You live in London, New York or Dubai. Your French company — a SAS (simplified joint-stock company), a SARL (limited liability company) or a French subsidiary of your foreign group — earns revenue in France, pays a Paris supplier, and holds money in a French bank account. Then two letters arrive: one from the SIE (service des impôts des entreprises, the French business tax office) about corporate tax, and one from your accountant reminding you that the annual accounts must be approved and filed. From abroad, both deadlines look abstract. They are not. French corporate income tax, called IS (impôt sur les sociétés), is assessed and collected through a strict calendar of returns, quarterly instalments and automatic surcharges. In parallel, every French company must approve its annual accounts within six months of year-end and file them at the greffe (the clerk’s office of the commercial court), where they become public through the RCS (registre du commerce et des sociétés, the trade and companies register) and the BODACC (bulletin officiel des annonces civiles et commerciales, the official gazette of corporate filings). Miss either calendar and the penalties apply automatically, even if you never set foot in France. This guide explains, in plain English, how to file and pay French corporate tax from abroad and how to keep your company’s yearly legal calendar on time, with the exact statutes and court decisions that govern each step.

I. File and Pay French Corporate Tax From Abroad Without Surcharges

French corporate tax follows its own logic. Unlike some countries where the tax office sends a bill, in France your company must calculate the tax itself, declare it, and pay it in instalments before the final bill is even established. The system is called self-assessment with advance payments, and it punishes late filers with fixed percentage surcharges that no excuse letter will cancel. The good news is that the rules are written down precisely, the standard rate is a flat 25 percent, and a foreign-based director can handle everything online through the professional tax account, provided the calendar is respected.

A. Know Whether Your Company Owes French Corporate Tax and File the Return on Time

The starting point is simple: most French companies are liable for corporate tax by virtue of their legal form alone. Article 206 of the CGI (code général des impôts, the French general tax code) provides that “sont passibles de l’impôt sur les sociétés, quel que soit leur objet, les sociétés anonymes”, alongside partnerships limited by shares and limited liability companies that have not chosen partnership taxation. Read the full text at article 206 of the General Tax Code. In practice, this means your SAS, your SARL and your French subsidiary (filiale, a French company controlled by a foreign parent) fall within corporate tax automatically, whatever business they conduct. A French branch (succursale, a mere extension of a foreign company with no separate legal personality) is taxed differently, on its French-source profits only, and that distinction is one of the reasons the choice of vehicle matters so much at formation. If you are unsure which structure you own, pull your Kbis (the official registration certificate issued by the greffe, which states the company’s legal form, capital, directors and registration number) before doing anything else.

Once liability is established, the rate is straightforward. Article 219 of the same code states: “Le taux normal de l’impôt est fixé à 25 %.” See article 219 of the General Tax Code. That flat 25 percent applies to taxable profit as computed under French accounting and tax rules, which differ from British, American or Gulf accounting standards on points such as depreciation, provisions and the treatment of shareholder loans (comptes courants d’associés, advances made by shareholders to their company). Do not assume that a loss in your management accounts means no tax is due in France, and do not assume that profit shown abroad equals French taxable profit. The taxable base must be rebuilt under French rules, and that rebuilding exercise is precisely where a French accountant (expert-comptable) earns their fee.

The filing deadline is fixed by article 223 of the General Tax Code, which provides: “Toutefois, la déclaration du bénéfice ou du déficit est faite dans les trois mois de la clôture de l’exercice. Si l’exercice est clos le 31 décembre ou si aucun exercice n’est clos au cours d’une année, la déclaration est à déposer au plus tard le deuxième jour ouvré suivant le 1er mai.” Read it at article 223 of the General Tax Code. Concretely, a company closing its year on 31 December must file the corporate tax return (liasse fiscale, the bundle of tax forms and financial statements) no later than the second working day after 1 May. Companies with a different year-end have three months from closing. The return is filed electronically through the company’s espace professionnel on impots.gouv.fr, the portal of the French tax administration, and the filing must include the financial statements plus all schedules the administration requires. From abroad, the practical traps are access and timing: make sure your accountant holds a valid mandate to file for the company, that the professional account is activated well before May, and that the draft return circulates for your signature in April, not in the last week. A return filed one day late is a late return, and the surcharge table below applies from day one.

