Registering a French company through INPI does not automatically give a foreign founder a usable professional tax account. The company may already have a SIREN, a SIRET, a Kbis and a bank account while access to its account on impots.gouv.fr is still waiting for an email link, a postal activation code or a validation by the business tax office. SIREN is the nine-digit identifier of the legal entity; SIRET identifies an establishment; Kbis is the official extract showing a company’s registration; INPI is the French National Industrial Property Institute.

This distinction matters before the first VAT return, corporate-income-tax payment, CFE declaration or request for a tax certificate. A foreign parent, director or accountant may be able to prepare the file from abroad, but the French company still needs a reliable access route, a clear delegation and evidence of every attempted filing. An “account not activated” message is not the same as a company that has not been created, and neither situation should be confused with the personal tax position of the founder.

The practical route is to reconcile the INPI record with the tax record, choose the correct professional-account mode, activate the account within the official time limits and escalate quickly when the SIREN or a tax service is missing. This article sets out that route for foreign founders and foreign-owned companies, with a particular focus on proof, deadlines and the response to a blocked account. It does not address an individual’s move to France or a property purchase.

I. How do you create a French company’s professional tax account after INPI registration?

For the broader legal framework, see the firm’s French company formation and corporate structuring guidance.

INPI registration is the starting point, not the end of the tax-access process. The formalities are submitted through the Guichet unique, the one-stop portal for French business formalities, while the professional tax account is managed through the tax administration’s online services. The two systems exchange information, but a foreign founder should verify the result instead of assuming that a successful INPI filing has created a working login.

A. What do SIREN, SIRET, Kbis, INPI and the professional tax account each prove?

The first task is to build a one-page identity sheet for the French company. Put on it the exact corporate name, legal form, registered office, SIREN, SIRET, date of registration, Kbis date, financial year-end, VAT regime, corporate tax regime, name of the competent SIE and the email address intended for tax administration communications. SIE means service des impôts des entreprises, the business tax office. The DGFiP, or Directorate-General of Public Finance, is the administration behind the professional tax services. This sheet prevents a foreign parent’s trading name, a branch number or an accountant’s internal reference from being entered where the French legal entity’s identifier is required.

Article L. 123-33 of the Commercial Code describes the single-file principle for business creation. The provision states that, outside regulated activities, an enterprise must declare its creation through a single electronic file submitted to the designated body. The official text is available on Légifrance, Article L. 123-33 of the Commercial Code. In practice, the Guichet unique routes the information to the relevant registers and administrations. It does not replace the company’s separate obligation to monitor tax correspondence or to activate the professional account.

Article L. 123-9 of the Commercial Code explains why the registration record matters in dealings with administrations. It provides that a person subject to registration cannot generally oppose facts or acts that should have been published in the register if those facts have not been published. See the official wording in Article L. 123-9 on Légifrance. For a foreign founder, the operational consequence is simple: compare the Kbis and the INPI formalities history with the address, representative and activity shown in the tax account. A mismatch should be corrected or explained before an important return is transmitted.

Registration also creates a legal-person distinction. In Commercial Chamber of the Cour de cassation, 21 February 2012, no. 10-27.630, the court used the rule that “les sociétés commerciales jouissent de la personnalité morale à dater de leur immatriculation au registre du commerce et des sociétés”. The quotation means that a commercial company acquires legal personality from registration in the Trade and Companies Register. The professional tax account is a digital access mechanism for that legal person; it is not the event that creates the company. Conversely, a tax-account activation delay does not by itself mean that the company is unregistered.

This distinction is important when a bank, overseas parent or adviser asks for proof that the company exists. The Kbis or equivalent registry extract proves registration at the date shown on it. The SIREN identifies the legal person across administrations. The SIRET identifies a particular establishment and can change if the company has more than one establishment or moves its registered establishment. The VAT number identifies the company for VAT transactions and is not a substitute for the SIREN. A tax-account login proves control of an online service; it does not replace the Kbis.

