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Company formation in France has had a single entry point since 1 January 2023: the guichet unique des formalités des entreprises at formalites.entreprises.gouv.fr, operated by INPI. It replaced the business formalities centres (CFE), and since 1 January 2025 it is the only channel for entries in the Registre du commerce et des sociétés (RCS). One online application reaches the greffe of the commercial court that keeps the RCS, INSEE, the business tax office (SIE) and the social security bodies. Whether you call it company registration in France or création d’une entreprise, Service-Public lists the same order: legal form and name, registered office, capital deposit, appointment of the director, signed statuts, legal notice, then the filing. An ordinary SAS or SARL needs neither a notary nor a founder who lives in France.
Four forms cover almost every new French company, and all four limit each owner’s liability to what they contributed. The SAS (société par actions simplifiée) issues shares and leaves most of its governance to the statuts; with one shareholder it is an SASU. The SARL (société à responsabilité limitée) issues parts sociales under a framework laid down in the Code de commerce; with one member it is an EURL. The SARL is the closest French counterpart of an LLC, a GmbH or an aktiebolag.
| Point | SAS / SASU | SARL / EURL |
|---|---|---|
| Owners | At least 2 associés, no upper limit; 1 in an SASU | 2 to 100 associés; 1 in an EURL |
| Share capital | Fixed freely in the statuts, with a minimum of €1 | No minimum set by law |
| Cash paid in at formation | At least half, the rest within 5 years of registration | At least a fifth, the rest within 5 years |
| Contributions in kind | Valued by a commissaire aux apports, unless waived unanimously where no contribution exceeds €30,000 and the total is at most half the capital | The same rule |
| Who runs it | A président, a natural person or a company | One or more gérants, natural persons only |
| Manager’s social security | Président treated as an employee (assimilé salarié) | Majority gérant self-employed (TNS); minority or equal gérant in the general scheme |
| Sale of shares | Transferable unless the statuts add approval, pre-emption or a lock-up of up to 10 years | Sale to an outsider needs the consent of associés holding at least half the parts |
Three French specifics usually decide. Only an SAS can have a company as its président, so a foreign parent that wants to hold the mandate itself needs an SAS or SASU. A SARL must be run by a natural person, whose social security status depends on the parts that person holds. And the reduced 15% corporate tax rate is open only to companies whose share capital is fully paid up, so a company that pays in half its capital at formation stays on 25% until the balance is paid.
| Requirement | What French law and Service-Public ask |
|---|---|
| Founders | Any nationality and country of residence; natural persons or companies |
| Président or gérant | An adult with full legal capacity, not banned from managing, not personally bankrupt and not convicted of offences such as theft, fraud or breach of trust |
| Residence of the director | None to create the company or hold the mandate from abroad; a non-EU national who lives in France and runs it there needs a residence permit |
| Statuts | Written, signed by all owners, giving name, form, registered office, contributions, capital, purpose and a duration of at most 99 years; a notary only when real estate is contributed |
| Registered office | The legal representative’s home, business premises, a coworking space, an incubator, or a domiciliation company approved by the prefecture under a written contract of at least three months |
| Capital deposit | A blocked account for the company in formation at a credit institution or with a notary, never at a payment institution |
| A company as président (SAS only) | A Kbis under three months old or other proof of existence, and the identity and sworn declaration of its permanent representative |
| Beneficial owners | A declaration naming each natural person who holds over 25% of the capital or votes or otherwise controls the company |
The legal representative’s home can be the registered office with no time limit where no law or contract forbids it; where the lease or the building’s rules do, it can still be used for up to five years from registration (Article L123-11-1 of the Code de commerce).
Registration gives the company a nine-digit SIREN that identifies it, a fourteen-digit SIRET for each establishment and an APE activity code, all APE codes being recoded under the NAF 2025 nomenclature from 1 January 2027. The Kbis extract, issued by the greffe, is the official proof that a commercial company is on the RCS and shows its name, SIREN, form, capital, addresses, creation date, activity and managers. Anyone can order one on infogreffe.fr; the company’s director can download it through Monidenum. A Kbis asked for usually has to be under three months old, though many administrations now accept the SIREN or the RNE extract from the Annuaire des entreprises.
