration, account opening, can be handled remotely. We coordinate the entire file for your parent company, wherever it is based.

Yes. French law requires any company offering domiciliation services to hold a prefectoral authorisation (agrément), valid for six years. We hold this authorisation, so our address can be used as your registered office in full compliance.

Yes, your domiciliation address is your official address for tax registration, VAT registration and all correspondence with the French tax authorities.

No. A P.O. box alone does not meet French requirements for a registered office; the law requires premises, such as those provided by an authorised domiciliation company.

Yes, your registered office can be different from where you actually carry out your business. Many companies use a domiciliation address as their registered office while operating from separate premises or remotely.

Yes, you can relocate your registered office at any time. It requires a decision by the competent governing body, an amendment to the articles of association, a legal notice publication and a filing with the registry to update your Kbis.

You need a domiciliation contract or proof of the new premises, the decision approving the change, and updated articles of association, filed with the registry. We prepare and handle the full filing on your behalf.

Yes, the registered office address is a mandatory mention on your Kbis extract, your invoices and other commercial documents, and it appears in the public RCS registry.

Yes, a domiciliation address from an authorised provider is accepted by French banks, though foreign-owned companies may face additional KYC checks. We help you select a bank and prepare your file accordingly.

It is the provision of a legal address in France for your company. This address appears on your official documents and serves as your registered office for company registration and your dealings with the authorities.

Yes. We have provided registered office services for the French subsidiaries and branches of international groups since 2003, with a multilingual team and a strong knowledge of local obligations.

Reception, sorting and forwarding of mail, handling of your formalities with French authorities, document management and tracking of your legal obligations, within a scope tailored to you.

Our professional address comes with the option to book a meeting room in France, to welcome your partners or hold your occasional meetings.

The price depends on the level of service you want: a simple legal address, mail management, or full office management. We provide a quote tailored to your actual needs.

Yes, every company must have a registered office address for its registration. Our registered office agreement meets this requirement, with a professional address in Paris.

The law requires a minimum term of three months, renewable by tacit renewal. We set out the exact terms when your agreement is put in place.

Yes. Your French subsidiary must keep its statutory accounts under the Plan Comptable Général, in French and in euros, regardless of the group's reporting standard. A branch has no separate statutory accounts to approve, but it must still keep French-compliant accounting records to determine its French taxable result.

Yes. Your French entity's statutory accounts are prepared under French GAAP (Plan Comptable Général) and filed with the French registry, independently of the standard used for group consolidation. We prepare a separate IFRS or US GAAP reporting package for the group when you need one.

Yes. Your French entity keeps its own books under French GAAP for its statutory accounts and tax filings, in addition to any reporting package you prepare for the parent under its own standard. We maintain both in parallel and reconcile them for you.

The Plan Comptable Général (PCG) is France's official chart of accounts and accounting standard, set by the Autorité des Normes Comptables. It applies to your entity, like every commercial company keeping accounts in France.

Yes. Article L123-22 of the French Commercial Code requires your accounting documents to be established in euros and in French. This applies even if your management reporting is prepared in another language.

We map your group chart of accounts to the Plan Comptable Général, restate transactions for French GAAP recognition and valuation rules, and reconcile the result against your group figures. We handle the conversion and the reconciliation memo at each closing.

French GAAP is historical-cost based and rules-driven; IFRS relies more on fair value and substance-over-form judgement. The main gaps concern leases, revenue recognition, provisions, deferred tax and asset impairment. We identify and restate the entries that differ between the two frameworks.

The Fichier des Écritures Comptables (FEC) is the standardised digital export of your accounting entries required by the French tax authorities. You must hand it over at the very start of a tax audit (vérification de comptabilité).

Your annual financial statements must be approved by the shareholders within six months of your fiscal year-end. A court can extend this deadline in justified cases.

