You live in London, New York, Dubai or Singapore and you own a company in France — usually a SAS (société par actions simplifiée, the simplified joint-stock company most foreign founders choose) or sometimes a SARL (société à responsabilité limitée, the limited-liability company whose capital is divided into parts sociales rather than shares). A buyer has appeared: a co-shareholder who wants your stake, an outside investor, or a competitor buying the whole business. The price is agreed, the money will travel across borders, and you assume that signing the sale agreement is the hard part. Under French law, it is not.
Three separate gates stand between the handshake and the money staying yours. First, the company’s own bylaws (statuts) may require the company’s prior approval before any sale, and a sale signed in breach of that clause is void. Second, ownership of SAS shares passes only through a book entry — a transfer order signed by the seller and recorded on the company’s registers — and a foreign seller who gets this paperwork wrong can discover, years later, that they are still listed as the shareholder, still summoned to meetings and still exposed. Third, the French tax office takes its share: registration duty (droits d’enregistrement) on the deed within one month of signing, and possibly income tax on your capital gain (plus-value) even though you are not resident in France. This guide follows the exact sequence a sale must follow, with the official texts and two recent decisions of the Cour de cassation (France’s supreme court for civil, commercial and criminal matters) that decided real cases very much like yours — including one where the seller was, like you, based in Switzerland. It assumes you already know how to choose between a SAS, a SARL, a branch and a subsidiary when entering France. If you are hesitating between selling and putting more money in instead, read our companion guide on increasing the capital of your French company from abroad, and make sure your French corporate bank account can receive funds from abroad before the price is wired.
I. You May Sell — But Only on the Bylaws’ Terms: Approval Clauses and the Moment Ownership Passes
A. Read the bylaws before you sign anything: approval, lock-up and exclusion clauses in a SAS, and why a sale in breach is void
The first reflex of a seller living abroad is to negotiate the price. The first reflex of French company law is to open the bylaws. In a SAS, transfers of shares are free in principle, but the bylaws may restrict them, and the key restriction is the approval clause (clause d’agrément, a provision requiring the company’s prior consent before a sale). Article L. 227-14 of the Commercial Code (Code de commerce) states, in one sentence: Les statuts peuvent soumettre toute cession d’actions à l’agrément préalable de la société. No approval obtained, no valid sale — where the clause exists, the buyer must be presented to the company, the designated body (the president alone, or the shareholders collectively, as the bylaws provide) must grant its consent, and only then can the transfer proceed. Because you live abroad, organise this step early: identify in the bylaws who grants approval, what file they require, and how long they may take, and send the request by a traceable means so that a silent or late answer can be proved.
The sanction for skipping this step is absolute. Article L. 227-15 of the Commercial Code provides: “Toute cession effectuée en violation des clauses statutaires est nulle.” The Cour de cassation restated the rule word for word in a decision of 21 June 2023 (Commercial Chamber, appeal no. 21-25.952, published on courdecassation.fr): “Aux termes de ce texte, toute cession effectuée en violation des clauses statutaires est nulle.” The same decision usefully draws the boundary of that nullity: “Ce texte ne régissant pas l’exclusion d’un associé et la cession forcée de ses actions qui en résulte, la nullité qu’il prévoit vise uniquement à sanctionner la violation de toute clause statutaire ayant pour objet la cession d’actions librement consentie par leur titulaire.” In plain terms, the nullity punishes the breach of clauses governing a sale you choose to make; it does not govern the separate mechanism of forced exclusion, where the company compels a shareholder to leave. Both mechanisms can sit side by side in the same bylaws, and Article L. 227-16 of the Commercial Code confirms the second one: “Dans les conditions qu’ils déterminent, les statuts peuvent prévoir qu’un associé peut être tenu de céder ses actions. Ils peuvent également prévoir la suspension des droits non pécuniaires de cet associé tant que celui-ci n’a pas procédé à cette cession.”
Your due diligence from abroad must therefore cover four documents before any promise is signed. First, the current bylaws, to list every clause affecting transfers: approval, any lock-up period (inaliénabilité, a temporary ban on selling), pre-emption rights of co-shareholders, and exclusion. Second, the shareholders’ agreement (pacte d’associés) if one exists: unlike the bylaws, it binds only its signatories, but a buyer will demand to see it, and tag-along or drag-along clauses can force you to sell — or prevent you from selling alone. Third, the share movement register (registre des mouvements de titres) and your shareholder account (compte d’actionnaire), to confirm that the shares are registered in your name and free of any pledge (nantissement) granted to a bank. Fourth, the company’s recent accounts, because a buyer who discovers hidden liabilities after the sale will turn against the seller under the price-adjustment or guarantee clauses of the sale agreement. If an approval clause exists and consent is refused, the bylaws — not the disappointed buyer — decide what happens next, so negotiate that fallback in the sale agreement itself: a replacement buyer to be presented, a price formula, or a right to walk away.