The intracommunity VAT number is FR, a two-digit key and the SIREN. The SIE sends it automatically at registration to a company liable to VAT; a company under the franchise en base must request it through its professional space on impots.gouv.fr.
| Obligation | Rule for an SAS, SASU, SARL or EURL |
|---|---|
| Corporate tax (impôt sur les sociétés) | 25%; 15% on profit up to €42,500 where turnover is at most €10 million, the share capital is fully paid up and at least 75% of it is held by natural persons |
| Income tax option | A young SAS or SARL meeting the conditions may elect, once, to be taxed in its owners’ hands for five financial years |
| VAT franchise en base | No VAT while the previous year’s turnover stays below the threshold of €85,000 for sales and accommodation or €37,500 for services; VAT applies from the day current-year turnover passes €93,500 or €41,250. Unchanged for 2026; the single €25,000 threshold proposed in 2025 was abandoned |
| VAT rates | 20% standard; 10%, 5.5% and 2.1% for listed goods and services |
| Annual accounts | Approved within six months of the year end in a SARL or EURL, within the period the owners set in an SAS, then filed within one month at the greffe or two months online; a micro company may file a confidentiality declaration |
| Statutory auditor | Compulsory once two of three thresholds are exceeded: €5 million balance sheet total, €10 million turnover, 50 employees |
| Beneficial owners | Any change declared within 30 days |
A foreign company can own all the shares of an SASU or EURL. In an SAS or SASU it can also be the président, acting through a permanent representative, so nobody has to be appointed personally to run the subsidiary; an EURL or SARL still needs a natural-person gérant. Where the parent is registered outside the EU, as a UK, US or Swiss company is, its statutes must also be translated into French and certified by that representative. The subsidiary is a French company in its own right, with its own SIREN, accounts and tax return.
The alternative is a branch (succursale): the foreign company registers a French establishment on the RCS through the same portal, filing its own statutes, translated where needed and certified by the person in charge of the branch, an extract from its home register under three months old, proof that it occupies the premises, and that person’s identity documents and sworn declaration. No French company is formed, so there are no French statuts and no shares.
With a one-working-day deadline for the greffe on a complete file, and INPI reporting that half of the applications on the portal are processed and validated within a day, buying an existing company in France seldom saves registration time. What a ready-made company adds is an earlier creation date on its Kbis, an issued SIREN and, where the SIE issued one, a VAT number. Where that date matters to a contract or a counterparty, read our page on ready-made shelf companies in France; otherwise a new company with statuts drafted around the business is normally the simpler route.
Infogreffe states that the greffe registers a company within one clear working day of receiving a complete file, and INPI reports that half of the applications on the guichet unique are processed and validated in a day. Those are their figures, not a promise. An incomplete file restarts the clock: missing items must arrive within fifteen days.
Yes. Service-Public states that a foreigner can create a company in France without residing there, with no visa or residence permit, and a non-EU national can be président or gérant from abroad. A permit is needed only if that person will actually and habitually run the company in France, for example the entrepreneur/profession libérale card or a passeport talent. EU, EEA and Swiss nationals need none.
An SAS needs at least €1 of capital, fixed freely in its statuts, and the law sets no minimum for a SARL. At formation at least half of the cash contributions must be paid into the blocked account for an SAS, and a fifth for a SARL, with the balance due within five years. Until the capital is fully paid up, the company cannot use the reduced 15% corporate tax rate.
The SARL, société à responsabilité limitée: two to one hundred members, liability limited to their contributions, gérants who must be natural persons, and sales of parts to outsiders subject to the members’ consent. Its single-member version is the EURL. The SAS is also a limited liability company, but it issues shares, can be run by another company and leaves most internal rules to its statuts.
The capital has to be deposited before registration with a credit institution or a notary, never a payment institution; after registration the funds are released into an account in the company’s name. Where banks refuse, French law gives a company a right to an account designated through the Banque de France. Our guide to bank accounts for French companies covers what banks ask for.
SAS stands for société par actions simplifiée, a simplified joint-stock company. It has at least two associés, or one in the SASU version, at least €1 of capital, and a président who may be a natural person or another company. The président is treated as an employee for social security, and the company pays corporate tax at 25%, or 15% on a first slice of profit if it qualifies.
We can form a new SAS, SASU, SARL or EURL for you, or supply a ready-made French company instead. We prepare the statuts, the formation documents and the filing on the guichet unique, help prepare the company’s bank application and, where we have a working contact at a suitable bank, introduce you, while the bank alone decides whether to open the account.
Tell us what the French company will do, who will own and run it and where they live, and we will set out what its formation needs. Write to us through the contact page, or on Telegram or WhatsApp at +48 663 247 166.
Related pages: the France overview, bank accounts for French companies, ready-made shelf companies in France and our guide to off-the-shelf companies.