Yes, accounts filed with the commercial court registry are public by default. If your balance sheet, turnover and headcount stay below 450,000/900,000 euros and 10 employees, you can request full confidentiality; below 7,500,000/15,000,000 euros and 50 employees, you can keep only your profit and loss account confidential.

You must retain your accounting books, ledgers and supporting documents (invoices, contracts, bank records) for ten years under the French Commercial Code. We help you organise a retention system that holds up under a tax audit.

Yes. Since 1 September 2026, every company operating in France must be able to receive electronic invoices, and large and mid-size companies must also issue them and transmit e-reporting data; small and micro-companies follow from 1 September 2027. We adapt your invoicing and bookkeeping process to stay compliant.

We prepare transfer pricing documentation supporting the pricing of your intercompany transactions with the parent, in line with French and OECD requirements. This includes the local file required once your entity crosses the applicable size thresholds.

The cost depends on the volume of entries, the number of entities and the level of reporting required, whether French, IFRS or US GAAP standards. We prepare a tailored quote after analysing your current accounting setup.

Appointment becomes mandatory once your company exceeds two of these three thresholds: 5,000,000 euros balance sheet total, 10,000,000 euros net turnover, and 50 employees. Lower thresholds apply, 2,500,000 euros balance sheet, 5,000,000 euros turnover, 25 employees, if your entity is controlled by, or controls, a company already subject to a statutory audit.

A CSE must appoint a commissaire aux comptes once it exceeds two of these three thresholds: 50 employees, 3,100,000 euros in annual resources, and 1,550,000 euros in balance sheet total. A CSE required to produce consolidated accounts must appoint two commissaires aux comptes.

Appointment becomes mandatory once certain thresholds of balance sheet total, turnover or headcount are exceeded, or as part of specific legal operations. We help you determine your obligation and secure your position.

A statutory audit (commissariat aux comptes) is an engagement governed by law that results in the certification of the accounts. A contractual audit is a voluntary engagement, tailored to a specific need such as an acquisition or due diligence.

Yes. We conduct financial, tax, employment and legal due diligence, as well as acquisition audits, to secure your external growth transactions.

Yes, this has been our core business since 2003. We support the French subsidiaries and branches of foreign groups, with a multilingual team and a strong knowledge of international standards.

No. The independence rules governing statutory auditors prohibit combining the statutory certification of accounts with advisory engagements for the same audited entity. We guide you towards the most suitable arrangement, with a strict separation between our audit and advisory teams.

The fee depends on the size of your organisation, the complexity of your operations and the type of engagement, statutory or contractual. We prepare a precise quote after gaining an understanding of your business and its challenges.

It is a regulated engagement that validates the value of contributions or exchange ratios during a merger, demerger or contribution in kind. It becomes mandatory as soon as a restructuring operation involves a contribution of securities or assets to a company.

Yes, but abolition has been pushed back to 2030 after Parliament rejected an earlier plan to bring it forward to 2028. For 2026, rates are frozen at their 2024 level (maximum 0.28%), with no repeat of 2025's one-off surtax.

France applies four VAT rates: 20% (standard), 10% and 5.5% (intermediate/reduced), and 2.1% (super-reduced). Most professional services and B2B invoicing fall under the standard 20% rate; we confirm the exact rate once we know your activity.

The 10% rate covers restaurant and takeaway food service, hotel and short-term furnished accommodation, passenger transport, renovation work on dwellings over two years old, unprocessed agricultural products, firewood, non-reimbursed medicines, and admission to fairs, museums and zoos.

5.5% covers essential food products, books, gas and electricity subscriptions, energy-renovation work, equipment for disabled persons, and live-entertainment tickets. 2.1% is reserved for social-security-reimbursable medicines, registered press, and the first 140 performances of certain live shows.

You receive an avis de vérification by registered letter, together with the taxpayer's charter. The law requires at least two clear business days between receipt and the inspector's first visit, though in practice notice is usually sent around three weeks ahead.

