You have just received your Kbis, the official identity certificate of your French company issued from the Registre du commerce et des societes, usually called the RCS, and you want to know what comes next. Many foreign founders discover the French legal calendar only when a fine arrives or the greffe, the registry office of the local commercial court, sends a reminder. This guide gives you the full first-year calendar in one place: the meeting that approves the annual accounts, the filing of those accounts with the greffe, the corporate tax instalments, the value added tax returns, the Cotisation fonciere des entreprises, usually called the CFE, and the payroll declarations for your first hire and for yourself as a director. Every French acronym is explained, every deadline is tied to the exact statute or court decision that creates it, and every missed deadline comes with a practical fix for a foreign-owned SAS or SARL.
I. When must a foreign founder approve and publish the French company accounts?
Approval and publication form the backbone of the French corporate year. You close the financial year, you approve the accounts, you file them, and the Bulletin officiel des annonces civiles et commerciales, usually called the BODACC, the official gazette where company filings are announced, records the filing. Foreign founders often treat this as paperwork. French courts treat it as the proof that the company is properly managed, and the absence of accounts is one of the fastest routes to personal liability in an insolvency.
A. How do you approve French annual accounts within six months of year-end?
In a SARL, the managers prepare the management report, the inventory, and the annual accounts, and those documents are submitted to the approval of the shareholders meeting in general meeting. The statute states the rule plainly: approval happens “dans le délai de six mois à compter de la clôture de l’exercice”, which means within six months after the financial year end, unless a court extends the deadline. The full text is available in Article L223-26 of the Commercial Code. If the meeting is not convened in time, the public prosecutor or any interested person can ask the president of the competent court, ruling in summary proceedings, to order the managers to convene the meeting, if necessary under penalty payment, or to appoint an agent to do so. That is not a theoretical threat. It is the mechanism a minority shareholder, a creditor, or the prosecutor uses when a foreign-held company goes silent.
In a SAS, the articles of association decide which decisions must be taken collectively by the shareholders and in what form, but the law reserves certain matters to the shareholders in all cases, including the annual accounts and profits. The statute adds a special rule for the single-shareholder SAS, the SASU: “L’associé unique approuve les comptes, après rapport du commissaire aux comptes s’il en existe un, dans le délai de six mois à compter de la clôture de l’exercice.” In plain English, the sole shareholder approves the accounts, after the statutory auditor report if one exists, within six months after the year end. The full text is available in Article L227-9 of the Commercial Code. The sole shareholder cannot delegate this power, and the decisions must be recorded in a register. When the sole shareholder is a natural person who is also the president, filing the signed inventory and annual accounts with the commercial court registry within the same six-month period counts as approval, without a separate entry in the register beyond the receipt issued by the greffe.
For a foreign founder this has three concrete consequences. First, set the financial year end strategically at incorporation. A 31 December year end means a 30 June approval deadline, right in the middle of the French summer, when accountants are overloaded. Many foreign-owned companies choose a different closing date, for example 30 June or 30 September, to spread the workload, but the six-month rule follows whatever date you choose. Second, organise the paper trail in both languages. Keep the French originals, the bilan, the balance sheet, the compte de resultat, the profit and loss account, and the annexe, the notes, plus the proposed allocation of profit and the voted resolution, because the greffe will ask for them at filing stage. Third, if you cannot meet the six-month deadline, apply to the court for an extension before the deadline expires. The president of the commercial court grants extensions routinely when the request is reasoned, for example when the foreign parent has not sent confirmations or the auditor is late, and a granted extension protects you against the injunction procedure described above.
The courts also use these deadlines after the fact to judge management. In a June 2025 decision from the Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal, RG 24/07000, the court recalled that keeping proper books is a strict legal duty for every company director, then added: “Bien qu’il affirme avoir tenu des assemblées générales annuelles pour l’approbation des comptes, M. [W] [B] n’en apporte pas la justification.” The full decision is published at CA Aix-en-Provence, 26 June 2025, RG 24/07000. In that case the company had filed accounts for 2017 but had prepared nothing for 2018 and 2019, had held no documented general meetings, and had filed nothing with the greffe. The court held that the absence of proper accounts was not a simple oversight but a management fault that contributed to the shortfall of assets. The underlying accounting duty comes from Article L123-12 of the Commercial Code, which provides that “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 movement affecting the assets must be recorded chronologically, an inventory must be performed at least once every twelve months, and annual accounts must be prepared at year end. A foreign director who says the bookkeeping stayed with the parent company abroad has no defence under this text.
