Setting up a company in France
To set up a company in France from abroad, you will usually form an SAS, which the official business site calls the most common commercial company form, its one-shareholder version (SASU) or an SARL. You sign the articles, deposit the capital in a French bank account, publish a legal notice and file everything online through the Guichet unique, which enters the company in the national registers. A foreign company can instead open a branch. No French residence is needed to own or form the company, but living and working in France is a separate question.
The route in short:
- Choose the form: SAS, SASU, SARL, EURL, or a branch of your existing company.
- Fix the basics: company name, registered office in France, the person who will run it.
- Draft and sign the articles (statuts).
- Deposit the share capital with a bank and collect the deposit certificate.
- Publish the formation notice in an authorised legal gazette.
- File the registration on the Guichet unique; the company is then entered in the RNE and the RCS.
- Start the tax side: the local business tax office, the VAT number and, for some founders, a residence permit.
Who can set up a company in France from abroad
Nationality does not stop you. The French administration’s business site states that a foreigner can create a company in France without living there, and that someone who does not plan to stay more than 90 days in any 180-day period needs no visa or residence permit to create it. The same page confirms that you can be the company’s legal representative (mandataire social) while living abroad.
The line is drawn at day-to-day presence. Running the business effectively and habitually on French soil requires a residence permit that allows it, unless you are a citizen of the EU, the EEA or Switzerland, who need no permit to create a business. Shareholders can be people or companies in both the SAS and the SARL.
Choose the structure: SAS, SARL or a branch
Four company forms and one branch route cover almost every foreign project.
| Structure | Shareholders | Minimum capital | Paid in at formation | Who runs it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SAS | 2 or more | €1 | at least half of cash contributions | a président, person or company |
| SASU | 1 | €1 | at least half of cash contributions | a président, person or company |
| SARL | 2 to 100 | none | 20% of cash contributions | one or more gérants, natural persons only |
| EURL | 1 | none | at least 20% of cash contributions | a gérant, natural person only |
| Branch | none (part of the parent) | none of its own | not applicable | a representative of the parent |
The SAS figures come from the official SAS guide: capital is set freely with a €1 minimum, at least half of the cash contributions is paid in at creation and the rest within five years of registration. The SASU guide applies the same rules to a single shareholder, who may be an individual or a company. For the SARL, the official page sets 2 to 100 members, no minimum capital, 20% of cash paid at creation and the balance within five years, and requires the gérant to be a natural person. The EURL is the one-member SARL.
Why foreign groups often pick the SAS or SASU. A company can be its président, and the articles can shape governance and share transfers freely. The flip side, as the SAS guide itself notes, is that the articles are harder to draft, and it recommends a specialised lawyer.
Why some founders prefer the SARL. More of its rules are fixed by the Commercial Code, such as the majorities for shareholder decisions, so the articles leave fewer choices open. You cannot appoint a company as gérant, so a parent company needs a person in that role.
The branch. Business France explains that a branch has no legal personality of its own and the foreign parent carries its liability. It must do the same business as the parent, register with the RCS and keep accounts, and its documents must be certified and translated into French. The public limited company (SA) also exists, with a minimum capital of €37,000, far above what the other forms require.
Contributions in kind, such as equipment or a trademark, normally need a valuation by a commissaire aux apports. The shareholders can skip it unanimously when no single item is worth more than €30,000 and the total stays at or below half the capital.
Step 1: Fix the name, the registered office and the director
The official checklist of steps before registration starts with the form, the company name and the domiciliation. Check that the name is free and that the planned activity is not regulated: a regulated trade needs its own authorisation or approval before you file.
Every company needs a registered office in France before it can be registered. The rules on domiciliation allow three common options:
- The legal representative’s home, if that person lives in France and the lease or building rules allow it.
- Commercial or professional premises you rent or buy.
- A domiciliation company, which must hold a prefectoral approval and signs a contract with you for at least three months.
Founders who live abroad usually take the third option, since the first is open only to the legal representative and only at a French home. Decide at the same time who will be président or gérant, because that person’s ID and sworn statement go into the file.
Step 2: Draft and sign the articles
The articles (statuts) set the company’s name, object, seat, capital, shares and governance. In an SAS they also carry the rules the law leaves open: how decisions are taken, who may sell shares and to whom, and the powers of the président and any directeur général.
Signatures and documents from abroad are where time goes. When the director is a company registered outside the EU, the registration file must include its articles translated into French and certified by its permanent representative. Plan apostilles and certified translations early, and keep the final articles dated on or after the capital deposit.
Step 3: Open a bank account and deposit the capital
Any company with share capital must have a business bank account, at least to receive the capital. The bank issues a certificate of deposit of funds (attestation de dépôt des fonds), which goes into the registration file with the list of subscribers. The capital is released to the company once it is registered.
The bank asks for proof of the company’s address, such as the domiciliation contract, and may also want the legal notice, a forecast or a business plan. For a founder with no French address or banking history this step often takes longest, so prepare the documents before the first appointment.
Step 4: Publish the formation notice
Before filing, the company announces its creation in a gazette authorised to carry legal notices (a SHAL). The price is a flat fee set each year. For 2026, in metropolitan France and excluding VAT, the official table lists €199 for an SAS, €142 for an SASU, €148 for an SARL and €124 for an EURL. The gazette sends a certificate of publication, which you attach to the file.