For an on-site audit (vérification de comptabilité), you must hand over the FEC at the inspector's first visit. For a remote examination (examen de comptabilité), you have 15 days from receiving the notice; missing either deadline exposes you to a fine or a surcharge on reassessed amounts.

An on-site audit of an SME is capped at three months, extendable to six months if your accounts are seriously unreliable. The tax authorities can generally reassess the last three years, extended to ten years for undeclared activity or undisclosed foreign accounts.

Under its right of communication, the inspector can request invoices, contracts, bank statements, correspondence, stock and payroll records, and minutes of shareholder or board meetings, plus information held by third parties such as banks, suppliers and customers.

A permanent establishment arises from a fixed place of business through which you habitually carry on business, such as an office, workshop or branch, or from a dependent agent who habitually negotiates or concludes contracts in your name, or from completing a full commercial cycle in France.

Yes. A single employee who habitually negotiates the key terms of contracts can create a dependent-agent permanent establishment, even without formal signing authority, if approval abroad is a mere formality.

It can. If an employee's home office is effectively at your disposal and core business activities, especially contract negotiation, are habitually carried out there, the French tax authorities can treat it as a fixed place of business or a dependent-agent permanent establishment.

Yes. A website or server alone generally is not enough, but a local agent who habitually negotiates deals, or a co-working space used habitually for your business, can still create a permanent establishment even without a registered office.

There is no minimum duration for a fixed-place or dependent-agent permanent establishment; it can arise from day one once the activity is habitual. The main duration test applies to construction and installation sites, which typically become a permanent establishment only once they exceed 12 months under most French tax treaties.

The authorities assess corporate tax and VAT on the establishment's profits and turnover for all open years, treat the situation as undeclared activity (extending the reassessment period to ten years), and apply late-payment interest plus an 80% penalty instead of the standard 40%.

Yes, unless your country has a mutual assistance agreement with France covering tax recovery. Otherwise you must appoint a France-based, VAT-registered fiscal representative before carrying out taxable transactions.

From your first taxable transaction. The turnover thresholds that let small businesses skip VAT registration benefit only businesses established in France or the EU; a company with no French or EU establishment must register regardless of turnover.

French withholding tax is 25% by default. It drops to 0% under the EU Parent-Subsidiary Directive, for a qualifying EU/EEA parent holding at least 10% for two years, or to the applicable tax-treaty rate; dividends paid into a non-cooperative jurisdiction are taxed at a flat 75% regardless of any treaty.

Mainly through automatic exchange of information, cross-checks against company and legal-announcement registries, URSSAF and posted-worker filings, banking data obtained via the tax authorities' right of communication, and their own data-mining programs.

Three years as a general rule, extended to ten years for undeclared activity or undisclosed foreign accounts, entities or trusts.

Yes, in most cases. A subsidiary has its own legal personality and limited liability, gives you a contained tax and compliance perimeter, and avoids the permanent-establishment risk that can otherwise expose your foreign entity's own profits to French tax.

You must file a CVAE return once turnover exceeds 152,500 euros, but you only pay the tax once turnover exceeds 500,000 euros. For 2026, rates stay frozen at their 2024 level (up to 0.28% for turnover above 50 million euros), and full abolition, repeatedly postponed, is now scheduled for 2030.

It is not turnover-based at all. The margin scheme (used goods, art, antiques) applies transaction by transaction, whenever you resell an item bought without deductible VAT, typically from a private individual. You report the margin within your normal VAT return, not as a separate filing; from 1 September 2026 the rules simply move to new article numbers under the recodified VAT code, with no change to substance.

The fee depends on the complexity of your flows, the number of jurisdictions involved and the type of engagement, whether filing or structuring. We provide a quote after analysing your situation.

No. You can employ a French-based employee without setting up a French entity, by registering with URSSAF's Service Firmes Étrangères for foreign employers. A local entity becomes necessary once you want a genuine commercial presence, sign French leases or contracts in your own name, or grow past a small headcount.

