You formed a company in France from London, Dubai, New York or Singapore. The Kbis (the official company identity extract issued by the greffe, the clerk of the commercial court) arrived, the bank account works, the first invoices went out, and the first financial year closed with a profit. Then a letter from the SIE (service des impôts des entreprises, the corporate tax office of the French tax administration, the DGFIP) arrives at your Paris registered address, or your accountant writes that four instalments should already have been paid. You live abroad, everything is in French, and you discover that French corporate tax, called IS (impôt sur les sociétés), is not paid once a year after the return, but largely in advance, in four quarterly instalments computed on last year’s profit. This article explains, in plain English, which companies pay IS and at what rate, how the quarterly instalments and the year-end balance work when the owner lives outside France, what automatic interest and surcharges apply when a deadline is missed, when the director can be held personally liable for the company’s tax debt, and how to regularise the situation from abroad. Every decisive statement below is anchored to the statute or decision quoted with it, with links to the official texts on Légifrance, the Cour de cassation and the administration’s own guidance.

I. How much corporate tax your French company owes and when to pay it from abroad

A. Which French companies pay corporate tax, at what rate, and on which profit

The starting point is scope. Article 206 of the French General Tax Code (CGI, Code général des impôts) provides that “sont passibles de l’impôt sur les sociétés, quel que soit leur objet, les sociétés anonymes, les sociétés en commandite par actions, les sociétés à responsabilité limitée n’ayant pas opté pour le régime fiscal des sociétés de personnes”, which means that public limited companies (SA, société anonyme), partnerships limited by shares (SCA) and private limited companies (SARL, société à responsabilité limitée) are liable to corporate tax whatever their business (Article 206, CGI, Légifrance). In practice, the vehicle most foreign founders choose, the SAS (société par actions simplifiée, the simplified joint-stock company, prized for its flexible articles) and its one-shareholder version the SASU, are taxed under IS on the same basis: the Ministry of the Economy’s guidance lists expressly “les sociétés par actions simplifiées (SAS)” and “les sociétés par actions simplifiées universelles (SASU)” among the companies concerned, alongside the SARL and cooperatives (L’impôt sur les sociétés, comment ça marche, economie.gouv.fr). The same Article 206 opens with the reservation “Sous réserve des dispositions des articles 8 ter , 239 bis AA , 239 bis AB et 1655 ter “, which covers the narrow temporary options for income-tax transparency available to young companies; unless your company validly opted for one of those exceptions at formation, it pays IS.

The rate is simpler than founders fear. Article 219 of the CGI states: “Le taux normal de l’impôt est fixé à 25 %.” The standard rate of corporate tax is 25% (Article 219, CGI, Légifrance). A reduced rate of 15% applies to the first slice of profit for qualifying small companies meeting turnover and ownership conditions (economie.gouv.fr, taux réduit). Concretely, a Paris SAS owned from abroad with 60,000 euros of taxable profit pays 15,000 euros at the standard rate; the reduced 15% slice, where eligible, lowers that bill, which is why your accountant asks about turnover and shareholding before computing anything.

On which profit is that rate applied? Article 209 of the CGI provides that “les bénéfices passibles de l’impôt sur les sociétés sont déterminés d’après les règles fixées par les articles 34 à 45 , 53 A à 57 , 108 à 117 , 237 ter A et 302 septies A bis”, meaning taxable profit follows the industrial-and-commercial-profits (BIC, bénéfices industriels et commerciaux) computation rules (Article 209, CGI, Légifrance). Only profits earned through operations in France are taxed here, which matters for founders who also bill from a foreign entity: keep the French company’s contracts, invoices and expenses cleanly separated, because the SIE taxes the French company’s own result, not the group’s worldwide turnover. That result comes from proper books. Article L.123-12 of the Commercial Code states: “Toute personne physique ou morale ayant la qualité de commerçant doit procéder à l’enregistrement comptable des mouvements affectant le patrimoine de son entreprise.” Every trader must record, chronologically, every movement affecting the business assets (Article L.123-12, Code de commerce, Légifrance). From abroad, this means one thing in practice: appoint a French expert-comptable (chartered accountant) from day one, give the firm monthly bank feeds and invoices, and close the accounts on time. Founders who keep the bookkeeping in a spreadsheet until year three are the ones who discover, too late, that the instalments described below were computed on a profit nobody monitored.

