You live in London, Dubai or New York. Your French company closed its financial year on 31 December, your accountant stopped answering in July, and a letter from the greffe — the clerk’s office of the commercial court — has just landed in your French mailbox: your annual accounts (comptes annuels) were never approved and never filed. From abroad, the situation feels abstract. Under French law it is urgent and personal. Missing accounts trigger criminal fines against the director, court orders with daily penalties (astreintes), a block on any lawful dividend, and, if the company later collapses, personal liability for the shortfall. This guide explains how a foreign founder or owner catches up from abroad: how to hold the late approval meeting and ask a court for more time, how to file with the greffe and the tax office before the next deadline bites, which fines and orders you face, why dividends voted on shaky accounts can be annulled or even punished as criminal offences, and how missing books turn into personal liability in a liquidation. Every step can be handled remotely with the right papers and the right sequence.
I. How Do You Approve and File Late Annual Accounts From Abroad?
French company law separates two duties that foreign owners often confuse: approving the accounts (a vote of the shareholders within six months of year-end) and filing them (a deposit at the greffe within one or two months after approval). Missing the first deadline does not excuse the second. The catch-up must follow the same order: convene late, vote, then file. Both steps can be organised from abroad if you respect the formalities.
A. Hold the Late Approval Meeting and Ask the Court for More Time
In a SARL (the French limited liability company, société à responsabilité limitée), the rule is written in stone. Article L223-26 of the Commercial Code provides that the management report, the inventory and the annual accounts drawn up by the managers are submitted to the approval of the shareholders meeting as a general meeting, and the leading passage states the deadline word for word: “dans le délai de six mois à compter de la clôture de l’exercice sous réserve de prolongation de ce délai par décision de justice”. In plain English: six months from the end of the financial year, unless a court extends the deadline. The same article adds the stick: “Si l’assemblée des associés n’a pas été réunie dans ce délai, le ministère public ou toute personne intéressée peut saisir le président du tribunal compétent statuant en référé afin d’enjoindre, le cas échéant sous astreinte, aux gérants de convoquer cette assemblée ou de désigner un mandataire pour y procéder.” Any interested person — a minority shareholder, a creditor, even the public prosecutor — can ask the urgent-applications judge to order the managers to convene, with a daily penalty attached.
In a SA (the public limited company, société anonyme), Article L225-100 of the Commercial Code sets the identical six-month rhythm: “L’assemblée générale ordinaire est réunie au moins une fois par an, dans les six mois de la clôture de l’exercice, sous réserve de prolongation de ce délai par décision de justice.” The same text continues with the same remedy: “Si l’assemblée générale ordinaire n’a pas été réunie dans ce délai, le ministère public ou tout actionnaire peut saisir le président du tribunal compétent statuant en référé afin d’enjoindre, le cas échéant sous astreinte, aux dirigeants de convoquer cette assemblée ou de désigner un mandataire pour y procéder.” In a SAS (the simplified joint-stock company, société par actions simplifiée, the vehicle most foreign founders choose), the shareholders freely set the approval deadline in the articles of association. The official Service-Public guidance confirms that in a SAS or SASU the approval must take place within a period freely fixed by the shareholders, while noting that in practice the six-month period is the most common, because dividend payment must occur within nine months of year-end. Whatever the form, once the deadline has passed, the regularisation path is the same.
The first practical move from abroad is to request a court extension (prorogation du délai) before anyone seeks an injunction against you. The request goes by petition to the president of the commercial court of the company’s registered office, usually filed by a French avocat, and it explains the concrete reason for the delay: a change of accountant, documents stuck abroad, a shareholder dispute, a first year with a team spread across two countries. Judges grant these extensions routinely when the request is made in good faith and before the situation has rotted. An extension does not erase the delay; it gives you a new lawful deadline for the vote, and it deprives a hostile minority or a creditor of the argument that you ignored the calendar.
The second move is to convene the late meeting correctly, because a rushed vote with defective papers produces resolutions that can be annulled. The convening notice must reach each shareholder within the period and by the means set in the articles — registered letter, hand delivery against receipt, or email where the articles allow it — and it must attach the documents the law requires: the annual accounts (balance sheet, profit-and-loss statement and notes), the management report, the text of the proposed resolutions, and, where one exists, the statutory auditor’s report. Article L223-26 warns that any decision taken in breach of these communication duties can be annulled: the exact mechanism is that “Toute délibération, prise en violation des dispositions du présent alinéa et du décret pris pour son application, peut être annulée.” A foreign owner chairing from abroad should therefore keep proof of everything: sent notices, acknowledgements of receipt, the signed attendance sheet, and minutes recording each resolution and each vote. Remote participation by video is valid only if the articles authorise it and the minutes record the technical means used to identify each participant. If the articles are silent or forbid it, either amend them first or give a written proxy to someone present in France. The signed minutes are the foundation of everything that follows: no filing, no dividend, no tax return stands without a valid approval vote.
