You live in London, New York, Dubai or Singapore, your customers or partners are in France, and you have decided to open a French company without moving there. The first question your French contacts will ask is a simple one: SAS or SARL? Behind those four letters sit two different companies, two different director titles, two different social security regimes and two different tax bills. The SAS (soci\u00e9t\u00e9 par actions simplifi\u00e9e, the simplified joint-stock company) is flexible, investor-friendly and expensive in social charges when you pay yourself a salary. The SARL (soci\u00e9t\u00e9 \u00e0 responsabilit\u00e9 limit\u00e9e, the limited liability company) is rigid, protective of existing owners and cheaper to run when the manager holds the majority. Choose badly and you pay for it every month in contributions, every year in tax, and on the day you try to sell or bring money home. This guide compares the two vehicles point by point for a founder who lives abroad, explains how to register the company and obtain the Kbis without travelling to France, sets out which French social security scheme covers a non-resident director and what happens if you ignore it, and shows how salary and dividends are each taxed when the money leaves France. Every rule below is anchored in the exact French statute or a September 2025 court decision you can open yourself.<\/p>\n
Start with what the two companies share, because the shared foundation is what makes both of them safe for a foreign investor. An SAS can be formed by one or several people whose liability is limited 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.” That sentence comes from Article L227-1 of the Commercial Code<\/a>. The SARL offers the identical shield: “La soci\u00e9t\u00e9 \u00e0 responsabilit\u00e9 limit\u00e9e est institu\u00e9e par une ou plusieurs personnes qui ne supportent les pertes qu’\u00e0 concurrence de leurs apports.” That is Article L223-1 of the Commercial Code<\/a>. In both cases, a founder who lives abroad and pays up the subscribed capital does not answer for company debts on personal assets simply because the company loses money. The one-person versions exist in both families: the SASU (SAS with a single shareholder) and the EURL (SARL with a single shareholder), so a solo foreign founder is welcome in either form.<\/p>\n The differences begin with who runs the company and how much freedom the articles of association allow. The SAS is represented towards third parties by a president appointed as the articles provide: “La soci\u00e9t\u00e9 est repr\u00e9sent\u00e9e \u00e0 l’\u00e9gard des tiers par un pr\u00e9sident d\u00e9sign\u00e9 dans les conditions pr\u00e9vues par les statuts. Le pr\u00e9sident est investi des pouvoirs les plus \u00e9tendus pour agir en toute circonstance au nom de la soci\u00e9t\u00e9 dans la limite de l’objet social.” That is Article L227-6 of the Commercial Code<\/a>. Almost everything else \u2014 voting rights, approval of share transfers, the powers of a deputy or an investor director \u2014 can be written freely into the articles. For a foreign founder who plans to bring in a French or international partner later, or to sell to a buyer who wants tailored control clauses, that freedom is the SAS argument. The SARL works the other way round: the statute decides, the articles follow. The company is managed by one or more natural persons: “La soci\u00e9t\u00e9 \u00e0 responsabilit\u00e9 limit\u00e9e est g\u00e9r\u00e9e par une ou plusieurs personnes physiques.” And towards third parties, “le g\u00e9rant est investi des pouvoirs les plus \u00e9tendus pour agir en toute circonstance au nom de la soci\u00e9t\u00e9”, as Article L223-18 of the Commercial Code<\/a> provides. The title changes too: the SAS has a pr\u00e9sident, the SARL has a g\u00e9rant. A foreign founder can hold either office without living in France; no statute requires the president or the g\u00e9rant to be French resident.<\/p>\n The second practical difference is the one that surprises foreign sellers most: leaving the company is easy in an SAS and fenced in an SARL. In an SARL, shares (parts sociales) cannot be sold to an outside buyer without the consent of the existing owners: “Les parts sociales ne peuvent \u00eatre c\u00e9d\u00e9es \u00e0 des tiers \u00e9trangers \u00e0 la soci\u00e9t\u00e9 qu’avec le consentement de la majorit\u00e9 des associ\u00e9s repr\u00e9sentant au moins la moiti\u00e9 des parts sociales”. The draft sale must be notified to the company and to each shareholder, and “Si la soci\u00e9t\u00e9 n’a pas fait conna\u00eetre sa d\u00e9cision dans le d\u00e9lai de trois mois \u00e0 compter de la derni\u00e8re des notifications pr\u00e9vues au pr\u00e9sent alin\u00e9a, le consentement \u00e0 la cession est r\u00e9put\u00e9 acquis.” Both sentences come from Article L223-14 of the Commercial Code<\/a>. If the owners refuse, they must buy the shares themselves within three months at a price set under Article 1843-4 of the Civil Code. In an SAS, by contrast, the articles decide whether transfers need approval at all, and most founder-drafted articles leave transfers between shareholders free and impose approval only for sales to outsiders \u2014 or nothing at all. A foreign founder who expects a resale, a buy-back by the French partner or an entry of an investor within three to five years should weigh this approval lock carefully. Our detailed walkthrough of selling from abroad, including the SAS and SARL approval mechanics, is set out in Selling Your Shares in a French Company From Abroad<\/a>.