You wired 40,000 euros from London, New York or Dubai to keep your French company alive, the money sits in the company bank account, and eighteen months later you ask a simple question from abroad: when do I get my money back, with what interest, and what do I do if the company or its new manager stops answering? In France this operation has a precise legal name, the compte courant d’associé, literally the shareholder current account, meaning money that a shareholder leaves at the disposal of the company outside the share capital, repayable under a different regime from dividends and from salary. Foreign founders use it constantly because it is faster than a capital increase, more flexible than a bank loan, and available when French banks hesitate to lend to a newly formed company owned from abroad. The trap is that speed creates informality: no written agreement, no agreed interest rate, no repayment date, no shareholder approval, and then a dispute about whether the money was a loan, a gift, additional capital, or blocked for years.
This guide explains, entirely for a business reader living outside France, how to lend to your French société par actions simplifiée (SAS, simplified joint-stock company) or société à responsabilité limitée (SARL, private limited company) through a shareholder current account, how interest and French tax work, and how to obtain repayment from abroad, including when the company claims the account is blocked or has no cash. Every French acronym is explained on first use: Registre du commerce et des sociétés (RCS, trade and companies register), Système d’identification du répertoire des entreprises (SIREN, the company identification number), extrait Kbis (the official company identity certificate issued by the greffe, the registry office of the commercial court), Bulletin officiel des annonces civiles et commerciales (BODACC, the official gazette of company notices), Institut national de la propriété industrielle (INPI, the office that now runs the Guichet unique, the single online filing portal for company formalities), Direction générale des finances publiques (DGFIP, the French tax administration), Bulletin officiel des finances publiques (BOFiP, its published tax doctrine), Urssaf (the body collecting social security contributions), and the tribunal de commerce (commercial court) and tribunal judiciaire (general civil court). If you are still at the creation stage, read first our companion guide on setting up a company in France as a foreign founder: it covers the bank account, the Kbis certificate, VAT and the first hire, while this article covers the distinct question of funding the company by shareholder loan and recovering that loan from abroad.
I. How do you legally lend money to your French company from abroad and charge interest?
A. Can you fund your French SAS or SARL by shareholder current account when you live abroad?
Yes. A foreign individual or foreign parent company holding shares in a French SAS or SARL can lend money to that French company by crediting its shareholder current account, by wire transfer with a clear payment reference, and that advance is a debt of the company toward the shareholder, not an addition to share capital. The civil law foundation of interest-bearing loans is simple. Article 1905 of the Civil Code states: “Il est permis de stipuler des intérêts pour simple prêt soit d’argent, soit de denrées, ou autres choses mobilières.” You can read it on the official code at Article 1905 of the Civil Code on Légifrance. In practice, the company owes you repayment, and you owe the company proof: transfer slips, bank statements showing the origin and arrival of funds, the accounting entry in the company books, and ideally a signed loan agreement or current-account agreement stating the amount, the currency, the interest rate, and the repayment terms. From abroad, insist on receiving a copy of the bookkeeping entry and the annual accounts note showing your creditor balance, because without that paper trail a later manager or a tax inspector may recharacterise the transfer.
Two prohibitions must be understood in the correct direction. French law forbids the reverse operation, meaning the company lending to its own manager or individual shareholder, but it does not forbid the shareholder lending to the company. For the SARL, Article L223-21 of the Commercial Code provides: “A peine de nullité du contrat, il est interdit aux gérants ou associés autres que les personnes morales de contracter, sous quelque forme que ce soit, des emprunts auprès de la société, de se faire consentir par elle un découvert, en compte courant ou autrement, ainsi que de faire cautionner ou avaliser par elle leurs engagements envers les tiers.” Full text at Article L223-21 of the Commercial Code on Légifrance. For the public limited company and by extension the management logic applied to many SAS structures with a board, Article L225-43 of the Commercial Code contains a parallel prohibition for directors borrowing from the company, at Article L225-43 of the Commercial Code on Légifrance. These texts punish a manager who takes company cash for personal use. They do not punish a foreign founder who sends personal cash into the company. The distinction matters because founders sometimes hear that current accounts are prohibited and stop using a lawful funding tool. The prohibited direction is company to manager; the permitted direction, yours, is shareholder to company, provided the paperwork is clean and the interest rate is written.
