You live in London, New York, Dubai or Singapore, and your business needs a French presence: signing French clients, invoicing in euros, hiring a salesperson in Paris, or holding stock in a Lyon warehouse. The first question a French lawyer will ask is which vehicle you want, because that single choice shapes everything that follows: how much capital you must pay in and when, who can run the company while you stay abroad, how shares change hands when a partner leaves, which social security scheme covers the manager, and how the French tax administration taxes the profits. France offers two domestic companies that foreign founders use in the vast majority of cases, the SAS (société par actions simplifiée, the simplified joint-stock company) and the SARL (société à responsabilité limitée, the limited liability company), plus a third route that avoids incorporating altogether, the French branch (succursale) of your existing foreign company. This guide compares the three routes on verified statutory ground, with the exact words of the statutes and three recent decisions of the Cour de cassation (the French supreme court for civil and commercial matters), then walks through registration from abroad and day-to-day running. If you have already decided to incorporate and want the practical sequence, read our companion guide on setting up a company in France as a foreign founder: bank account, Kbis, VAT and first hire alongside this comparison.

A short vocabulary note, because every French acronym below is explained once. The Kbis is the official identity certificate of a French business, issued by the greffe, the registry office of the commercial court (in Paris, the greffe of the Paris commercial court). The RCS (registre du commerce et des sociétés) is the trade and companies register; SIREN and SIRET are the national identification numbers of a company and of each of its premises. The BODACC (Bulletin officiel des annonces civiles et commerciales) is the official gazette where company registrations and insolvency notices are published. The Guichet unique, operated through the INPI (Institut national de la propriété industrielle), is the single online portal where companies are now incorporated. URSSAF is the network of agencies collecting social contributions. With that vocabulary, the choice between SAS, SARL and branch becomes a concrete business decision rather than an alphabet soup.

I. SAS, SARL or branch: which French vehicle fits your project?

The choice is rarely about prestige. It is about control, transfers of ownership, the identity of the manager, and recurring cost. A founder who will raise venture capital, grant vesting to co-founders or bring in a foreign parent as shareholder has different needs from a consultant billing two French clients or a group testing the market with one employee. The branch suits a third profile: a foreign company that wants to act in France quickly without creating a French legal person, accepting that the parent remains fully on the hook. The paragraphs below set out the legal differences that actually decide the answer, then the yearly cost of each choice.

A. What really separates a SAS from a SARL: formation, governance, transfers and exit

Both the SAS and the SARL give shareholders limited liability, and the statutes say so in nearly identical words. Article L. 227-1 of the Commercial Code provides that “Une société par actions simplifiée peut être instituée par une ou plusieurs personnes qui ne supportent les pertes qu’à concurrence de leur apport.” Article L. 223-1 of the Commercial Code provides that “La société à responsabilité limitée est instituée par une ou plusieurs personnes qui ne supportent les pertes qu’à concurrence de leurs apports.” A single person can form either one: the single-member SAS is called a SASU (société par actions simplifiée unipersonnelle) and the single-member SARL an EURL (entreprise unipersonnelle à responsabilité limitée). Limited liability therefore does not decide between them. What decides is how freely you can organise power and move shares.

The SAS is a contract-first company. Article L. 227-5 of the Commercial Code states that “Les statuts fixent les conditions dans lesquelles la société est dirigée.” The founders write their own governance: one president or several managers, voting rights detached from capital, veto rights, vesting and leaver clauses, investor protective provisions. The only mandatory organ is the president. Article L. 227-6 of the Commercial Code provides that “La société est représentée à l’égard des tiers par un président désigné dans les conditions prévues par les statuts.” It adds that “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 foreign founder can therefore be the sole shareholder and the president, run everything from abroad, and still give a Paris-based directeur général (general manager) strictly defined powers for daily business, banking and hiring. The SARL is the mirror image: statute-first, with a rigid framework. Article L. 223-18 of the Commercial Code states that “La société à responsabilité limitée est gérée par une ou plusieurs personnes physiques.” The gérant (manager) must be a natural person, and the room for tailor-made governance is narrow. That rigidity reassures some family businesses; it frustrates founders who will negotiate with investors.

