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Maître Reda KOHEN, avocat au Barreau de Paris
Maître Reda KOHEN
Avocat au Barreau de Paris

Foreign Owner of a French Company: Beneficial Owner (RBE) Filing, Court Injunction and How to Stop a Strike-Off

You formed a French SAS (société par actions simplifiée, a simplified joint-stock company) or SARL (société à responsabilité limitée, a private limited company), or you bought the shares of one. The shareholders sit in London, Delaware, Dubai or Singapore. The président (chair of a SAS) or gérant (manager of a SARL) lives abroad. Then the file stalls. The INPI (Institut national de la propriété industrielle, the French industrial-property office that now runs the one-stop shop for company filings, the Guichet unique) rejects the beneficial-owner section. A French bank freezes the account because the registre des bénéficiaires effectifs (RBE, the beneficial-owner register) does not match its KYC file. Or a registered letter from the greffe (the registry of the commercial court) lands at a Paris domiciliation address nobody checks, and three months later the company is struck off the registre du commerce et des sociétés (RCS, the trade and companies register). This article is written for that foreign owner. It explains who French law treats as a bénéficiaire effectif (beneficial owner), how to declare and update the RBE from abroad, what the president of the commercial court can order under an injunction with a daily penalty (astreinte), how the criminal fine now stands at 200,000 euros since 28 May 2026, and how to stop or reverse a strike-off. It complements our general guide on setting up a company in France as a foreign founder. Thresholds, holding chains and the notification of court orders turn on the documents of the file; the texts below are those in force on 18 September 2026.

I. Who is the beneficial owner of a French company when the shareholders live abroad

A. How to identify the bénéficiaire effectif through a foreign holding chain

French anti-money-laundering law does not look at the first company on the organisation chart. It looks for the natural person who stands at the end of the chain. Article L. 561-2-2 of the code monétaire et financier (the Monetary and Financial Code) states: « Pour l’application du présent chapitre, le bénéficiaire effectif est la ou les personnes physiques : 1° Soit qui contrôlent en dernier lieu, directement ou indirectement, le client ; 2° Soit pour laquelle une opération est exécutée ou une activité exercée. » A company, a trust or a Delaware LLC is never itself the beneficial owner. Only a human being is.

For a company, the implementing rule is article R. 561-1 of the same code: « Lorsque le client d’une des personnes mentionnées à l’article L. 561-2 est une société, on entend par bénéficiaire effectif, au sens du 1° de l’article L. 561-2-2 , la ou les personnes physiques qui soit détiennent, directement ou indirectement, plus de 25 % du capital ou des droits de vote de la société, soit exercent, par tout autre moyen, un pouvoir de contrôle sur la société au sens des 3° et 4° du I de l’article L. 233-3 du code de commerce . » Two tests therefore sit side by side. The first is a bright line: more than 25 per cent of the capital or of the voting rights, held directly or through any number of foreign vehicles. The second is control by other means, defined by reference to article L. 233-3 of the code de commerce (the Commercial Code). That article treats a person as controlling a company « 3° Lorsqu’elle détermine en fait, par les droits de vote dont elle dispose, les décisions dans les assemblées générales de cette société ; 4° Lorsqu’elle est associée ou actionnaire de cette société et dispose du pouvoir de nommer ou de révoquer la majorité des membres des organes d’administration, de direction ou de surveillance de cette société. » A shareholders’ agreement that gives a 10 per cent investor a veto on the appointment of the président, or a right to name a majority of the board, can therefore make that investor a beneficial owner even though the 25 per cent line is not crossed.

