You live in London, New York, Dubai or Singapore and you want to sell, hire or invoice in France. A friend tells you to open a SAS, an accountant mentions a SARL, a bank asks for a Kbis, and the Guichet unique rejects your file because the registered-office proof is wrong. Meanwhile you need to pay yourself, stay covered for health and retirement, and avoid a personal tax or social-security shock. This guide answers the two questions every foreign founder asks first: which French company should I create from abroad, and how do I get paid and protected as its director? It explains every French acronym in plain English, gives the exact legal references, and shows the practical path from statutes to Kbis (the official company identity card issued by the commercial court registry, the greffe), from capital deposit to VAT number, and from first payslip to first dividend.
French company law gives you freedom, but that freedom has a price: what you write in your articles of association (statuts) will decide who controls the company, who pays which social charges, and how easily you can sell later. The most common choice for a foreign founder is the SAS (société par actions simplifiée, simplified joint-stock company), alone as SASU (single-shareholder SAS) or with partners, against the SARL (société à responsabilité limitée, limited liability company), alone as EURL or with partners. Both limit your liability to your contributions. Both can be 100% foreign-owned. Both register through the same online one-stop shop, the Guichet unique run by the INPI, and both appear in the same public record with a SIREN number, a Kbis and a BODACC announcement (Bulletin officiel des annonces civiles et commerciales, the gazette where company births, moves and deaths are published). The differences sit elsewhere: decision-making, transfer of shares, director status, social-security regime, and cost of paying yourself. Our companion pillar guide walks through the full formation timeline from bank account to first hire (Setting Up a Company in France as a Foreign Founder: Bank Account, Kbis, VAT and Your First Hire); this article focuses on the choice itself and on the director package that follows.
I. Should a Foreign Founder Living Abroad Choose a SAS, a SASU or a SARL in France?
Choose the vehicle that matches your control plan and your exit plan, not the one your home-country reflex suggests. An American LLC founder often reaches for the SARL because the name sounds familiar; a British founder often asks for an Ltd equivalent. In France the flexible default for startups and subsidiaries is the SAS, while the SARL remains strong for family businesses and small teams that want statutory protection for every shareholder. From abroad, three practical tests decide: how you want to decide, how you want to sell or transfer, and how much formalism you can manage at a distance.
A. How Does a Foreign Founder Control a French SAS, SASU or SARL and Sell or Transfer Its Shares From Abroad?
The SAS is a contract-first company. The Commercial Code states: “Une société par actions simplifiée peut être instituée par une ou plusieurs personnes qui ne supportent les pertes qu’à concurrence de leur apport.” When there is a single shareholder it is called a SASU, and “L’associé unique exerce les pouvoirs dévolus aux associés lorsque le présent chapitre prévoit une prise de décision collective.” In practice you write your own governance: who appoints and removes the president, which decisions need a collective vote, what majority applies, whether votes can be cast by video or written consultation, and whether a foreign-language version of the minutes is kept alongside the French original. For a founder in another time zone, this is decisive. You can allow fully remote decisions, set short notice by email, and keep a single president with broad powers instead of a board that never meets.
Representation toward third parties is equally simple. The Code provides: “La société est représentée à l’égard des tiers par un président désigné dans les conditions prévues par les statuts.” And: “Le président est investi des pouvoirs les plus étendus pour agir en toute circonstance au nom de la société dans la limite de l’objet social.” A client, a bank or a supplier deals with the president; internal limits you write in the articles cannot be used against a good-faith third party. That protects your business when you sign from abroad through electronic signature, and it reassures French counterparts who check the Kbis to see who binds the company. If you want a second signatory, a general manager (directeur général) can be added without amending the law, only the articles. The official company-creation portal explains this filing logic step by step (service-public.fr: create a SAS/SASU online via the Guichet unique), and the INPI help pages describe the supporting documents the registry checks before issuing the Kbis (INPI: create your company through the Guichet unique).
