{"id":2128471,"date":"2026-09-23T07:52:59","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T05:52:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/2026\/09\/23\/foreign-company-france-sas-sarl-subsidiary-branch-choose-register-abroad\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T07:52:59","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T05:52:59","slug":"foreign-company-france-sas-sarl-subsidiary-branch-choose-register-abroad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kohenavocats.fr\/en\/2026\/09\/23\/foreign-company-france-sas-sarl-subsidiary-branch-choose-register-abroad\/","title":{"rendered":"Entering France From Abroad: Should You Choose a SAS, a SARL, a Subsidiary or a Branch \u2014 and How Do You Register It?"},"content":{"rendered":"

You live in London, New York, Dubai or Singapore and you want to sell, hire or invoice in France. A French customer asks for a French invoice with French VAT. A French bank asks for a Kbis (the official registration certificate of a French company, issued by the greffe<\/em>, the clerk’s office of the commercial court). A French recruit asks for a French employment contract with URSSAF (the social security collection agency) registration. At that point, one question becomes urgent: should you create a French SAS (soci\u00e9t\u00e9 par actions simplifi\u00e9e, the flexible joint-stock company), a French SARL (soci\u00e9t\u00e9 \u00e0 responsabilit\u00e9 limit\u00e9e, the classic limited liability company), a French subsidiary of your foreign company, or a simple French branch (succursale<\/em>) of your existing foreign company? Each vehicle protects you differently, is taxed differently, and exposes your foreign parent to a different level of liability. This guide explains, for a foreign founder or foreign group operating from abroad, how to choose between a SAS, a SARL, a subsidiary and a branch, and how to register the chosen vehicle in France without blocking your launch. It covers company formation through the INPI one-stop shop (guichet unique<\/em>), the Kbis certificate, the corporate bank account and the deposit of share capital, the registration of beneficial owners in the RBE register (registre des b\u00e9n\u00e9ficiaires effectifs<\/em>), corporate tax (imp\u00f4t sur les soci\u00e9t\u00e9s<\/em>), VAT registration and returns, and the social security position of the director. Every French acronym is explained. Every decisive legal statement is tied to an official text you can open and check.<\/p>\n

I. SAS, SARL, French subsidiary or French branch: which vehicle should a foreign founder choose?<\/h2>\n

Foreign founders usually hesitate between four solutions: create a new French company as a SAS, create it as a SARL, create a French subsidiary owned by their foreign company, or register a French branch of their foreign company. The first three are companies with their own legal personality. The fourth is not. That single distinction drives liability, credibility with banks, tax, and the paperwork you will file from abroad.<\/p>\n

A. Should your French company be a SAS or a SARL when you live abroad?<\/h3>\n

A SAS and a SARL are both French companies whose shareholders, in principle, only risk the money they put in. The Article L227-1 of the Commercial Code<\/a> states: “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.” The Article L223-1 of the Commercial Code<\/a> states: “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.” In plain English: in both vehicles, one person alone can form the company \u2014 a SASU (single-member SAS) or an EURL (single-member SARL) \u2014 and each shareholder’s losses are limited to their contribution, except in cases of personal misconduct such as fraudulent trading or personal guarantees given to a bank.<\/p>\n

The real difference for a non-resident founder is flexibility and daily management. The SAS is built by contract: the law leaves you almost complete freedom to organise governance, voting rights, veto rights, preferred shares, convertible instruments, vesting of a co-founder, and the powers of the president (pr\u00e9sident<\/em>, the legal representative of a SAS). The SARL is built by statute: the law frames the powers of the manager (g\u00e9rant<\/em>, the legal representative of a SARL), the approval of share transfers (agr\u00e9ment<\/em>), and majority rules in detail. If you are raising money from international investors, allocating different rights to different shareholders, or planning employee equity, the SAS is almost always the better tool because investors know how to read SAS articles and shareholders’ agreements. If you are a solo founder or a family business with a simple capital structure and you want a tested, rigid, protective framework, the SARL does the job at lower drafting cost.<\/p>\n

Tax does not separate them at birth: both are, by default, subject to French corporate tax. The Article 206 of the General Tax Code<\/a> provides that “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”, and the same corporate tax regime applies by default to the SAS as a corporation. Both can, under strict conditions and for a limited time, opt for partnership-style transparent taxation, but a foreign founder should treat that option as an exception requiring specific tax advice, not as a default. What changes your tax bill is not SAS versus SARL; it is your profit level, your salary-versus-dividends policy, your VAT position, and whether you create a subsidiary or a branch, as explained below.<\/p>\n