The official business-creation information on impots.gouv.fr should be read together with the company’s formalities receipt. The receipt records the submission, while the final registration information should be checked against the issued Kbis and the INSEE identifiers. INSEE is the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies, which assigns the SIREN and SIRET data. If the company’s legal name is truncated, an address is incomplete or the activity code is unexpected, keep the receipt and request correction through the relevant channel.

The tax account has a different job. The professional account can be used to consult the tax account, file and pay VAT, pay corporate income tax, request VAT-credit refunds, pay certain local taxes and obtain certificates. The official Service Public page for the professional EFI account lists these services. EFI means échange de formulaires informatisé, the electronic-filing route in which the business or its authorised user interacts with the tax administration’s online forms. EDI, or electronic data interchange, is a separate route commonly used by an accountant or software provider to transmit tax data.

The account should therefore be treated as a controlled corporate asset. Decide who will be the primary administrator, who will prepare returns, who may approve payment and where the recovery evidence will be stored. A foreign director may delegate day-to-day work to a French accountant, but the delegation should identify the entity, the services, the period and the permitted actions. Store the mandate, the confirmation of acceptance and the transmission receipts. Never give an adviser the only email address or recovery path without an internal copy of the access record.

Before opening the account, assemble a digital file in a stable format. Include the current Kbis, the INPI submission or registration receipt, the SIREN and SIRET, articles of association if requested, the representative’s identification, proof of authority, the French registered-office evidence, the corporate email address and a bank detail if a tax direct-debit mandate will be used. Keep a dated screenshot of the steps taken. If the founder is abroad, add a short authority letter explaining the relationship between the foreign parent, the French company and the person handling the account.

Do not try to solve an account problem by creating several accounts for the same company. Duplicate requests can make it harder to determine which email address, activation code or service enrolment is authoritative. First identify whether the existing request is in simplified mode, expert mode, or an adviser-led route. Then use the official recovery or contact procedure and keep the reference number. If a new request is unavoidable, document why the first one was abandoned.

The same discipline applies to the company’s financial calendar. Article 223 of the General Tax Code connects corporate income tax to the declaration of profit or loss. The official Article 223 text on Légifrance states that the declaration of profit or loss is made within three months after the financial year closes. The account is not merely for paying an amount already calculated. It is also the route by which a company files a nil or loss position, receives a request, obtains a certificate and preserves the electronic evidence of compliance.

A foreign founder should also distinguish the tax account from the company’s accounting system. The tax account does not prove that the books are complete, that a VAT treatment is correct or that a shareholder loan has been documented. It is a channel. The accounting ledger, bank records, contracts and tax computation remain the evidence supporting what is filed. The most reliable setup is one in which the director, accountant and parent company can reconcile the account activity with the underlying file.

B. Should a foreign founder use the simplified or expert mode on impots.gouv.fr?

The official tax administration provides a simplified mode and an expert mode. The best choice depends on who will operate the account, how many French entities are involved and which services must be activated. It is not a choice between a “real” company and a “temporary” company. Both modes concern access and service enrolment; neither changes the company’s legal form, tax regime or filing deadlines.

In simplified mode, the founder creates the professional space with the company’s SIREN, a company email address, a password and the requested identity information. The official impots.gouv.fr simplified-mode guidance explains that an email link must be used within 72 hours. The activation code is then sent by post and the space must be activated within 60 days. The postal step is easy to miss when the legal representative lives outside France and the registered office is a domiciliation provider, a coworking address or an accountant’s address.

The simplified mode is often workable for a single French SAS or SARL managed by one foreign founder, provided someone reliably receives and forwards the postal letter. The company should confirm who has physical access to the registered-office mailbox, how the envelope will be preserved and how the activation code will be transferred securely. A forwarding arrangement should not be assumed merely because ordinary corporate mail reaches the founder. Ask the registered-office provider for its mail-handling rules and retain the date the letter was received.