None of this is theoretical for a seller who never attends meetings in person. Bylaws written years ago, when the company was formed, often name a president who has since resigned or set approval majorities that no longer match the shareholding. Ask the company for a certified up-to-date copy of the bylaws and check them against the company register kept by the greffe (the clerk’s office of the commercial court). A week spent verifying the rules beats a void sale discovered at the moment the price should have been paid.
B. Making the buyer the owner from abroad: the signed transfer order, the book entry and notice to the company
French shares in a non-listed SAS are not transferred by handing over a certificate. They are transferred by a book entry, and the seller living abroad must understand exactly which signature triggers it. The governing principle is set by Article L. 211-17 of the Monetary and Financial Code (Code monétaire et financier): “Le transfert de propriété de titres financiers résulte de l’inscription de ces titres au compte-titres de l’acquéreur” For company shares, the Commercial Code organises that entry (Article L. 228-1): as the Cour de cassation recalled in its decision of 18 September 2024 (Commercial Chamber, appeal no. 22-18.436, published on courdecassation.fr), “l’article L. 228-1 du code de commerce dispose que le transfert de propriété résulte de l’inscription des valeurs mobilières au compte de l’acheteur, dans des conditions fixées par décret au Conseil d’Etat, et que l’article R. 228-10 du même code précise que l’inscription au compte de l’acheteur est faite à la date fixée par l’accord des parties et notifiée à la société émettrice” The decree itself, Article R. 228-10 of the Commercial Code, confirms: “l’inscription au compte de l’acheteur ou dans un dispositif d’enregistrement électronique partagé est faite à la date fixée par l’accord des parties et notifiée à la société émettrice.”
In everyday company practice, that entry is driven by a transfer order (ordre de mouvement), a short document signed by the seller instructing the company to debit the seller’s account and credit the buyer’s. The 18 September 2024 decision is precious for a foreign seller for two reasons. First, the seller in that case was a Swiss company — a non-resident seller, exactly your situation — and the Court upheld the sale. Second, the Court accepted that the tax declaration form signed by the seller counted as the transfer order: the decision notes that “aucun texte législatif ou réglementaire ne régit la forme et le contenu de ce document” (Cass. com., 18 Sept. 2024, no. 22-18.436), and holds that “le formulaire Cerfa du 2 février 2017, qui est signé par le cédant et qui comporte toutes les informations nécessaires pour inscrire la cession sur le registre des mouvements de titres et le compte d’actionnaire, vaut ordre de mouvement” (Cass. com., 18 Sept. 2024, no. 22-18.436) A Cerfa form is France’s official administrative form; here it was the standard tax return for transfers of shares. The Court also records that the transfer had been entered on a movement register “coté et paraphé par le greffe du tribunal de commerce” (Cass. com., 18 Sept. 2024, no. 22-18.436), meaning initialled by the commercial court clerk — the level of formality French courts expect from company registers. The lesson for you is direct: sign a clear written transfer order yourself, make sure it identifies the shares, the buyer and the date agreed with the buyer, and verify afterwards that the company has actually recorded it on the initialled register and on the buyer’s shareholder account. A signed sale agreement plus an unrecorded transfer leaves you as the shareholder of record.
Executed from abroad, this sequence needs deliberate logistics. Sign the transfer order in as many originals as the bylaws and the buyer require, send them by tracked courier, and keep the tracking proof with the file. Keep the SWIFT confirmation of the price payment stapled to the same file: if the buyer later claims the price was never agreed or never paid, the wire record is your evidence. Ask the company for written confirmation that the entry has been made and that the shareholder register has been updated, and keep a copy of the updated register page. If someone must sign or collect documents for you in France, give them a written power of attorney limited to that sale, and remember that a power signed abroad for use in a French file may need an apostille or legalisation before a French office accepts it — the same formality that blocks company filings at the greffe, described in our guide on rejected filings, apostilles and legalisation.
If your company is a SARL rather than a SAS, the default rule is stricter and it is set by statute, not by the bylaws. Article L. 223-14 of the Commercial Code provides: “Les parts sociales ne peuvent être cédées à des tiers étrangers à la société qu’avec le consentement de la majorité des associés représentant au moins la moitié des parts sociales, à moins que les statuts prévoient une majorité plus forte.” The project must be notified to the company and to each shareholder, and silence means consent: “Si la société n’a pas fait connaître sa décision dans le délai de trois mois à compter de la dernière des notifications prévues au présent alinéa, le consentement à la cession est réputé acquis.” If consent is refused, the remaining shareholders must buy the shares — or have them bought — within three months at a price fixed by expert valuation under Article 1843-4 of the Civil Code, unless you withdraw from the sale. A SARL seller abroad should therefore notify the project early by a provable means and calendar the three-month deadline personally: deemed consent after three months of silence is a genuine exit door, but only if you can prove when the clock started.
