{"id":2116347,"date":"2026-09-04T12:05:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-04T10:05:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/2026\/09\/04\/french-company-first-financial-year-signing-registration-business-start\/"},"modified":"2026-09-04T12:05:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-04T10:05:10","slug":"french-company-first-financial-year-signing-registration-business-start","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/2026\/09\/04\/french-company-first-financial-year-signing-registration-business-start\/","title":{"rendered":"French Company First Financial Year: Does It Start at Signing, Registration or Business Start?"},"content":{"rendered":"

When a foreign founder incorporates a company in France, several dates can appear to compete: the date on which the articles are signed, the date on which the company is registered, the date stated for the beginning of business activity, and the first accounting closing date. They do not perform the same legal function. Treating them as interchangeable can produce a defective first tax return, an unexplained gap between the accounts and the company\u2019s Kbis<\/em> (the official extract from the French business register), or a later dispute about whether an act was made for the company or for the founder personally.<\/p>\n

The practical question is therefore not simply \u201cwhen was the company created?\u201d. It is: which date proves the company\u2019s legal birth, which date marks the first operation, and which date was selected in the articles for the first financial year? This distinction matters particularly where a founder signs from abroad, starts paying suppliers before registration, receives the first invoice in a different month, or chooses a first closing on 31 December of the following year. This guide applies that analysis to a French SAS<\/em> (simplified joint-stock company), SASU<\/em> (one-member simplified joint-stock company), SARL<\/em> (private limited liability company) and EURL<\/em> (one-member private limited liability company), while keeping the focus on the business rather than on immigration or personal relocation.<\/p>\n

I. When does a French company\u2019s first financial year start?<\/h2>\n

A. What the signing, registration and business-start dates each mean<\/h3>\n

The short answer:<\/strong> signing the articles does not, by itself, make the company a legal person; registration gives the commercial company its legal personality; the declared start of activity helps identify when operations began for tax and administrative purposes; and the first financial year is measured against the closing date stated in the articles, subject to the rules applicable to the first year. A reliable file keeps all four dates visible instead of selecting whichever date makes the calendar look simplest.<\/p>\n

French terminology can obscure that answer for an international founder. The INPI<\/em> is the National Institute of Industrial Property, which operates the electronic one-stop portal for business formalities. The Guichet unique<\/em> is that portal. The RCS<\/em> is the Register of Commerce and Companies. The greffe<\/em> is the registry office of the competent commercial court. A Kbis<\/em> is the registry extract normally used to prove the registered company\u2019s identity and registration. The former paper M0<\/em> company-creation form has been replaced in practice by the electronic declaration on the INPI portal, although advisers and founders still use \u201cM0\u201d as shorthand for the company-creation information.<\/p>\n

The first date is the signing of the articles. It proves that the shareholders or the sole shareholder adopted the company contract and its governance rules. It can also be the date of a separate act appointing the president or manager. It is not, however, the date on which a commercial company automatically acquires legal personality. Article 1842 of the Civil Code<\/a> states that companies covered by the provision \u201cjouissent de la personnalit\u00e9 morale \u00e0 compter de leur immatriculation\u201d, meaning that legal personality begins on registration. The commercial-law rule is expressed in similar terms by Article L. 210-6 of the Commercial Code<\/a>: \u201cLes soci\u00e9t\u00e9s commerciales jouissent de la personnalit\u00e9 morale \u00e0 dater de leur immatriculation au registre du commerce et des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s.\u201d These are precise legal limits on the idea that a company exists in the same way from the moment the founder signs.<\/p>\n

That does not mean that nothing can happen before registration. A founder may sign a lease, order equipment, instruct a lawyer, open a bank process or negotiate with a customer for a company \u201cin formation\u201d. The person signing must preserve the wording and documents showing that the act was made for the future company. After registration, the company can take over eligible commitments under the statutory mechanism. Article R. 210-6 of the Commercial Code<\/a> deals with the list of acts and mandates made for a company in formation. The international founder should keep the signed mandate, the exact description of the commitment, the version of the articles, and the later ratification or automatic takeover evidence together. A pre-registration invoice is evidence of an operation, not proof that the company already had legal personality on that invoice date.<\/p>\n