Personal liability follows from Article L651-2 of the Commercial Code. The court recalled that “Lorsque la liquidation judiciaire d’une personne morale fait apparaître une insuffisance d’actif, le tribunal peut, en cas de faute de gestion ayant contribué à cette insuffisance d’actif, décider que le montant de cette insuffisance d’actif sera supporté, en tout ou en partie, par tous les dirigeants de droit ou de fait, ou par certains d’entre eux, ayant contribué à la faute de gestion.” In other words, where a management fault contributed to the shortfall, the court may order some or all of the directors in law or in fact to bear it in whole or in part. The Aix decision added the key sentence for founders: “L’absence de tenue de comptabilité constitue une faute de gestion”, a fault that can trigger liability for the shortfall of assets in insolvency proceedings (CA Aix-en-Provence, 26 June 2025, RG 24/07000). Simple negligence is now excluded by statute, but missing accounts year after year, missing meetings, and missing filings are treated as more than negligence. They deprive the director of a management tool and prevent early detection of insolvency. The trial court had ordered the director to bear the full shortfall of 591,239.21 euros, but the court of appeal reduced it: “Au vu de ce qui précède et en application du principe de proportionnalité, il y a lieu de fixer la participation de M. [W] [B] à l’insuffisance d’actif de la procédure collective à la somme de 500’000 euros.” The operative part provides: “Fixe la contribution à l’insuffisance d’actif de la procédure collective de la société [7] mise à la charge de M. [W] [B] à la somme de 500’000 euros” (CA Aix-en-Provence, 26 June 2025, RG 24/07000). The court added that “la démonstration d’un intérêt personnel du dirigeant n’est pas une condition requise pour la mise en cause de sa responsabilité au titre de l’insuffisance d’actif en application des dispositions de l’article L.651-2 du code de commerce.” For a foreign founder, the lesson is direct: approve on time, document the meeting, and keep the accounts even in a loss-making first year.
B. How do you file approved accounts with the greffe within one month?
Approval is only half the job. The approved documents must be filed with the greffe to be appended to the RCS. For a SARL, the statute requires filing “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”, which means within one month after approval, or two months when filing online. The documents to file are the annual accounts and where relevant the consolidated accounts, the group management report, the statutory auditor reports on both sets of accounts with any observations on changes made by the meeting, and where relevant the sustainability certification report, plus the proposed allocation of profit and the voted allocation resolution. The full list is in Article L232-22 of the Commercial Code. If approval is refused, a copy of the meeting resolution or the sole shareholder decision must be filed within the same period. The management report itself is no longer systematically filed but must be kept available for anyone who asks, under conditions set by decree.
For a company limited by shares, which includes the SAS, the mirror rule is in Article L232-23 of the Commercial Code, with the same one-month and two-month structure: filing within the month after approval by the general meeting, or within two months when filing online. The package is similar, with the annual accounts, the management report subject to the exemptions for small companies, the auditor report with observations on changes, and where relevant the consolidated documents, plus the proposed and voted allocation of profit. The general filing mechanics are confirmed by Article R123-111 of the Commercial Code, which states that commercial companies must file the accounting documents within one month after approval by the ordinary meeting, extended to two months for online filing. In practice, filing online gives you the two-month period provided by Article L232-22, Article L232-23 and Article R123-111 of the Commercial Code. Keep the electronic receipt, because it proves the filing date.