The look-through is mandatory. If a French SAS is owned 100 per cent by a British limited company, which is itself owned 60 per cent by one individual and 40 per cent by another, the individual who holds 60 per cent of the British parent holds, indirectly, 60 per cent of the French SAS. That person must be declared. The British company is a link in the chain, not a beneficial owner. If ten individuals each hold 10 per cent of the foreign parent, none of them crosses 25 per cent of the French company. The file then moves to the fallback in the second paragraph of article R. 561-1: when no natural person can be identified on the 25 per cent or control tests, and there is no suspicion of money laundering, the beneficial owner is the legal representative. For a SAS, article R. 561-1 names « Le président et, le cas échéant, le directeur général des sociétés par actions simplifiées ». For a SARL it is the gérant. If that président or gérant is itself a company, the same article continues: « Si les représentants légaux mentionnés au a ou au d sont des personnes morales, le bénéficiaire effectif est la ou les personnes physiques qui représentent légalement ces personnes morales. » A foreign corporate chair does not hide the human being who signs for it.

Several people can be beneficial owners at once. Two spouses who each hold 50 per cent of a French SCI (société civile immobilière, a civil real-estate company) both cross the 25 per cent line. A US founder who holds 30 per cent of the French SAS and a US fund manager who, without that stake, holds a contractual power to appoint the majority of the management body, can both have to be declared: one on the capital test, the other on the control test. The INPI one-stop shop asks the declarant to state, for each person, the nature and the extent of the control, including the percentage of capital and of voting rights where the 25 per cent test is used. Joint ownership of shares is a frequent trap for families: each beneficial owner must declare the whole joint holding, so the percentages displayed on the form can exceed 100 per cent. That is not a defect; it is how the INPI itself describes the check it runs on the Guichet unique.

The duty to obtain and keep this information is not optional and it is not limited to large groups. Article L. 561-45-1 of the code monétaire et financier provides: « Sont tenus d’obtenir et de conserver des informations exactes et actualisées sur leurs bénéficiaires effectifs définis à l’article L. 561-2-2 : 1° Lorsqu’elles sont établies sur le territoire français conformément à l’article L. 123-11 du code de commerce, les sociétés et entités mentionnées aux 2°, 3° et 5° du I de l’article L. 123-1 du même code » other than listed companies subject to equivalent transparency rules. In plain terms, a SAS, a SARL, a SA (société anonyme, a public limited company) and a SCI with a registered office (siège social) in France must identify their beneficial owners, keep the file accurate, and hand the information to banks, notaries and other persons listed in article L. 561-2 when those persons run their own due diligence. The official service-public page, checked on 3 June 2026, also lists commercial companies whose seat is abroad but which have an établissement (place of business) in France, because those branches are themselves registered on the RCS. Listed companies on a regulated market in France or another EEA State are the main carve-out.

The beneficial owner has a duty of his or her own. Article L. 561-45-2 states: « A la demande de la société ou de l’entité mentionnée aux 1° à 4° de l’article L. 561-45-1 , le bénéficiaire effectif lui fournit toutes les informations nécessaires au respect de l’obligation mentionnée au premier alinéa du même article. » If the foreign shareholder does not send a passport, a personal address and the description of the control within the time set by decree, or sends incomplete or wrong information, the company « peut saisir le président du tribunal statuant en référé aux fins de voir ordonner, au besoin sous astreinte, la transmission de ces informations ». A président who lives in France and cannot extract a scan from a silent US shareholder is not without a court remedy. Conversely, a foreign beneficial owner who withholds the data faces the same criminal scale as a missing company filing, under article L. 574-6 of the code monétaire et financier: « Est puni des peines prévues à l’article L. 574-5 le fait pour le bénéficiaire effectif de ne pas transmettre à la société ou l’entité les informations requises en application de l’article L. 561-45-2 dans les délais prévus par cet article ou de transmettre des informations inexactes ou incomplètes. »

What must be collected is set out in article R. 561-56. For the company: name, legal form, address of the siège social and, where it exists, the unique identification number completed by « RCS » and the city of the greffe. For each beneficial owner: « Les nom, nom d’usage, pseudonyme, prénoms, date et lieu de naissance, nationalité, adresse personnelle de la ou des personnes physiques » ; the nature, methods and extent of the control, determined in accordance with articles R. 561-1, R. 561-2 or R. 561-3 ; and « La date à laquelle la ou les personnes physiques sont devenues le bénéficiaire effectif ». The personal address is the point that most often blocks a foreign file. A company service address, a lawyer’s chambers or a PO box is not the domicile personnel that the statute requires. Banks that read the RBE against their own KYC file will treat a mismatch as a freeze, not as a typing error. The same data now sit in the registre national des entreprises (RNE, the national business register) kept by the INPI, not only on a paper annex at the greffe.