The SARL works the opposite way: the statute protects you, but it also constrains you. The Code states: “La société à responsabilité limitée est instituée par une ou plusieurs personnes qui ne supportent les pertes qu’à concurrence de leurs apports.” Management is reserved to natural persons: “La société à responsabilité limitée est gérée par une ou plusieurs personnes physiques.” The manager is called the gérant. Majorities, convening rules, approval of transfers to third parties (agrément), and minority rights are largely written in the law, not in your contract. Transfers of SARL shares (parts sociales) to outsiders require agrément by shareholders representing at least half the shares, and the procedure involves a notary-style formalism with registered letters and registry filings that is harder to run from abroad on a tight deal timetable. SAS shares (actions), by contrast, transfer under the conditions you set: free transfer, prior approval, pre-emption right, forced-sale clause, or inalienability for a capped period. For a foreign founder who plans to bring in an investor, sell to a French buyer, or move shares inside a group, the SAS saves weeks and legal fees at exit.
Two court lessons matter before you sign. First, majority power is real but policed. In a 9 July 2025 ruling the Commercial Chamber of the Cour de cassation held, appeal No. 23-23.484: “Il résulte de la combinaison de ces textes que la recevabilité d’une action en nullité d’une délibération sociale pour abus de majorité n’est pas, en l’absence de demande indemnitaire dirigée contre les associés majoritaires, subordonnée à la mise en cause de ces derniers.” In plain English: a minority shareholder can ask a court to cancel a resolution taken abusively by the majority by suing the company itself, without having to join every majority shareholder, unless damages are also claimed from them personally. For a foreign minority investor, that lowers the barrier to challenge a rigged vote; for a foreign majority owner, it is a warning to document the business reason for every sensitive resolution, especially pay rises and related-party deals.
Second, unanimity protects, but only real unanimity. On 8 November 2023 the same chamber, appeal No. 22-13.851, concerning a company that had voted its manager an 83,000-euro bonus plus a salary reminder shortly before a share sale, ruled: “Une décision prise à l’unanimité des associés ne peut être constitutive d’un abus de majorité.” The facts are worth reading in full because they show the pattern courts watch: “Le 29 octobre 2014, l’assemblée générale de la société a décidé d’octroyer à M. [O], au titre de ses fonctions de dirigeant, une prime de 83 000 euros, puis, le 24 novembre, une autre prime au titre d’un rappel de salaire, d’un montant de 3 049,94 euros.” Where every shareholder genuinely agreed, no abuse of majority can be found. Where a majority extracts cash just before selling, the buyer will sue and the court will look hard at corporate interest. Foreign founders should therefore separate the founder pay vote from the sale timetable, keep the auditor or accountant valuation on file, and never vote a bonus to themselves with company money on the eve of closing without independent paperwork.
Managers are personally exposed when they break the rules. The Code provides: “Les gérants sont responsables, individuellement ou solidairement, selon le cas, envers la société ou envers les tiers, soit des infractions aux dispositions législatives ou réglementaires applicables aux sociétés à responsabilité limitée, soit des violations des statuts, soit des fautes commises dans leur gestion.” SAS presidents face a parallel liability regime borrowed from public limited companies. Criminal law adds teeth for false accounts and fictitious dividends. In short: flexibility of the SAS does not mean impunity, and protection of the SARL does not mean passivity. From abroad, appoint a president or gérant who actually reads the accounts, keep written reports, and store everything in a shared data room your lawyer can open within hours if URSSAF (the social-security collection network), the tax office or a buyer asks questions.
B. What Does It Cost a Foreign Founder to Create and Run a SAS or SARL in France, and Which Tax Options Apply From Abroad?