Foreign founders miss this filing for predictable reasons: the approval meeting was held abroad without French minutes, the allocation resolution is missing, the accounts are in English only, or the accountant waits for the tax return. None of these excuses suspends the deadline. If you approved on 30 June, file by 31 July on paper or by 31 August online. If you approved on 15 May, file by 15 June or 15 July online. Late filing leaves the company exposed: the accounts stay missing from the RCS, and in a later insolvency the missing accounts and undocumented meetings become evidence of faulty management, as the Aix case above shows where the Aix court itself found that “Si M. [W] [B] a justifié des comptes de l’exercice 2015 à 2017 et du dépôt des comptes annuels de l’année 2017, les comptes de 2018 et 2019 n’ont pas été établis” (CA Aix-en-Provence, 26 June 2025, RG 24/07000). The liquidator had argued more broadly that nothing had ever been filed, but the court’s own finding on the missing 2018 and 2019 accounts, combined with undocumented meetings, was enough to characterise management fault. The fix for a missed filing is simple and should be done immediately: hold the approval meeting now if it was never held, or file now if approval exists but filing never happened, pay the late fee, and keep proof of regularisation. Courts distinguish a company that regularised late from one that never filed.
Confidentiality options exist but do not remove the filing duty. At filing time, companies that meet the micro-enterprise definition “peuvent déclarer que les comptes annuels qu’elles déposent ne seront pas rendus publics”, while companies meeting the small-enterprise definition “peuvent demander que le compte de résultat ne soit pas rendu public”. The full conditions and exclusions are in Article L232-25 of the Commercial Code. The filing itself stays mandatory under Articles L.232-22 and L.232-23. Check with your accountant whether your company meets the definition at the balance sheet date. Do not confuse the tax return with the greffe filing. The tax return goes to the tax administration, the depot des comptes goes to the greffe, and one does not replace the other. Your calendar must show both dates every year.
In Paris and Ile-de-France, the practical point is the competent greffe. A company whose registered office, called the siege social, is in Paris files with the Paris commercial court greffe. If you later move the registered office, ask your counsel and accountant to update every registry so that future filings go to the right greffe. Many foreign founders use a domiciliation company for the first address and forget to update the address everywhere when they take a real office. The Kbis, the tax notices, the URSSAF account, and the bank must all show the same siege, or filings get lost. A short Paris checklist helps: confirm the greffe shown on your Kbis, confirm the INPI company file shows the same address, and confirm that your accountant files through the Guichet unique to that greffe, not to the greffe of a former address.
II. What tax and payroll deadlines must a French company never miss?
Once the corporate clock is understood, the second half of the calendar is money: corporate tax, VAT, local tax, salaries, and social contributions. France collects most of this before any control, through advances and monthly declarations, and punishes late payment with automatic surcharges. A foreign founder who waits for a bill misunderstands the system. In France the company must calculate, declare, and pay on time, and the administration checks afterwards.
A. When do you pay French corporate tax, VAT and CFE?
Corporate tax, called Impot sur les societes and shortened to IS, is paid in four quarterly instalments calculated from the last closed year result, then balanced after year end. The statute provides that “Les paiements doivent être effectués au plus tard les 15 mars, 15 juin, 15 septembre et 15 décembre de chaque année.” The full mechanism, including the exemption for newly created companies from advances during their first year of activity, is in Article 1668 of the General Tax Code. New companies or newly liable companies are exempt from advances during their first financial year or first tax period, but they must still pay the balance when it falls due. After year end, the company liquidates the tax due on the basis of the results declared, and any additional tax is paid when filing the balance statement, no later than the 15th day of the fourth month after year end, or by 15 May of the following year when the year ends on 31 December or when no year ends during the calendar year. If the advances exceed the tax due, the excess is refunded within thirty days after filing, after offsetting other direct taxes owed. Large companies must also top up the last instalment to 95 percent or 98 percent of the estimated tax depending on turnover, a detail your accountant must watch once the group grows.