II. Paying the Tax Office and Declaring the Gain When the Seller Lives Abroad
A. Registration duty within one month: the form, the office and the 0.1 %, 3 % or 5 % rate
Every sale of shares or parts sociales recorded in a written deed must pass through the tax office, and the one-month clock starts on the date of the deed — not on the date the money arrives. The official tax portal impots.gouv.fr states the rule plainly: transfers of shares or parts sociales recorded in a written deed must go through registration within one month of the date of the deed The same page adds where and how: the deed is registered at the tax office of the domicile of either party, or of the residence of the notary where the sale is made by notarial deed For a seller living abroad, that wording is good news: the deed can be registered at the tax office (service des impôts, the local branch of the French tax administration) of the buyer’s domicile in France, and the filing is made using form 2759 (formulaire 2759, the Cerfa return for transfers of company shares) or through the online procedure in the professional tax account. Where there is no written deed at all, unlisted transfers must still be declared within one month of their date — so an unwritten handshake sale is not a way out of the formality. Late filing exposes the parties to late-payment interest and penalties, which is why the sale agreement should name who files and who advances the duty.
The rate of that duty (droit d’enregistrement, the proportional tax collected on registration) depends on what is sold. Article 726 of the General Tax Code (Code général des impôts, abbreviated CGI) sets three cases. For shares of a non-listed SAS — your usual case — the rate is 0.1 %: the text covers “les cessions, autres que celles soumises au taux visé au 2°, d’actions, de parts de fondateurs ou de parts bénéficiaires des sociétés par actions non négociées sur un marché réglementé d’instruments financiers au sens de l’article L. 421-1 du code monétaire et financier ou sur un système multilatéral de négociation au sens de l’article L. 424-1 du même code” (Article 726 CGI on Légifrance). For parts sociales of a SARL, the rate is 3 %, with a valuable allowance: “pour les cessions, autres que celles soumises au taux mentionné au 2°, de parts sociales dans les sociétés dont le capital n’est pas divisé en actions. Dans ce cas, il est appliqué sur la valeur de chaque part sociale un abattement égal au rapport entre la somme de 23 000 € et le nombre total de parts sociales de la société” In practice, each share’s taxable value is reduced by 23,000 euros divided by the total number of shares — on a small SARL, that allowance can wipe out most of the duty. For interests in a real-estate-heavy entity (personne morale à prépondérance immobilière, a company whose assets consist mainly of French buildings or land), the rate jumps to 5 %: impots.gouv.fr confirms that “2° A 5 % : – pour les cessions de participations dans des personnes morales à prépondérance immobilière.” A foreign owner selling a French property-holding company (SCI or SARL de famille) must therefore budget fifty times the SAS rate — a difference worth checking before the price is fixed, since the agreement should state expressly who bears the duty.
Two practical warnings follow from these texts. First, state the full and real price in the deed: the duty is assessed on the transfer as declared, and an understated price exposes both parties to reassessment. Second, keep the registered deed and its stamp: the buyer’s bank, the company’s accountant and — if you are audited — the tax administration will each ask for it. The registration receipt is also the document that proves the date of the transfer for the capital-gains computation that follows.
B. Tax on your gain as a non-resident seller: the 25 % test and the 12.8 % levy
Registration duty is only the first tax. The second is income tax on your capital gain, and it can follow you abroad. French domestic law starts from a broad principle, set by Article 150-0 A of the General Tax Code: “Sous réserve des dispositions propres aux bénéfices industriels et commerciaux, aux bénéfices non commerciaux et aux bénéfices agricoles ainsi que des articles 150 UB et 150 UC , les gains nets retirés des cessions à titre onéreux, effectuées directement, par personne interposée ou par l’intermédiaire d’une fiducie, de valeurs mobilières, de droits sociaux, de titres mentionnés au 1° de l’article 118 et aux 6° et 7° de l’article 120 , de droits portant sur ces valeurs, droits ou titres ou de titres représentatifs des mêmes valeurs, droits ou titres, sont soumis à l’impôt sur le revenu.” (Article 150-0 A CGI on Légifrance). Your sale of SAS shares or SARL parts for a price is exactly a cession à titre onéreux de droits sociaux, so the gain falls within the scope of French tax — before treaties are even considered.