Two acronyms to fix now. The greffe is the registry of the commercial court that issues your Kbis and receives your annual accounts; the BODACC (Bulletin officiel des annonces civiles et commerciales) is the official gazette where company events are published. Neither levies tax, but both create the paper trail the SIE reads when it controls a file.

B. Paying IS from abroad: four quarterly instalments and the year-end balance

Here is the mechanism that surprises almost every foreign owner. Article 1668 of the CGI provides: “L’impôt sur les sociétés donne lieu au versement, au comptable public compétent, d’acomptes trimestriels déterminés à partir des résultats du dernier exercice clos.” Corporate tax is paid in quarterly instalments (acomptes) computed on the results of the last closed financial year (Article 1668, CGI, Légifrance). The total of the instalments equals the IS computed on that earlier result, and each instalment is paid with the dedicated payment slip, the relevé d’acompte number 2571, exclusively online. The administration confirms the routine: corporate tax is paid through four quarterly instalments using payment slip number 2571, computed on the last closed financial year (economie.gouv.fr, paiement de l’IS).

When exactly? The calendar depends on the closing date of your financial year. For the classic case, a year closed on 31 December, the four instalments fall on 15 March, 15 June, 15 September and 15 December; for years closed mid-year the same four dates rotate, as the official table shows: for financial years closed between 20 November and 19 February, the instalments fall on 15 March, 15 June, 15 September and 15 December (economie.gouv.fr, calendrier des acomptes). Practical consequence for a founder in New York or Dubai: the March instalment of year N is computed on the profit of the year closed the previous December, so a strong first year automatically creates four large instalments the next year, even if current business slows. Tell your accountant to forecast this cash drain; many foreign-owned SAS learn about it from a bank balance, not from a letter.

The balance (solde) is then settled after the return. Article 360 of Annex III to the CGI provides: “La liquidation de l’impôts sur les sociétés mentionnée au 2 de l’article 1668 du code général des impôts est réalisée par le redevable et détaillée sur un relevé de solde”, so the taxpayer itself computes and details the final IS on the balance slip (Article 360, CGI annexe III, Légifrance). The administration gives the deadlines plainly: the balance is paid with slip number 2572, due on 15 May for a year closed on 31 December, and on the 15th of the fourth month after closing for a mid-year year-end (economie.gouv.fr, solde de l’IS). If the instalments exceeded the final tax, the excess is refunded or offset; if the year was better than the last, the solde tops it up.

Everything is dematerialised (télédéclaration and télépaiement): returns and payments go through the company’s espace professionnel on impots.gouv.fr, imposition des résultats, and the administration publishes the rolling calendar at impots.gouv.fr, calendrier fiscal. From abroad, set up three things before the first deadline: access to the professional account (your accountant can hold a delegation), a SEPA-capable account that accepts French tax debits, and a calendar reminder ten days before each of the four dates, because French tax offices do not send friendly advance reminders to foreign addresses. For Paris companies, the competent office is the SIE of the arrondissement of the registered office (siège social); founders who move the siège from Paris to La Défense or Boulogne-Billancourt change SIE, so update the address promptly or the instalment notices and control letters go to the old office. The URSSAF (the social-security collection body) is a different administration and is not paid through these slips; do not confuse an IS relevé with a DSN (déclaration sociale nominative) or a VAT (TVA) return.

II. What happens when the return or payment arrives late and how to fix it from abroad

A. Missed deadlines trigger automatic interest and surcharges, even without any audit

Late IS cases rarely start with an audit (contrôle fiscal). They start with arithmetic applied by software. First, the return itself has a deadline. Article 223 of the CGI provides: “Les personnes morales et associations passibles de l’impôt sur les sociétés sont tenues de souscrire les déclarations”, and “la déclaration du bénéfice ou du déficit est faite dans les trois mois de la clôture”, on form 2065 with the full tax bundle (liasse fiscale) filed online (Article 223, CGI, Légifrance). For a 31 December year-end, that return, with the accounts approved by the shareholders first, is the spring bottleneck every foreign owner underestimates: the shareholders must approve the accounts, then the return goes to the SIE and the accounts go to the greffe. On the greffe side, for an SARL, Article L.232-22 of the Commercial Code requires filing “au greffe du tribunal, pour être annexés au registre du commerce et des sociétés, dans le mois suivant l’approbation des comptes annuels par l’assemblée ordinaire des associés ou par l’associé unique ou dans les deux mois suivant cette approbation lorsque ce dépôt est effectué par voie électronique” (Article L.232-22, Code de commerce, Légifrance). Miss the approval meeting because you were travelling, and the return, the greffe filing and the solde slip cascade late together.