<\/p>\n The third difference is money: the social security regime of the director, which decides what each euro of salary really costs. The president of an SAS and the minority or equal g\u00e9rant of an SARL belong to the general social security scheme as assimilated employees. The statute lists them expressly. For SARL managers, Article L311-3 covers “Les g\u00e9rants de soci\u00e9t\u00e9s \u00e0 responsabilit\u00e9 limit\u00e9e et de soci\u00e9t\u00e9s d’exercice lib\u00e9ral \u00e0 responsabilit\u00e9 limit\u00e9e \u00e0 condition que lesdits g\u00e9rants ne poss\u00e8dent pas ensemble plus de la moiti\u00e9 du capital social”, and for SAS leaders it covers “Les pr\u00e9sidents et dirigeants des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s par actions simplifi\u00e9es et des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s d’exercice lib\u00e9ral par actions simplifi\u00e9es”. Both quotations come from Article L311-3 of the Social Security Code<\/a>. The majority g\u00e9rant of an SARL \u2014 the founder who holds more than half the capital alone or with family \u2014 falls instead into the independent-workers scheme, with lower contributions and thinner cover, especially for pensions and daily sickness benefits. Contributions for the self-employed are assessed on the base defined at Article L136-3: “Les cotisations de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 sociale dues par les travailleurs ind\u00e9pendants non agricoles ne relevant pas du dispositif pr\u00e9vu \u00e0 l’article L. 613-7 sont assises sur l’assiette d\u00e9finie \u00e0 l’article L. 136-3.” That is Article L131-6 of the Social Security Code<\/a>. Roughly, an SAS president who draws a salary pays employer and employee charges comparable to a French executive, while a majority SARL g\u00e9rant pays independent-worker contributions at a lower global rate. The trade is cover against cost, and it is examined euro by euro in Part II below.<\/p>\n So which one should the founder living abroad pick? As a working rule: choose the SAS (or SASU alone) if you want tailor-made articles, free entry and exit of investors, and a president’s status close to employee cover, and you accept higher salary charges. Choose the SARL (or EURL alone) if the owners are a stable family or a small circle, you want the statutory approval lock against outsiders, and the majority manager prefers the cheaper independent-worker scheme. If you already run a foreign company and hesitate between opening a branch and creating a subsidiary instead, the comparison is drawn in Branch vs Subsidiary in France<\/a>. And the full setup sequence, from bank account to first hire, is mapped in our hub guide Setting Up a Company in France as a Foreign Founder<\/a>.<\/p>\n Nothing in the formation process requires the founder to be physically present in France, but every step must be documented exactly, because the clerk who checks the file never meets you. Since 2023 all formations pass through the Guichet unique, the single online filing portal operated by the INPI (Institut national de la propri\u00e9t\u00e9 industrielle, the French industrial property office), reachable at formalites.entreprises.gouv.fr<\/a>, with guidance published by the INPI<\/a>. The file contains the signed articles, the list of directors, proof of the registered office (a lease, a domiciliation contract with an authorised provider, or the home of the director where allowed), the capital deposit certificate from the bank, and the identity documents of the shareholders and directors. Foreign documents in a foreign language generally need a sworn translation, and documents from outside the European Union often need an apostille or legalisation, so a founder in Dubai, New York or Singapore should start that paperwork before drafting anything else.<\/p>\n The two steps that block most foreign files are the registered office and the bank certificate. The greffe \u2014 the clerk’s office of the commercial court that keeps the company register (RCS, registre du commerce et des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s) \u2014 rejects vague addresses, shared mailboxes without a proper domiciliation contract, and accommodation certificates that do not match the portal’s checklist. The bank certificate, which proves the cash contributions were deposited and frozen until registration, is refused or delayed whenever the bank’s anti-money-laundering file is thin: foreign passport, no French tax number, funds arriving from a third country. If your bank will not issue the certificate, read French Bank Account Refused for Your Foreign-Owned SAS<\/a> before refiling, because the order in which you present identity, source-of-funds and company documents changes the outcome.