B. How to file and update the RBE on the INPI Guichet unique from abroad

The filing channel is no longer a CERFA dropped at the greffe. Article L. 561-46 of the code monétaire et financier, in force with a deferred repeal running to 1 January 2029, provides: « Les sociétés et entités mentionnées au 1° de l’article L. 561-45-1 , les placements collectifs mentionnés au 2° du même article L. 561-45-1 ou leurs sociétés de gestion, lorsqu’ils ne sont pas eux-mêmes une société, et les groupements d’intérêt économique mentionnés au 4° dudit article L. 561-45-1 déclarent au registre du commerce et des sociétés, par l’intermédiaire de l’organisme mentionné au deuxième alinéa de l’article L. 123-33 du code de commerce, les informations relatives aux bénéficiaires effectifs. Ces informations portent sur les éléments d’identification et le domicile personnel de ces bénéficiaires ainsi que sur les modalités du contrôle que ces derniers exercent sur la société ou l’entité. » The « organisme unique » of article L. 123-33 of the code de commerce is the Guichet unique operated by the INPI: « Ce dossier est déposé par voie électronique auprès d’un organisme unique désigné à cet effet. » A foreign founder who still tries to file a paper M’BE form at the greffe is on the wrong track.

Article R. 561-55 splits the calendar in two. At incorporation, « Les informations relatives aux bénéficiaires effectifs mentionnées au premier alinéa de l’article L. 561-46 sont déclarées au greffe du tribunal de commerce lors de la demande d’immatriculation au registre du commerce et des sociétés présentée par la société ou l’entité immatriculée par l’intermédiaire de l’organisme unique mentionné à l’ article R. 123-1 du code de commerce . » After incorporation, « La société ou l’entité immatriculée demande une inscription modificative dans les trente jours suivant tout fait ou acte rendant nécessaire la rectification ou le complément des informations déclarées. » Thirty days is not a courtesy. A share transfer that takes a US founder through the 25 per cent line, a move of personal address, a change of name after marriage, the appointment of a new président who becomes the fallback beneficial owner, or the arrival of a new investor with a right to appoint the board, each starts that clock. The official service-public fiche, verified on 3 June 2026, prices the formality at 19.33 euros and lists the same data set as article R. 561-56. The INPI screen is labelled « bénéficiaires effectifs » ; the declarant clicks « ajouter un bénéficiaire effectif » and must specify the type of control. Where the control is the holding of more than 25 per cent of the capital or of the voting rights, the percentage itself must be stated.

From abroad, the practical sequence is mechanical and unforgiving. First, draw the chain down to every natural person, with percentages at each layer, including usufruct (usufruit) and bare ownership (nue-propriété) where a French family split exists. Second, collect a passport or national identity document, a proof of personal address in the country of residence, and a short note of the date on which that person became a beneficial owner. Third, file through the Guichet unique with an electronic signature; a French lawyer, accountant or formalist can be given a mandate if the foreign président cannot obtain an INPI account. Fourth, keep the receipt. The greffier (registrar) does not merely store the form. Article L. 561-47 now says: « Le greffier du tribunal de commerce vérifie que les informations relatives au bénéficiaire effectif mentionnées au premier alinéa de L. 561-46 sont complètes et conformes aux dispositions législatives et réglementaires, correspondent aux pièces justificatives et pièces déposées en annexe et sont compatibles, dans le cas d’une demande de modification ou de radiation, avec l’état du dossier. » A rejection for occupancy of the siège social, which we have already treated in a separate article on INPI refusals of the formation file, is a different defect. A rejection of the RBE section is usually a missing personal address, a percentage that does not match the articles, a corporate shareholder left in the form as if it were a human being, or a fallback président declared while a 30 per cent natural person sits in the chain.