Then the money penalties apply automatically. Article 1727 of the CGI provides: “Toute créance de nature fiscale, dont l’établissement ou le recouvrement incombe aux administrations fiscales, qui n’a pas été acquittée dans le délai légal donne lieu au versement d’un intérêt de retard.” Any tax debt unpaid by the legal deadline bears late interest (Article 1727, CGI, Légifrance). The rate is set by the same article: “Le taux de l’intérêt de retard est de 0,20 % par mois.” That is 0.20% per month of delay, running month by month until payment. On top of interest come surcharges (majorations). Article 1728 of the CGI provides: “Le défaut de production dans les délais prescrits d’une déclaration ou d’un acte comportant l’indication d’éléments à retenir pour l’assiette ou la liquidation de l’impôt entraîne l’application, sur le montant des droits mis à la charge du contribuable ou résultant de la déclaration ou de l’acte déposé tardivement, d’une majoration de : a. 10 % en l’absence de mise en demeure ou en cas de dépôt de la déclaration ou de l’acte dans les trente jours suivant la réception d’une mise en demeure” (Article 1728, CGI, Légifrance). The same article raises the surcharge to 40% when the return is not filed within thirty days of the formal demand (mise en demeure). Take a concrete case: 20,000 euros of IS paid six months late with the return filed spontaneously. Interest at 0.20% per month for six months is about 240 euros, and the 10% surcharge adds 2,000 euros, so the delay costs roughly 2,240 euros before any audit begins. If a mise en demeure was ignored for over thirty days, the surcharge moves to 40%, or 8,000 euros on the same base. These amounts apply per tax and per missed obligation, so a late return plus a late solde plus a missed instalment stack.

Three defences work, and all are easier before the mise en demeure. First, file even an imperfect return on time and correct it later; the 10% tier expressly rewards filing within thirty days of the demand, and spontaneous filing avoids the 40% tier. Second, pay something immediately: interest stops running on the portion paid, so a partial payment from abroad the day you learn of the debt cuts the meter. Third, keep proof of every step: the SIE’s secure messaging (messagerie sécurisée) timestamps your filings and payments, and screenshots of a rejected SEPA debit have saved many founders when the interest computation was later reviewed. What does not work is waiting for the next trip to Paris; interest and surcharges do not pause while you travel, and the greffe’s filing deadline does not bend to a founder’s calendar either.

B. When the director answers personally for the company’s tax, and how to challenge or regularise from abroad

Foreign owners often assume that a French SAS or SARL fully shields them. For tax debts, one provision pierces that shield. Article L.267 of the Tax Procedures Book (LPF, Livre des procédures fiscales) provides: “Lorsqu’un dirigeant d’une société, d’une personne morale ou de tout autre groupement, est responsable des manoeuvres frauduleuses ou de l’inobservation grave et répétée des obligations fiscales qui ont rendu impossible le recouvrement des impositions et des pénalités dues par la société, la personne morale ou le groupement, ce dirigeant peut, s’il n’est pas déjà tenu au paiement des dettes sociales en application d’une autre disposition, être déclaré solidairement responsable” (Article L.267, LPF, Légifrance). In short, a director (dirigeant: president of a SAS, gérant of an SARL) who commits fraudulent manoeuvres or a serious and repeated breach of tax duties, making recovery of the company’s duties and penalties impossible, can be declared jointly liable with the company. This is not automatic: the administration must sue the director before the court, prove the grave and repeated breach or fraud, and prove that recovery from the company is impossible, typically after a liquidation with insufficient assets (liquidation judiciaire clôturée pour insuffisance d’actif).