The director’s social position matters more than founders expect. The president of a SAS is treated as equivalent to an employee for social security (assimil\u00e9 salari\u00e9<\/em>): affiliated to the general scheme, paying full social contributions on salary but not on dividends, with no unemployment insurance. The majority manager of a SARL is self-employed (travailleur non salari\u00e9<\/em>): affiliated to the SSI and URSSAF self-employed collection, with lower contribution rates but thinner pension and daily-allowance coverage. The Article L311-3 of the Social Security Code<\/a> lists who falls under the general employee scheme, opening with: “Sont notamment compris parmi les personnes auxquelles s’impose l’obligation pr\u00e9vue \u00e0 l’article L. 311-2”, and company directors listed in that article \u2014 including SAS presidents \u2014 are covered. A non-resident director who already pays social security in another country must check secondment or multi-state rules before assuming French affiliation; keep your A1 certificate or proof of foreign coverage ready, because URSSAF will ask for it during registration of your first hires and during any control.<\/p>\n

For a foreign-owned French company, the SAS is the default recommendation when the capital will move \u2014 entry of a foreign parent, entry of investors, issue of new share classes, or future sale. The SARL is sensible when the founder wants a closed, stable company with standardised transfers and lower legal fees. In both cases, remember the founding rule in the Article L210-6 of the Commercial Code<\/a>: “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.” Your SAS or SARL only becomes a person in law, able to sign a lease, hire, and sue, once it is registered with the Trade and Companies Register (RCS, registre du commerce et des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s<\/em>) and holds its Kbis. Acts signed before registration bind the people who signed them unless the company formally takes them over after registration, so do not sign a commercial lease or a major supply contract in the company’s name before you understand the takeover (reprise des actes<\/em>) mechanism.<\/p>\n

B. Should the French presence be a subsidiary company or a branch of your foreign company?<\/h3>\n

A subsidiary (filiale<\/em>) is a French company \u2014 usually a SAS \u2014 whose shares are held by your foreign company. It has its own legal personality, its own assets, its own Kbis, and its own liability shield. A branch (succursale<\/em>) is not a company at all: it is a secondary establishment of your foreign company in France, with no legal personality of its own, no share capital of its own, and no liability shield. The French Ministry of the Economy’s official guide to setting up a foreign business in France (economie.gouv.fr, implanter une entreprise \u00e9trang\u00e8re en France<\/a>) presents exactly this choice \u2014 subsidiary versus branch versus liaison office \u2014 and directs foreign groups to register the chosen presence with the French business register. A liaison office (bureau de liaison<\/em>) may only prospect and prepare; it may not trade, invoice or hire commercially, so any business that will sell or bill in France must choose between subsidiary and branch.<\/p>\n

Liability is the decisive factor. With a subsidiary, the French company’s debts are, in principle, its own; the foreign parent risks its equity investment and any guarantees it has signed, but not its entire balance sheet. With a branch, there is no screen: every contract signed, every tax debt assessed, and every employment claim in France binds your foreign company directly, and French creditors can pursue the foreign head office. Banks know this perfectly well: a French bank will often open an account for a subsidiary with deposited capital and a Kbis faster than for a branch whose foreign parent’s documents must be translated, legalised and analysed. If your French activity involves employees, stock, customer prepayments, regulated data, or product liability, the subsidiary’s shield is worth the extra formation cost in almost every case.<\/p>\n

Tax follows the same logic. A French subsidiary is fully subject to French corporate tax on its own profits, files its own returns, and pays its own VAT; dividends it sends to the foreign parent may suffer French withholding tax subject to EU directives and tax treaties, a mechanism covered in detail in our companion guide on dividends. A branch is also taxed in France on the profits attributable to its French activity \u2014 operating in France through a fixed place of business creates a taxable presence \u2014 but there is no dividend because there is no share capital and no distribution: profits belong directly to the foreign head office. That apparent simplicity is misleading: attributing costs, management fees, interest and head-office expenses to a branch, documenting transfer prices, and justifying the branch’s margin to the French tax administration (direction g\u00e9n\u00e9rale des finances publiques<\/em>) is technically harder than running a clean subsidiary with a capital contribution, a current-account agreement and arm’s-length invoicing. Unless you have a short, low-risk testing phase with one or two people and no local contracting risk, choose the subsidiary.<\/p>\n