Value added tax, called Taxe sur la valeur ajoutee and shortened to TVA, follows a different rhythm that depends on the tax regime. Companies under the normal real regime file monthly, or quarterly when the yearly VAT due is below 4,000 euros, and pay the VAT due each month. Companies under the simplified regime file one annual return and pay two half-yearly advances in July and December, equal to 55 percent and 40 percent of the prior year tax before deduction of VAT on fixed assets, with the balance paid with the annual return. The complete rules are in Article 287 of the General Tax Code. For a foreign founder the critical first step is obtaining a French VAT number quickly and choosing the right regime. If you invoice French clients without a VAT number, you cannot charge French VAT correctly, and if you charge it without declaring it, you keep a debt to the Treasury. If the tax office refuses or delays the VAT registration, do not start invoicing with a foreign number and hope for the best. Pause, document the registration request, and take advice on how to invoice lawfully in the meantime. Our earlier guides on VAT refusal explain the evidence to keep, but the calendar point is simple: no French VAT number means no French VAT invoicing.
The CFE, the Cotisation fonciere des entreprises, is the local business tax due every year by anyone who habitually carries on a non-salaried professional activity. The charging provision is Article 1447 of the General Tax Code. For a newly created establishment, “En cas de création d’un établissement autre que ceux mentionnés au III, la cotisation foncière des entreprises n’est pas due pour l’année de la création.” For the following two years, “la base d’imposition est calculée d’après les biens passibles de taxe foncière dont le redevable a disposé au 31 décembre de la première année d’activité”, and “En cas de création d’établissement, la base du nouvel exploitant est réduite de moitié pour la première année d’imposition.” The full mechanism is in Article 1478 of the General Tax Code. Foreign founders are often surprised by a CFE bill for an activity they see as digital or home-based. The tax is due even for a small office or a domiciliation address, subject to minimum bases set by each municipality. If a CFE notice goes to a wrong address, correct the registered office and the professional tax account immediately and seek advice on paying and claiming without delay. Never ignore a CFE notice because you think the company had no revenue. The CFE is not a profit tax. It is due even with zero turnover.
Keep the tax calendar on one page: IS advances on 15 March, 15 June, 15 September, and 15 December, VAT monthly or quarterly as applicable, yearly CFE, balance of IS with the tax return. Share this page with the foreign parent finance team, because the French rhythm is faster than in many common-law countries.
B. How do you declare your first hire and your director’s social security before URSSAF?
Hiring the first employee in France starts before the employment contract starts. The statute states that “L’embauche d’un salarié ne peut intervenir qu’après déclaration nominative accomplie par l’employeur auprès des organismes de protection sociale désignés à cet effet.” The full text is in Article L1221-10 of the Labour Code. That nominative declaration is the Declaration prealable a l’embauche, usually called the DPAE. It must be sent to URSSAF before the person starts work, and it contains the employer identity, the APE activity code, the employer address, the SIRET registration number and the occupational health service, plus the employee civil status, birth details, social security number if already registered, hiring date and hour, and the nature and duration of the contract including any probation period for longer contracts. The exact list is in Article R1221-1 of the Labour Code. Complete the DPAE with every mention listed in Article R1221-1 of the Labour Code, including the SIRET registration number and the occupational health service, before the person starts work, and ask your payroll provider about supplementary pension and health cover from day one.
Missing the DPAE is not an administrative detail. The Labour Code provides that “Est réputé travail dissimulé par dissimulation d’emploi salarié le fait pour tout employeur : 1° Soit de se soustraire intentionnellement à l’accomplissement de la formalité prévue à l’article L. 1221-10” The full provision, which also covers missing pay slips and missing wage declarations, is in Article L8221-5 of the Labour Code. Intent is required, but courts infer intent from the facts. In a May 2026 Paris Court of Appeal decision, RG 23/01209, the court found that an employer who had missed the DPAE for three employees out of six, who had been warned since March 2021, who regularised only in May 2022 after litigation started, and who blamed a deceased accountant without producing any engagement letter or proof of transmission, had intentionally avoided the declaration. The court stated that the intentional element is assessed at the time the declarations should have been made, regardless of later regularisation. The full decision is published at CA Paris, 28 May 2026, RG 23/01209. The price was the flat-rate indemnity for concealed work: under Article L8223-1 of the Labour Code, the employee concerned, when the working relationship ends, “a droit à une indemnité forfaitaire égale à six mois de salaire.” In that case the award was 13,673.20 euros. For a foreign founder, the operational rule is strict: no DPAE means no first day at work, and any claim that the accountant was supposed to do it must be backed by a written engagement, dated instructions, and transmission receipts.