The written document is not a luxury. Article 1907 of the Civil Code provides: “L’intérêt conventionnel peut excéder celui de la loi, toutes les fois que la loi ne le prohibe pas.” It then adds the decisive sentence: “Le taux de l’intérêt conventionnel doit être fixé par écrit.” See Article 1907 of the Civil Code on Légifrance. Without a written rate, you cannot reliably claim contractual interest before a French court, and the tax administration may challenge any interest the company deducted. A one-page or two-page agreement signed even by email and stored as PDF is enough if it identifies the lender, the borrower with its SIREN and RCS registration city, the amount, the value date, the annual rate or the statement that the advance bears no interest, the repayment trigger such as on demand after notice or on a fixed date, and the governing law. If the lender is your foreign holding company rather than you personally, add the holding company’s registration details and the person authorised to sign, and keep the foreign exchange slips to prove the path of funds for anti-money-laundering checks by the French bank.
Corporate approval is the second layer that foreign founders miss. In a SAS, Article L227-10 of the Commercial Code provides: “Le commissaire aux comptes ou, s’il n’en a pas été désigné, le président de la société présente aux associés un rapport sur les conventions intervenues directement ou par personne interposée entre la société et son président, l’un de ses dirigeants, l’un de ses actionnaires disposant d’une fraction des droits de vote supérieure à 10 % ou, s’il s’agit d’une société actionnaire, la société la contrôlant au sens de l’article L. 233-3.” Full text at Article L227-10 of the Commercial Code on Légifrance. In plain business English, when you are both the president (président, the legal representative of a SAS) or the manager (gérant, the legal representative of a SARL) and the lender, or a shareholder holding more than 10 percent of voting rights, your own loan agreement with the company is a related-party agreement (convention réglementée). The auditor (commissaire aux comptes, the statutory auditor when one exists) or the president reports on it, and the other shareholders vote on it, with the interested person generally not voting. In a single-shareholder company (société par actions simplifiée unipersonnelle, SASU, or entreprise unipersonnelle à responsabilité limitée, EURL), the same article requires only an entry in the register of decisions. Failure to follow this procedure does not automatically cancel the loan, because the same article states that unapproved agreements still produce effects while the interested person bears harmful consequences for the company, but a missing report weakens your position if minority shareholders later claim the rate was excessive or the timing harmed the company. From Paris or from abroad the practical fix is identical: file the signed agreement, list it for the next annual meeting that approves the accounts, and keep the minutes. In Paris and the Île-de-France region, where many foreign founders register at the Paris commercial court registry, the greffe du tribunal de commerce de Paris, filings go through the INPI Guichet unique portal, and account filings and corporate changes appear on BODACC; keeping that chain consistent avoids a later argument that the loan never existed.
A final formation point concerns who can lend. An individual shareholder resident abroad can lend without a banking licence because this is an occasional shareholder advance, not a banking business. A foreign company that is already a shareholder can also advance funds. By contrast, a person who is not a shareholder and not part of the group cannot systematically lend at interest in France without falling under banking monopoly rules, which is why the agreement should recite your shareholding and the number of shares or percentage held. If several foreign co-founders each wire money, open one sub-account per lender in the company books rather than pooling everything under one name, so that each repayment, each interest calculation, and each tax slip remains attributable.
B. What interest can you charge and what French tax applies to that interest?
The interest rate is free between the parties if it is written, but tax deductibility for the company and taxable income for you are capped by objective ceilings. Start with the civil rule recalled above: a written rate is required, and compound capitalisation of accrued interest follows strict conditions. Then add the tax layer. For the company subject to French corporate income tax (impôt sur les sociétés, IS), interest paid to shareholders is only deductible within limits set by the General Tax Code and the published quarterly ceiling rate, which is the average rate charged by banks for variable-rate loans to businesses, published by the tax administration and commented in BOFiP. The practical consequence is twofold: the company can agree with you on 6 percent, but if the quarterly ceiling at the time is lower, the excess is not deductible for the company even though it remains taxable for you. Always check the ceiling quarter by quarter and align the contractual rate with it, or split the return between deductible interest up to the ceiling and dividends decided separately by the shareholders meeting.
