{"id":2098738,"date":"2026-08-19T05:02:37","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T03:02:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/2026\/08\/19\/foreign-company-french-branch-annual-accounts-filing-deadline-documents\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T05:02:37","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T03:02:37","slug":"foreign-company-french-branch-annual-accounts-filing-deadline-documents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/2026\/08\/19\/foreign-company-french-branch-annual-accounts-filing-deadline-documents\/","title":{"rendered":"Foreign Company Annual Accounts for a French Branch: Filing Deadline, Documents and INPI Procedure"},"content":{"rendered":"

A French branch is often presented as the quickest way for a foreign company to start trading in France. The registration itself is only one part of the project. Once the branch is opened, the foreign parent may have to place its current constitutional documents and annual accounts with the French commercial court registry, provide French translations, keep its registration information accurate and coordinate the French filing with the parent\u2019s own approval calendar. Missing that second layer can create a practical problem when a bank, customer, regulator or contracting partner asks for a current extrait Kbis<\/em>, the official extract of registration details, or for evidence that the parent\u2019s accounts were properly filed.<\/p>\n

This guide focuses on the filing of a foreign company\u2019s accounts and related corporate documents for a French branch. It distinguishes the branch from a French subsidiary, explains the roles of the guichet unique<\/em> (the one-stop business-formalities portal), the greffe<\/em> (the registry of the competent commercial court), the registre national des entreprises<\/em> (RNE, the national register of businesses) and the registre du commerce et des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s<\/em> (RCS, the commercial and companies register), and identifies the documents that should be prepared before a deadline appears. For the wider incorporation and structuring context, see the firm\u2019s French company-formation and corporate-structuring guidance<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The practical question is not simply whether the foreign parent has approved accounts in its home country. It is whether the French establishment has been correctly identified, whether the parent\u2019s current documents can be understood by the French registry, whether the filing deadline has been calculated from the applicable home-country rule and whether changes in the parent, the branch or its beneficial owners have been reported. The analysis below uses official French sources checked for this run and is written for founders, directors and companies operating across borders.<\/p>\n

I. How does a foreign company file its annual accounts for a French branch?<\/h2>\n

A. When does a French branch trigger a filing obligation?<\/h3>\n

The first step is to identify the legal reality of the French operation. A branch, or succursale<\/em>, is an establishment of the foreign company. It may have French premises, staff, contracts, customers, stock, a bank relationship and a local representative, but it does not become a separate company merely because it receives a French Kbis. The foreign parent remains the entity whose constitutional documents and annual accounts are relevant. A French subsidiary is different: it is a company incorporated under French law, with its own legal personality, shareholders, management body and accounting file.<\/p>\n

That distinction can be tested against the registration rules. Article L. 123-1 of the French Commercial Code<\/a> includes among the entities entered on the RCS foreign commercial companies whose registered office is outside a French department and which have an establishment in one of those departments. The current text refers to Les soci\u00e9t\u00e9s commerciales dont le si\u00e8ge est situ\u00e9 hors d’un d\u00e9partement fran\u00e7ais et qui ont un \u00e9tablissement dans l’un de ces d\u00e9partements<\/q>. The wording is important: the French filing is connected to the establishment in France, while the company\u2019s head office remains abroad.<\/p>\n

Article L. 123-11 of the Commercial Code<\/a> adds the premises requirement. It states: Toute personne morale demandant son immatriculation au registre du commerce et des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s doit justifier de la jouissance du ou des locaux o\u00f9 elle installe, seule ou avec d’autres, le si\u00e8ge de l’entreprise, ou, lorsque celui-ci est situ\u00e9 \u00e0 l’\u00e9tranger, l’agence, la succursale ou la repr\u00e9sentation \u00e9tablie sur le territoire fran\u00e7ais.<\/q> In practical terms, the French branch must be able to demonstrate a right to use its premises. A lease, domiciliation agreement, sublease or other admissible evidence may be relevant, but the document should match the actual operation and the address declared in the filing.<\/p>\n

The registration trigger is not limited to a large office with a French sign. An agency, branch or representation may be enough when the foreign company has established a stable French point of activity. A temporary meeting, an independent distributor or a purely preparatory contact does not automatically produce the same result. The facts must be mapped: who negotiates, who signs, where orders are accepted, where employees work, where stock is held, who has authority to commit the parent and whether the French premises are available on a continuing basis.<\/p>\n

The leading criminal decision on the registration trigger is Cour de cassation, criminal chamber, 20 June 2017, no. 14-85.879<\/a>. Its official summary states: Une soci\u00e9t\u00e9 commerciale immatricul\u00e9e dans un pays \u00e9tranger est tenue de s’immatriculer au registre du commerce et des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s fran\u00e7ais, sur le fondement des dispositions des articles L. 123-1, l, 3\u00b0, L. 123-11 et R.123-35 du code de commerce, d\u00e8s lors qu’elle ouvre un premier \u00e9tablissement dans un d\u00e9partement fran\u00e7ais, c’est-\u00e0-dire lorsqu’elle y \u00e9tablit une agence, une succursale ou une repr\u00e9sentation.<\/q> The Court therefore linked the first French establishment to the registration duty. The judgment is a warning against treating an unregistered French operation as a harmless pilot project simply because the parent has no French subsidiary.<\/p>\n