Registration differs in weight. A subsidiary follows the full company formation path described in Part II: articles, capital deposit, publication in a legal gazette (SHAL, support habilit\u00e9 \u00e0 recevoir des annonces l\u00e9gales<\/em>), filing with the INPI one-stop shop, RCS registration, Kbis, and publication in the BODACC (the official bulletin of civil and commercial announcements, Bulletin officiel des annonces civiles et commerciales<\/em>). A branch files the foreign company’s translated and certified documents \u2014 certificate of existence, articles, resolution to open the branch, appointment of the branch representative \u2014 with the same one-stop shop for registration in the RCS as a secondary establishment. The branch must also file the foreign company’s annual accounts, translated into French, with the greffe<\/em> each year, and update the RCS whenever the foreign company’s details change. In practice, groups that choose a branch to save time discover a permanent translation and filing burden; groups that choose a subsidiary pay more on day one and sleep better afterwards.<\/p>\n

II. How do you register and run your French vehicle from abroad without blocking your launch?<\/h2>\n

Once the vehicle is chosen, execution decides everything. Foreign founders lose weeks on four predictable obstacles: the capital deposit and the bank account, the INPI filing and the Kbis, the beneficial owner declaration, and the first tax and social registrations. Each has an official procedure that works from abroad if you prepare the right documents in the right order.<\/p>\n

A. How do you create the company, deposit the capital, open the bank account and get your Kbis from abroad?<\/h3>\n

Step one is drafting and signing the articles (statuts<\/em>). For a SAS, the articles must name the company, its purpose (objet social<\/em> \u2014 draft it broadly enough to cover your real activity, because banks, insurers and clients read it), its registered office (si\u00e8ge social<\/em> \u2014 a domiciliation contract, a lease, or your lawyer’s address with proper authorisation), its capital, its president, and its decision-making rules. For a SARL, add the manager, the transfer-approval clause and the statutory majority rules. A foreign shareholder \u2014 individual or company \u2014 must prove identity and existence: passport certified, foreign company’s certificate of good standing with sworn translation (traduction asserment\u00e9e<\/em>) and, depending on the country, an apostille or legalisation. Powers of attorney signed abroad for the signature of the articles should be clear, dated, and translated; French greffes<\/em> reject vague proxies.<\/p>\n

Step two is the deposit of the share capital. French law requires the cash contributions to be deposited before signature of the articles with a bank, a notary (notaire<\/em>), or the Caisse des d\u00e9p\u00f4ts, which issues a capital deposit certificate (certificat de d\u00e9p\u00f4t des fonds<\/em>, sometimes called attestation de blocage du capital<\/em>). From abroad, this is the step that hurts: French banks must run anti-money-laundering checks on non-resident shareholders and beneficial owners, and they ask for source-of-funds evidence, tax residence certificates, and the draft articles. Start the bank file in parallel with drafting, not after. If a bank refuses to open, remember your fallback. The Article L312-1 of the Monetary and Financial Code<\/a> provides: “A droit \u00e0 l’ouverture d’un compte de d\u00e9p\u00f4t dans l’\u00e9tablissement de cr\u00e9dit de son choix, sous r\u00e9serve d’\u00eatre d\u00e9pourvu d’un tel compte en France”, adding that this right covers “Toute personne physique ou morale domicili\u00e9e en France”. The right-to-an-account procedure (droit au compte<\/em>) before the Banque de France lets a company domiciled in France that has been refused an account obtain the designation of a bank obliged to open one with basic services. It is a remedy, not a fast track \u2014 expect weeks \u2014 so treat it as insurance while you keep negotiating with business banks, online business banks and your notary’s escrow.<\/p>\n

Step three is publication and filing. The formation notice must be published in a gazette authorised for the department of the registered office before or just after filing; keep the publication certificate because the one-stop shop asks for it. The full file \u2014 articles, capital certificate, publication certificate, proof of registered office, ID and clean-record statements of the directors, foreign parent documents where relevant \u2014 is filed online with the INPI one-stop shop (guichet unique des formalit\u00e9s des entreprises<\/em>), which replaced the old CFE centres. The official English-language guidance for company registration formalities is published on service-public.fr, cr\u00e9ation d’entreprise: formalit\u00e9s d’immatriculation d’une soci\u00e9t\u00e9<\/a>. The register checks the file: the Article L123-1 of the Commercial Code<\/a> recalls the foundation \u2014 “Il est tenu un registre du commerce et des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s auquel sont immatricul\u00e9s, sur leur d\u00e9claration” \u2014 meaning every trader and company registers on its own declaration, under its own responsibility, with supporting documents. If the greffe<\/em> rejects \u2014 wrong registered-office proof, vague corporate purpose, missing translation, inconsistent director details \u2014 it issues a rejection notice (rejet<\/em>) that you must correct and refile; each round trip costs a week, so file a clean, complete, translated file the first time.<\/p>\n