Step 5: File on the Guichet unique to set up a company in France
All registrations go through one online portal, the Guichet unique des formalités d’entreprises, run by INPI. INPI also operates the Registre national des entreprises (RNE), which replaced the earlier business registers. Once the request is made, the company is automatically entered in the RNE and the RCS.
For an SAS or SASU, the file contains:
- the dated and signed articles;
- proof of the registered office (a lease, a utility bill or the domiciliation contract);
- the certificate of publication of the legal notice;
- the bank’s certificate of deposit with the list of subscribers;
- a copy of the director’s ID and a signed sworn statement of no conviction and of parentage;
- for a corporate director, its register extract and, if it is from outside the EU, its translated articles.
The official cost of registering a commercial company with the RCS is €33.83, plus €19.33 for the declaration of beneficial owners, on top of the legal notice. After filing you receive a receipt marked “En attente d’immatriculation”, valid for at most one month. If something is missing, you have 15 working days to send it. No official page gives a fixed processing time, so treat any promised date as an estimate.
You may start trading before the entry, but every document must then carry the words “Société en cours de formation”. Trading without registration in the RNE is an offence, punishable by a fine of €7,500.
Step 6: Register for tax and get the VAT number
Registration on the Guichet unique also informs the tax administration. In most cases a company deals with the Service des impôts des entreprises (SIE) where it is established, which handles corporate tax, VAT and the local business levy (CET) for small and medium-sized firms.
A company liable for VAT receives its intra-EU VAT number automatically from the SIE at registration. A business that is not liable to pay VAT must ask for one through its professional account on impots.gouv.fr if it needs it.
A foreign business that sells in France without a company there follows other rules. If it is established outside the EU, has no permanent establishment in France and makes VAT-taxable sales, it must appoint a fiscal representative established in France. Businesses from a short list of countries follow rules similar to those for EU businesses.
How a French company is taxed
An SAS, SASU, SARL or EURL pays corporate tax (impôt sur les sociétés, IS) on the profits it makes in France.
Standard rate. The rate is 25% for financial years starting on or after 1 January 2022.
Reduced rate for SMEs. A rate of 15% applies to the first €42,500 of profit for a company with turnover of up to €10 million. The tax authority adds two conditions: the capital must be fully paid up and at least 75% held by individuals. For a subsidiary of a foreign group, check how the ownership test applies through the group before counting on the lower rate.
Social contribution. Companies with turnover of at least €7.63 million and corporate tax above €763,000 also pay a social contribution of 3.3% of the tax due.
VAT. The standard rate is 20%. Reduced rates of 10%, 5.5% and 2.1% apply to listed goods and services, such as restaurant meals, food products, books and some medicines.
The corporate tax return (form 2065) is due within three months of the year end; for a year closing on 31 December, the deadline is the second working day after 1 May.
Living and working in France: residence permits
Forming the company and moving to France are two different files. A non-EU founder who wants to live in France and run the business there first needs a long-stay visa that serves as a residence permit (VLS-TS), then a residence card. The official overview lists the “entrepreneur/profession libérale” card and the “talent” cards for project holders among the options.
The “Talent, business creator” permit, as Business France describes it, asks for a master’s degree or five years of comparable experience, a recognised and viable project and at least €30,000 invested, plus resources at the level of the minimum wage. It lasts up to four years and can be renewed. Apply through the French consulate in your country if you live abroad.
Running the company after registration
From the first financial year, the company keeps books, closes annual accounts and files them on the Guichet unique or with the commercial court registry. A few rules shape how you organise this:
- Who keeps the books. A company may keep its own accounts, but if it hands them to a professional, that professional must be an expert-comptable registered with the Ordre.
- Records. Accounting documents and vouchers are kept for at least ten years from the year end.
- Returns. Corporate tax, VAT returns on the regime that applies to you, and the CET.
- Changes. A new director, a new address or new shareholders are filed again through the Guichet unique.
Common mistakes when setting up in France
- Choosing a SARL with a company as manager. The law does not allow it; the gérant must be a person.
- Leaving the bank to the end. Without the deposit certificate there is no file to submit.
- Underestimating foreign documents. Apostilles and certified French translations often take longer than the French steps.
- Assuming the 15% rate. It depends on turnover, fully paid capital and 75% ownership by individuals.
- Confusing company and residence. Owning or directing a French company does not give you the right to live and work in France.
- Forgetting the fiscal representative. A non-EU business selling in France without a local company may need one before its first taxable sale.
Firms that help foreigners set up a company in France
Accountanty lists 116 accounting firms, law firms and corporate service providers in France, 81 of them focused on foreign clients and 83 offering company formation. Paris holds the largest group, with 68 firms on our Paris page, followed by Lyon with 26 and Nice with 19. Of the 116, 77 work in English and 17 in Italian.
How to compare an expert-comptable, an avocat and a domiciliation company, and what their quotes should contain, is covered on company formation in France. Once the company exists, firms listed for accounting, VAT, payroll and residency and visas take on the regular work. To set up a company in France with offers from several firms, send one quote request: it costs nothing, and Accountanty reviews it before passing it to firms that match.