Freedom of drafting has a price: the statutes must be precise, because the courts hold founders to exactly what they wrote. On 9 March 2022, in decision No. 19-25.795, the Commercial Chamber of the Cour de cassation recalled that “les conditions dans lesquelles les dirigeants d’une société par actions simplifiée peuvent être révoqués de leurs fonctions sont, dans le silence de la loi, librement fixées par les statuts, qu’il s’agisse des causes de la révocation ou de ses modalités” (Cass. com., 9 March 2022, No. 19-25.795). Where the statutes say nothing about dismissal grounds, the dismissal stands without them. And on 9 July 2025, in decision No. 24-10.428, the same chamber drew the outer boundary: “Il résulte de ces textes que les statuts de la société par actions simplifiée fixent les conditions dans lesquelles celle-ci est dirigée, notamment les modalités de révocation de ses dirigeants. Si une décision des associés peut compléter les statuts sur ce point, elle ne peut y déroger, quand bien même aurait-elle été prise à l’unanimité.” (Cass. com., 9 July 2025, No. 24-10.428). In that case, shareholders had unanimously approved side conditions protecting a general manager, but the statutes allowed dismissal at will without compensation, and the Court enforced the statutes. For a foreign founder, the lesson is operational: put the dismissal rules, notice, compensation and non-compete of every manager in the statutes themselves, not in side letters or minutes, and have the statutes reviewed before anyone is appointed.

The SARL plays by opposite dismissal rules, written in the statute rather than in the contract. Article L. 223-25 of the Commercial Code provides that “Le gérant peut être révoqué par décision des associés dans les conditions de l’article L. 223-29 , à moins que les statuts prévoient une majorité plus forte.” It continues: “Si la révocation est décidée sans juste motif, elle peut donner lieu à des dommages et intérêts.” A SARL manager can therefore be removed at any time by a majority vote, but an unjustified removal can cost damages, and any shareholder can ask a court to remove the manager for legitimate cause. The voting rule itself is statutory: Article L. 223-29 of the Commercial Code states that “les décisions sont adoptées par un ou plusieurs associés représentant plus de la moitié des parts sociales.” A 50-50 SARL between a foreign founder and a French partner is consequently a deadlock machine: neither side reaches more than half the shares, so nothing can be decided, including removing the other side’s manager. In a SAS, the same 50-50 split can be managed with a casting vote, a mediation clause or a buy-sell mechanism drafted in the statutes. Founders who expect disagreement should price that difference before incorporating, not after the first blocked meeting.

Transfers of ownership follow the same philosophical divide. In a SARL, outside buyers face a statutory lock. Article L. 223-14 of the Commercial Code provides that “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.” Selling to a stranger requires the company’s consent, and a refusal triggers a buy-back procedure at a price fixed under Article 1843-4 of the Civil Code. In a SAS, transfers are unrestricted by default: the statutes may add an approval clause, since Article L. 227-14 of the Commercial Code states that “Les statuts peuvent soumettre toute cession d’actions à l’agrément préalable de la société.” The statutes may also add inalienability for up to ten years, forced-sale (exclusion) clauses and pre-emption rights, all standard venture-capital toolkit. But exclusion clauses have a hard limit set by the courts. On 29 May 2024, in decision No. 22-13.158, the Commercial Chamber held: “Il résulte de la combinaison de ces textes que si les statuts d’une société par actions simplifiée peuvent prévoir l’exclusion d’un associé par une décision collective des associés, toute stipulation de la clause d’exclusion ayant pour objet ou pour effet de priver l’associé dont l’exclusion est proposée de son droit de voter sur cette proposition est réputée non écrite.” (Cass. com., 29 May 2024, No. 22-13.158). An exclusion clause that silences the targeted shareholder is therefore void on that point: the shareholder votes on his own exclusion. Draft the clause accordingly, with notice, reasons, a hearing and an independent valuation, or the exclusion will collapse in court.

Capital requirements confirm the SAS as the founders’ vehicle and the SARL as the small-business vehicle, with neither imposing a meaningful minimum. Both can be formed with one euro of capital, but the pay-up rules differ. In a SARL, Article L. 223-7 of the Commercial Code provides that “Les parts représentant des apports en numéraire doivent être libérées d’au moins un cinquième de leur montant.” The balance follows within five years, since the same article adds that release of the remainder occurs “dans un délai qui ne peut excéder cinq ans à compter de l’immatriculation de la société au registre du commerce et des sociétés.” In a SAS, formed with shares rather than partnership-style interests, Article L. 225-3 of the Commercial Code provides that “Les actions de numéraire sont libérées, lors de la souscription, de la moitié au moins de leur valeur nominale.” The balance likewise follows within five years of registration. Contributions in kind (equipment, patents, a business) must be fully paid up at once in both forms and usually valued by a contributions auditor (commissaire aux apports), with the founders jointly liable for five years for any overvaluation where no auditor intervened. One euro of capital remains legally possible and practically unwise: banks, landlords and suppliers read the capital figure on the Kbis as a seriousness signal, and a symbolic amount complicates the corporate bank account opening that our pillar guide describes. Foreign founders typically deposit between a few thousand and a few tens of thousands of euros, blocked in a bank, with a notary (notaire) or with the Caisse des dépôts until registration, and the deposit certificate (certificat de dépôt des fonds) joins the incorporation file.