When the account is active, the company can enrol for the relevant services. For example, VAT filing and payment, corporate-income-tax payment and certain local-tax services may be selected separately. The company should not activate every available service without deciding who is responsible for each one. A service that generates an automatic obligation or a payment mandate should be linked to the calendar and the accounting workflow.

The expert mode is more appropriate where an accountant or in-house finance team handles several entities, where services must be managed at entity level, or where the company needs a more structured delegation. The official expert-mode guidance describes a first activation by email and a separate service-enrolment process. The business should prepare the company identification, the SIREN and SIRET, the representative’s authority and any document requested by the SIE. An accountant may assist more than one entity, but each entity’s permission and tax-service scope should be recorded separately.

Do not confuse the email activation period with the postal service-enrolment period. The email link can expire quickly, while the postal activation code has its own validity period. If one period is missed, restarting the entire process may be unnecessary; use the official request or contact route to determine whether the link or code can be reissued. Record the date of the request and the response. If the answer is only by telephone, write a contemporaneous note with the date, the number called, the name or service identified and the instruction received.

Foreign founders should make a deliberate decision about the account’s primary email. A personal email may be inaccessible when the founder changes jobs or leaves the group. A generic finance email may be controlled by a person who can leave without handing over the credentials. A company-controlled mailbox with at least two authorised recovery administrators is usually easier to govern. The address should be able to receive messages from the tax administration and should be monitored for links, notices and requests for supporting documents.

Electronic payment requires a further control. The official EFI and EDI guidance distinguishes the available transmission routes. For business-to-business SEPA direct debits, the company may need to approve a mandate and give its bank the RUM, or unique mandate reference, before the first payment. The bank must be able to recognise the mandate. CFE and certain property taxes follow different payment arrangements and should not be treated as if they were the same as VAT or corporate income tax.

The company should test the account before the first deadline, without transmitting a false return. Check that the legal entity appears under the expected SIREN, that the registered establishment is correct, that the intended tax services are available, that the user or adviser has the expected permission and that the payment bank account is correctly configured. A test of the user interface is not a tax filing. Do not click a payment or submit a declaration solely to see whether the button works.

If the foreign parent has a French subsidiary and a French branch, do not enrol both under the same internal name. Each entity needs its own SIREN and its own tax responsibility. If the parent has no French legal person but operates a taxable French establishment, ask the SIE which registration and tax-account route applies. The correct account may depend on the taxpayer’s French identifier, the tax representative and the type of service required.

The distinction also matters for VAT. A company can have a professional account but no VAT number, or a VAT number that is not yet displayed in the account. The VAT registration and the account enrolment should be followed as two linked but separate actions. The firm’s existing guidance on VAT registration in France for a foreign company can be read alongside the tax administration’s service instructions. If the SIE has requested evidence before assigning or activating a VAT number, upload or send the requested file through the channel identified in the request and retain proof.

Finally, record the selected mode in the company’s governance file. Note the administrator, the authorised adviser, the email address, the date of activation, the services enrolled, the payment mandate and the recovery process. That short record avoids a familiar failure after a founder changes accountant: the company has an account, but nobody can prove who controls it or which services were selected.

II. What should you do when the activation code or tax service is blocked?

A blocked tax account should be handled as a documented incident, not as a vague complaint that “the website does not work”. The first question is whether the problem is identity, delivery, service enrolment, technical availability or a substantive tax-file issue. Each category has a different next step. The company should preserve the deadline while the account is repaired and should never rely on a single screenshot without identifying what was attempted, when and with which company identifier.

A. How do you diagnose a missing code, unlinked SIREN or blocked service?

Start with the exact message and the time of the attempt. Save a screenshot showing the URL, the company identifier and the error, but also save the email headers, postal tracking, request reference and any response from the SIE. Ask the registered-office provider whether mail was received, returned, held or scanned. Confirm that the company’s name and address on the Kbis match the details used in the account request. A missing postal code can be a delivery issue; an unrecognised SIREN can indicate a registry or synchronisation issue; a disabled VAT service can mean that service enrolment has not been completed.