The second date is registration. It is the date shown by the registry record and reflected in the Kbis once the registration has been completed. It is the most important date for the company\u2019s legal birth. The official creation guidance explains that the company is entered automatically in the National Business Register, or RNE<\/em>, and in the RCS after the electronic registration request has been made and processed. The same guidance allows activity to start before registration, provided documents use the phrase \u201cSoci\u00e9t\u00e9 en cours de formation\u201d (company in formation) and the acts made before registration are documented in an annex to the articles. The official Service Public company-registration guidance<\/a> is useful for checking those practical documents.<\/p>\n

The third date is the declared beginning of activity. It can differ from registration. The tax administration explains that the most commonly accepted date is the date stated in the creation document, historically the P0 or M0 and now the declaration made through the INPI portal. The impots.gouv.fr guidance on the date of business start<\/a> uses the exact wording \u201cLa date de d\u00e9but d\u2019activit\u00e9 la plus commun\u00e9ment admise est celle qui figure sur le document de cr\u00e9ation d\u2019activit\u00e9\u201d. That is a practical starting point, not an invitation to ignore the facts. The first contract performed, first invoice, first delivery, first employee, first bank movement and first premises may be relevant evidence when the declared date is challenged or plainly inconsistent.<\/p>\n

A foreign founder should therefore distinguish a declared start from a legal personality date. If the company\u2019s president signs a contract before registration, that contract may be an act for a company in formation. If the company begins invoicing after registration but the M0 states a later start, the records require review. If no commercial operation occurred before registration, the simplest and most coherent matrix may show registration and operational start on the same date. The right answer comes from the chronology and documents, not from a generic rule that all dates must be identical.<\/p>\n

The fourth date is the closing date of the first financial year. This date is normally written into the articles and declared in the registration data. Article R. 123-53 of the Commercial Code<\/a> expressly lists, for a company required to publish annual accounts, \u201cla date de cl\u00f4ture de l\u2019exercice social\u201d. The closing date is fixed and recurring; it cannot be a moving rule such as the last Friday of a month. The official Service Public page on choosing the closing date confirms that a company may choose a date during the year and that the first year may be shorter or longer than twelve months, up to twenty-four months. Read the official guidance on choosing the accounting closing date<\/a> alongside the articles rather than relying on an online calendar.<\/p>\n

Consider this timeline:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Event<\/th>\nExample date<\/th>\nWhat it proves<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
Articles signed in London<\/td>\n5 March<\/td>\nShareholders adopt the company contract; no automatic legal personality.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
First supplier contract and payment<\/td>\n20 March<\/td>\nAn operation may have been made for the company in formation.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
French registration<\/td>\n2 April<\/td>\nThe commercial company receives legal personality on registration.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Declared start of activity<\/td>\n20 March or 2 April<\/td>\nThe administrative and tax chronology must match the evidence.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
First closing date in articles<\/td>\n31 December<\/td>\nThe first accounts cover the relevant opening period until that closing.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

If the articles instead state 30 September, the first closing is not silently replaced by 31 December because the founder is resident abroad or because the first invoice arrived in January. If the date is wrong, the correction route depends on whether the company has been registered and whether the current financial year has already ended. That is the point at which a date problem becomes a corporate-law and tax problem.<\/p>\n

For a foreign founder, the safest opening file contains one dated chronology: signing of articles; appointment of the officer; acts for the company in formation; capital deposit; INPI submission; registration; declared activity start; first revenue or expense; and the selected first closing date. Add the Kbis, the registry receipt, the electronic submission summary, and the first commercial records. This makes it possible to answer a bank, accountant, tax office or future purchaser without reconstructing the company\u2019s birth from scattered emails.<\/p>\n