Two final structural points matter for internationally minded founders. First, a SAS cannot go to the public markets: Article L. 227-2 of the Commercial Code states that “La société par actions simplifiée ne peut procéder à une offre au public de titres financiers ou à l’admission aux négociations sur un marché réglementé de ses actions.” A listing requires converting to a SA (société anonyme), a conversion the statutes can prepare but that costs time and money. Private fundraising, employee stock instruments (BSPCE for young companies, stock-options, free shares) and secondary sales work perfectly well in a SAS, which is why venture funds insist on it. Second, the branch is not a company at all: it has no capital, no shares and no legal personality of its own. The foreign parent signs, is sued, and pays. A branch must still register in France, file the parent’s accounts in some cases, and appoint a representative, and closing or converting it later follows its own procedure, described in our guide on closing or converting a French branch into a SAS from abroad. Groups that only second one employee or invoice occasionally sometimes prefer the branch for speed; groups that hire, borrow or sign leases in France usually incorporate, because counterparties prefer a French limited-liability debtor with its own Kbis.

B. What the choice costs every year: the manager’s social regime and the taxation of profits

Here the SAS/SARL divide reverses, and many foreign founders discover it too late. The president of a SAS belongs to the general employee-linked scheme as an assimilated employee (assimilé salarié): employee-like social protection without employee status, without an employment contract and without unemployment insurance. The legal hook is Article L. 311-3 of the Social Security Code, whose paragraph 23 covers “23° Les présidents et dirigeants des sociétés par actions simplifiées et des sociétés d’exercice libéral par actions simplifiées ;” Presidents and managers of SAS companies are therefore compulsorily affiliated to the general scheme. The general affiliation principle sits in Article L. 311-2 of the Social Security Code: “Sont affiliées obligatoirement aux assurances sociales du régime général, quel que soit leur âge et même si elles sont titulaires d’une pension, toutes les personnes quelle que soit leur nationalité, de l’un ou de l’autre sexe, salariées ou travaillant à quelque titre ou en quelque lieu que ce soit, pour un ou plusieurs employeurs et quels que soient le montant et la nature de leur rémunération, la forme, la nature ou la validité de leur contrat ou la nature de leur statut.” Nationality changes nothing: a foreign president paid by the SAS contributes in France. Contributions mirror those of an executive employee, minus unemployment, and buy sickness, maternity, family, workplace-accident, basic and supplementary pension cover. A president who takes no salary pays no contributions and earns no cover, a conscious trade many founders make in year one that our detailed analysis of SAS president pay, dividends and social charges from abroad examines line by line.

The majority gérant of a SARL lives in a different social world: the independent-workers regime (travailleur non salarié, TNS), with lower headline rates but thinner protection, particularly on pensions and daily sickness benefits, and with minimum contributions (minima de cotisations) payable even in a loss-making year. The contribution base for independent workers is set by Article L. 131-6 of the Social Security Code, which opens: “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.” A minority or equal-share SARL gérant, by contrast, joins the general scheme like a SAS president. The practical consequence for a foreign founder is a calculation, not a slogan. A SAS president drawing a real executive salary pays higher contributions and earns stronger pension rights; a majority SARL gérant keeping drawings low pays less but protects himself less, and still owes the minima. Founders who keep another activity abroad must also check the European coordination regulations or the applicable bilateral social-security treaty before assuming they can stay outside the French system: France applies its legislation to work performed on its territory, and double affiliation disputes are resolved by treaties, not by optimism. The URSSAF audit guide for foreign companies facing a URSSAF audit from abroad shows what happens when that question was never asked at incorporation.

