Forming a French company as a foreign founder

The choice of form is presented as a tax question and almost never is. It is a question about the director's social security position and about who will own the company in five years.

Three forms cover the overwhelming majority of cases. The société par actions simplifiée, and its single-shareholder version the SASU, is a company whose internal organisation is largely defined by its own articles and whose chairman is affiliated to the general social security scheme as an assimilated employee. The société à responsabilité limitée, and its single-member EURL, is more rigidly framed by statute, and a majority-owning manager is affiliated to the scheme for self-employed workers instead. The société civile is not a commercial company at all and is used to hold assets, typically property, rather than to trade. The affiliation difference is what usually decides, because it changes both the cost and the cover.

What actually separates them for a foreign founder

The director's social position. Assimilated-employee affiliation gives cover closer to that of an employee, at a higher contribution cost; self-employed affiliation costs less and covers less. Neither is better in the abstract, and the answer depends on your family situation and on what cover you already hold elsewhere.
Freedom to organise. An SAS lets the articles define governance, share classes and transfer restrictions with considerable latitude, which is why investors expect it. An SARL follows a statutory template that is harder to shape.
Who will join the capital. If outside investors are foreseeable, the SAS is the form they will ask for, and converting later is possible but is an operation with its own cost and formalities.
Whether you are trading at all. Holding property or investments through a société civile is a different exercise from operating a business, with different tax consequences that must be examined before rather than after.

The incorporation sequence

The order is fixed and each step depends on the previous one. The articles of association are drafted and the registered office is secured, whether at premises, at a domiciliation provider or, subject to conditions, at the director's own address. The share capital is deposited into a blocked account, and the depositary issues a certificate. A notice of incorporation is published in an authorised legal announcements publication. The file is then submitted through the single online gateway operated by the INPI, which forwards it to the registry of the commercial court and to the tax and social authorities. Registration produces the SIREN identifier and the extract known as the Kbis, which is the company's proof of existence for every counterparty. The beneficial owners are declared to the dedicated register.

The bank account sets the real timetable

Every founder is surprised by this and every founder experiences it. The capital cannot be deposited without an account, and opening a business account for a company whose director has just arrived in France, or has not yet arrived, is subject to anti-money-laundering checks that take time and that no amount of urgency shortens. A director with no French address history, no French tax number and a foreign passport is exactly the profile that receives the longest review. Begin this step before drafting anything, and treat every other deadline as dependent on it. The same checks, for the same reasons, apply to your own personal account — Opening French bank accounts and moving your money in covers what the bank asks for and how to shorten the wait.

Choosing the registered office

The registered office determines which registry handles the company and which tax office it reports to, and it appears on every document. A domiciliation provider is a legitimate and common solution for a new company, provided it is properly authorised; using an address you do not control, or one whose lease forbids it, produces problems at the first formality. Where the director's own home is used, conditions apply and they depend on the lease and on local rules, best settled before signing anything, long before registration. Once the company exists, it carries its own recurring obligations — The company secretary France does not have, and who fills the gap sets out what they are and who performs each of them.

Corporate forms, capital requirements, publication rules and registration procedures are governed by French company law and are not reproduced here in numerical detail: they change, and a wrong figure in this area is more damaging than an absent one. This page is general information. Drafting articles of association and completing incorporation formalities are acts performed by a lawyer or an accountant; this firm does not perform them and advises on the patrimonial and tax position around the structure.

Frequently asked questions

SAS or SARL: which should I choose?

Decide on the director's social security position and on who will own the company later, not on tax. In an SAS the chairman is affiliated to the general scheme as an assimilated employee, with cover closer to an employee's and a higher contribution cost; in an SARL a majority-owning manager falls under the self-employed scheme, which costs and covers less. The SAS also allows the articles to define governance and share classes freely, which is why outside investors generally expect it.

What is the slowest part of setting up?

The bank account, by a wide margin, and it is the step founders schedule last. Share capital must be deposited before the company can be registered, and opening a business account for a company whose director is newly arrived or not yet resident triggers anti-money-laundering checks that take weeks rather than days. A foreign passport, no French address history and no French tax number is precisely the profile that receives the longest review. Start there and let the rest follow.

Can I use my home address as the registered office?

Sometimes, subject to conditions that depend on your lease, on the building's rules and on local regulations, and it is best settled before you sign a lease, well before registration itself. The alternative used by most new companies is an authorised domiciliation provider, which is entirely legitimate. Using an address you do not control, or one whose lease forbids commercial use, causes problems at the first formality, because the registry checks the entitlement.

Do I need to declare who owns the company?

Yes. The beneficial owners must be declared to the dedicated register at incorporation, and the declaration must be updated whenever the ownership or control changes. This is one of the obligations most frequently forgotten by foreign founders, because in several jurisdictions an appointed officer maintains it as a matter of routine and here nobody is appointed to do so. An out-of-date beneficial ownership declaration is a recurring source of difficulty with banks and counterparties.

ÉTHIQUE ET PATRIMOINE, a French simplified joint-stock company (SAS), registered office at 41 rue Saint-Ferdinand, 75017 Paris, France, Paris Trade Register no. 803 414 796, VAT no. FR 40 803 414 796, registered with ORIAS under number no. 24001817 (www.orias.fr) — Financial investment adviser (CIF) no. 18002418, member of ANACOFI-CIF, a professional association approved by the Autorité des marchés financiers, and Anacofi-Courtage for its brokerage activity. Presence: Paris, Montpellier, Singapore, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Shanghai and Dubai.

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Written by Stéphane Molère, Président d'Éthique et Patrimoine — page last reviewed on 2026-08-30 — rules quoted are those in force at that date.