Late filing is punished by article 1728 of the General Tax Code, whose scale every foreign director should memorise. The text opens with the principle that “Le défaut de production dans les délais prescrits d’une déclaration” triggers a surcharge on the tax due, then sets the rates: “10 % en l’absence de mise en demeure ou en cas de dépôt de la déclaration ou de l’acte dans les trente jours suivant la réception d’une mise en demeure d’avoir à le produire dans ce délai”. See article 1728 of the General Tax Code. The scale then rises to 40 percent where the return is still missing thirty days after a formal notice (mise en demeure, a registered letter ordering you to file), and to 80 percent where the administration discovers a hidden activity (activité occulte, a business the tax office did not know existed). Interest for late payment (intérêt de retard, currently 0.20 percent per month) runs on top. Take a concrete example: a company owing 40,000 euros of corporate tax that files two months late without having received any notice pays a 4,000 euro surcharge plus interest. The same company, reminded by the tax office and still silent after thirty days, pays 16,000 euros. These amounts are assessed automatically by the software of the tax office; no officer exercises discretion, and living abroad is never accepted as an excuse. If you receive a mise en demeure at the company’s registered office (siège social) in France while you sit in another country, the thirty-day clock is already running, which is why a reliable mail-forwarding arrangement or a domiciliation agent who scans everything the same day is not a luxury but a necessity.

One further warning concerns new companies. A company created during the year files its first return for its first financial year, even if that year is shorter or longer than twelve months within legal limits. There is no general first-year exemption from filing: the return is due, and the deadlines above apply. Keep the filing receipt (accusé de réception) issued by the portal, because in any later dispute about whether the return was on time, that timestamp is the only proof that counts.

B. Pay Quarterly Instalments and the Balance, or Face Automatic Collection

Filing the return is only half of the job. French corporate tax is paid in advance, in four instalments called acomptes, computed from the previous year’s result. Article 1668 of the General Tax Code states: “L’impôt sur les sociétés donne lieu au versement, au comptable public compétent, d’acomptes trimestriels déterminés à partir des résultats du dernier exercice clos.” See article 1668 of the General Tax Code. Each instalment is due on fixed dates — 15 March, 15 June, 15 September and 15 December for companies closing on 31 December — and each equals one quarter of the tax computed on the prior year’s profit at the 25 percent rate. When the annual return is filed the following May, the company pays the balance (solde) if the instalments fell short, or carries forward the excess if it overpaid. Newly created companies, and companies newly subject to corporate tax, are spared instalments during their very first year or first tax period, but from the second year the machine starts and never stops.

This mechanism creates the classic trap for foreign founders. In year one, no instalment is due, so the founder wires no tax and forgets the subject. In year two, four instalments suddenly fall due on the basis of year one’s profit — while the founder, looking at weaker current-year figures, assumes nothing is owed. The instalments are owed anyway. They can be reduced or suspended only within narrow statutory conditions, and an unjustified non-payment draws a 5 percent surcharge plus monthly interest, collected by the comptable public (the public accountant, the Treasury officer in charge of collection) through the same online account. The practical routine is therefore rigid: ask your accountant each February for the instalment schedule for the coming year, load the four direct debits or calendar reminders immediately, and keep a euro buffer in the French account, because a rejected SEPA debit counts as non-payment. Companies whose French bank account was hard to open — a frequent complaint of foreign founders — should solve the payment channel in January, not on 14 March.