Corporate taxation, by contrast, barely distinguishes the two companies. Article 206 of the General Tax Code (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” and, floats at the end of the same list, “toutes autres personnes morales se livrant à une exploitation ou à des opérations de caractère lucratif.” The SAS, a profit-making legal person, is therefore liable to corporation tax (impôt sur les sociétés, IS) under the same article, at the standard statutory rate set by Article 219 of the same code. Both companies deduct salaries, rent, interest professional expenses, both can carry forward losses, and both distribute after-tax profits as dividends subject to the withholding and treaty mechanics our guide on recovering French dividend withholding under tax treaties explains. The genuine tax fork is narrower: a small SARL (and, for its first five years, a small SAS formed for less than five years ago under conditions) can opt for partnership-style transparent taxation (régime des sociétés de personnes), letting losses flow directly to the founders’ personal tax. Family businesses and loss-expected startups sometimes use that option; venture-backed companies never do, because funds require corporation-tax status. The branch, finally, is taxed in France on its French-source profits without being a French resident company, and the parent’s home country usually taxes worldwide profits with a treaty credit, a double layer that Groups must model before choosing the branch for tax reasons alone.

II. How do you create and run the company without living in France?

Choosing the vehicle is half the work. The other half is getting it registered and operated from another country without a misstep that costs months. French incorporation is fully achievable from abroad: signatures can be given by power of attorney, filings go through a single portal, and neither shareholders nor managers must reside in France. What cannot be improvised is the sequence, because each step conditions the next and the registry rejects incomplete files.

A. How registration works from abroad: capital deposit, foreign paperwork and the Guichet unique

The sequence starts before any filing, with the draft statutes and the money. The founders sign the statutes (statuts), which for a SAS must cover governance, share transfers and decision-making with the precision the 2025 case law above demands, and for a SARL can stay closer to the statutory model. Cash contributions are then deposited with a bank, a notary or the Caisse des dépôts, which issues the deposit certificate. The SAS pays in at least half the cash shares on subscription and the SARL at least one fifth, as the articles quoted above require. Non-resident founders should start the bank conversation early: French banks verify identity, source of funds and the purpose of the company, and the process takes weeks from abroad, as our pillar guide on setting up a company in France as a foreign founder: bank account, Kbis, VAT and first hire explains. Where the shareholder is itself a foreign company, the bank and the registry will ask for the parent’s incorporation documents, a recent certificate of good standing, the register of beneficial owners (registre des bénéficiaires effectifs, RBE) information identifying every natural person ultimately holding more than 25 percent, and a French translation by a sworn translator (traducteur assermenté) for any document not in French. Countries party to the Apostille Convention authenticate public documents with an apostille; the registry checks this, so budget the time.

Once the funds are blocked, the founders publish a formation notice in a legal-notices newspaper (journal d’annonces légales, JAL) of the district of the future registered office (siège social), then file everything through the Guichet unique, the single business-formalities portal reached at formalites.entreprises.gouv.fr, whose official presentation sits on the public-service page for the business formalities desk, with guidance from the INPI company-creation pages. The file contains the statutes, the deposit certificate, the JAL publication statement, the beneficial-owner declaration, and for each manager a copy of identity documents, a declaration of non-conviction (déclaration de non-condamnation) and, for foreign nationals, proof of the right to manage a French company, which for most non-European founders means checking visa and residence-permit requirements before claiming the title. The registry (greffe) examines the file, and only registration creates the company. Article L. 210-6 of the Commercial Code states that “Les sociétés commerciales jouissent de la personnalité morale à dater de leur immatriculation au registre du commerce et des sociétés.” Whoever signs contracts, hires or invoices before that date acts personally: the same article warns that “Les personnes qui ont agi au nom d’une société en formation avant qu’elle ait acquis la jouissance de la personnalité morale sont tenues solidairement et indéfiniment responsables des actes ainsi accomplis, à moins que la société, après avoir été régulièrement constituée et immatriculée, ne reprenne les engagements souscrits.” A company in formation can take over pre-incorporation commitments after registration, but the takeover must be organised, listed in an annexed statement of acts (état des actes accomplis) or approved by the shareholders, not assumed. Foreign founders eager to sign a first client or a lease should therefore either wait for the Kbis or have counsel structure the interim signature explicitly.