Access to the register is no longer public. After the Court of Justice of the European Union restricted open access to beneficial-owner registers, article L. 561-46 itself lists who may read the full file without restriction: the company for the data it declared, the natural persons declared as beneficial owners for their own line, and a closed list of authorities (courts, Tracfin, customs, tax, police, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office, and others). Persons who only claim a « legitimate interest » follow a separate request to the INPI or to the greffe. A foreign competitor cannot, as a rule, download the home address of your founder from an open website. Banks and other article L. 561-2 persons remain entitled to the data in the course of their vigilance. That is why a mismatch between the RBE and the bank file still freezes the account, a problem we have described in the article on a French bank account refused to a foreign-owned SAS.

The Kbis (the official extract of the RCS) is not the RBE. Obtaining a Kbis after incorporation does not prove that the beneficial-owner filing is complete or current. The RNE entry kept by the INPI is the place where the beneficial-owner data now live. A foreign owner who asks only « do we have a Kbis? » and never opens the bénéficiaires effectifs tab on the Guichet unique is asking the wrong question. The right question is whether every natural person who crosses the 25 per cent line or who holds control under article L. 233-3 is named, with a personal address, a date of becoming beneficial owner, and a percentage or a description of control that can be reconciled with the articles and with any shareholders’ agreement.

II. What to do if the filing is missing, rejected or the commercial court orders a declaration

A. How to contest a court injunction, a daily penalty and the 200,000-euro fine

When the filing is absent, late or wrong, the president of the commercial court (or, in the cities where it has replaced that court, the tribunal des activités économiques, TAE) can issue an injunction. Article L. 561-48 provides: « Le président du tribunal, d’office ou sur requête du procureur de la République ou de toute personne justifiant y avoir intérêt, peut enjoindre, au besoin sous astreinte, à toute société ou entité juridique mentionnée au premier alinéa de l’article L. 561-46 de procéder ou faire procéder soit aux déclarations des informations relatives au bénéficiaire effectif, soit à la rectification de ces informations lorsqu’elles sont inexactes ou incomplètes. » The public prosecutor is a frequent applicant. A bank, a co-shareholder or a creditor who justifies an interest can also apply. The order sets a time-limit and, very often, a daily penalty. Article R. 561-62 is explicit: « Lorsque le président du tribunal enjoint à une société ou à une entité juridique de procéder ou faire procéder aux déclarations ou aux rectifications des informations relatives au bénéficiaire effectif, il rend une ordonnance fixant le délai d’exécution et, le cas échéant, le taux de l’astreinte. Elle n’est pas susceptible de recours. »

That last sentence is the trap. The Cour de cassation (the highest court in the French judicial order) has now said, in a decision published in the Bulletin, that an appeal against the injunction itself is in principle irreceivable. In Cass. com., 17 December 2025, n° 24-22.646, a SARL named Le Puits des fougères had already, on its own case, filed its beneficial owners, yet the president of the commercial court still ordered it to file within one month under a penalty of 100 euros per day. The company appealed. The Court held: « Il résulte de l’article R. 561-62 du code monétaire et financier que la décision par laquelle le président d’un tribunal ordonne à une société de déclarer au registre du commerce et des sociétés ses bénéficiaires effectifs n’est pas susceptible de recours. Il n’est dérogé à cette règle, comme à toute autre règle interdisant ou différant un recours, qu’en cas d’excès de pouvoir. » And: « Un mal jugé par erreur de droit ou de fait ne constitue pas un excès de pouvoir. » Even if the injunction was issued in error because the company was already up to date, that error is not excess of power. The appeal was dismissed. For a foreign owner, the lesson is brutal: do not spend the thirty-day window writing an appeal against the injunction. File or correct the RBE, and use the other routes the case law actually opens.