Three papers deserve special attention in the late meeting. First, the inventory and the annual accounts must be drawn up for each financial year, as Article L232-1 of the Commercial Code requires of the board, the management board or the managers: “A la clôture de chaque exercice le conseil d’administration, le directoire ou les gérants dressent l’inventaire, les comptes annuels conformément aux dispositions de la section 2 du chapitre III du titre II du livre Ier et établissent un rapport de gestion écrit.” Second, the meeting must decide the allocation of the result — reserves, retained earnings (report à nouveau), dividends — because that allocation determines what can later be distributed. Third, if the accounts show losses exceeding half of the share capital, the shareholders must vote separately on whether to continue the company or dissolve it; skipping that vote while filing loss-making accounts invites the greffe to flag the file. From abroad, the simplest discipline is a closing checklist signed by the accountant: accounts complete, report written, resolutions drafted, notices sent, minutes ready for signature.
B. File With the Greffe and the Tax Office Before the Next Deadline Hits
Approval is only half the job. Article L232-23 of the Commercial Code imposes the filing duty on companies with share capital, and its first paragraph fixes the clock precisely: “Toute société par actions est tenue de déposer au greffe du tribunal, pour être annexés au registre du commerce et des sociétés, dans le mois suivant l’approbation des comptes annuels par l’assemblée générale des actionnaires ou dans les deux mois suivant cette approbation lorsque ce dépôt est effectué par voie électronique”. One month after approval for a paper filing at the counter, two months for an electronic filing. Since the 2023 reform, filings pass through the single online window for business formalities (the guichet unique run by the INPI, the French intellectual-property and companies institute), which forwards the accounts to the competent greffe. A foreign director can file entirely online; the practical obstacle is usually authentication and payment, both of which a French accountant or avocat handles routinely with a mandate.
The filing file contains the approved annual accounts, the management report, the statutory auditor’s report where one exists (possibly completed with observations on changes the meeting made to the submitted accounts), and, where applicable, the consolidated accounts and the group management report. Small companies may ask, at the time of filing, that certain accounting documents remain confidential or be published in simplified form — the official guidance confirms that option expressly. That confidentiality choice matters for foreign-owned subsidiaries that do not want competitors reading their margins in the public register, but it must be ticked at filing time, not added afterwards.
In parallel, the tax track runs on its own calendar through the DGFIP (the French tax authority, direction générale des finances publiques). The company must file its tax return and financial statements (liasse fiscale, form 2065 for companies subject to corporate income tax) online on the impots.gouv.fr portal, normally within three months of year-end for a 31 December closing, extended where the company files electronically. The corporate tax return and the commercial accounts must tell the same story: figures that differ between the tax bundle and the filed accounts are the classic trigger for a tax audit, and a foreign owner who discovers a gap should have the accountant reconcile both before filing rather than explain the difference to an auditor a year later.
Filing produces public traces the owner should understand. The filed accounts are annexed to the trade and companies register (the RCS, registre du commerce et des sociétés, where every French company has its record), and a notice of filing appears in the BODACC (the Bulletin officiel des annonces civiles et commerciales, the official gazette that publishes corporate life events). Banks read these notices: a missing filing is one of the first signals a French bank checks when a foreign-owned company asks for a loan, renews an overdraft or opens a new account. Catching up on filings therefore does more than stop the fines; it restores the company’s public credit file. Keep every filing receipt and every BODACC reference in the company’s permanent file — from abroad, that file is your proof that the company exists properly, alongside the Kbis (the official identity card of a French company, issued by the greffe).
II. What Fines and Personal Risks Follow Missed Accounts, and How Do You Fight Back?
French law punishes missing accounts on three separate tracks that can run at the same time: punishment for never drawing up or never submitting the accounts for approval, punishment for never depositing the approved accounts, and civil pressure through court orders with daily penalties. Above these tracks sits the risk that matters most to a foreign owner: personal liability for company debts when the books are missing, and criminal liability when money was taken out as dividends without lawful profits behind it.
A. Criminal Fines, Court Orders and Daily Penalties for Late Filing
The first track targets directors who do not even submit the accounts to the shareholders. In a SARL, Article L241-5 of the Commercial Code is blunt: “Est puni de 9 000 € d’amende le fait, pour les gérants, de ne pas soumettre à l’approbation de l’assemblée des associés ou de l’associé unique l’inventaire, les comptes annuels et le rapport de gestion établis pour chaque exercice.” Nine thousand euros of criminal fine for managers who fail to submit the inventory, the annual accounts and the management report for each financial year. In a SA, Article L242-8 of the Commercial Code mirrors the offence for the other side of the boardroom: “Est puni d’une amende de 9000 euros le fait, pour le président, les administrateurs ou les directeurs généraux d’une société anonyme, de ne pas, pour chaque exercice, dresser l’inventaire et établir des comptes annuels et un rapport de gestion.” These are criminal fines pronounced by a criminal court, not administrative surcharges, and they punish the failure to prepare and submit — even before any question of filing.
