You live in London, New York or Dubai. Your French company \u2014 a SAS (simplified joint-stock company), a SARL (limited liability company) or a French subsidiary of your foreign group \u2014 earns revenue in France, pays a Paris supplier, and holds money in a French bank account. Then two letters arrive: one from the SIE (service des imp\u00f4ts des entreprises, the French business tax office) about corporate tax, and one from your accountant reminding you that the annual accounts must be approved and filed. From abroad, both deadlines look abstract. They are not. French corporate income tax, called IS (imp\u00f4t sur les soci\u00e9t\u00e9s), is assessed and collected through a strict calendar of returns, quarterly instalments and automatic surcharges. In parallel, every French company must approve its annual accounts within six months of year-end and file them at the greffe (the clerk’s office of the commercial court), where they become public through the RCS (registre du commerce et des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s, the trade and companies register) and the BODACC (bulletin officiel des annonces civiles et commerciales, the official gazette of corporate filings). Miss either calendar and the penalties apply automatically, even if you never set foot in France. This guide explains, in plain English, how to file and pay French corporate tax from abroad and how to keep your company’s yearly legal calendar on time, with the exact statutes and court decisions that govern each step.<\/p>\n
French corporate tax follows its own logic. Unlike some countries where the tax office sends a bill, in France your company must calculate the tax itself, declare it, and pay it in instalments before the final bill is even established. The system is called self-assessment with advance payments, and it punishes late filers with fixed percentage surcharges that no excuse letter will cancel. The good news is that the rules are written down precisely, the standard rate is a flat 25 percent, and a foreign-based director can handle everything online through the professional tax account, provided the calendar is respected.<\/p>\n
The starting point is simple: most French companies are liable for corporate tax by virtue of their legal form alone. Article 206 of the CGI (code g\u00e9n\u00e9ral des imp\u00f4ts, the French general tax code) provides that “sont passibles de l’imp\u00f4t sur les soci\u00e9t\u00e9s, quel que soit leur objet, les soci\u00e9t\u00e9s anonymes”, alongside partnerships limited by shares and limited liability companies that have not chosen partnership taxation. Read the full text at article 206 of the General Tax Code<\/a>. In practice, this means your SAS, your SARL and your French subsidiary (filiale, a French company controlled by a foreign parent) fall within corporate tax automatically, whatever business they conduct. A French branch (succursale, a mere extension of a foreign company with no separate legal personality) is taxed differently, on its French-source profits only, and that distinction is one of the reasons the choice of vehicle matters so much at formation. If you are unsure which structure you own, pull your Kbis (the official registration certificate issued by the greffe, which states the company’s legal form, capital, directors and registration number) before doing anything else.<\/p>\n Once liability is established, the rate is straightforward. Article 219 of the same code states: “Le taux normal de l’imp\u00f4t est fix\u00e9 \u00e0 25 %.” See article 219 of the General Tax Code<\/a>. That flat 25 percent applies to taxable profit as computed under French accounting and tax rules, which differ from British, American or Gulf accounting standards on points such as depreciation, provisions and the treatment of shareholder loans (comptes courants d’associ\u00e9s, advances made by shareholders to their company). Do not assume that a loss in your management accounts means no tax is due in France, and do not assume that profit shown abroad equals French taxable profit. The taxable base must be rebuilt under French rules, and that rebuilding exercise is precisely where a French accountant (expert-comptable) earns their fee.<\/p>\n The filing deadline is fixed by article 223 of the General Tax Code, which provides: “Toutefois, la d\u00e9claration du b\u00e9n\u00e9fice ou du d\u00e9ficit est faite dans les trois mois de la cl\u00f4ture de l’exercice. Si l’exercice est clos le 31 d\u00e9cembre ou si aucun exercice n’est clos au cours d’une ann\u00e9e, la d\u00e9claration est \u00e0 d\u00e9poser au plus tard le deuxi\u00e8me jour ouvr\u00e9 suivant le 1er mai.” Read it at article 223 of the General Tax Code<\/a>. Concretely, a company closing its year on 31 December must file the corporate tax return (liasse fiscale, the bundle of tax forms and financial statements) no later than the second working day after 1 May. Companies with a different year-end have three months from closing. The return is filed electronically through the company’s espace professionnel on impots.gouv.fr, the portal of the French tax administration, and the filing must include the financial statements plus all schedules the administration requires. From abroad, the practical traps are access and timing: make sure your accountant holds a valid mandate to file for the company, that the professional account is activated well before May, and that the draft return circulates for your signature in April, not in the last week. A return filed one day late is a late return, and the surcharge table below applies from day one.