Those other routes exist. In Cass. com., 18 September 2024, n° 22-20.771, also published in the Bulletin, a SAS named It Outsourcing had been ordered, at the request of the public prosecutor, to declare its beneficial owners, then condemned to pay 3,000 euros to the Treasury when the greffier recorded non-performance. The Court recalled the text of article L. 561-48 and then stated: « Les entités auxquelles il est fait une telle injonction disposent, en application des article 496, alinéa 2, et 497 du code de procédure civile, de la faculté de demander au président du tribunal qui l’a rendue la rétractation de son ordonnance. » Retraction before the same president is the ordinary remedy against the injunction, not an appeal. The company may also challenge the later decision that liquidates the daily penalty. The 2024 Court added that these limits on access to a judge, justified by the proper administration of justice, are proportionate to the fight against money laundering and do not empty the right of its substance.

Notification is where foreign-owned companies most often win. Article R. 561-62 continues: « Le greffier notifie l’ordonnance à la société ou à l’entité juridique et, le cas échéant, au requérant, par lettre recommandée avec demande d’avis de réception. » The same article adds: « Si la lettre est retournée avec une mention précisant qu’elle n’a pas été réclamée par son destinataire, le greffier invite le requérant à procéder par voie de signification ou, en cas de saisine d’office, fait signifier l’ordonnance. » And: « Si la lettre est retournée avec une mention précisant que le destinataire est inconnu à l’adresse indiquée, l’affaire est retirée du rôle par le président qui en informe le ministère public. » In the 2024 It Outsourcing decision the president had liquidated the penalty by merely citing the greffier’s procès-verbal of non-performance. The Cour de cassation quashed: « En se déterminant ainsi, sans rechercher, comme il lui incombait, si l’ordonnance portant injonction avait été régulièrement notifiée à la société It Outsourcing, le président du tribunal de commerce, qui n’a pas mis la Cour de cassation en mesure d’exercer son contrôle sur la régularité de la décision de liquidation de l’astreinte, n’a pas donné de base légale à sa décision. » On 3 September 2026 the third civil chamber reached the same result for a SCI, in Cass. 3e civ., 3 September 2026, n° 24-21.200. The SCI Cobar had been ordered, again at the request of the public prosecutor, to declare its beneficial owners; the president of the commercial court of Marseille then liquidated a 3,000-euro penalty. That Court held: « En se déterminant ainsi, sans rechercher, comme il lui incombait, si l’ordonnance portant injonction avait été régulièrement notifiée à la SCI, le président du tribunal de commerce, qui n’a pas mis la Cour de cassation en mesure d’exercer son contrôle sur la régularité de la décision de liquidation de l’astreinte, n’a pas donné de base légale à sa décision. » A foreign owner whose siège social is a domiciliation company that does not collect registered mail should not ignore the injunction; the first move is still to file. The second move, if a penalty has already been liquidated, is to check whether the greffe ever completed a valid notification or a bailiff’s service (signification). That defect is what the Cour de cassation actually sanctions.