The income tax treatment for you as lender depends on where you live, but French domestic law starts from a broad definition. Article 124 of the General Tax Code states that interest and similar products include those: “Des dépôts de sommes d’argent à vue ou à échéance fixe, quel que soit le dépositaire et quelle que soit l’affectation du dépôt” and “Des cautionnements en numéraire”, and expressly adds: “Des comptes courants.” It further covers: “Des clauses d’indexation afférentes aux sommes mises ou laissées à la disposition d’une société par ses associés ou ses actionnaires.” See Article 124 of the General Tax Code on Légifrance. In business terms, credit interest on your shareholder current account is investment income (revenus de capitaux mobiliers) in French domestic law, subject to withholding and declaration mechanics that differ for French residents and non-residents, and then subject to the applicable double tax treaty if you live abroad. Do not confuse this interest with dividends: dividends remunerate shares and require distributable profits voted by the shareholders; interest remunerates a loan and accrues even in a loss year, unless the contract says otherwise or insolvency rules freeze it. For official guidance on company creation steps, consult service-public.fr on SASU and SARL formation steps and the INPI Guichet unique pages, and for tax mechanics the impots.gouv.fr business sections and BOFiP; treaty relief always requires a tax residence certificate from your home country and a correctly completed exemption or refund form before or after payment.
Calculation discipline decides whether the interest survives an audit. Work through a measured example. You lend 100,000 euros on 1 January, written rate 4 percent per year, simple interest, payable annually. After one full year the contractual interest is 4,000 euros. The company records 4,000 euros as financial expense, you record 4,000 euros as interest income in your country of residence subject to French withholding if applicable and treaty relief. If the quarterly ceiling rate for deductibility averages 3.20 percent over that year, only 3,200 euros is deductible for the French company, and 800 euros is added back to its taxable profit, while you remain taxable on the full 4,000 euros before treaty relief. If the contract provides monthly capitalisation, French courts apply capitalisation rules strictly, and the tax administration checks the effective rate. Keep an interest statement each year showing the opening creditor balance, each movement with dates, the rate applied day by day, the gross interest, the withholding applied with its legal basis, and the net paid or credited. When the lender is a foreign company, transfer-pricing logic can enter: the rate must remain arm’s length, meaning what independent companies would agree, documented by the ceiling rate and bank offers, otherwise the excess may be recharacterised as a deemed distribution with withholding consequences.
Non-resident founders often ask whether they can simply leave the interest in the account and compound it. Legally yes if the contract allows capitalisation, but each credit is a taxable event in principle, and leaving everything in the account increases exposure if the company later enters safeguard, reorganisation or liquidation proceedings (sauvegarde, redressement judiciaire, liquidation judiciaire). A cleaner pattern for many foreign founders is a moderate written rate aligned with the deductible ceiling, annual payment or credit with proper tax slips, and a standing instruction to the French accountant to reconcile the current-account balance with the bank and the approved accounts every year. The accountant’s annual letter confirming the creditor balance, signed before the shareholders meeting that approves the accounts within six months of year-end and files them with the greffe within one to two months after approval, is the document that later proves the debt before a court without debate about its existence.
II. How do you get your shareholder loan repaid when you live abroad and the company resists?
A. How do you demand repayment from abroad and which fast court procedure works?
The starting point is the contract, because French case law treats shareholder current accounts as repayable on demand unless the parties agreed to block them. If your agreement says repayable on demand or silent on maturity, a written demand for payment (mise en demeure, formal notice) sent by a method that proves receipt makes the debt due and starts default interest. If the agreement fixes a term, such as blocked for 24 months for a bank covenant, or requires a notice period, you must respect that term first. The Paris commercial litigation experience shows why this matters: companies often answer that the statutes or a side letter blocked the account for several years. In one Paris appeal case the company argued, in the words recorded by the court: “des dispositions statutaires peuvent prévoir l’impossibilité de rembourser le compte-courant d’un associé avant une certaine date” Read the decision at Court decision 6826c9d6ceb3220879db6e6d on courdecassation.fr. That sentence was the company’s argument, not an automatic rule, and it only works if a real blocking clause, a pledge (nantissement) of the current account to a bank, or a shareholder agreement actually exists and covers your account. Ask the company to produce the exact clause, its date, its duration, and your signature. Without that production, treat the account as due.