Step four is the Kbis and its satellites. Once registered, the company receives its SIREN number (the nine-digit company identifier issued by INSEE), its SIRET number (SIREN plus five digits identifying each establishment), its APE activity code, and its Kbis extract \u2014 the identity card of the company, showing name, capital, office, directors, and RCS number. Check the Kbis line by line on arrival: a misspelled director name, a wrong registered office, or a truncated corporate purpose will be copy-pasted by every bank, administration and client for years, and corrections require a new filing. The registration is then announced in the BODACC; banks, suppliers and clients check it. From the Kbis date, the rule of the Article L210-6 of the Commercial Code<\/a> applies in full \u2014 “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” \u2014 and the company can operate, sign, hire and be taxed as a French person in law.<\/p>\n

Step five, often forgotten by founders filing from abroad, is the declaration of beneficial owners. The Article L561-46 of the Monetary and Financial Code<\/a> requires companies to declare their beneficial owners: they “d\u00e9clarent au registre du commerce et des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s, par l’interm\u00e9diaire de l’organisme mentionn\u00e9 au deuxi\u00e8me alin\u00e9a de l’article L. 123-33 du code de commerce, les informations relatives aux b\u00e9n\u00e9ficiaires effectifs.” A beneficial owner (b\u00e9n\u00e9ficiaire effectif<\/em>) is any individual holding, directly or indirectly, more than 25 percent of the capital or voting rights, or exercising control by other means. For a French subsidiary of a foreign group, trace the chain up to the real individuals \u2014 fund managers, holding directors, family members \u2014 and declare each with full identity and home address plus the percentage and control mechanism. File it with formation or within the legal deadline after registration, and update it every time the capital, the shareholders or the control changes. Banks check the RBE before releasing funds or granting facilities; an absent or inconsistent RBE declaration is one of the most common reasons a foreign-owned company’s account stays frozen after the Kbis arrives.<\/p>\n

B. How do you handle French corporate tax, VAT and payroll once the company exists?<\/h3>\n

Corporate tax (imp\u00f4t sur les soci\u00e9t\u00e9s<\/em>, IS) starts on day one of the first financial year. As seen above, the Article 206 of the General Tax Code<\/a> makes French corporations liable: “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”. Your SAS subsidiary is in the same position. The standard rate is 25 percent on profits, with a reduced 15 percent rate on the first 42,500 euros of profit for qualifying SMEs \u2014 turnover below 10 million euros, capital at least 75 percent held by individuals or qualifying SMEs, a condition foreign groups often fail when the parent is large, so model the effective rate honestly. The company must file its annual corporate tax return (liasse fiscale<\/em>) electronically within three months of year-end (mid-May for a calendar year), pay instalments (acomptes<\/em>) during the year once it becomes profitable, and settle the balance on filing. The official corporate tax guidance and filing calendars are published on impots.gouv.fr<\/a>; create the company’s professional tax account (espace professionnel<\/em>) as soon as the SIREN arrives, because every return, payment and claim passes through it and activation codes are sent by post to the registered office.<\/p>\n

VAT (taxe sur la valeur ajout\u00e9e<\/em>, TVA) is the second front, and the one that surprises foreign e-commerce and SaaS founders most. France applies 20 percent standard VAT, 10 percent and 5.5 percent reduced rates, and 2.1 percent special rate, with registration thresholds that differ for goods and services. The Article 286 of the General Tax Code<\/a> imposes the discipline from the start: “Toute personne assujettie \u00e0 la taxe sur la valeur ajout\u00e9e doit”, and continues: “Dans les quinze jours du commencement de ses op\u00e9rations, souscrire au bureau d\u00e9sign\u00e9 par un arr\u00eat\u00e9 une d\u00e9claration conforme au mod\u00e8le fourni par l’administration.” In practice, the VAT number is issued after RCS registration and activation with the tax office (SIE, service des imp\u00f4ts des entreprises<\/em>); intra-EU VAT numbers starting FR plus two digits plus SIREN must appear on invoices, and returns (CA3 monthly or quarterly, CA12 annually under the simplified scheme) are filed electronically with payment. A foreign-owned company that invoices French clients without a valid French VAT number, that applies the wrong rate, or that misses its first CA3, accumulates penalties and interest from the first quarter \u2014 and French clients will refuse to pay invoices that do not allow them to recover VAT. Our companion guide on French VAT numbers, first returns and penalties walks through the CA3 line by line.<\/p>\n