Use a four-column incident log: fact, evidence, administration contacted and next date. For example, “account request submitted on 22 August” is supported by the confirmation email; “activation letter not received” is supported by the registered-office mail log; “SIREN not recognised” is supported by the screenshot; “SIE contacted” is supported by the message or call note. This log is particularly important for a foreign founder who cannot attend the registered office or telephone during French opening hours.

Check the three identifiers separately. If the SIREN is wrong, the legal-entity record is the first problem. If the SIREN is correct but the SIRET is wrong, ask which establishment the service expects. If both are correct but the VAT service is absent, the problem may be VAT registration or service authorisation rather than account creation. If the Kbis is not yet available, obtain the current registration status and ask whether the tax administration has received the formalities data. Do not substitute the foreign parent’s registration number for the French company’s SIREN.

Next, distinguish a login failure from an activation failure. A password reset does not replace a missing postal code. A new email link does not necessarily enrol VAT. An account that opens but shows no entity may be active for the wrong profile. A service that appears but will not accept a return may require an additional mandate, tax registration or SIE validation. Note which stage has failed and describe it precisely in the contact request.

The official tax administration page “J’ai effectué les démarches de création de mon espace : quand pourrai-je l’utiliser ?” should be checked for the current activation sequence. The company should use the current instructions rather than a foreign accountant’s old checklist because the interface, deadlines and service labels can change. If the instructions conflict with the message received, attach both versions to the escalation and ask the SIE to confirm the operative route.

If the tax account shows the entity but the service is absent, ask for service-level activation rather than a new account. Identify the exact service: TVA, corporate income tax, CFE, CVAE, property tax or certificate. CVAE means cotisation sur la valeur ajoutée des entreprises, a business value-added contribution. A request that says only “please activate my tax account” may be routed too broadly and lose time. Include the SIREN, SIRET, Kbis date, representative, service requested and deadline.

If the company uses an accountant through EDI, check whether the issue is actually an EDI-TDFC transmission problem rather than an EFI account problem. The accountant’s software may have a rejected transmission receipt even though the company’s professional account opens normally. Obtain the rejection code and the transmission date. If a paper fallback is legally available for the specific filing, ask the SIE for written confirmation before using it. The existence of a technical problem should not be guessed from an informal description.

French administrative litigation shows why evidence matters. In CAA Lyon, 7 December 2023, no. 22LY03591, the court observed: “Alors qu’un tel message ne pouvait traduire un simple dysfonctionnement du site informatique de l’administration fiscale et appelait de manière suffisamment explicite à un nouvel envoi des déclarations demandées, et alors que la société disposait encore d’un délai de 9 jours pour se conformer à la mise en demeure, ce n’est que le 31 juillet 2013, qu’elle a transmis sa déclaration de résultats pour l’exercice clos le 31 janvier 2012, en version papier.” The decision concerned a filing dispute, not the modern account-creation interface, but its practical warning is relevant: a message may require a new submission, and a company that waits without using the available route may struggle to prove diligence.

The same decision states, in another passage, that “la circonstance alléguée que l’expert-comptable de la société ait estimé s’être heurté à un dysfonctionnement du site informatique de l’administration fiscale n’est en tout état de cause, pas de nature à justifier que la cour ramène à 10 % la majoration de 40 %”. Keep this quotation in its procedural context. It does not mean every genuine outage is irrelevant. It means that a general assertion by an adviser is weaker than a dated error, an attempted resubmission, a support ticket and a prompt escalation.

For a foreign founder, the evidence file should also show the time-zone issue and the company’s internal response. Record when the error was first seen in French time, who had authority to act, what alternative channel was considered and when the next attempt occurred. If the registered-office provider failed to forward the code, obtain a written explanation. If the tax administration asked for a document, send the document with a clear index and request a receipt. A well-organised file helps the company distinguish a technical blocker from a missing document.