Criminal law is a separate track, and it changed on 28 May 2026. Article L. 574-5 of the code monétaire et financier, in the version in force since that date, provides: « Est puni d’une amende de 200 000 euros le fait de ne pas fournir aux personnes mentionnées à l’ article L. 561-2 , dans le cadre des mesures de vigilance prévues à la section 3 du chapitre Ier du titre VI , ou de ne pas déclarer au registre du commerce et des sociétés ou, le cas échéant, dans un registre mentionné à l’article L. 561-46-1 les informations relatives aux bénéficiaires effectifs requises en application du premier alinéa de l’ article L. 561-46 ou de l’ article L. 561-46-1 , ou de déclarer des informations inexactes ou incomplètes. » The six-month prison sentence that used to sit next to a 7,500-euro fine is no longer in that article. Natural persons convicted of the offence also face a ban on managing companies under article 131-27 of the criminal code and a partial loss of civic rights under article 131-26, 2°. For the company itself, article 131-38 of the code pénal multiplies the fine: « Le taux maximum de l’amende applicable aux personnes morales est égal au quintuple de celui prévu pour les personnes physiques par la loi qui réprime l’infraction. » Five times 200,000 euros is 1,000,000 euros, which is the figure now given by the official service-public page verified on 3 June 2026, together with complementary penalties (dissolution, judicial supervision, closure of establishments, exclusion from public contracts). Offences committed before 28 May 2026 remain under the former scale unless a later, more favourable rule applies to a conviction that is not yet final. Do not confuse this criminal fine with the 3,000-euro astreinte liquidations in the 2024 and 2026 Cour de cassation cases: those sums were civil penalties for disobeying an injunction, payable to the Treasury, not the criminal sentence of article L. 574-5.

B. How to stop or reverse a strike-off from the RCS after a three-month warning

Since the law of 13 June 2025, the greffier can strike the company off the RCS without waiting for a criminal court. Article L. 561-47, after the verification duty already quoted, continues: « Lorsque le greffier constate qu’une société ou une entité mentionnée au 1° de l’ article L. 561-45-1 du présent code n’a pas déclaré au registre du commerce et des sociétés ou mis en conformité les informations relatives aux bénéficiaires effectifs à l’expiration d’un délai de trois mois à compter d’une mise en demeure de la société ou de l’entité par lettre recommandée avec demande d’avis de réception adressée à son siège social, il peut procéder à sa radiation d’office dudit registre. Toute radiation d’office effectuée en application du présent article est portée à la connaissance du teneur du registre national des entreprises et du ministère public. » Three months run from a formal notice sent by registered letter with advice of receipt to the siège social. If that address is a letterbox in the 8th arrondissement of Paris that nobody opens, the three months can expire without the founder in New York ever seeing the letter. The strike-off is then sent to the INPI as keeper of the RNE and to the public prosecutor.

A second path to the same result sits in article L. 561-47-1. Banks, notaries and other persons listed in article L. 561-2, and supervisory authorities acting in the normal course of their controls, « signalent au greffier du tribunal de commerce toute divergence qu’elles constatent entre les informations relatives aux bénéficiaires effectifs mentionnées à l’ article L. 561-46 et les informations sur les bénéficiaires effectifs dont elles disposent, y compris l’absence d’enregistrement de ces informations ». The greffier then serves a mise en demeure to regularise through the Guichet unique. « Si la société ou l’entité n’a pas déféré à cette mise en demeure dans un délai de trois mois à compter de sa réception, le greffier procède à la radiation d’office de l’intéressée du registre du commerce et des sociétés. » A KYC mismatch reported by a French bank can therefore become a strike-off, not only an account freeze. Article L. 561-48 adds a third path: if the company does not obey the president’s injunction, « Lorsque la personne ne défère pas à l’injonction délivrée par le président, le greffier en avise le procureur de la République et lui adresse une expédition de la décision. Il peut procéder à la radiation d’office du registre du commerce et des sociétés de la société ou de l’entité, dans un délai de trois mois à compter de la notification de la décision. » The president may also appoint a mandataire (an agent) to complete the filing, who can obtain information from the statutory auditor if there is one.

Strike-off is reversible if the file is corrected quickly. Article R. 561-65 provides: « Lorsqu’une personne a été radiée d’office en application des articles L. 561-47 , L. 561-47-1 ou L. 561-48 , elle peut, dès lors qu’elle démontre qu’elle a régularisé sa situation, demander au greffier de rapporter cette radiation. Dans le délai de quinze jours à compter de la demande, celui-ci procède au rapport ou remet une décision motivée de refus au demandeur contre récépissé ou la lui adresse par lettre recommandée avec demande d’avis de réception. » If the greffier refuses, or stays silent for fifteen days, the applicant « peut saisir le président du tribunal du refus ou de l’absence de réponse du greffier, valant refus, dans les quinze jours ». Regularise first, then ask for the report of the radiation; a request without a corrected RBE will fail. Until the RCS line is restored, counterparties, banks and public buyers who check the Kbis will treat the company as struck off. Contracts, tenders and the opening of a second bank account all stop.