B. Why the first closing date changes the tax and accounting timetable<\/h3>\n

A financial year is not just a label on a spreadsheet. It determines when the company makes its inventory, prepares annual accounts, measures its result and starts the approval and filing timetable. Article L. 123-12 of the Commercial Code<\/a> requires the trader, whether an individual or a legal person, to record the movements affecting the business assets, to check the assets and liabilities by inventory at least every twelve months, and to establish annual accounts at the closing of the financial year. The operative text says: \u201cElle doit contr\u00f4ler par inventaire, au moins une fois tous les douze mois\u201d. It also states that the annual accounts comprise the balance sheet, income statement and notes as an inseparable whole.<\/p>\n

The content of those accounts follows a separate rule. Article L. 123-13 of the Commercial Code<\/a> provides that the balance sheet separately describes assets, liabilities and equity, while the income statement summarises income and expenses for the year without using the date of payment as the test. The point is important for a foreign founder who has paid an expense from a foreign account before the French company\u2019s bank account opened. The accounting treatment cannot be solved only by moving the bank transaction to a later date. The file must identify who contracted, when the company took over the commitment, and in which period the expense or asset belongs.<\/p>\n

Tax does not always follow the same visual calendar. IS<\/em> means imp\u00f4t sur les soci\u00e9t\u00e9s<\/em>, French corporate income tax. CGI<\/em> means Code g\u00e9n\u00e9ral des imp\u00f4ts<\/em>, the French General Tax Code. Article 37 of the CGI<\/a> provides: \u201cSi l’exercice clos au cours de l’ann\u00e9e de l’imposition s’\u00e9tend sur une p\u00e9riode de plus ou de moins de douze mois, l’imp\u00f4t est n\u00e9anmoins \u00e9tabli d’apr\u00e8s les r\u00e9sultats dudit exercice.\u201d In plain English, a period shorter or longer than twelve months does not disappear for corporate tax purposes merely because it is unusual. The result of the relevant financial year must still be identified and reported under the applicable filing rules.<\/p>\n

The second paragraph of Article 37 also addresses a year in which no balance sheet is prepared. For a new business, it refers to the profit from the start of operations to 31 December of the year in question, with the necessary adjustment when those profits are later included in a balance-sheet period. Article 209 of the CGI<\/a> sets the general rule for profits subject to IS and cross-refers to the rules for determining taxable profits. Its application to a company created from 1 January 1984 where no balance is drawn in the first civil year was reproduced by the Conseil d\u2019\u00c9tat in its decision of 5 February 2024, no. 470324: \u201cl’imp\u00f4t sur les soci\u00e9t\u00e9s d\u00fb par les entreprises cr\u00e9\u00e9es \u00e0 compter du 1er janvier 1984 est \u00e9tabli\u201d on the profit from the commencement of operations to the first closing, and no later than 31 December of the year following creation.<\/p>\n

This means that a long first financial year can change when the first corporate tax return and the first annual accounts are prepared. It does not mean that a founder may postpone every French obligation until the chosen closing date. VAT, payroll and social-contribution reporting, local business taxes, and contractual obligations can have different triggers. CFE<\/em> means cotisation fonci\u00e8re des entreprises<\/em>, the local business property contribution. URSSAF<\/em> is the organisation that collects much of the French social-security contributions. BODACC<\/em> means Bulletin officiel des annonces civiles et commerciales<\/em>, the official bulletin that publishes specified civil and commercial announcements. Those systems should be checked separately; a long accounting year is not a general moratorium.<\/p>\n

