{"id":2107940,"date":"2026-08-26T14:01:04","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T12:01:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/2026\/08\/26\/french-company-invoice-before-kbis-foreign-founder-liability\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T14:01:04","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T12:01:04","slug":"french-company-invoice-before-kbis-foreign-founder-liability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/2026\/08\/26\/french-company-invoice-before-kbis-foreign-founder-liability\/","title":{"rendered":"Can a French Company Issue an Invoice Before Receiving Its Kbis? Foreign Founder Liability and the Safe Procedure"},"content":{"rendered":"

A foreign founder may have a paying customer before the French company\u2019s Kbis has arrived. The practical question is not simply whether an invoice can be sent. It is whether the document identifies the right legal actor, whether the underlying customer engagement can later be taken over by the registered company, and whether the VAT treatment has been chosen without inventing an identification number. The Kbis is the extract issued by the commercial court registry, known as the greffe<\/em>. It proves the company\u2019s registration, but registration itself is what gives a French company legal personality. A SIREN is the nine-digit enterprise identifier; a SIRET is the fourteen-digit establishment identifier; neither should be guessed while the file is pending.<\/p>\n

French official guidance accepts that activity may start before registration, provided the documents state \u00ab Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 en cours de formation \u00bb<\/span> (\u201ccompany in the process of formation\u201d). This does not give an unregistered company the same legal capacity as a registered one. The founder, an authorised representative or the future managers must organise the act so that the future company can take it over. The invoice, customer contract, service evidence, tax position and payment trail must tell the same story. This guide addresses a business owner or overseas group building a French company. It does not address an individual relocating to France or a property purchase.<\/p>\n

I. Can a French company issue an invoice before receiving its Kbis?<\/h2>\n

A. What does \u201csoci\u00e9t\u00e9 en formation\u201d mean for a foreign founder?<\/h3>\n

The first distinction is between the company\u2019s formation project and its legal personality. A foreign founder can agree the commercial project, sign draft articles of association, pay formation expenses and prepare customer work before the registration extract is available. The future entity is commonly described as a soci\u00e9t\u00e9 en formation<\/em> or soci\u00e9t\u00e9 en cours de formation<\/em>. Those expressions describe a legal transition. They do not create a separate person capable of contracting in its own name before registration.<\/p>\n

Article 1842 of the French Civil Code sets the starting point in precise terms: \u00ab Les soci\u00e9t\u00e9s autres que les soci\u00e9t\u00e9s en participation vis\u00e9es au chapitre III et que les soci\u00e9t\u00e9s de libre partenariat sp\u00e9ciales mentionn\u00e9es \u00e0 l’article L. 214-162-13 du code mon\u00e9taire et financier jouissent de la personnalit\u00e9 morale \u00e0 compter de leur immatriculation. \u00bb<\/span> In English, companies covered by that provision acquire legal personality from registration. The full provision is available in the official text of Article 1842 of the Civil Code on L\u00e9gifrance<\/a>. The relevant event is the company\u2019s registration, not the date on which the founders first discussed the business, signed a draft or opened a website.<\/p>\n

The Kbis sits one step later in the evidence chain. The Institut national de la propri\u00e9t\u00e9 industrielle (INPI, the French industrial property and business-formalities authority) explains that the Kbis is the official extract issued by the greffe<\/em> and proves the company\u2019s legal existence. The RNE, or Registre national des entreprises<\/em> (National Register of Enterprises), is the national register fed through the one-stop formalities portal. An RNE attestation, a SIREN notification or an INPI dashboard message may be useful while the Kbis is pending, but each document answers a different question. The official INPI explanation of Kbis, RNE and company-existence documents<\/a> should be kept with the incorporation file.<\/p>\n

That difference matters when a customer asks, \u201cWho is my contractual counterparty?\u201d A document that says only \u201cABC France SAS\u201d may suggest that ABC France already exists as a legal person. A document that says \u201cABC France SAS, soci\u00e9t\u00e9 en cours de formation, represented by Jane Smith, acting on behalf of the company in formation\u201d tells the customer that the founder is acting during the interim period. The exact registered name, intended legal form, planned registered office and representative\u2019s capacity should match the draft articles. If the name later changes, the customer file should contain an explanation and, where necessary, a replacement or novation document rather than a silent alteration.<\/p>\n

Article 1843 of the Civil Code allocates the interim risk. It provides: \u00ab Les personnes qui ont agi au nom d’une soci\u00e9t\u00e9 en formation avant l’immatriculation sont tenues des obligations n\u00e9es des actes ainsi accomplis, avec solidarit\u00e9 si la soci\u00e9t\u00e9 est commerciale, sans solidarit\u00e9 dans les autres cas. La soci\u00e9t\u00e9 r\u00e9guli\u00e8rement immatricul\u00e9e peut reprendre les engagements souscrits, qui sont alors r\u00e9put\u00e9s avoir \u00e9t\u00e9 d\u00e8s l’origine contract\u00e9s par celle-ci. \u00bb<\/span> This exact wording appears in the official version of Article 1843 of the Civil Code<\/a>. For a commercial form such as a SAS, a simplified joint-stock company, or a SARL, a private limited-liability company, the founder\u2019s exposure is therefore not a theoretical footnote. Until a valid takeover occurs, the person who acted can remain jointly responsible for the obligations.<\/p>\n