Formation costs look similar on paper and diverge in real life. Both SAS and SARL need articles, a registered office (domiciliation, meaning a legal address that can be a lease, a domiciliation company, or in some cases your lawyer’s office with proper authorization), a capital deposit in a blocked bank account with a deposit certificate (certificat de dépôt des fonds), publication of a formation notice in a legal gazette (journal d’annonces légales), filing on the Guichet unique, and registration with the commercial court registry. State fees are modest, a few hundred euros; legal notices cost around one to two hundred euros in Paris; professional fees range from one thousand to several thousand euros depending on bespoke clauses. The SARL can use government model articles to save drafting time, while the SAS almost always needs tailored drafting because the law leaves blanks. That upfront drafting fee is the best money a foreign founder spends: it buys remote decision-making, clean investor entry, and a resale without renegotiating the whole contract.
Capital rules are founder-friendly but must be handled cleanly from abroad. One euro is legally enough for both SAS and SARL, but banks, landlords and suppliers read capital as a seriousness signal, and many founders deposit between 1,000 and 10,000 euros. Cash contributions must be paid into a blocked account before signing, then released against the Kbis. Contributions in kind need valuation; the Code allows founders to skip the independent appraiser (commissaire aux apports) unanimously in small cases, but adds: where no appraiser intervened, shareholders stay jointly liable for five years for the stated value. Do not inflate a laptop, a brand or a patent to impress a bank. If the registry or a creditor later challenges the value, every founder pays. Keep transfer proofs with SWIFT references, the deposit certificate, and the bank release letter together; French banks ask for them again when you request online banking, a card, or a loan.
Tax follows the same default for both vehicles, with one choice that matters in year one. A SAS or SARL with a French registered office is normally subject to corporate income tax (impôt sur les sociétés, IS). The Tax Code states: “Le taux normal de l’impôt est fixé à 25 %.” The tax administration presents the current payment rhythm, instalments and online filing on its official company-tax pages (impots.gouv.fr: corporate income tax for professionals). Small newly created companies can, under conditions, opt temporarily for income-tax transparency (régime des sociétés de personnes) for up to five years, so early losses offset the founder’s other French-taxable income; after that the company reverts to IS. Dividends require approved accounts and available distributable sums. The Code states: “Après approbation des comptes annuels et constatation de l’existence de sommes distribuables, l’assemblée générale détermine la part attribuée aux associés sous forme de dividendes.” Interim dividends during the year need a certified interim balance sheet and a statutory auditor in some cases. Do not pay yourself a dividend by bank transfer the week you incorporate; wait for accounts, minutes and the accountant green light.
Two financial tripwires catch foreign owners who never visit the office. First, value-added tax (TVA, the French VAT). Distance sellers, marketplace sellers and service providers can need a French VAT number quickly, with OSS returns or a fiscal representative depending on where customers sit. Second, equity. If losses halve the capital, the Code orders: “Si, du fait de pertes constatées dans les documents comptables, les capitaux propres de la société deviennent inférieurs à la moitié du capital social, les associés décident, dans les quatre mois qui suivent l’approbation des comptes ayant fait apparaître cette perte s’il y a lieu à dissolution anticipée de la société.” From abroad, calendar this vote: four months after approving loss-making accounts you must vote continue-or-dissolve, file at the registry, and recapitalize by the end of the second following year or reduce capital. Buyers check this publication before offering; banks check it before lending. A missing filing reads as neglect and cuts valuation.
Paris and Ile-de-France add practical specifics foreign founders underestimate. Commercial court jurisdiction sits with the Tribunal de commerce de Paris for Paris-based companies, with greffe fees slightly higher than in smaller cities; legal-announcement rates in Paris are at the top of the national scale; domiciliation companies on the Paris 8th or La Défense charge a premium but give a credible address that banks accept faster than a remote mailbox. If you lease a real office or shop, budget the commercial-lease security deposit, the CFE local business tax from year two, and the time to obtain proof of occupancy that the Guichet unique actually accepts (signed lease plus landlord ID plus recent utility bill, all names matching). These Paris details do not change the SAS/SARL choice, but they change the budget and the file-acceptance speed, which is why this article includes them directly instead of in a separate local page.