You register with URSSAF's Service Firmes Étrangères, which issues you a SIRET for payroll purposes without creating a French establishment. You still file the standard DPAE before the employee starts and monthly DSN payroll declarations afterward.

Non-resident payroll withholding uses a three-bracket scale on net taxable pay: 0% up to a first threshold, 12% on the next bracket, and 20% above that, with lower rates for overseas departments. These thresholds are set by the finance law and revised annually.

It depends on the applicable tax treaty and where the work is physically performed, not on where the employer is based. Days worked in France are generally taxable in France, and days worked abroad are taxed there, so split-time employees usually need an apportioned, treaty-based analysis rather than a single answer.

Use exempt benefits instead of raising gross salary: meal vouchers, gift vouchers, mobility allowances, and complementary health cover all reach the employee free of, or at reduced, social contributions. We help you build a package that raises net pay without raising employer cost proportionally.

Yes. Intéressement, participation and employer contributions to a PEE are exempt from standard social contributions, so they cost less than an equivalent gross salary increase. Companies under 50 employees pay no forfait social on these sums; larger companies pay a reduced forfait social instead of full payroll charges.

Reimbursements of real, documented business expenses, such as travel, meals while travelling, mileage, and home-office allowances within URSSAF's published scales, are free of contributions when they cover actual professional costs. Otherwise URSSAF treats them as disguised salary.

For 2026, the exempt employer share is capped at 7.32 euros per voucher, and your contribution must represent 50% to 60% of the voucher's face value. Above that cap or outside that range, the excess is added back into the social security base.

Gift vouchers tied to a recognised occasion (Christmas, marriage, birth, retirement, and similar) are exempt up to around 200 euros per event and per employee in 2026. You can give vouchers for several distinct occasions in the same year, each assessed against this per-event ceiling.

Yes, within limits. Mobility allowances, employer contributions to complementary health cover, and CESU vouchers are exempt from contributions up to their respective ceilings; amounts above those ceilings are added back to the social security base.

Registering a foreign employer with URSSAF typically takes a few weeks once the file is complete, and it must be done before the employee's first payroll. We prepare the file in parallel with your recruitment so registration does not delay the start date.

The DPAE (Déclaration Préalable à l'Embauche) is the mandatory pre-hiring notice to URSSAF. You can file it at the earliest 8 days before the start date, and at the latest immediately before the employee actually begins work, never after.

Roughly 25 to 45% of gross salary on top of the salary itself, depending on the employee's status and your collective bargaining agreement. We calculate the exact rate for your first hire in France.

Not necessarily. An Employer of Record avoids setup costs and works well for one or two hires, but its per-employee fee can exceed direct payroll management once you have several employees. We help you compare both costs against your actual headcount and timeline.

Not automatically. Employing someone in France exposes you to corporate tax only if that employee's activities create a French permanent establishment under the applicable tax treaty. A single remote or support employee, properly structured, does not necessarily trigger it, but this needs a case-by-case analysis.

No, not as a blanket rule. You owe the same core employer contributions (health, pension, unemployment, family allowance) as any French employer; some premises-based items may not apply if you have no French premises.

Shadow payroll is a parallel French payroll run to calculate and report French tax and social liabilities for an employee who stays on their home-country payroll for actual payment, typically used for inbound assignees and secondees. You need it whenever a France-based assignee's work creates French taxable income or social affiliation, even if they are never paid directly from France.

The price depends on the number of payslips, the complexity of your collective bargaining agreement and the level of HR support required. We provide a per-employee quote once we understand your organisation.

The president of a French SAS can be any individual or legal entity, French or foreign, with no requirement to reside in France. If they will personally work from France, though, they need the appropriate visa or residence permit.

You are civilly liable for management faults that cause loss to the company, its shareholders, or third parties, and criminally liable for offences such as misuse of corporate assets or breaches of the rules on capital, accounts, or bankruptcy. If the company is placed in liquidation, you can also be ordered to cover part of its debts personally where mismanagement contributed to the shortfall.