Article L. 210-6 of the Commercial Code uses even stronger language for commercial companies: \u00ab Les personnes qui ont agi au nom d’une soci\u00e9t\u00e9 en formation avant qu’elle ait acquis la jouissance de la personnalit\u00e9 morale sont tenues solidairement et ind\u00e9finiment responsables des actes ainsi accomplis \u00bb<\/span>, unless the registered company takes over the commitments. The official L\u00e9gifrance text of Article L. 210-6 of the Commercial Code<\/a> must be read with the relevant form-specific rules and the documents actually signed. \u201cLimited liability\u201d at the company level does not automatically protect a founder who signed an act personally or used the future company as though it were already registered.<\/p>\n

The official business-creation guidance reflects this distinction. Service-Public states that activity can begin before registration, but documents should contain the wording \u00ab Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 en cours de formation \u00bb<\/span> and the acts passed before the registration request should be listed in an annex to the articles. Its company-formation guidance<\/a> also explains that the formalities are submitted through the one-stop portal, with the registration information then distributed to the relevant administrations. For a commercial business, the Service-Public page on a company\u2019s first commercial activity<\/a> gives the practical example of a lease or future customer invoice and calls for the formation wording on the documents.<\/p>\n

For a foreign founder, the most reliable working definition is therefore this: the business may be operationally preparing or even performing a transaction, but a human being or an already existing entity is carrying the legal responsibility until registration and takeover are complete. A parent company, a foreign consultant or a French individual founder may be the actor, depending on the documents. The invoice should not conceal that interim position. It should make it possible for a customer, accountant, bank, tax officer or judge to reconstruct who acted, for whom, on what date and under which authority.<\/p>\n

B. Which invoice can be sent before registration, and who is liable?<\/h3>\n

The short answer is yes, an invoice can be issued before the Kbis arrives when there is a genuine transaction and the invoice is prepared as a document of the company in formation. The answer is not permission to backdate an invoice, to fabricate a SIRET, to charge VAT without a tax analysis or to describe an unregistered company as if it already had legal personality. The customer contract and the invoice need to be separated. The future company\u2019s underlying engagement may require a formal takeover; the invoice records a delivery, service or amount due and may have its own tax effects.<\/p>\n

Article L. 441-9 of the Commercial Code begins with a broad invoicing rule: \u00ab I.-Tout achat de produits ou toute prestation de service pour une activit\u00e9 professionnelle fait l’objet d’une facturation. \u00bb<\/span> The L\u00e9gifrance version of Article L. 441-9<\/a> also sets the timing of the seller\u2019s invoice and record-retention duties. If a service has not been performed and there is no legally relevant advance or deposit event, an invoice should not be used as a substitute for a quotation. A quotation, purchase order, pro forma document and invoice are not interchangeable.<\/p>\n

Article 289 of the General Tax Code also starts from the person liable for VAT, known in French as TVA<\/em> or taxe sur la valeur ajout\u00e9e<\/em>. It states: \u00ab Tout assujetti est tenu de s’assurer qu’une facture est \u00e9mise, par lui-m\u00eame, ou en son nom et pour son compte, par son client ou par un tiers \u00bb<\/span>. The official Article 289 text on L\u00e9gifrance<\/a> is the starting point for deciding who issues the invoice and whether a third party is acting in the name and for the account of the taxable person. A founder should not ask a customer to create a self-billed invoice unless the statutory conditions, prior written mandate and tax reporting arrangements are actually satisfied.<\/p>\n

Service-Public gives a specific practical instruction for a company that is still being registered: \u00ab si l’entreprise est en cours d’immatriculation, la facture doit \u00eatre \u00e9tablie au nom de la soci\u00e9t\u00e9, avec la mention \u201cSiret en cours d’attribution\u201d, et non au nom du cr\u00e9ateur, sous peine de rejet de la d\u00e9duction de la TVA. \u00bb<\/span> The wording and the rest of the mandatory-information checklist appear on the official Service-Public page on business invoices<\/a>. For an overseas founder, this is a useful operational rule: do not switch casually between a personal invoice, a foreign-parent invoice and the future French company\u2019s invoice. Choose the actual supplier after analysing the contract and use the formation wording when the future French company is the intended party.<\/p>\n

A pre-Kbis invoice should normally include the following information, adapted to the transaction and the applicable tax regime:<\/p>\n