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A French company gives a foreign business a legal person of its own in France: a party French customers can contract with, an employer for local staff and, for a group, a subsidiary taxed in France. The usual vehicle is the SAS (société par actions simplifiée), chosen by most founders and foreign groups, or the SASU when it has one shareholder. Every company is entered on the commercial register kept by the greffes within INPI’s national business register, and every formality, from registration to a change of director, goes through one online portal, the guichet unique. A French trading company liable to VAT trades within the EU under an intracommunity number built on its nine-digit SIREN.
Anyone looking for a French limited company, or a franskt aktiebolag, meets four private forms, each capping an owner’s liability at what they put in. SAS owners hold actions and write most governance into the statuts; SARL owners hold parts sociales under a framework the Code de commerce fixes. Registration of each is explained under company formation in France.
| Form | Owners | Capital | Managed by | Where it fits |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SAS | Two or more shareholders, with no upper limit | Set in the statuts; €1 of capital is enough | A président, who may be an individual or another company | The form most founders and foreign groups pick |
| SASU | A single shareholder, person or company | Same rules as the SAS | A président, who can be the sole shareholder | A wholly owned subsidiary of a foreign company, or a founder acting alone |
| SARL | From two to one hundred associés | No minimum in the law | One or more gérants, always individuals | Owners content to follow the framework of the Code de commerce |
| EURL | One associé | No minimum in the law | A gérant, who must be an individual | The single-member SARL |
| Succursale (branch) | The foreign company itself | No capital of its own | A person in charge of the French establishment | A foreign company working in France without forming a French one |
The SA, which needs at least €37,000 of capital, serves larger companies and is seldom what a founder sets up.
| Tax | Rule in France |
|---|---|
| Corporate tax (impôt sur les sociétés) | 25% of taxable profit |
| Small company band | 15% on profit up to a €42,500 threshold, for companies with turnover of no more than €10 million whose capital is fully paid and at least three quarters held by individuals |
| Option for young companies | An SAS or SARL formed less than five years ago that meets the conditions may elect, once, to have its profit taxed in its owners’ hands for five financial years |
| VAT rates | 20% standard; 10%, 5.5% and 2.1% for listed goods and services |
| VAT franchise en base | No VAT is charged while turnover stays under €85,000 for sales or €37,500 for services, with higher tolerance thresholds within the year; unchanged for 2026 |
| Dividends paid abroad | French withholding tax can be removed for a qualifying parent company elsewhere in the EU under the Parent-Subsidiary Directive, or reduced under a tax treaty |
| Tax treaties | Roughly 120 comprehensive treaties, among the largest networks in the world |
Interest and royalties paid within the EU can likewise escape withholding under the Interest and Royalties Directive, provided residence, beneficial ownership and France’s anti-abuse rules are satisfied.
French company law asks nothing about nationality or residence. Shareholders may be individuals or companies from any country, and the président of an SAS or the gérant of a SARL may hold the post from abroad with no visa or residence permit. Only a non-EU national who moves to France and actually runs the company there needs a permit that allows it, such as a passeport talent; EU, EEA and Swiss nationals need none. The person appointed must be of age and legally capable, and not under a management ban, in personal bankruptcy or convicted of listed offences.
Each company also declares its beneficial owners, the individuals with over a quarter of the capital or votes or with control by other means, to the registre des bénéficiaires effectifs (RBE) held by INPI; where nobody meets that test, the legal representative is entered. The declaration accompanies the registration, and each later change follows within 30 days.
Each year the owners approve the accounts: SARL and EURL owners no later than six months after the financial year closes, SAS owners by the deadline in the statuts. The accounts are then lodged with the greffe within a month, or two months online, and a micro company, one within two of three thresholds (€450,000 balance sheet, €900,000 turnover, ten employees), may keep them confidential. A commissaire aux comptes, the statutory auditor, is compulsory only above two of three higher thresholds: a €5 million balance sheet, €10 million of turnover before VAT and a workforce of 50. The corporate tax return follows every year, active or not.
In France the bank comes before registration: the cash capital of an SAS or SARL goes into a blocked account for the company being formed, held by a bank or a notary but never by a payment institution, and is released once the company is registered. For the operating account, banks expect a Kbis under three months old, certified statuts and identification for each legal representative, and at least one bank we checked has the contract signed in a branch. A company every bank refuses can invoke the droit au compte, under which the Banque de France designates one. Company deposits are protected by the FGDR up to €100,000 per bank. Our guide to bank accounts for French companies sets out each bank’s requirements.
Forming new suits most owners. On Infogreffe’s own figures a complete file is registered by the greffe within a clear working day, so registration time is rarely a reason to buy, and a new company starts with statuts drafted for its business. A ready-made company is worth considering when an earlier creation date on the Kbis matters to a counterparty, a lender or a public tender, or when the owners want a SIREN, and perhaps a VAT number, that already exists. Buying is a sale of shares or parts followed by the appointment of a new director. See company formation in France, ready-made shelf companies in France and our guide to off-the-shelf companies.
We supply ready-made French companies and also form new ones. For either we draw up the documents, whether statuts or a share transfer with the appointment of a new président or gérant, and make the filings on the guichet unique. We also help assemble the bank application, and if we know a suitable bank through a working contact, we can introduce the company to it; opening the account stays the bank’s own decision.
Not as a single office. The greffe of each commercial court keeps the RCS, the commercial register, for its own area, the data sits in the Registre national des entreprises that INPI operates, and all filings pass through the guichet unique. Every company has a nine-digit SIREN, and the greffe’s Kbis is the official proof that a company is registered, showing its name, capital, address, activity, managers and creation date. Anyone may order a Kbis through infogreffe.fr.
The SAS, in most cases. A company can be its président, so a foreign parent can take the management itself through a permanent representative, and the statuts can add approval, pre-emption or lock-up clauses as the owners wish. Its président counts as an employee for social security. A SARL needs an individual as gérant, treats a majority gérant as self-employed, and admits an outside buyer of parts only with the approval of associés holding half of them or more.
Fewer people than is often assumed. The Kbis and the RNE extract show the company’s managers but not its shareholders, who appear only in the company’s own records unless the statuts name them. The register of beneficial owners has been closed to the general public since 31 July 2024: public authorities, firms bound by anti-money-laundering rules and people who can demonstrate a legitimate interest may consult it. A buyer therefore asks the company for its share register and current declaration.
Yes, for a limited time. A company can declare itself en sommeil for two years at most. It keeps its registration but must still draw up, approve and file its annual accounts and send a corporate tax return marked “néant”, and the local business tax known as CFE remains due for the first twelve months of inactivity, while VAT returns stop. If nothing has been filed by the end of the two years, the greffier may strike the company off.
Tell us what your French company will do, who will own it and where its director will live, and we will say whether a new SAS or SARL or one of the ready-made companies available now fits better. Contact us, or send a message on Telegram or WhatsApp to +48 663 247 166.