Do not upload an irrelevant Kbis or a document belonging to the foreign parent just to make an upload field accept a file. An incorrect document can create an identity mismatch and prolong the review. Instead, ask the SIE which document is required and whether a certified translation, apostille or authority document is needed. Keep the original and the transmitted version. If the company’s representative has changed, submit the formalities record showing the change and explain whether the old account administrator should be removed.

B. How do you protect filing deadlines and escalate to the SIE?

Once the incident is diagnosed, build an escalation that protects the nearest legal deadline. Identify the return or payment, the tax period, the due date, the amount expected, the account or service needed, the failed route and the alternative route requested. Send the request through the official channel identified by the tax administration and to the competent SIE. A foreign founder should ask for a written response or a reference number, not rely solely on a general telephone assurance.

Electronic filing is not optional merely because the founder is abroad. Article 1738 of the General Tax Code provides a 0.2% surcharge for failure to comply with certain electronic-declaration or electronic-payment requirements, with statutory minimum amounts in the situations described by the text. Read the current wording on Article 1738 on Légifrance before advising on a particular return. The article does not mean that every account problem produces a surcharge, but it explains why the company should document the problem and ask promptly for the permitted filing route.

For VAT, the starting provisions are Articles 286 and 287 of the General Tax Code. Article 286 sets registration and accounting obligations for a person subject to VAT, while Article 287 addresses the return submitted by an identified VAT taxpayer. These provisions should be read with the company’s actual VAT regime and the tax administration’s current instructions. If the VAT service is blocked, state whether the request concerns the VAT number, the filing service, a refund, an intra-Community transaction or a nil return.

Article 289 of the General Tax Code concerns invoicing. The official Article 289 text on Légifrance begins: “I. – 1. Tout assujetti est tenu de s’assurer qu’une facture est émise”. A company should not solve a blocked tax account by issuing documents with an incorrect VAT number or by describing a tax registration as complete when it is not. If the business must invoice before the account is fully configured, obtain specific advice on the VAT status, invoice wording and evidence of the registration request.

Corporate income tax creates the same need for calendar protection. Article 223 links the declaration to the result and financial-year close; the company’s accountant should identify the form 2065, schedules and transmission route. If the first financial year has not closed, ask the accountant to document why no return is due at that point and which future date will trigger the first return. That written analysis is safer than a calendar entry saying simply “no activity”.

A company should also avoid treating a technical problem as a defence without testing the legal and factual conditions. In CAA Toulouse, 13 October 2022, no. 20TL21391, the court wrote: “En se bornant à se prévaloir de l’indisponibilité, pour raison de santé, de son épouse, habituellement chargée de ce type de formalités, M. C… n’établit pas avoir été dans l’impossibilité matérielle de procéder au dépôt de ces déclarations dans les délais prescrits. Par suite, c’est à bon droit que l’administration a fait application de la majoration de 40 % prévue par les dispositions du b du 1 de l’article 1728 du code général des impôts.” The decision concerns a personal circumstance and an assessed penalty, but the principle is useful for incident management: identify the actual impossibility, prove it, and show what was done to overcome it.

The company should distinguish the representative’s responsibility from the company’s liability. In Conseil d’État, 9 December 2022, no. 461887, the court stated: “Les dispositions de l’article 1728 du code général des impôts, selon lesquelles les suppléments de droits mis à la charge du contribuable peuvent être assortis d’une majoration en cas de défaut ou de retard de production d’une déclaration fiscale, ne sauraient être interprétées comme autorisant l’administration à mettre cette pénalité à la charge du contribuable lorsque celui-ci n’a pas pris personnellement part au défaut ou au retard déclaratif.” This passage does not remove the company’s filing obligation. It shows why the factual record must identify the taxpayer, the person who acted, the delegation and the cause of the delay before a penalty position is assessed.