Once due, the fastest civil route for a fixed contractual sum is the order-for-payment procedure (injonction de payer). Article 1405 of the Code of Civil Procedure provides: “Le recouvrement d’une créance peut être demandé suivant la procédure d’injonction de payer lorsque : 1° La créance a une cause contractuelle ou résulte d’une obligation de caractère statutaire et s’élève à un montant déterminé” Full text at Article 1405 of the Code of Civil Procedure on Légifrance. In practice, your French lawyer files a one-sided petition (requête) with the competent court, attaching the loan agreement, the transfer proofs, the company accounts showing the balance, and the formal notice with proof of receipt. The judge issues an order without hearing the company first; the order is then served, and the company has one month to oppose (faire opposition). Without opposition, the order becomes enforceable and a bailiff (commissaire de justice, formerly huissier de justice) can seize the company bank balance or ask the court for other enforcement. With opposition, the case continues as an ordinary trial on the merits. For a foreign creditor this procedure is attractive because the initial filing does not require your physical presence in France; a power of attorney, an email-approved file of evidence, and a French bank account or lawyer’s escrow for costs are enough. Jurisdiction usually follows the defendant’s seat: the tribunal de commerce de Paris if the company is registered in Paris, otherwise the commercial court of its RCS city, or the judicial court for a non-commercial borrower structure. State the principal, the contractual interest with its written basis, and the costs separately, because a vague total slows the judge.
If the company raises a substantive defence, expect three classic arguments and prepare the answers in the file. First, the offset defence: the company claims you owe it damages as manager and wants to net them against your loan. French courts examine each debt separately; an unproven or unliquidated damages claim does not erase a documented loan balance. Second, the blocked-account defence described above: demand the signed blocking agreement, its end date, and any bank consent to early repayment. Third, the hardship defence: the company asks the judge for time. Article 1343-5 of the Civil Code provides: “Le juge peut, compte tenu de la situation du débiteur et en considération des besoins du créancier, reporter ou échelonner, dans la limite de deux années, le paiement des sommes dues.” See Article 1343-5 of the Civil Code on Légifrance. The judge can therefore grant up to two years of instalments, but must weigh your needs as a foreign creditor, can impose a reduced interest floor, and suspends enforcement during the granted period. To resist an excessive delay, show from abroad why immediate payment matters, such as your own tax deadline or reinvestment, and propose a short instalment plan yourself; judges favour creditors who offer a reasonable alternative.
Time limits must be calendared from abroad. Article L110-4 of the Commercial Code provides: “Les obligations nées à l’occasion de leur commerce entre commerçants ou entre commerçants et non-commerçants se prescrivent par cinq ans si elles ne sont pas soumises à des prescriptions spéciales plus courtes.” See Article L110-4 of the Commercial Code on Légifrance. A shareholder loan to a commercial company generally falls under this five-year limitation, running from the day the repayment became due, interrupted by a formal notice served by bailiff, by an order-for-payment petition, or by an acknowledgment of the debt in the approved accounts. Do not let five silent years pass while relying on friendly emails; each year, obtain a written acknowledgment of the balance or issue a formal demand that interrupts limitation. A recent commercial chamber decision illustrates the litigation pattern after failed demands: the Court recorded “Après mises en demeure infructueuses de régler le montant de la cession des parts, le solde créditeur de son compte courant d’associé et les intérêts dus sur ces montants” before the creditor sued for payment in July 2019. Read it at Cass. com., 12 February 2025, No. 23-17.483 on courdecassation.fr. The lesson for a founder abroad is procedural: send the formal notice early, keep its proof, then sue for payment of the balance and interest rather than trying to undo old corporate resolutions, which courts reject when repayment was the real remedy.
B. What happens if the company says it has no cash, blocks your account, or enters insolvency?
A solvent company that refuses to pay and an insolvent company that cannot pay require different tools. If the company is solvent but invokes cash-flow strain, combine negotiation with secured enforcement. Ask for a dated repayment schedule signed by the legal representative, ideally with a late-interest clause and a personal guarantee if a new investor exists, then file the order-for-payment petition in parallel so that negotiation happens under a court deadline. Once you hold an enforceable title, the bailiff can proceed to a third-party seizure of the company bank account (saisie-attribution) or a seizure of receivables owed by the company’s clients. If the shares changed hands while you stayed abroad, sue the company, not only the new manager personally, because the debt sits on the company’s balance sheet regardless of who signed after you. If the transfer of shares included a promise that the buyer would repay your account by a certain date, join that buyer as co-defendant on the basis of that promise, with the share purchase agreement as exhibit.