There is also a comparative-tax risk. A non-calendar year may affect the reference period for a local contribution or the way a group compares French results with the foreign parent\u2019s financial statements. In Conseil d\u2019\u00c9tat, 20 February 2023, no. 467178<\/a>, the issue concerned the business value-added contribution, or CVAE<\/em>, and a company whose accounting year did not coincide with the calendar year. The decision describes the rule as taking into account \u201cla p\u00e9riode de douze mois pr\u00e9c\u00e9dant la cl\u00f4ture de l’exercice intervenue au cours de l’ann\u00e9e d’imposition\u201d. This is not a decision about a foreign founder\u2019s registration date, but it is a warning that a non-calendar closing can influence tax periods beyond the first set of accounts.<\/p>\n

The following examples show why the dates must be reconciled:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Registration after pre-registration activity.<\/strong> Articles are signed on 5 March, a supplier is engaged on 20 March for the company in formation, registration occurs on 2 April, and the first closing is 31 December. The accounting file should show the pre-registration act, the conditions for takeover, the date on which the company obtained legal personality, and the treatment of the 20 March operation. It should not describe the company as a registered legal person on 20 March if registration was 2 April.<\/li>\n
  2. Registration late in the year.<\/strong> A French SAS is registered on 20 November 2026, has no balance sheet in 2026, and its articles set the first closing at 31 December 2027. The first year may be longer than twelve months, within the statutory limits. The tax analysis must still identify the start of operations and apply Article 209 if no balance was drawn during the first civil year. The accounting team should not create a fictitious 31 December 2026 closing simply because the parent company closes then.<\/li>\n
  3. Conflicting declarations.<\/strong> The articles say 30 September, the INPI data says 31 December, and the first tax working papers use 31 March. That is not three legitimate choices. The company must identify which corporate decision was actually made, correct the corporate record if necessary, and align the tax and accounting evidence. It should not simply select the date that produces the most convenient tax result.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Recent case law shows why documentary discipline matters. In Conseil d\u2019\u00c9tat, 5 February 2024, no. 470324<\/a>, the tax dispute involved a claimed amendment that advanced the first closing from 31 December 2014 to 31 December 2013. The decision records that the tax auditor questioned \u201cl’authenticit\u00e9 de la modification des statuts\u201d. The court retained 31 December 2014 for the first social year and rejected the company\u2019s appeal. The lesson is not that every amendment is invalid. The lesson is that a late or poorly evidenced amendment can affect the tax period, limitation arguments and the credibility of the entire file.<\/p>\n

    In short, the first financial year begins for accounting purposes by reference to the company\u2019s valid corporate chronology and first closing date, while tax rules can look to the commencement of operations and the date on which a balance is drawn. Signing, registration and business start may coincide, but the law does not require them to be treated as one event. A foreign founder should ask the accountant and corporate adviser to confirm the date matrix before the first invoice, first tax return or first annual accounts are prepared.<\/p>\n

    II. What should a foreign founder do when the first financial year date is wrong?<\/h2>\n

    A. How to document, approve and file a correction through the INPI Guichet unique<\/h3>\n

    Start by classifying the problem. There are three different situations: a drafting error discovered before registration; a mismatch between the registered company record and the articles; or a deliberate change to the closing date after registration. Each situation needs a different document trail. Calling every problem a \u201ccorrection\u201d can conceal a new decision that should have been approved by the shareholders.<\/p>\n

    Before registration, correct the source file.<\/strong> If the articles have been signed but the application has not been registered, prepare a clean revised version, obtain the required signatures again, update the creation information on the INPI portal, and replace the supporting documents consistently. Keep the superseded version and a short internal note identifying why it was replaced. If capital has already been deposited, confirm that the bank certificate and list of subscribers still match. If an announcement has been published, ask the authorised legal-notices publisher whether the text must be corrected before the registration file is submitted.<\/p>\n

    Do not let a founder\u2019s informal email become the only proof of the new date. The final articles, the signed decision, the submission summary and the registry result should say the same thing. Where an act was signed for a company in formation, keep the act in the file rather than deleting it after the date changes. That history can explain why an expense or commitment appears before the Kbis.<\/p>\n