The second track punishes the failure to deposit accounts that may well have been approved. The official Service-Public guidance states the scale plainly: for non-filing, the director faces a criminal fine of 1,500 euros, rising to 3,000 euros for a repeat offence, and the offence can be prosecuted for one year from the date the accounts should have been filed. That one-year window is the detail foreign directors misunderstand most: filing fourteen months late does not wipe out the offence, and the file can still be prosecuted within the year that follows the missed deadline. The practical lesson is to file now rather than wait for the limitation period to run, because every additional missed year adds a new offence.
The third track is civil pressure, and for a company that wants to survive it is the most effective. Article L123-5-1 of the Commercial Code allows the fast route: “A la demande de tout intéressé ou du ministère public, le président du tribunal, statuant en référé, peut enjoindre sous astreinte au dirigeant de toute personne morale de procéder au dépôt des pièces et actes au registre du commerce et des sociétés auquel celle-ci est tenue par des dispositions législatives ou réglementaires.” At the request of any interested person or the public prosecutor, the court president in urgent proceedings can order the director, under daily penalty, to file the documents the company owes to the register — and the same text lets the judge appoint an agent to carry out the formality instead. The official guidance describes how this plays out: the president orders filing within one month, usually with an astreinte running for each day of delay, then liquidates (fixes and collects) the penalty if the company still does not file, and may open an inquiry into the company’s economic and financial situation under the court’s mission to prevent business difficulties. Missing accounts are read by the court as a possible signal of hidden distress, which is why a simple filing delay can end with a judge examining the whole business.
Fighting back from abroad follows a clear order. First, stop the bleeding: hold the late approval meeting, file through the single window, and keep the receipts. Voluntary regularisation before any summons is the strongest argument against both the fine and the daily penalty. Second, if an injunction has already been served, comply within the ordered month and have your avocat ask the judge to note the compliance and limit the liquidated penalty — judges moderate penalties for directors who file promptly after the order. Third, if a shareholder or creditor uses the delay as leverage in a wider dispute, answer the injunction procedure separately from the underlying quarrel: the judge in urgent proceedings checks only whether the filing duty was breached, not who is right in the shareholders’ war. Fourth, calendar the next two years now — approval dates, single-window filings, tax bundles — and give a standing instruction to the accountant with copies to you, so the catch-up of this year does not become the delay of next year. Our overview for foreign founders setting up in France explains the full first-year calendar in which these accounts duties sit, and our guide to the first corporate tax cycle covers the tax side of the same deadlines: Setting Up a Company in France as a Foreign Founder and the first corporate tax calendar.
B. The Dividend Trap and the Director’s Personal Liability for Missing Books
The most expensive mistake a foreign owner makes with late accounts is paying himself before the papers are straight. Article L232-12 of the Commercial Code states the sequence that no shareholder vote can skip: “Après approbation des comptes annuels et constatation de l’existence de sommes distribuables, l’assemblée générale détermine la part attribuée aux associés sous forme de dividendes.” Only after approval of the accounts and confirmation that distributable sums exist may the meeting fix the dividend. The Cour de cassation (the French supreme court for civil, commercial and criminal matters) gave this sequence its full force in a judgment of 12 February 2025, no. 23-11.410, published and available on the Court’s website: Cass. com., 12 February 2025, no. 23-11.410. The case concerned a company whose meeting of 30 April 2017 had approved the accounts and allocated profits to retained earnings, after which a second meeting of 3 July 2017 voted a dividend taken from those retained earnings — and the sellers then claimed payment after selling their shares on 28 July 2017. The Court recalled first the definition of distributable profit: “le bénéfice distribuable est constitué par le bénéfice de l’exercice, diminué des pertes antérieures, ainsi que des sommes à porter en réserve en application de la loi ou des statuts, et augmenté du report bénéficiaire”. It then laid down the rule that now governs every late-accounts dividend: “seule l’assemblée approuvant les comptes de cet exercice pourra décider son affectation et, le cas échéant, sa distribution” — only the meeting that approves the accounts for the year can decide how the result is allocated and distributed. A dividend voted by any other meeting from earlier retained earnings incurs nullity. The same judgment recalls the background principle that makes the trap snap shut: “les délibérations d’une société commerciale s’imposent aux associés tant que la nullité n’en a pas été prononcée” — company resolutions bind the shareholders until annulled, so the buyer of the shares inherits a dispute over money that may never have been lawfully distributable. For a foreign owner, the message is direct: never vote yourself a dividend in a catch-up meeting unless that same meeting approves the accounts showing the distributable sums, and never pay dividends voted in a separate later meeting out of old retained earnings without fresh accounts behind them.