The Cour de cassation polices the boundaries of this action strictly. In a judgment of 27 November 2024 (pourvoi number 23-18.572), the Commercial Chamber dealt with two directors of a company placed in judicial liquidation in 2017 and closed for insufficient assets in 2019, whom the tax collector sued under Article L.267 for 379,318 euros, comprising 365,168 euros of duties and 18,150 euros of penalties, plus late interest (Cass. com., 27 novembre 2024, n° 23-18.572, courdecassation.fr). The Court held: “Il résulte de ce texte que le dirigeant, qui ne peut être déclaré solidairement responsable que du paiement de la somme correspondant aux impositions et pénalités dues par la société, la personne morale ou le groupement, ne peut se voir condamner au paiement des intérêts au taux légal portant sur cette somme.” The director can only be condemned to the duties and penalties owed by the company, not to additional legal interest on top. It quashed the appeal ruling on that point and fixed the directors’ liability at 379,318 euros, duties plus penalties, rejecting the extra interest. For a foreign director, the lesson is double-edged: the shield holds against add-on interest, but 365,168 euros of duties plus penalties stayed personal. Repeatedly ignoring IS instalments, VAT returns and filing duties while emptying the company account is exactly the pattern Article L.267 targets, and living in another country does not remove the director from its reach; service can be arranged internationally and the clock for challenging runs from notification, not from the day you open the letter.

So how do you regularise or fight back from abroad? Follow this order. First, diagnose precisely: ask your accountant for the relevé de compte fiscal (the SIE account statement) showing each instalment, the solde, interest and surcharges line by line, and reconcile it with what was actually debited. Second, file everything missing through the espace professionnel immediately, even late: each filing stops part of the bleeding, as Part II.A showed. Third, write to the SIE through the secure messaging to request a payment plan (délai de paiement) and, where the surcharges are heavy and the delay is explained, a gracious remission (remise gracieuse) of penalties; attach travel records, bank rejection proofs and the corrective filings, because remission is discretionary and rewards documented good faith. Fourth, if you consider the assessment itself wrong, file a formal claim (réclamation contentieuse) within the statutory time limit, denominated in euros, identifying the tax, the year and the grounds; a claim does not suspend collection by itself, so pair it with a request for suspended payment (sursis de paiement) with guarantees where the amount is large. Fifth, if an Article L.267 summons names you personally, do not treat it as a company letter: instruct a Paris avocat immediately, gather board minutes, delegation documents and proof that filings were entrusted to a professional, because the administration must prove your personal grave and repeated breach, and a paper trail of delegation and supervision is the standard defence. The administration’s English-language news page confirms instalment practice is monitored yearly, for instance the reminder of the March instalment deadline (Versement d’acompte de l’impôt sur les sociétés, service-public.fr English pages), so foreign owners cannot credibly claim the system was unknowable.

A final Paris and Île-de-France note strengthens all of this. Paris SIE offices handle thousands of foreign-owned companies and apply the calendar without local leniency; the greffe of the Paris commercial court processes the annual filing that keeps your Kbis clean for banks and landlords; and correspondence sent to a domiciliation address (société de domiciliation) you no longer monitor is deemed received. Keep a Paris mail-scanning service or your accountant’s address current, open every SIE message within 48 hours, and diary the four instalment dates plus the return date every January. The founder who masters this calendar pays 25% on time; the founder who ignores it pays 25% plus 0.20% per month plus 10% or 40%, and risks a personal summons under Article L.267.

Conclusion

French corporate tax for a company owned from abroad is a calendar discipline before it is a rate question. The rate is 25% on the French profit computed under the BIC rules, with a 15% reduced slice for qualifying small companies; the scope covers the SAS, SASU, SARL and SA alike. The payment runs in four quarterly instalments on form 2571 computed on last year’s result, with the balance on form 2572 by 15 May for December year-ends, all filed and paid online through the professional account, whatever country you live in. The return on form 2065 goes within three months of year-end, and the accounts go to the greffe within one month of approval for an SARL, two months online. Every missed step prices itself: 0.20% monthly interest plus a 10% surcharge, 40% after an ignored formal demand, stacking per obligation. And behind the company stands the director: Article L.267 allows joint liability for duties and penalties after fraudulent manoeuvres or grave repeated breaches that made recovery impossible, while the Cour de cassation, on 27 November 2024, refused to add legal interest on top. If you live abroad and any of these deadlines slipped, file now, pay what you can now, request a plan and remission in writing, and take personal summons seriously with Paris counsel. The system rewards the founder who regularises early and punishes the one who waits for the next flight.

Need a quick opinion on your case.

Foreign founder with a French company facing an IS deadline, a surcharge notice or a director liability summons? Our firm offers a telephone consultation within 48 hours with an avocat of the firm, initial telephone consultation: 80 EUR incl. VAT. Call +33 6 46 60 58 22 or write via our contact page. We assist clients in Paris and throughout Île-de-France, as well as founders based abroad.