Where the company cannot pay, the administration does not stop at the company. French tax procedure allows the Treasury to pursue the director personally where tax debts result from fraud or from serious and repeated breaches of tax duties that made collection impossible. Article L267 of the LPF (livre des procédures fiscales, the code of tax procedures) provides: “ce dirigeant peut, s’il n’est pas déjà tenu au paiement des dettes sociales en application d’une autre disposition, être déclaré solidairement responsable du paiement de ces impositions et pénalités par le président du tribunal judiciaire.” Read the full provision at article L267 of the Tax Procedures Code. The provision covers “toute personne exerçant en droit ou en fait, directement ou indirectement, la direction effective de la société”, which means a foreign president of a SAS, a German gérant (manager) of a SARL or even a de facto manager who never appears on the Kbis can be summoned before the president of the judicial court and declared jointly liable for the company’s taxes and penalties.

The Cour de cassation (France’s supreme court for civil, commercial and criminal matters) polices the limits of that personal liability. In a decision of 17 June 2026, appeal no. 25-15.031, the Commercial Chamber held: “le dirigeant, qui ne peut être déclaré solidairement responsable que du paiement de la somme correspondant aux impositions et pénalités dues par la société, la personne morale ou le groupement, ne peut se voir condamner au paiement des intérêts au taux légal portant sur cette somme.” See Cour de cassation, Commercial Chamber, 17 June 2026, no. 25-15.031. The ruling quashed a court of appeal that had loaded statutory interest on top of the taxes and penalties charged to a former manager. For a foreign director, the lesson is double-edged and useful: personal pursuit is real and must be taken seriously from the first summons, but its amount is capped by law at taxes plus penalties, and any claim beyond that cap can be fought and won. Never ignore an assignation (writ of summons) from the comptable public because you live abroad; French courts can rule in your absence, and a default order is far harder to undo than a claim contested from the start with counsel.

Finally, keep every payment proof. Instalments paid online generate receipts; wire transfers generate SWIFT confirmations. In a later dispute about surcharges, the administration’s computer log prevails unless you produce a dated receipt. Store the yearly schedule, the four debit confirmations and the final balance payment in one folder, and reconcile them against the annual tax notice (avis d’impôt) when it arrives. Ten minutes of filing per quarter saves months of correspondence later.

II. Keep Your French Company Compliant Every Year: Approve, File and Publish the Accounts

Tax is only one of the two yearly calendars. French company law imposes a second one: the company must keep proper books, close the financial year, submit the accounts to the shareholders for approval within six months, and file the approved accounts at the greffe so that anyone — suppliers, banks, competitors — can consult them. For a shareholder living abroad, this calendar is where distance hurts most: the meeting must be convened under French formalities, the resolutions must be drafted in legally sufficient terms, and the filing must be made through the INPI Guichet unique (the single online window for business formalities, operated by the INPI, the French industrial property office) within weeks of the meeting. Each step below follows the statute and the cases that enforce it.

A. Hold the Annual Meeting Within Six Months and Keep Resolutions Challenge-Proof

Every trader in France must keep books. Article L123-12 of the Commercial Code states: “Toute personne physique ou morale ayant la qualité de commerçant doit procéder à l’enregistrement comptable des mouvements affectant le patrimoine de son entreprise.” See article L123-12 of the Commercial Code. The same article requires an inventory at least once a year and the preparation of annual accounts — balance sheet (bilan), profit and loss statement (compte de résultat) and notes (annexe) — “qui forment un tout indissociable”. For the foreign owner, the consequence is that a French company cannot be run from a foreign spreadsheet and a bank app: it needs French-format books, closed on the financial year-end stated in the articles (statuts), and kept available for the accountant, the auditor if any, and the tax office.