For a company whose siège social is in Paris or elsewhere in Île-de-France, the geography of the file is part of the defence. The injunction, the mise en demeure and the registered letters all go to the siège social, not to the founder’s flat in Kensington or Brooklyn. A domiciliation contract in Paris that does not organise the collection and scanning of registered mail is how the 2024 and 2026 notification cases are born. The competent greffe and the president of the court are those of the RCS registration: the Tribunal de commerce de Paris for a company registered in Paris, the commercial court or TAE of Nanterre, Bobigny, Évry or Pontoise for many suburban seats. A foreign owner who only instructs a London accountant, and never a person with authority to receive mail at the French siège, will discover the injunction after the astreinte has been liquidated or after the RNE already shows a radiation. The corrective sequence is the same wherever the court sits: obtain the Kbis and the Guichet unique history; identify every natural person under article R. 561-1; file the missing or corrective RBE within the thirty-day logic of article R. 561-55 even if that period has already expired; if an injunction has been issued, apply for retraction under articles 496 and 497 of the code of civil procedure rather than an appeal that article R. 561-62 shuts; if a penalty has been liquidated, check notification under article R. 561-62, paragraphs 4 and 5, in the terms sanctioned by the Cour de cassation in 2024 and again in September 2026; if a radiation has been entered, regularise and request the report under article R. 561-65 within the fifteen-day windows. None of those steps requires the founder to move to France. Each of them requires a live address in France that actually receives the greffe’s letters.

Conclusion

A foreign-owned French company is not excused from the RBE because its shareholders live abroad, because its président is a foreign company, or because a Kbis has already been issued. The beneficial owner is a natural person who, directly or indirectly, holds more than 25 per cent of the capital or voting rights or who controls the company by other means under article L. 233-3 of the Commercial Code, and, failing that, the legal representative. The filing is made on the INPI Guichet unique, with a personal address and a description of control, at incorporation and again within thirty days of any change. Since 28 May 2026 the criminal fine for a missing or false declaration is 200,000 euros for a natural person and up to five times that sum for the company. Since June 2025 the greffier can strike the company off the RCS three months after a registered warning. The Cour de cassation accepts retraction of the injunction and censors the liquidation of a daily penalty where notification was not proved; it does not accept a full appeal against the injunction itself in the name of a mere error of fact. Draw the chain, file the humans, keep the siège social alive as a mail address, and treat a bank discrepancy or a greffe letter as a deadline, not as a misunderstanding. The cost of a complete RBE on the Guichet unique is a two-figure fee. The cost of ignoring it is a frozen account, a 200,000-euro criminal exposure, and a company that no longer exists on the RCS.

Need a quick opinion on your case

A missing or rejected beneficial-owner filing, a court injunction or a strike-off from the RCS can be organised, contested or reversed only on the documents of your company and of the greffe. The firm offers a telephone consultation within 48 hours with a lawyer of the firm to read the Guichet unique history, the chain of control and any order served at the siège social in Paris or elsewhere in Île-de-France. Call +33 6 46 60 58 22 or write through the contact page with the Kbis, the INPI receipt and the court letter attached.

Source : Cour de cassation – Base Open Data « Judilibre » & « Légifrance ».