Yes. The tax authorities can hold you personally and jointly liable for the company's unpaid taxes if you used fraudulent manoeuvres or seriously and repeatedly failed to meet its tax obligations. Similar liability can apply for unpaid social security contributions.

You must approve the annual accounts at a shareholders' meeting within six months of the fiscal year-end, then file them with the commercial court registry within one month (two months if filed electronically). You must also keep the beneficial-owner register and the company's registry information up to date whenever they change.

The minutes must record the shareholders' approval of the annual accounts, the allocation of the results (dividends, reserves, or carried forward), and any related-party agreements disclosed to them. They must be signed and kept in the company's minute book to support the accounts filed with the registry.

Anyone who directly or indirectly holds more than 25% of the company's capital or voting rights, or who otherwise controls its management, must be declared as a beneficial owner. The declaration is filed through the Guichet unique and recorded in the National Business Register.

Late or missing filing is a criminal offence, punishable by a fine of up to €1,500 (€3,000 for a repeat offence within a year). The commercial court president can also order you to file under a daily penalty, appoint someone to file on the company's behalf at its expense, or open an inquiry into its financial situation.

You need contracts governed by French law and consistent with the applicable collective bargaining agreement; a group template drafted under a foreign law is not sufficient on its own. We adapt your group's template or draft compliant French contracts for each hire.

The price depends on the nature of the service: an annual package for company secretarial services, or fees per act for an amendment to the articles of association or an exceptional operation. We provide a clear quote once we have identified your needs.

Yes. A French branch is taxed in France on its French-source profits and can claim the CIR for R&D expenses incurred and deducted through the branch's French accounts.

Yes. Only expenses recorded in the French entity's accounts and deductible for French tax purposes are eligible; costs booked and deducted abroad do not qualify, even within the same group.

The tax authorities apply five criteria drawn from the OECD's Frascati Manual: novelty of the results sought, creativity of the concepts and hypotheses used, uncertainty over the outcome or how to reach it, a systematic approach to planning and recording the work, and transferability of the results to other researchers. An activity must meet all five to qualify as CIR-eligible R&D.

No, French law does not require the report to be in French, but the tax administration reviews it in French, so we always prepare it in French to avoid delays if your claim is reviewed.

Yes, but only within limits: expenses subcontracted to approved research organisations are eligible up to a multiple of your own in-house R&D spend, capped annually. If you have no in-house R&D expenses at all, your CIR base may be reduced or eliminated.

No. Patent filing, maintenance and defence costs have been excluded from the general CIR expense base since the 2025 Finance Law. A narrow, capped exception remains for small and medium enterprises under a separate innovation sub-scheme.

The 2025 Finance Law lowered the flat-rate overhead allowance, removed patent and technology-watch costs from the expense base, and ended the doubling of costs for young PhD hires and public-lab subcontracting. The 2026 Finance Law left the CIR rate and ceiling unchanged.

The CIR is immediately refundable for SMEs, young innovative companies and new companies. For large companies, it is first offset against corporate income tax for the following three financial years before any remaining balance is refunded.

Audits remain relatively rare given the number of CIR claimants, but the tax administration increasingly uses data-mining to select files. A well-documented file substantially limits your exposure.

You need contemporaneous time records showing the hours each researcher or technician spent on each R&D project, backed by a technical file describing the scientific uncertainty addressed and the work carried out. We help you set these up before an audit rather than reconstruct them once one starts.

Yes. CIR, CII and JEI status can all be combined, but the same expense cannot be claimed under both CIR and CII; where staff split time between R&D and innovation work, you allocate their cost between the two schemes accordingly.

The CIR rate is 30% of eligible R&D expenses up to 100 million euros per year, and 5% on the portion above that. We calculate the eligible base precisely to maximise your tax credit.

Our fees are set according to the engagement, whether assessment, building the claim or defence during an audit, and not solely as a percentage of the credit obtained. We give you a clear proposal before starting.