Approval follows a hard six-month deadline. In a SARL, article L223-26 of the Commercial Code provides that the management report, inventory and annual accounts drawn up by the managers “sont soumis à l’approbation des associés réunis en assemblée, 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.” See article L223-26 of the Commercial Code. In companies with a board structure, article L225-100 states the parallel rule: “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.” See article L225-100 of the Commercial Code. A SAS, the vehicle most foreign founders choose, follows the meeting rules written in its own articles, but those articles almost always reproduce the same six-month rhythm, and the filing duty described below applies regardless. The only lawful way to gain time is a court order extending the deadline (demande de prorogation), filed before the six months expire with the president of the commercial court. Waiting until month seven and then asking is already too late.

The meeting itself must be convened properly: notice periods stated in the articles or the statute, agenda attached, accounts and reports sent to the shareholders in advance, attendance sheet (feuille de présence), and minutes (procès-verbal) recording each resolution with its vote. From abroad, three tools keep this workable. First, allow written consultation or videoconference in the articles from day one, so the foreign shareholder can validly vote without flying to Paris. Second, appoint a French-based chairman of the meeting or give a proxy with precise voting instructions, never a blank proxy. Third, have the minutes drafted or reviewed by counsel before signature, because the standard yearly resolutions — approval of the accounts, allocation of profit (affectation du résultat) between reserves, dividends and retained earnings, discharge of the managers (quitus), and recording of regulated agreements (conventions réglementées, contracts between the company and its directors or shareholders) — must use complete legal wording to be effective and to be accepted later by the greffe.

Resolutions passed in breach of the rules can be annulled, and the Cour de cassation has recently clarified who must be sued. In a decision of 9 July 2025, appeal no. 23-23.484, the Commercial Chamber held: “la recevabilité d’une action en nullité d’une délibération sociale pour abus de majorité n’est pas, en l’absence de demande indemnitaire dirigée contre les associés majoritaires, subordonnée à la mise en cause de ces derniers.” See Cour de cassation, Commercial Chamber, 9 July 2025, no. 23-23.484. In plain terms, a minority shareholder asking only for the cancellation of an abusive resolution sues the company itself; the majority shareholders need not be joined. For the foreign minority investor in a French joint venture, this is genuinely helpful: an action to cancel a meeting that approved rigged accounts or swept all profit into reserves can target the company alone. Symmetrically, the foreign majority owner must understand that their votes can be reviewed for abus de majorité (abuse of majority, using majority voting power against the company’s interest to favour the majority) and abus de minorité (the minority blocking a decision required in the company’s interest). The yearly allocation of profit is the classic battleground: systematically starving a minority of dividends to force a cheap buyout is the textbook example courts sanction. Draft the allocation resolution with stated business reasons — investment plan, debt covenants, cash buffer quantified in euros — so the minutes themselves show a company interest, not a personal one.

If the six-month meeting never happens, the statute arms outsiders. Both articles quoted above allow the public prosecutor or any interested person to petition the court in summary proceedings (référé, an emergency court procedure) to order the directors, under penalty payments (astreinte, a daily fine for non-compliance), to convene the meeting or to appoint an agent (mandataire) to do so. A dormant French company whose foreign owner “will handle it next trip” can therefore be forced into a court-ordered meeting by a co-shareholder, a creditor or the prosecutor — with costs charged to the company. Diary the deadline the day the financial year closes, and start the accountant’s closing work in month one, not month five.

B. File Your Accounts at the Greffe and Watch the Public Record

Approval is not the end. The approved accounts must be filed — déposé — at the greffe for attachment to the RCS file, where they become consultable by the public and summarised in the BODACC. Article L232-23 of the Commercial Code provides: “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”. The same article extends the period “dans les deux mois suivant cette approbation lorsque ce dépôt est effectué par voie électronique”. See article L232-23 of the Commercial Code. SARLs and other companies face equivalent filing duties under the neighbouring provisions. In practice today the filing travels through the INPI Guichet unique, the portal that replaced the old direct greffe counter filings, and the one-month/two-month clock runs from the date of the approving meeting, not from the accountant’s delivery date. File the full bundle the greffe expects: approved annual accounts, management report where required, auditor’s report where a commissaire aux comptes (statutory auditor) exists, the proposed and voted profit-allocation resolutions, and, for small companies that qualify, the confidentiality declaration (déclaration de confidentialité) that keeps the profit and loss statement out of public view. Forgetting that declaration is a frequent and expensive oversight: without it, the whole P and L is published, readable by every competitor.