II. How Does a Foreign Founder Living Abroad Get Paid and Stay Covered as President or Gérant in France?
Paying yourself from a French company while living abroad is where company law, social security and tax meet, and where mistakes cost the most. You have three channels: pay for your director role (rémunération du mandat), salary under a separate employment contract if you genuinely perform technical work under subordination, and dividends as shareholder. Each channel has its own charges, its own paperwork, and its own cross-border trap. The right mix depends on whether you lead a SAS/SASU as president or a SARL as gérant, whether you live inside or outside the European Union, and whether you already pay social security at home.
A. Should a Foreign Founder Take Pay as SAS President With Assimilated-Employee Cover or as SARL Gérant With Self-Employed Status?
Status first, amount second. A SAS president, even sole shareholder and only officer, belongs to the general social-security scheme as an assimilated employee (assimilé salarié) when paid: same health and family cover and same retirement base as employees for the corresponding contributions, but no unemployment insurance (assurance chômage) and no paid-leave accrual on the mandate itself. The Code lists among compulsory affiliates: “Les présidents et dirigeants des sociétés par actions simplifiées et des sociétés d’exercice libéral par actions simplifiées”, and alongside them minority or equal-share SARL managers: “Les gérants de sociétés à responsabilité limitée et de sociétés d’exercice libéral à responsabilité limitée à condition que lesdits gérants ne possèdent pas ensemble plus de la moitié du capital social, étant entendu que les parts appartenant, en toute propriété ou en usufruit, au conjoint, au partenaire lié par un pacte civil de solidarité et aux enfants mineurs non émancipés d’un gérant sont considérées comme possédées par ce dernier”. A majority-share SARL gérant flips to self-employed (travailleur non salarié, TNS, now handled inside the general scheme for independents): lower headline contribution rates at modest income, less generous daily allowances and retirement accrual, and a different collection calendar through URSSAF and the independent-branch. The official social-security portal for creators explains the affiliation steps and the documents a foreign-born director must upload (urssaf.fr: register your director activity when creating a business).
For a foreign founder who keeps home-country cover, coordination rules decide whether France charges twice. Inside the EU, EEA and Switzerland, the A1 portable document keeps you under one legislation while posted or multi-active; outside, bilateral treaties allocate cover country by country, and many treaties do not cover all risks. The health-insurance fund pages for newcomers describe how a foreign director obtains a social-security number, opens Ameli rights, and proves posted status (ameli.fr: rights and steps for health cover). Practical path: before taking any French pay, ask your home fund for the A1 or certificate of coverage where available, translate your birth certificate with apostille if needed, and file the director affiliation only once the treaty position is clear. Taking a French salary without checking coordination is the fastest way to pay twice and to freeze reimbursements for months.
Self-employed contributions sit on a specific base. The Code states that independent workers pay on the base defined for social contributions on activity income, and that certain profit-sharing sums are removed: “Les cotisations de sécurité sociale dues par les travailleurs indépendants non agricoles ne relevant pas du dispositif prévu à l’article L. 613-7 sont assises sur l’assiette définie à l’article L. 136-3.” In year one URSSAF calls provisional contributions on a flat base, then adjusts once real income is known. A SAS president with zero pay owes no proportional director contributions but must still file; a majority gérant owes minimum flat contributions even in a loss year. Budget accordingly: a SAS president taking 3,000 euros gross monthly costs roughly 75 to 82 percent on top in employer-plus-employee charges at small-company scale before income tax withholding, while dividends bear social and tax levies of their own without opening health or retirement rights. Many foreign founders therefore combine a modest president pay that opens cover with a year-end dividend voted from real profits, rather than choosing pay or dividend alone.
An employment contract on top of the mandate is possible but narrow. Courts require real technical functions distinct from the mandate, performed under subordination to the company, with separate pay and hours. A SAS president who only manages, signs and represents cannot simply add a sales-manager contract to gain unemployment rights; URSSAF and the prud’hommes (labour courts) recharacterize shell cumuls and back-charge. If you genuinely code, design or sell full-time besides chairing, write a separate job description, keep timesheets and reporting lines, and have the board or shareholders approve the contract at arm’s length. From abroad, this file must be cleaner than a local one, because every payslip, DSN monthly payroll return and withholding record will be read in English by your home accountant and in French by URSSAF during the first audit.