<\/p>\n Once the greffe accepts the file, the company is born as a legal person and the Kbis is issued. The Kbis is the official certificate of incorporation: company name, form, capital, registered office, director names and the RCS number on one page, signed by the greffe. A notice of formation is also published in the BODACC (Bulletin officiel des annonces civiles et commerciales, the official gazette for company announcements). The legal birthday matters because personality starts at registration: “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.” And anyone who acted for the company before that date stays personally on the hook unless the new company takes over the commitments: “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”. Both sentences come from Article L210-6 of the Commercial Code<\/a>. In plain terms, sign a lease or order stock before the Kbis arrives and the supplier can pursue you personally; wait for registration or have the company formally adopt the pre-formation acts afterwards.<\/p>\n Two filings that foreign founders discover late should be diarised from day one. First, the beneficial-owner register (RBE, registre des b\u00e9n\u00e9ficiaires effectifs): any natural person holding, directly or indirectly, more than 25 percent of the capital or voting rights, or exercising control, must be declared, with injunctions and strike-off procedures for late filers. The procedure from abroad is detailed in Beneficial Owner Filing From Abroad<\/a>. Second, VAT: the intra-Community VAT number does not arrive automatically with the Kbis for every profile, and invoicing without it exposes the company to refused deductions and penalties. The unblocking sequence is covered in Your French Company Has No VAT Number Yet<\/a>. Allow three to six weeks from a complete file to an operating company with bank account, Kbis and VAT number, and do not promise customers a start date before the Kbis is in hand.<\/p>\n French social security follows the office, not the passport or the address. A president of an SAS who lives in London and a g\u00e9rant of an SARL who lives in Dubai are affiliated in France as soon as they actually manage the French company and draw pay from it, under the regimes set out in Part I: general scheme as assimilated employees for the SAS president and the minority SARL g\u00e9rant, independent-workers scheme for the majority SARL g\u00e9rant. The URSSAF (Unions de recouvrement des cotisations de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 sociale et d’allocations familiales, the agencies that collect social contributions) is the body that checks, reassesses and enforces. Two court decisions from September 2025, both readable in full on the official case portal, show how unforgiving that control is.<\/p>\n The first decision concerns a majority SARL manager pursued by URSSAF Poitou-Charentes. The judges recall the starting principle that company directors are presumed not to be employees: “une pr\u00e9somption simple de non salariat des dirigeants des personnes morales immatricul\u00e9es au registre du commerce et des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s, sauf \u00e0 d\u00e9montrer une situation de subordination juridique.” They draw the consequence directly: “Il en r\u00e9sulte que le g\u00e9rant majoritaire de SARL a le statut de travailleur ind\u00e9pendant et doit \u00eatre affili\u00e9 au r\u00e9gime d’assurance maladie et d’assurance maternit\u00e9 des travailleurs ind\u00e9pendants des professions non agricoles. Il est seul redevable, \u00e0 l’\u00e9gard de l’organisme social, des cotisations et des contributions sociales, ainsi qu’il r\u00e9sulte de l’article R. 133-2-1 du code de la s\u00e9curit\u00e9 sociale.” And they add the declaration duty: “Conform\u00e9ment \u00e0 l’article L. 613-2 du code de la s\u00e9curit\u00e9 sociale, les travailleurs ind\u00e9pendants sont tenus de d\u00e9clarer leurs revenus pour le calcul de leurs cotisations et contributions sociales.” Because the manager had declared late and declared nil income for the deregistration year, contributions were assessed on minimum bases and could not be cancelled, and the court ordered payment in full: “CONDAMNE M. [U] \u00e0 verser \u00e0 l'[4] la somme totale de 2.971,00 euros au titre des cotisations et contributions sociales dues pour les ann\u00e9es 2021 et 2022, dont 2.806,00 euros de cotisations et 165,00 euros de majorations de retard”. That is the judgment of the Tribunal judiciaire de La Rochelle, P\u00f4le social, 30 September 2025, RG 24\/00148<\/a>. For a foreign majority g\u00e9rant, the lesson is brutal and simple: even a year with no income produces a minimum bill, late declarations produce flat-rate assessments, and late payment adds surcharges that run until full payment.