The absence of separate legal personality should be stated clearly in the group\u2019s internal documents. A French subsidiary can be governed by French articles of association and can approve its own annual accounts. A branch normally transmits the parent\u2019s accounts and corporate documents. The branch may keep accounts for French tax and management purposes, but that internal French ledger does not replace the parent-company documents that the Commercial Code requires the foreign company to deposit.<\/p>\n

The contrast can be expressed through the legal-personality rules. Article L. 210-6 of the Commercial Code<\/a> provides: Les soci\u00e9t\u00e9s commerciales jouissent de la personnalit\u00e9 morale \u00e0 dater de leur immatriculation au registre du commerce et des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s.<\/q> Article 1842 of the Civil Code<\/a> uses comparable wording for companies governed by that Code: jouissent de la personnalit\u00e9 morale \u00e0 compter de leur immatriculation.<\/q> A French branch is not created by incorporating a new French company, so the legal file must preserve the identity of the foreign parent rather than invent a separate French shareholder structure.<\/p>\n

This is also why the choice between a branch and a subsidiary should be made before the accounting workflow is designed. A French soci\u00e9t\u00e9 par actions simplifi\u00e9e<\/em> (SAS, a simplified joint-stock company) or soci\u00e9t\u00e9 \u00e0 responsabilit\u00e9 limit\u00e9e<\/em> (SARL, a private limited company) has French annual accounts, French approval documents and French filing obligations. Article L. 227-1 describes the SAS as a company whose shareholders bear losses only up to their contributions: Une soci\u00e9t\u00e9 par actions simplifi\u00e9e peut \u00eatre institu\u00e9e par une ou plusieurs personnes qui ne supportent les pertes qu’\u00e0 concurrence de leur apport.<\/q> A branch has no equivalent French capital account separating it from the parent\u2019s legal identity.<\/p>\n

Founders who are still deciding between the two structures can read the firm\u2019s English guide to setting up a business in France as a foreign founder<\/a> and the comparison of SAS and SARL in France<\/a>. Those articles address the initial structural choice. This article starts from the narrower situation in which the foreign parent has chosen a French branch and needs to maintain the registry and accounts file.<\/p>\n

A representative office must not be confused with a trading branch. A representative office may conduct market research, communication or liaison work without accepting orders or carrying out the parent\u2019s commercial activity in France. If it begins to negotiate binding contracts, invoice customers, manage stock or direct an operational team, its factual profile may move towards an agency, representation or branch requiring registration. The group should record the limits of the representative\u2019s authority and review them whenever the French team\u2019s work expands.<\/p>\n

The branch\u2019s first filing duty should therefore be placed on a written opening checklist. Record the date on which the first establishment opened, the address, the activity, the entity appearing on customer contracts, the local representative, the parent\u2019s home-country accounting year-end and the date on which the parent approved its accounts. Then ask which French establishment is registered, which commercial court registry has territorial jurisdiction and whether the French file contains the latest version of the parent\u2019s statutes. Those facts determine the documents and the calendar.<\/p>\n

B. Which documents must be translated and deposited with the greffe?<\/h3>\n

The filing route is now centred on the guichet unique<\/em> operated by the Institut national de la propri\u00e9t\u00e9 industrielle<\/em> (INPI, the French national industrial property and business-formalities institute). Article R. 123-1 of the Commercial Code<\/a> states: I.-L’organisme unique mentionn\u00e9 \u00e0 l’article L. 123-33 permet aux entreprises de r\u00e9aliser l’ensemble des formalit\u00e9s et proc\u00e9dures n\u00e9cessaires \u00e0 l’acc\u00e8s et \u00e0 l’exercice de leur activit\u00e9.<\/q> The official INPI explanation of the regulatory framework<\/a> confirms that the one-stop route is used for business formalities, including creation, changes and cessation. The Service-Public guidance for foreign companies<\/a> also identifies foreign companies with activity in France and directs formalities through the one-stop system.<\/p>\n

Article R. 123-35 of the Commercial Code<\/a> connects the electronic filing to the competent registry. It provides: Lorsque le si\u00e8ge est situ\u00e9 hors d’un d\u00e9partement ou lorsqu’il est situ\u00e9 \u00e0 l’\u00e9tranger, l’immatriculation est demand\u00e9e, par l’interm\u00e9diaire de l’organisme unique, au greffe du tribunal dans le ressort duquel est ouvert le premier \u00e9tablissement<\/q>. For a branch, this means that the location of the first French establishment matters. The parent should not select a registry based only on the address of its French tax adviser or the city where a director happens to live.<\/p>\n

The core document file ordinarily includes the following categories, subject to the precise requirements of the INPI form and the foreign parent\u2019s jurisdiction:<\/p>\n