When contacting the SIE, use a concise subject line: “SIREN [number] — professional tax account activation — [service] — deadline [date]”. The message should contain:

• the exact corporate name and SIREN;
• the SIRET and registered-office address;
• the Kbis or registration date;
• the legal representative and the authority of the person writing;
• the professional-account mode and email address used;
• the date of the request, the code or link issue and the exact error;
• the tax service and period concerned;
• the legal or administrative deadline;
• the documents attached, with a numbered index;
• the action requested, such as reissuing a code, linking the SIREN, activating a service or confirming an alternative filing route.

Attach only what is necessary and redact unrelated personal data. A foreign parent’s full corporate file may contain bank, shareholder or personal information that the SIE does not need for account activation. Send documents in the format requested by the administration and preserve the exact version transmitted. If a power of attorney is used, identify its scope and duration. If the request is made by an accountant, have the company retain a copy of the mandate and the final message.

If the deadline is close, ask specifically whether the SIE accepts a secure message, an alternative electronic route, an EDI-TDFC transmission by the accountant or another documented procedure. Do not assume that a paper return is accepted merely because a website is unavailable. The CAA Lyon decision described above shows the danger of waiting for a system to repair itself when a new transmission or another channel is required. The company should request confirmation of the route and then keep the receipt, acknowledgement or rejection.

Where an amount must be paid, separate the payment problem from the declaration problem. A company may be able to file through an accountant but lack a direct-debit mandate. It may be able to pay by one approved method but not another. Article 1738 addresses certain electronic-payment failures, so the company should check the payment instructions for the relevant tax and period. Never send a payment to an unverified bank account received from an unofficial email. Confirm the payment reference and retain the bank execution record.

If the SIE does not respond, escalate in a documented sequence: follow up through the secure message, contact the official support channel, ask the accountant to make a parallel technical report, and request a written appointment or instruction from the SIE. The company can also ask its French lawyer to prepare a formal letter that identifies the obligation, the attempted steps, the evidence and the requested protection. The aim is not to create an aggressive exchange; it is to make the file legible to the administration before the deadline passes.

Once access is restored, perform a post-incident reconciliation. Confirm the account administrator, reset or rotate credentials if necessary, check the entity and establishment, verify every enrolled service, review messages received during the outage, inspect the tax ledger, verify payment mandates and update the compliance calendar. If a return was filed through an alternative route, confirm that it is visible in the account or obtain a written acknowledgement. If a penalty or late-payment notice appears, do not delete the incident file; it may be needed to explain the request for relief or correction.

Keep the legal and operational analysis together. A company that can show its registration, its tax account, its attempted filing, its technical error, its escalation and its final receipt is in a stronger position than a company that can only say that the founder was abroad. A foreign founder may manage the business from another country, but the French company needs a localised evidence trail that another director, accountant or lawyer can understand immediately.

The firm’s French corporate-tax calendar for foreign-owned companies can be used to map the surrounding IS and CFE deadlines. The company-formation context is available in the guide to setting up a business in France as a foreign founder. These resources do not replace a review of the company’s particular account and filing history, but they help separate incorporation, tax access, VAT and recurring compliance tasks.

Conclusion

After INPI registration, a foreign founder should verify the SIREN, SIRET, Kbis, registered office and tax regime before creating or completing the professional tax account. The simplified mode normally involves an email link, a postal activation code and a separate service-enrolment step; the expert mode is often better for structured delegation or several entities. The choice does not change the company’s legal status or deadlines.

When activation fails, identify the exact stage, preserve screenshots and delivery evidence, contact the competent SIE with the company’s identifiers and protect the nearest filing or payment date. Articles 223, 286, 287, 289 and 1738 of the General Tax Code show why access, VAT, corporate-tax filing and electronic compliance must be analysed together. The cited decisions also show the value of proving what happened and what the company did next.

The objective is a complete corporate file: registration evidence, controlled access, documented delegation, active services, accurate filings, payment receipts and a dated incident trail where something went wrong. That file allows the French company to operate even when its founders, parent company and finance team are located abroad.

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