If the company relies on a genuine blocking clause, read its scope narrowly and look for exits. A block agreed with a bank as security for a loan usually ends on full repayment of that bank loan or with the bank’s written consent; ask the bank directly with proof of your creditor status. A block agreed between shareholders usually has a fixed end date and sometimes an early-release event such as departure of the shareholder, sale of shares, or dismissal as manager. The Paris case above shows the pattern: shareholders had allegedly pledged and blocked their accounts for four years from February 2022, and the former shareholder sought early release, which the court examined against the exact engagement and the bank’s position. Never accept an oral extension of a block; any extension needs your written consent, and a block imposed after your loan without your consent does not bind you. If the company claims a general meeting voted to block all accounts indefinitely without your agreement, that vote is vulnerable because it forces a creditor to fund the company without consideration; challenge it by asking the court to interpret the resolution and to order repayment on the contractual terms.
If insolvency proceedings open, the regime changes immediately and foreign residence does not excuse missing the deadline. Article L622-28 of the Commercial Code provides: “Le jugement d’ouverture arrête le cours des intérêts légaux et conventionnels, ainsi que de tous intérêts de retard et majorations, à moins qu’il ne s’agisse des intérêts résultant de contrats de prêt conclus pour une durée égale ou supérieure à un an ou de contrats assortis d’un paiement différé d’un an ou plus.” See Article L622-28 of the Commercial Code on Légifrance. In business terms, opening of safeguard, reorganisation or liquidation proceedings freezes most interest accrual, with a narrow exception for loans of one year or more, and suspends individual enforcement. You must declare (déclarer la créance) your current-account balance with principal and accrued interest to the creditors’ representative (mandataire judiciaire) within two months of the BODACC notice if you live in France, or within four months if you live abroad, with proof of the contract and statements. Missing that extended foreign-creditor deadline can relegate you to a late claim procedure with weaker rights. Your shareholder loan is generally unsecured (chirographaire), meaning it ranks after secured banks and employees in a distribution, and courts scrutinise late top-ups made when cessation of payments was already known. This is why funding by current account should be monitored quarterly: if the Kbis still shows an active company but suppliers sue, BODACC shows payment defaults, or the accountant warns about cessation of payments (cessation des paiements, inability to meet due liabilities with available assets), stop increasing the account, demand repayment while the company is still in bonis (solvent), or convert the claim into capital only after advice, because conversion subordinates you further as a shareholder.
Tax and accounting discipline also protects the repayment in distress. Interest credited but never paid still counts as income in principle and still increases the balance the company owes you, but an administrator will verify each credit against the written rate and the deductible ceiling. Keep the DGFIP interest slips, the withholding certificates, and the treaty forms with the loan file, so that the claim declaration states a net principal plus a documented interest tail rather than a round figure. If the French company is part of a group with your foreign holding, identify whether cash-pooling (centralisation de trésorerie) or a group loan agreement governs the advance, because the administrator will apply that framework first. Finally, record every step from abroad by enforceable means: formal notice by registered letter with acknowledgment or bailiff service, petition dates, BODACC monitoring screenshots, and the claim declaration receipt. A foreign founder who can show a signed rate, approved accounts, timely notices, and a prompt declaration recovers more often and faster than one who relied on informal wires and friendly messages.
Conclusion
Lending to your own French company from abroad through a shareholder current account is lawful, fast, and practical, but only the written file makes it recoverable. Sign a short agreement with a written rate before wiring, record your shareholding, have the related-party procedure minuted at the next meeting, align the rate with the quarterly deductible ceiling, and reconcile the creditor balance every year with the approved accounts filed via the INPI Guichet unique and visible through the RCS and BODACC chain. When repayment stalls, enforce the contract as a lender: produce the clause or accept that the account is due, send a proven formal notice, use the order-for-payment procedure for a fixed sum, calendar the five-year limitation, and if insolvency opens declare within the extended four-month period for creditors living abroad. Handled this way, the shareholder current account does what foreign founders expect from it: bridge funding without a capital increase, deductible interest within the ceiling, and a documented debt that a French court can enforce even when the creditor signs from another country.