Distributing money without real profits behind it crosses from civil nullity into criminal law. On 12 June 2025 the Criminal Chamber of the Cour de cassation ruled in case no. 24-81.263, arising from a Bordeaux appeal judgment of 13 November 2023 that had convicted one defendant for forgery and complicity in distributing fictitious dividends and another for distributing fictitious dividends, forgery and use of forged documents: Cass. crim., 12 June 2025, no. 24-81.263. The supreme court quashed the appeal judgment only on its civil provisions concerning one of the defendants and expressly kept everything else: “toutes autres dispositions étant expressément maintenues”. The criminal convictions — including for presenting doctored interim accounts that hid deferred income (produits constatés d’avance) and wrongly listed an asset — survived. The judges had found that the existence of deferred income was beyond dispute when the accounts and the interim statement were drawn up, and that the rigged interim picture was capable of harming the buyer. A foreign owner who dresses up the figures to justify a transfer to his own account abroad risks exactly this double prosecution: annulment of the distribution on the civil side, forgery and fictitious-dividend charges on the criminal side.
Missing books also follow the director into insolvency. When a court-ordered liquidation (liquidation judiciaire) reveals that assets do not cover liabilities, Article L651-2 of the Commercial Code lets the court charge the shortfall to the directors at fault: “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”. The same article draws the line that protects the merely careless director: “en cas de simple négligence du dirigeant de droit ou de fait dans la gestion de la personne morale, sa responsabilité au titre de l’insuffisance d’actif ne peut être engagée” — simple negligence alone cannot trigger liability for the shortfall. But courts consistently hold that years of missing accounts are not simple negligence. In a Paris appeal judgment of 9 June 2022 (RG no. 20/11939), the court confirmed a Bobigny commercial-court judgment that had ordered a manager to pay 400,000 euros toward a shortfall exceeding two million euros: the operative part reads “Confirme le jugement rendu par le tribunal de commerce de BOBIGNY le 30 juillet 2020”. Among the faults retained against the manager, the judgment noted “l’absence de communication des documents comptables pour les années 2015, 2016 mais également 2017” — no accounting documents handed over for three consecutive years — alongside the failure to declare the cessation of payments, while URSSAF (the French social-security collection agency, union de recouvrement des cotisations de sécurité sociale et d’allocations familiales) and tax claims piled up. A foreign director who leaves the French books empty for years and keeps running the business from abroad fits this pattern precisely, and no distance argument excuses it.
The defence, when the company is still alive, is documentation and speed: reconstruct the accounts with a new accountant, have them approved in a properly convened late meeting, file them, and pay only dividends the approved accounts support. When the company is already in difficulty, the defence is to declare the cessation of payments within the legal period, hand over complete books to the court-appointed receiver, and show that any delay was mere disorganisation rather than management fault — a line the Paris case shows is drawn ruthlessly against directors who produce nothing for three years. In both situations, the papers you keep from abroad — notices, minutes, filing receipts, correspondence with the accountant — are your shield, because the court judges the director on the file, not on his explanations.
Conclusion
A missed accounts deadline in France is never a sleeping file; it is a clock that keeps running against the director personally. The foreign owner who discovers the gap should work in order: check which financial years lack approval and filing, ask the commercial court for an extension through a French avocat, convene a late meeting with complete papers and valid remote participation, vote the allocation of results on the basis of the freshly approved accounts, then file through the single window and reconcile the tax bundle on impots.gouv.fr. Dividends wait until the approved accounts show distributable sums, and they are voted in the approving meeting — not in a separate later meeting reaching back into old retained earnings. Fines for non-submission and non-filing, injunctions with daily penalties, annulled distributions, fictitious-dividend prosecutions and shortfall liability in liquidation all punish the same underlying failure: running a French company without lawful books. Handled quickly and in the right sequence, a late filing ends with receipts and a restored public record; handled late or masked with cosmetic figures, it ends with the director paying from his own pocket. From London, Dubai or New York, the entire catch-up can be run remotely — but it starts with the accountant’s file and the meeting notice, this week, not next quarter.
Need a quick opinion on your case
Gather your last approved accounts, the missing years, any letter from the greffe or the court, and the minutes and notices you still hold, before a fine, an injunction or a dividend dispute hardens. Our firm offers a telephone consultation within 48 hours with an avocat of the firm. Call +33 6 46 60 58 22 (Maître Reda Kohen), or reach us through our contact page. We assist foreign founders and companies in Paris and across the Île-de-France region as well as throughout France.