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Janou SAMUEL
4 weeks ago

Thank you to Maître KOHEN for his analyses of recent case law regarding fraudulent concealment in real estate sales. This reinforces my decision to pursue an action for rescission that I am considering after acquiring a house affected by serious defects intentionally concealed by the seller and not reported by the real estate agent; also defects (rising damp) characterized by progressive through-cracks and damp patches, not reported by the real estate agent… Worse, defects concealed by the latter or on his initiative under a coat of paint and polystyrene tiles glued to the ceiling of a bedroom. And said real estate agent was the drafter of the preliminary contract, which naturally contains no information regarding any of these defects. I would just add that, being 77 years old and suffering from cognitive impairment, I am certain the real estate agent thought I would not be able to uncover the deception and, above all, characterize fraudulent intent, let alone initiate legal proceedings given the complexity and length of the process... That is why I am opting for criminal proceedings, insofar as the intentional concealment of defects by the seller and then by the real estate agent

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Paul MALIK (powlo)
3 months ago

Maître Reda KOHEN assisted me in a dispute concerning a sale agreement with a defaulting party. He provided professional and responsive support, and I highly recommend him.

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Reply from the firm

Legal advice is only valuable if it arrives on time — delighted to have been there when needed. Thank you for your kind words.

Rayan Kallout
4 months ago

I highly recommend Maître Reda Kohen. Thanks to his explanations, I was able to recover my security deposit in a situation that seemed blocked. He was responsive, clear, and very professional. A big thank you for his invaluable help!

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Reply from the firm

The return of the security deposit is a more common rental dispute than one might think; glad that the situation was resolved quickly. Thank you for this feedback.

Naji Jouahri
4 months ago

Excellent support from Maître Kohen in a case combining business law and real estate law. Clear legal analysis from the first meeting, right through to the hearing. Professional and accessible lawyer, I highly recommend his firm in Paris 17.

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Reply from the firm

Cases at the intersection of business law and real estate law require a comprehensive overview — that's the core of the firm's practice, from the initial meeting to the hearing. Thank you for this precise recommendation.

Halim Tunde
4 months ago

Maître Kohen assisted me in recovering unpaid debts from a defaulting tenant. Procedure mastered from start to finish, from the payment order to eviction. Human, attentive, and always reachable. Thank you for your work.

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Reply from the firm

Collecting unpaid rent requires a procedure handled from start to finish, without downtime — glad to have seen yours through to completion. Thank you for this testimonial.

Cha
4 months ago

As a young student living in an apartment, my landlord tried to make me leave my accommodation even though he had sent me no termination notice. I therefore contacted Mr. Reda Kohen to help me as I couldn’t handle the situation alone. In just 3 days everything was resolved, Maître Kohen defended me and accompanied me with an irreproachable level of commitment and efficiency. I can only recommend his professionalism!

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Reply from the firm

An irregular termination notice does not terminate a lease: delighted that the situation was resolved in a few days. Good luck with your studies.

Asmaa Maazaz
5 months ago

I turned to Maître Kohen for a complex real estate dispute and I highly recommend his firm. He is very professional; he thoroughly analyzed my case from the very first appointment and clearly explained the possible options. Thanks to his expertise, we achieved a very favorable outcome. Responsive, a good teacher, and committed, he is a lawyer you can truly trust. Yours faithfully, Miss Maazaz

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Reply from the firm

Thank you very much, Miss Maazaz, for this feedback. Analytical rigor and responsiveness are essential commitments of our law firm specializing in real estate law in Paris, where each case requires a tailored approach. Delighted that we were able to achieve a favorable outcome. The firm remains at your disposal. Best regards.

chaymaa aouadi
6 months ago

I called upon Maître Reda Kohen, a real estate lawyer in Paris, and I am fully satisfied with his support. Very professional, responsive and attentive. He quickly analyzed my case, clearly explained the legal strategy and effectively defended my interests. Thanks to his expertise and determination, we obtained a very favorable outcome. I highly recommend Maître Kohen to anyone looking for a real estate lawyer in Paris.

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Reply from the firm

A big thank you for this feedback. It is exactly this kind of return that gives full meaning to our commitment to real estate law in Paris. Your satisfaction is our best recommendation.