<\/p>\n The second decision shows the other side of the control: the audit of the company itself. An SAS was subjected by URSSAF to a payroll-base audit (contr\u00f4le comptable d’assiette) for 2019 and 2020, received a formal demand for 32,890 euros, challenged it, and lost on the main adjustment. The court “CONFIRME le chef de redressement n\u00b01” and “CONDAMNE la soci\u00e9t\u00e9 [5] \u00e0 payer \u00e0 l'[8] la somme de 32 890 euros au titre de la mise en demeure du 30 mars 2023, sous r\u00e9serve, d’une part, des paiements, r\u00e9gularisations ou cr\u00e9dits qui auraient pu intervenir sur le compte [7] de la soci\u00e9t\u00e9 [5] depuis l’\u00e9mission de la mise en demeure et, d’autre part, des majorations de retard, lesquelles continuent \u00e0 courir jusqu’\u00e0 parfait paiement”. That is the judgment of the Tribunal judiciaire de Lille, P\u00f4le social, 9 September 2025, RG 23\/01844<\/a>. For a foreign-owned SAS that pays its president irregularly, reclassifies benefits, or forgets the monthly and quarterly returns (DSN, d\u00e9claration sociale nominative, the monthly payroll return every employer files), the audit years later converts each error into principal plus surcharges.<\/p>\n Three practical answers follow for the founder living abroad. First, a director who takes no pay: under the general scheme, contributions follow remuneration, so an unpaid SAS president with genuinely zero remuneration voted and paid generates no contribution call \u2014 but the position must be real, documented in the articles or a shareholders’ decision, because URSSAF auditors treat unexplained transfers, benefits in kind and current-account credits as disguised pay. Under the independent-workers scheme, by contrast, the majority g\u00e9rant can owe minimum contributions even with nil income, as La Rochelle demonstrates, so never assume that silence costs nothing. Second, a director who is also employed or insured in another European Union state: European coordination can keep the person under the home scheme with a portable A1 certificate for genuine postings, a mechanism explained step by step in Posting Your Employee to France<\/a>; outside that frame, French affiliation applies and double contributions are resolved by treaty, not by ignoring one side. Third, a director who falls behind: regularise before the formal demand (mise en demeure), because once the constraint (contrainte) is issued and served, the fight moves to the courtroom with the meter running, exactly as both September 2025 cases show.<\/p>\n Start with the company itself. French companies are liable for corporate income tax (IS, imp\u00f4t sur les soci\u00e9t\u00e9s): “sont passibles de l’imp\u00f4t sur les soci\u00e9t\u00e9s, quel que soit leur objet, les soci\u00e9t\u00e9s anonymes, les soci\u00e9t\u00e9s en commandite par actions, les soci\u00e9t\u00e9s \u00e0 responsabilit\u00e9 limit\u00e9e n’ayant pas opt\u00e9 pour le r\u00e9gime fiscal des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s de personnes”, in the words of Article 206 of the General Tax Code<\/a>, and the SAS belongs to the same list by its own provisions. The standard rate is now a single figure: “Le taux normal de l’imp\u00f4t est fix\u00e9 \u00e0 25 %.” That is Article 219 of the General Tax Code<\/a>, with a reduced 15 percent band for small companies on the first slice of profit. Payment, returns and instalments run through the professional tax account on impots.gouv.fr<\/a>, and the yearly calendar of accounts, returns and meetings is mapped in Corporate Tax, Annual Accounts and Legal Calendar<\/a>. A salary paid to the director reduces that taxable profit when the conditions are met; a dividend never does.<\/p>\n Salary is the deductible, charged route. For the majority SARL g\u00e9rant, the tax treatment is written into the statute: “Les traitements, remboursements forfaitaires de frais et toutes autres r\u00e9mun\u00e9rations sont soumis \u00e0 l’imp\u00f4t sur le revenu au nom de leurs b\u00e9n\u00e9ficiaires s’ils sont admis en d\u00e9duction des b\u00e9n\u00e9fices soumis \u00e0 l’imp\u00f4t sur les soci\u00e9t\u00e9s par application de l’article 211”, where the pay goes “Aux g\u00e9rants majoritaires des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s \u00e0 responsabilit\u00e9 limit\u00e9e n’ayant pas opt\u00e9 pour le r\u00e9gime fiscal des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s de personnes”. That is Article 62 of the General Tax Code<\/a>. For the SAS president, salary follows the ordinary employee-pay rules: deductible for the company, taxable for the person, and loaded with the general-scheme contributions described above. For a founder who lives abroad, the salary is then declared in the country of residence under the applicable treaty, usually with a credit for French tax. Salary makes sense when the founder needs contribution quarters, maternity or pension cover, or simply a regular income that banks understand for borrowing. It makes little sense as the only channel when the founder wants to move large profits home, because each additional euro of gross pay carries the full contribution load.