For a seller who is not resident in France, the decisive text is Article 244 bis B of the General Tax Code. It provides: “Sous réserve des dispositions de l’article 244 bis A , les gains mentionnés à l’article 150-0 A résultant de la cession ou du rachat de droits sociaux mentionnés au f du I de l’article 164 B, réalisés par des personnes physiques qui ne sont pas domiciliées en France au sens de l’article 4 B ou par des personnes morales ou organismes quelle qu’en soit la forme, ayant leur siège social hors de France, sont déterminés selon les modalités prévues aux articles 150-0 A à 150-0 E et soumis à un prélèvement aux taux mentionnés au deuxième alinéa du présent article lorsque les droits dans les bénéfices de la société détenus par le cédant ou l’actionnaire ou l’associé, avec son conjoint, leurs ascendants et leurs descendants, ont dépassé ensemble 25 % de ces bénéfices à un moment quelconque au cours des cinq dernières années.” (Article 244 bis B CGI on Légifrance). Three conditions therefore decide whether France levies tax at source on your gain: you are not domiciled in France, the rights sold are covered, and you — together with your spouse, ascendants and descendants — held more than 25 % of the company’s profit rights at any point in the last five years. A foreign founder who owned the whole SAS for years clearly meets that test; a minority investor who always stayed below 25 % does not, and no levy is due under this article.
Where the test is met, the same article fixes the bill: “Le prélèvement est libératoire de l’impôt sur le revenu dû à raison des sommes qui ont supporté celui-ci.” (Article 244 bis B CGI) And: “Le prélèvement mentionné au premier alinéa est fixé au taux prévu au deuxième alinéa du I de l’article 219 lorsqu’il est dû par une personne morale ou un organisme quelle qu’en soit la forme et au taux de 12,8 % lorsqu’il est dû par une personne physique.” (Article 244 bis B CGI) An individual seller therefore pays a final 12.8 % levy on the computed gain — final, meaning no further French income tax is due on those sums — while a foreign company selling its French participation pays the corporate-rate levy. One aggravated case deserves a warning: “Par dérogation, les gains mentionnés au premier alinéa sont imposés au taux forfaitaire de 75 % quel que soit le pourcentage de droits détenus dans les bénéfices de la société concernée, lorsqu’ils sont réalisés par des personnes ou organismes domiciliés, établis ou constitués hors de France dans un Etat ou territoire non coopératif au sens de l’ article 238-0 A” (Article 244 bis B CGI) — an Etat ou territoire non coopératif (ETNC) being a jurisdiction blacklisted for tax non-cooperation — “sauf s’ils apportent la preuve que les opérations auxquelles correspondent ces profits ont principalement un objet et un effet autres que de permettre leur localisation dans un Etat ou territoire non coopératif.” (Article 244 bis B CGI)
Two reservations complete the picture, and both require homework before closing. First, the tax treaty (convention fiscale) between France and your country of residence may allocate the right to tax the gain differently from domestic law; the treaty must be checked article by article, because it overrides domestic rules where it applies. Second, your country of residence will usually want to tax the same gain, with a credit mechanism for the French levy — keep the French levy receipt, because it is the document your home-country return will ask for. Concretely, before signing, reconstruct five years of holdings (including shares held by your spouse, parents and children, which count toward the 25 %), compute the gain as sale price minus acquisition cost and expenses, and confirm in writing with your advisers which rate — 12.8 %, corporate rate, or treaty rate — applies to you. A seller who discovers the 25 % test after the price is fixed has no leverage left to renegotiate.
Conclusion
Selling your French company from abroad succeeds when the four steps run in order. Confirm in the bylaws whether any approval, lock-up or exclusion clause governs your sale, and obtain the company’s consent in writing before you commit — a sale signed in breach of a statutory clause is void, as the Cour de cassation restated in June 2023. Transfer ownership properly by signing a transfer order and having the company record it on the initialled movement register and the buyer’s shareholder account, because French law makes ownership result from that book entry, not from the handshake — the Swiss-seller decision of September 2024 proves that courts enforce this paperwork strictly, while accepting a signed tax form as a valid transfer order. Register the deed at the tax office within one month on form 2759 and pay the correct duty — 0.1 % for SAS shares, 3 % with the 23,000-euro allowance for SARL parts, 5 % for real-estate-heavy entities. Finally, test your capital gain against Article 244 bis B: above 25 % held in the last five years, a non-resident individual owes the final 12.8 % levy, subject to the treaty with your country of residence. Keep every paper — bylaws, approval, transfer order, register copy, registered deed, wire confirmations and holding history — in one file: from three time zones away, that file is the only proof you have.