    After registration, identify whether the date is a statutory mention.<\/strong> The closing date is normally in the articles and in the registration data. The official Service Public explanation of changing a company\u2019s closing date states: \u201cLa date de cl\u00f4ture de l’exercice comptable d’une soci\u00e9t\u00e9 est une information mentionn\u00e9e dans ses statuts.\u201d It then requires the appropriate shareholder decision before the closing date of the current year. Read the official Service Public procedure for changing the closing date<\/a> with the company\u2019s own articles because the quorum and majority rules depend on the form and the wording of the articles.<\/p>\n

    For a SAS or SASU, first read the decision provisions in the articles. A SAS can allocate decision-making powers flexibly, so the competent body may be the shareholders, the sole shareholder or another body if the articles validly provide for it. For a SARL or EURL, follow the statutory rules and record the resolution in the form required for that company. An AGE<\/em> is an extraordinary general meeting; an AGO<\/em> is an ordinary general meeting. Do not assume that every closing-date decision is automatically an AGE without checking the articles, but do not use an ordinary decision merely because it is administratively convenient. Prepare a reasoned proc\u00e8s-verbal, meaning written minutes, that states the former date, the new date, the effective transition rule and the date from which the recurring annual closing will apply.<\/p>\n

    Timing is a substantive safeguard. The decision should be taken before the current financial year expires. Where the change shortens the current year, it must also be made before the new closing date has passed. The purpose is to prevent a company from waiting until after the result is known and then attempting to rewrite the period retrospectively. The official guidance on changing the closing date explains the same practical conditions and adds that a prolonged year must not defeat the obligation to hold the ordinary annual meeting at least once each calendar year. Its official procedure for changing the accounting closing date<\/a> is a useful cross-check, not a substitute for the articles or legal advice.<\/p>\n

    File the corporate change.<\/strong> Article R. 123-66 of the Commercial Code<\/a> requires an immatriculated legal person to request, through the one-stop organisation, a modifying registration \u201cdans le mois de tout fait ou acte rendant n\u00e9cessaire la rectification ou le compl\u00e9ment\u201d of the registered information. The filing should include the signed minutes, the updated articles, the identity and authority of the declarant, and any document requested by the portal. Article R. 123-5 of the Commercial Code<\/a> is also relevant to the mechanism for a modification declaration. Use the INPI Guichet unique and preserve the payment receipt, submission summary, tracking number, requests for regularisation and final validation.<\/p>\n

    The formalities framework is being maintained and adjusted. Decree no. 2026-340 of 30 April 2026 on business formalities<\/a> is shown by L\u00e9gifrance as in force on 2 September 2026. The practical consequence for a foreign founder is simple: use the current portal workflow and do not rely on an old paper checklist or an old M2 reference. A portal screen is not the same as proof of validation; save the official receipt and the final record.<\/p>\n

    Signature is often the real obstacle for a founder abroad. The INPI explains that a modification formalities file or an annual-accounts filing requires an advanced electronic signature based on a qualified certificate, or a FranceConnect+ route. The INPI FAQ states that the signatory must be a natural person, such as the agent, entrepreneur or legal representative, and that a mandated professional can perform the formality through the portal. See the INPI FAQ on signing and mandates<\/a> before starting the form. If the foreign founder cannot use the available French identity route, appoint a properly authorised representative and retain the power of attorney, identity documents and proof of authority. Never upload a signature image without checking whether the portal and the company\u2019s articles accept that process.<\/p>\n

    Check the legal-notices position as a separate item. A change of closing date does not always require a new notice. The CCI guidance indicates that a notice is generally unnecessary unless the original creation notice expressly included the accounting-year date. If it did, obtain written confirmation from the authorised legal-notices service and publish any required notice. If it did not, retain the reasoning in the file and proceed with the INPI modification. The JAL<\/em>, or journal d\u2019annonces l\u00e9gales<\/em>, is the authorised legal-notices newspaper or online service; it is not a replacement for the registry filing.<\/p>\n

    Before submitting, use this document list:<\/p>\n