<\/p>\n Dividends are the non-deductible, contribution-free route, taxed on the way out. They can only be voted from distributable profit after approval of the annual accounts, and when the recipient lives abroad France levies a withholding tax at source. The statute provides that “Les produits vis\u00e9s aux articles 108 \u00e0 117 bis donnent lieu \u00e0 l’application d’une retenue \u00e0 la source dont le taux est fix\u00e9 par l’article 187 lorsque leurs b\u00e9n\u00e9ficiaires effectifs sont des personnes qui n’ont pas leur domicile fiscal ou leur si\u00e8ge en France”. That is Article 119 bis of the General Tax Code<\/a>. The rate for dividends paid to non-treaty beneficiaries follows the standard corporate rate: Article 187 sends “Celui pr\u00e9vu au deuxi\u00e8me alin\u00e9a du I de l’article 219 pour tous les autres revenus”, which is Article 187 of the General Tax Code<\/a> pointing back to the 25 percent of Article 219. Tax treaties then cut that rate \u2014 commonly to 15 percent or 5 percent for qualifying parents \u2014 through the treaty reclaim forms, a procedure detailed with forms and deadlines in Dividends Paid Abroad: Withholding, Treaty and Refund<\/a>. Dividends carry no French social charges, which is why founders who need no French cover often combine a small salary with annual dividends. The trap to avoid is distributing without profit, without accounts or without a vote: an irregular distribution can be reclassified, taxed as salary, and challenged by creditors.<\/p>\n In practice, the foreign founder’s pay mix usually settles into one of three patterns. The SAS president who wants full French cover takes a real monthly salary, pays the full charge, and tops up with dividends treated at the withholding rate. The majority SARL g\u00e9rant who wants low cost takes a modest pay within the independent-workers scheme, keeps the minimum-base risk in mind for lean years, and moves the surplus as dividends. The non-operating shareholder abroad who holds the company as an investment takes no salary at all and lives on dividends alone, with the treaty form filed to cut the withholding. Whichever pattern you choose, vote the pay, pay the contributions on time, approve the accounts within six months of year-end, and keep every transfer slip: the La Rochelle and Lille cases prove that URSSAF and the tax administration reconstruct the truth from bank movements years later, and undocumented money is always reclassified against you.<\/p>\n A foreign founder living abroad does not have to choose blind between SAS and SARL. The SAS offers contractual freedom, an investor-ready share structure and a president affiliated like an employee, at the price of heavy salary charges. The SARL offers statutory protection against unwanted newcomers, a manager with full powers towards third parties, and a cheaper independent-worker scheme for the majority g\u00e9rant, at the price of the approval lock on every sale to an outsider. Registration runs entirely online through the Guichet unique, personality starts at RCS registration, and pre-registration acts stay personal unless adopted. Social affiliation follows the office from the first euro paid, minimum contributions can bite even in a nil year, and audits years later turn each forgotten return into principal plus surcharges, as the La Rochelle and Lille courts confirmed in September 2025. Salary deducts and charges; dividends do not deduct but escape contributions and suffer withholding on exit, reduced by treaty. Set the articles for the exit you plan, vote the pay you take, file the returns on time, and the French company becomes what it should be for a founder abroad: a calculable, financeable asset rather than a source of surprise bills.<\/p>\n Hesitating between an SAS and an SARL from abroad, unsure which social regime your presidency or management triggers, or facing URSSAF or tax demands on your French pay? Our firm offers a phone consultation within 48 hours with a lawyer of the firm. Call Ma\u00eetre Reda Kohen directly at +33 6 46 60 58 22<\/a>, or write via our contact page<\/a> with a short description of your project and your question. Early advice on company form, pay structure and filing deadlines is the cheapest protection a foreign founder can buy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" SAS or SARL for a founder living abroad? Company choice, Kbis registration from abroad, non-resident director social security, salary vs dividends tax, with statutes and September 2025 court decisions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":251031309,"featured_media":16384,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kj_source_type":"","_kj_official_id":"","_kj_official_url":"","_kj_judilibre_id":"","_kj_jur":"","_kj_lieu":"","_kj_chambre":"","_kj_rg":"","_kj_date":"","activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":4,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"federated","footnotes":""},"categories":[80314,80313],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2124528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-decryptage","category-doing-business-in-france"],"yoast_head":"\nB. How do you register the company and get the Kbis from abroad without travelling to France?<\/h3>\n
II. How does a non-resident director get paid and covered in France?<\/h2>\n
A. Which French social security regime covers a foreign president or g\u00e9rant, and what do you owe with no salary?<\/h3>\n
B. Salary, dividends or both: how is each euro taxed when the founder lives abroad?<\/h3>\n
Conclusion<\/h2>\n
Need a quick opinion on your case.<\/h2>\n