Payroll and social charges are the third front, and the most expensive misunderstanding. Hiring your first French employee triggers registration with URSSAF, a pre-hire declaration (DPAE, d\u00e9claration pr\u00e9alable \u00e0 l’embauche<\/em>) filed at the latest the working day before the start date, a written contract respecting the applicable collective agreement (convention collective<\/em>), affiliation to a supplementary pension fund (AGIRC-ARRCO) and a health and provident scheme, and monthly payroll declarations through the DSN (d\u00e9claration sociale nominative<\/em>). Total employer cost typically adds 42 to 47 percent on top of gross salary, depending on the scheme and the salary level \u2014 budget it before you promise a net salary. The director’s own position runs in parallel: a SAS president takes salary subject to general-scheme contributions under the Article L311-3 of the Social Security Code<\/a> \u2014 “Sont notamment compris parmi les personnes auxquelles s’impose l’obligation pr\u00e9vue \u00e0 l’article L. 311-2” \u2014 while a SARL majority manager pays self-employed contributions called quarterly by URSSAF. A non-resident director with no French salary still needs a position: affiliated, seconded, or covered abroad with proof. Do not let the company run months with an unpaid, undeclared director and undeclared cross-border recharges from the parent; URSSAF and the tax administration reclassify those flows during controls, with back charges and penalties.<\/p>\n

The legal calendar of a French company then beats like a drum, and a founder abroad must put it in the diary on day one. Annual approval of the accounts within six months of year-end, filing with the greffe<\/em> within one month of approval (two months electronically), corporate tax return in May, VAT returns monthly or quarterly, CFE business tax (cotisation fonci\u00e8re des entreprises<\/em>) in December with possible first-year exemption, beneficial-owner updates whenever capital moves, and payroll DSN every month. Miss the accounts filing and the greffe<\/em> issues reminders, then fines; miss VAT and corporate tax deadlines and penalties run automatically with interest; miss the DSN and URSSAF assesses by default (taxation d’office<\/em>). Appoint a French accountant (expert-comptable<\/em>) before the Kbis arrives, give them electronic mandates (mandats<\/em>) for impots.gouv.fr and URSSAF, and route all administrative mail from the registered office to someone who reads French every week. A domiciliation that forwards envelopes unopened is not a compliance system.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/h2>\n

For most foreign founders entering France, the order of decision is simple. If you will trade, hire, sign leases and invoice in France, create a French subsidiary \u2014 in practice a SAS \u2014 rather than a branch: you gain a liability shield, a Kbis banks understand, and a clean tax subject instead of a permanent translation burden and direct exposure of the foreign parent. Choose the SAS when capital will move, investors may enter, or governance must be tailored; choose the SARL for a simple, closed, stable shareholding where statutory protection matters more than flexibility. Then execute in order: solid articles, parallel bank file with source-of-funds evidence, publication, complete INPI filing, line-by-line check of the Kbis, immediate beneficial-owner declaration, professional tax account, VAT activation, URSSAF registration, and a French accountant holding the calendar. The companies that struggle are rarely those that chose the wrong vehicle; they are those that signed before registration, left the RBE unfiled, invoiced without a VAT number, or promised salaries without pricing social charges. Prepare those five points from abroad, keep every translation and legalisation ready, and your French company will start with credit at the bank, credibility with clients, and a file a French administration can process without asking twice. Keep the official texts bookmarked \u2014 Commercial Code, General Tax Code, Monetary and Financial Code, service-public.fr, INPI, impots.gouv.fr \u2014 and check every decisive step against them before you sign.<\/p>\n

Need a quick opinion on your case<\/h2>\n

Our firm offers a telephone consultation within 48 hours with a lawyer of the firm, anywhere in France. First consultation: 80 EUR including VAT.<\/p>\n

Call +33 6 46 60 58 22<\/a> or write via our contact page<\/a>. We advise foreign founders and groups in English, from Paris, for matters across France.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Foreign founder entering France? 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