B. How Does a Foreign Founder Vote Pay and Dividends From Abroad Without Triggering a Challenge, a Tax Bill or an URSSAF Bill?
Vote pay early, in writing, before money moves. In a SASU the sole shareholder signs a written decision fixing the president pay, effective date, variable formula and expense policy; in a multi-shareholder SAS or SARL the shareholders vote in meeting or by written consultation if the articles allow, with the interested director abstaining where the procedure for related-party agreements applies. File the minutes in the company register, send them to the accountant the same day, and align the payroll software start date. The two court stories above show why timing matters: pay voted unanimously and transparently survives (“Une décision prise à l’unanimité des associés ne peut être constitutive d’un abus de majorité.”), while opaque pay voted by a majority to drain the company before a sale invites cancellation and repayment suits. Keep the accountant valuation, the bank statements and the buyer disclosure letter stapled to the minutes.
Dividends follow accounts, not cash. The rule recalled above governs every distribution: “Après approbation des comptes annuels et constatation de l’existence de sommes distribuables, l’assemblée générale détermine la part attribuée aux associés sous forme de dividendes.” From abroad, run this checklist with your accountant: close accounts, approve within six months of year-end, file with the registry, vote allocation to reserves, dividends or retained earnings, apply the correct withholding for your treaty country, and pay on the voted date with the shareholder tax voucher. Treaty relief needs forms 5000 and 5001 filed through the French paying agent before or just after payment; without them the full domestic withholding applies and reclaim takes months. The tax office company pages and the treaty-form portal give the current rates and e-filing route (impots.gouv.fr: company tax and withholding e-services).
Minority protection cuts both ways for foreign founders. If you hold the majority from abroad and push through pay or reserves policy that starves the minority, the minority can now sue the company for cancellation without joining you personally, as the 2025 ruling confirms: “Il résulte de la combinaison de ces textes que la recevabilité d’une action en nullité d’une délibération sociale pour abus de majorité n’est pas, en l’absence de demande indemnitaire dirigée contre les associés majoritaires, subordonnée à la mise en cause de ces derniers.” If you are the minority abroad, this is your fast track to block an abusive retention of profits or an unjustified pay rise before it drains value. Either way, put the business justification in the minutes in numbers: cash need, investment plan, debt covenant, hiring target. Judges read numbers faster than adjectives.
Close the loop with filings a foreign director often misses. Register beneficial owners at formation and update within thirty days of any share move; declare the director change on the Guichet unique the week it happens, not at year-end; update the bank signatories and the tax-contact email so URSSAF notices and VAT reminders reach you, not an old domiciliation mailbox. Keep a French phone number or a monitored email for the greffe, the bank and the accountant, plus a certified French-to-English glossary for Kbis, SIREN, SIRET, APE activity code, RNE national company register, DSN payroll return, and DADS-like annual summaries. When the first URSSAF control letter arrives, usually between month twelve and month twenty-four, you will answer with pay minutes, contracts, A1 or coverage certificate, and payroll exports, not with explanations. That file wins adjustments; stories do not.
Conclusion
From abroad, the SAS/SASU is usually the better shell for a foreign founder who wants remote decisions, easy investor entry and a clean resale, while the SARL suits a small stable team that prefers statutory guardrails and self-employed director economics. The vehicle alone decides nothing about your protection: only voted, documented and correctly filed pay opens French health and retirement cover, and only approved accounts with distributable sums allow dividends. Fix governance, pay and calendar in the first month, link every euro moved to a minute and a filing, and keep the Kbis, bank, URSSAF and tax inboxes aligned. Do that, and France becomes what it should be for a foreign founder: a predictable place to sell, hire and reinvest, managed from anywhere.
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