After hiring, the monthly rhythm is the DSN, the Declaration sociale nominative. Each month the employer reports “les montants des rémunérations, des cotisations et contributions sociales et la durée de travail retenus ou établis pour la paie de chaque mois”, and “Les données de cette déclaration servent au recouvrement des cotisations, des contributions sociales et de certaines impositions”. The declaration is filed electronically under the conditions set each year by ministerial order. The full rule is in Article L133-5-3 of the Social Security Code. File it on time, pay the contributions by the due date, and keep the payment receipts. Keep every DSN receipt and every payment proof in the payroll file, so any gap can be documented and fixed without delay.
Your own position as a director follows separate rules that surprise many foreign founders. A paid president of a SAS is covered by the general social security scheme. The statute lists “les présidents et dirigeants des sociétés par actions simplifiées” among the persons subject to the general-scheme obligation, and the Lille court applied this to monthly transfers that looked like salary. A September 2025 Lille Social Court decision, RG 23/01844, confirmed a 32,890 euro URSSAF reassessment against a SAS that claimed its president worked for free and that monthly transfers were advances on profits. The court applied the rule that “les présidents et dirigeants des sociétés par actions simplifiées” are among the persons covered by the general scheme obligation, and held that regular monthly transfers labelled as salary, without any shareholder decision fixing unpaid office and without accounting proof of shareholder advances, were remuneration subject to contributions, even though the company had elected for partnership taxation for one year. The full decision is published at TJ Lille, 9 September 2025, RG 23/01844. The lesson for a foreign founder-president is practical: if you want an unpaid mandate, write it expressly in the articles or in a shareholder decision, pay yourself only through formal dividends after approval of the accounts, and never use the word salary on transfers that are meant to be shareholder advances. If you want a paid mandate, register with URSSAF, issue pay slips, and pay contributions. The tax election of the company does not remove the social security charge on the remuneration.
In a SARL the line runs through the share of capital held. The general scheme expressly covers “Les gérants de sociétés à responsabilité limitée et de sociétés d’exercice libéral à responsabilité limitée à condition que lesdits gérants ne possèdent pas ensemble plus de la moitié du capital social” (Article L.311-3 of the Social Security Code). A majority manager falls outside that provision and is handled under the independent-workers rules, which cover “Les travailleurs non salariés qui ne sont pas affiliés au régime mentionné au 3° de l’article L. 722-8 du code rural et de la pêche maritime” (Article L.611-1 of the Social Security Code), with contributions assessed under the rule that “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” (Article L.131-6 of the Social Security Code). Do not mix the two regimes in your budget. The independent regime has different rates, different sickness coverage, and different pension rights. If you live abroad while running the French company, ask counsel to clarify residence, workplace, and remuneration before the first payment, because a reassessment after a control always costs more than affiliation from day one. In Ile-de-France, URSSAF Ile-de-France is the contact for most foreign-owned companies with a Paris siege, and the occupational health service, the mutuelle, and the pension fund must be chosen quickly so the DPAE mentions are complete.
Conclusion
A compliant first year in France has a simple shape. Approve the accounts within six months, file them within one month on paper or two months online, pay corporate tax on 15 March, 15 June, 15 September, and 15 December, declare and pay VAT monthly or quarterly, pay the yearly CFE, send the DPAE before any first day at work, file the DSN every month, and affiliate the director correctly from the first payment. Keep the Kbis, the articles, the meeting minutes, the allocation resolution, the greffe receipts, the BODACC notice, the VAT number letter, and the URSSAF confirmations in one bilingual file that the foreign parent can read. When a deadline is missed, fix it the same week: request a court extension before the six-month point if approval will be late, file late accounts now rather than waiting for next year, pay late tax with interest to stop penalties, and send a late DPAE immediately while documenting the cause. French authorities reward quick regularisation and punish silence, and as the 2025 and 2026 decisions above show, silence turns manageable delays into management fault, concealed work, and personal bills. If your calendar is already late, treat this week as the reset point and bring the file back to current.
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