You get support for the financial and operational management of your French entity: budget monitoring, cash management, reporting and input on management decisions. The scope can be occasional or continuous, depending on your needs.

Once your French operations need a full-time, on-site finance function, typically as headcount, transaction volume or reporting complexity grow. Until then, outsourcing covers the same responsibilities without the cost of a hire.

Yes. We prepare consolidated reporting in the format and currency your parent company requires, alongside your French statutory accounts.

Yes. We report directly to your group CFO and can attend board meetings to present the French entity's financial position.

We hand over your processes, reporting templates and financial history to your new finance lead, and stay available during the transition. This keeps your French entity's financial management running without a gap.

Yes. We build and monitor your French entity's budget and cash-flow forecast, and update it as your business evolves.

Yes. We can manage the relationship with your French bank and organise payment approval processes, within the mandate you give us.

This depends on the state of your files and the handover from your current provider. A straightforward transition usually takes no more than a few weeks, and we coordinate directly with the outgoing provider.

Yes. We prepare the financial information and documentation needed for a funding round or a group or statutory audit, and liaise directly with your investors' or auditors' teams.

French law requires action once losses bring your entity's equity below half its share capital. The director must convene the shareholders within four months of approving the accounts to vote on early dissolution; if they choose to continue, equity must be restored, or capital reduced, within two financial years. Failing to act exposes the director to personal liability.

Either. We can work in your existing accounting system or use ours, depending on what works best for your reporting and your group's requirements.

It depends on the nature and duration of the assignment: a one-off diagnosis, setting up dashboards, or long-term outsourced management. We prepare a tailored quote after an initial free discussion about your needs and your stage of development.

We coordinate the process wherever you are expanding, through local partners built up over more than twenty years of activity. We are not limited to a fixed list of countries.

Yes. We support both French companies and international groups in their development beyond France: expansion strategy, structuring abroad and coordination of our local partners.

Both. We define the expansion strategy, then support you in its execution: structuring, setting up processes, consolidated reporting and performance management.

Both. We support French companies expanding abroad and foreign companies setting up in France; this has been the core of our activity since 2003.

We select and brief local partners for each project and stay your single point of contact throughout. You deal with us, not with separate advisers in every country.

Yes. We review your planned activity for permanent-establishment and VAT exposure before you set up, and flag the structuring choices that reduce that risk.

Yes. We help you set and document intra-group pricing between your French entity and new subsidiaries, in line with transfer-pricing requirements.

Yes. We advise on the holding structure for multi-country expansion, then support you in setting it up and coordinating it with our local partners.

Yes. We support the structuring of secondments and posted-worker arrangements, coordinating with our local partners on social security and labour-law compliance in the destination country.

This depends on the country and the structure you choose: a few weeks for a simple setup, several months for a fully operational subsidiary. We set the timeline with you at the start of the project.

The fee depends on the countries involved and the scope of the project, from a single market assessment to full multi-country structuring. We provide a quote after understanding your expansion plans.

Recruitment and HR, insurance, banking services, specialist legal advice, commercial real estate, IT and communication, among others. Our goal is to surround you with reliable players in every key area of your business in France.

Depending on your needs, we point you to one of our trusted partners and make the introduction easier. You benefit from a network built over more than twenty years of activity, without having to find the right contacts yourself.

Introductions to our network are part of our overall support. The services provided by our partners are subject to their own terms, which we present to you with full transparency.

Yes. Banking is one of the areas covered by our partner network, and we introduce you to partners experienced with foreign-owned entities.

Yes. We work alongside your existing advisers at home and coordinate directly with them on the French side of your operations.

Yes. For international matters, we're affiliated with IR Global, a network of more than 1,530 specialists across 120+ countries. This means we can confidently connect you with the right expertise for your specific situation, wherever it's needed.

Yes. Software recommendations are part of our partner network, and we point you to payroll and accounting solutions used and supported in France.