Registration produces the Kbis, the SIREN number and publication in the BODACC. From that day the company exists, can open its operating bank account on the strength of the Kbis, can apply for a VAT number where its activity requires it, a process our guide on French VAT registration and the first CA3 return from abroad walks through, and can hire, remembering that the first recruitment triggers pay-slip, withholding and social-declaration duties examined in our analysis of the mutual separation of a first French employee from abroad. The branch route is shorter but still requires filings: the foreign parent registers the branch, designates a representative in France, and publishes accordingly. Typical Paris timelines run two to six weeks from complete file to Kbis for a company, longer where foreign documents need apostilles or the bank’s compliance review drags. A file rejected for a missing translation or an unsigned declaration restarts the clock, so founders who prepare the foreign paperwork in parallel with the bank process save the most time. Since 2023, France has also generalised electronic invoicing duties on a phased calendar that new companies must anticipate, detailed in our guide on mandatory e-invoicing deadlines and platforms from abroad.

B. How you run it from abroad: authority, meetings, accounts and the traps to avoid

Daily life divides between what the manager can do alone and what the shareholders must decide. Toward outsiders, both the SAS president and the SARL gérant bind the company broadly: the president holds “les pouvoirs les plus étendus” within the corporate purpose, and the SARL gérant is likewise vested with the widest powers toward third parties, as the statutes quoted above establish. Internally, the statutes (SAS) or the law (SARL) draw the line: selling the business, borrowing beyond a threshold, hiring key staff or opening premises usually require shareholder approval, and banks and landlords routinely ask for the statutes and the latest minutes before dealing with a manager they have never met. A foreign president should therefore keep an English-language certified extract of the powers clause and up-to-date minutes available for every bank, notary and counterparty, because French counterparties verify authority from the Kbis and the statutes, not from a business card. Powers of attorney (délégations de pouvoirs) for the Paris team must be written, dated and limited, since an unclear delegation is the classic route to a disputed dismissal or an unauthorised commitment.

Shareholder decisions follow the vehicle’s logic. In a SARL, ordinary decisions need more than half the shares and extraordinary ones (statute amendments, capital changes, mergers) need two thirds, on statutory quorums the founders cannot contract away. In a SAS, the statutes define everything except a short list of decisions the law reserves to the collective shareholders, such as capital increases, mergers, appointment of auditors, approval of annual accounts and transformation. That freedom lets a foreign sole shareholder decide everything by written record (procès-verbal de l’associé unique) without travelling, and lets multi-shareholder SAS companies vote by video conference or written consultation where the statutes allow it. Approval of the annual accounts remains the one immovable ritual in both forms: within six months of year-end, the shareholders approve the accounts, allocate profits and, where dividends are voted, set their payment within nine months. Missed deadlines expose the manager to fines and complicate banking, and our guide on the French company’s annual legal calendar from abroad lists every filing, from accounts at the greffe to corporation-tax, VAT, payroll and local business-tax (CFE) returns, with the late-fix for each.

Three traps catch foreign-run companies more than any others. First, mixing personal and company money: paying personal expenses from the company account or leaving shareholder loans (comptes courants d’associés) undocumented invites both tax reassessment and, at the extreme, criminal liability for misuse of company assets (abus de biens sociaux). Document every advance, set interest in writing and track our analysis of shareholder loans, repayment and proof from abroad. Second, ignoring conflicts between the two countries’ rules: a founder directed and managed from London or Dubai may face questions about the company’s tax residence, transfer pricing on intra-group invoices, and social-security affiliation of days worked in France. Third, letting the company drift when activity pauses: a dormant company still files accounts, still pays the CFE business tax and still declares beneficial owners, and the manager stays liable for filing failures. Where the venture fails, French law imposes a strict timetable once cash runs out, examined in our guide on cessation of payments, the 45-day rule and director liability from abroad. The overarching principle is simple: a French company run from abroad needs a French compliance calendar, a French accountant and counsel who answers, because distance explains nothing to a registry, an auditor or a court.

Conclusion

For most foreign founders, the SAS is the default answer: contractual governance, investor-compatible shares, a president who can act alone toward third parties, and straightforward transfer mechanics, at the price of careful statute drafting and employee-linked social charges on any salary. The SARL suits founders who want statutory simplicity, a lower entry cost and the independent-worker regime, accepting rigid transfers and majority-vote mechanics that punish 50-50 splits. The branch suits groups that need speed without a French legal person and accept unlimited parent liability. Whichever route you take, the method is the same: draft the statutes for the disputes you hope never to have, deposit real capital, assemble the foreign paperwork with apostilles and sworn translations early, file through the Guichet unique, wait for the Kbis before committing the company, and run a compliance calendar from day one. Decided on that basis, from abroad and with the exact texts in hand, the French vehicle becomes what it should be: an instrument, not a risk.