This filing duty is enforceable by third parties, and the sanction is a court order obtained in days. The Cour de cassation confirmed the mechanism in a published decision of 3 March 2021, appeal no. 19-10.086, ruling that the special actions created by the code “ne sont pas exclusives de celle fondée sur les dispositions de droit commun prévues par l’article L. 232-23 du code de commerce, qui font obligation à toute société par actions, et non à son dirigeant, de déposer ses comptes.” See Cour de cassation, Commercial Chamber, 3 March 2021, no. 19-10.086. In that case, former distributors obtained in référé an order condemning a supplier, under penalty payments, to file its accounts, reports and profit-allocation resolutions. Three points matter for a foreign director. First, the duty lies on the company, not on the director personally — but the order, the astreinte and the costs hit the company you own. Second, any person showing a legitimate interest (unpaid supplier, former partner, bank) can sue; the claimant need not be a shareholder. Third, the judge in référé treats persistent non-filing as a manifestly unlawful disturbance (trouble manifestement illicite), so the order issues fast and the daily penalty accumulates until filing. A French company kept opaque for two years can therefore be forced open in a fortnight, with the bill for the procedure added to the accountant’s catch-up fees.

Beyond lawsuits, non-filing carries administrative consequences that accumulate silently. The greffe notes the missing filings on the company’s record; banks consulting the file before renewing a credit line draw their conclusions; the president of the commercial court can summon the directors to explain; and in insolvency proceedings, missing or late accounts feed the finding of mismanagement (faute de gestion) that can extend personal liability. Conversely, a clean public record — accounts filed every year, Kbis fresh, BODACC entries consistent — is the cheapest possible signal of seriousness to French banks, landlords and public buyers. Order a fresh Kbis and check the BODACC entry after each filing season; if the filing does not appear within weeks, chase the Guichet unique receipt with your filing agent rather than assuming all is well.

Close the loop between the two calendars. The accounts approved at the June meeting are the same figures that fed the May tax return; a mismatch between the tax return and the filed accounts is the first thing a tax auditor checks. Keep one reconciled set of numbers, one signed set of minutes, and one filing receipt per year, stored for at least the statutory retention periods. When both calendars are handled together — tax return in spring, meeting within six months, electronic filing within two months of the meeting — the French company runs itself almost silently, and the foreign owner’s trips to France can be devoted to business instead of paperwork emergencies.

Conclusion

Running a French company from abroad is entirely possible, but it is a two-calendar discipline. On the tax side, confirm that the company falls within corporate tax, apply the 25 percent rate to a properly computed French-law base, file the return within three months of year-end — or by the second working day after 1 May for a 31 December closing — and pay the four quarterly instalments without waiting for a bill, keeping every receipt. On the company-law side, close the books, convene the annual meeting within six months, draft allocation resolutions that show a genuine company interest, and file the full bundle electronically within two months of approval, with the confidentiality declaration where it matters. Around both calendars stand the guardrails this guide has quoted: automatic 10, 40 and 80 percent surcharges for late returns, joint personal liability of a director who makes tax collection impossible through fraud or repeated breaches — capped at taxes and penalties, not legal interest — and fast court orders forcing opaque companies to file under daily penalties. Put the four tax dates and the meeting deadline in the diary on the day the year closes, give your accountant and your mail agent standing instructions, and check the public record each summer. The French system rewards the punctual foreign owner with something valuable: a company that borrows, contracts and grows without ever making the news at the greffe or the tax office.

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