<\/p>\n Late filing is punished by article 1728 of the General Tax Code, whose scale every foreign director should memorise. The text opens with the principle that “Le d\u00e9faut de production dans les d\u00e9lais prescrits d’une d\u00e9claration” triggers a surcharge on the tax due, then sets the rates: “10 % en l’absence de mise en demeure ou en cas de d\u00e9p\u00f4t de la d\u00e9claration ou de l’acte dans les trente jours suivant la r\u00e9ception d’une mise en demeure d’avoir \u00e0 le produire dans ce d\u00e9lai”. See article 1728 of the General Tax Code<\/a>. The scale then rises to 40 percent where the return is still missing thirty days after a formal notice (mise en demeure, a registered letter ordering you to file), and to 80 percent where the administration discovers a hidden activity (activit\u00e9 occulte, a business the tax office did not know existed). Interest for late payment (int\u00e9r\u00eat de retard, currently 0.20 percent per month) runs on top. Take a concrete example: a company owing 40,000 euros of corporate tax that files two months late without having received any notice pays a 4,000 euro surcharge plus interest. The same company, reminded by the tax office and still silent after thirty days, pays 16,000 euros. These amounts are assessed automatically by the software of the tax office; no officer exercises discretion, and living abroad is never accepted as an excuse. If you receive a mise en demeure at the company’s registered office (si\u00e8ge social) in France while you sit in another country, the thirty-day clock is already running, which is why a reliable mail-forwarding arrangement or a domiciliation agent who scans everything the same day is not a luxury but a necessity.<\/p>\n One further warning concerns new companies. A company created during the year files its first return for its first financial year, even if that year is shorter or longer than twelve months within legal limits. There is no general first-year exemption from filing: the return is due, and the deadlines above apply. Keep the filing receipt (accus\u00e9 de r\u00e9ception) issued by the portal, because in any later dispute about whether the return was on time, that timestamp is the only proof that counts.<\/p>\n Filing the return is only half of the job. French corporate tax is paid in advance, in four instalments called acomptes, computed from the previous year’s result. Article 1668 of the General Tax Code states: “L’imp\u00f4t sur les soci\u00e9t\u00e9s donne lieu au versement, au comptable public comp\u00e9tent, d’acomptes trimestriels d\u00e9termin\u00e9s \u00e0 partir des r\u00e9sultats du dernier exercice clos.” See article 1668 of the General Tax Code<\/a>. Each instalment is due on fixed dates \u2014 15 March, 15 June, 15 September and 15 December for companies closing on 31 December \u2014 and each equals one quarter of the tax computed on the prior year’s profit at the 25 percent rate. When the annual return is filed the following May, the company pays the balance (solde) if the instalments fell short, or carries forward the excess if it overpaid. Newly created companies, and companies newly subject to corporate tax, are spared instalments during their very first year or first tax period, but from the second year the machine starts and never stops.<\/p>\n This mechanism creates the classic trap for foreign founders. In year one, no instalment is due, so the founder wires no tax and forgets the subject. In year two, four instalments suddenly fall due on the basis of year one’s profit \u2014 while the founder, looking at weaker current-year figures, assumes nothing is owed. The instalments are owed anyway. They can be reduced or suspended only within narrow statutory conditions, and an unjustified non-payment draws a 5 percent surcharge plus monthly interest, collected by the comptable public (the public accountant, the Treasury officer in charge of collection) through the same online account. The practical routine is therefore rigid: ask your accountant each February for the instalment schedule for the coming year, load the four direct debits or calendar reminders immediately, and keep a euro buffer in the French account, because a rejected SEPA debit counts as non-payment. Companies whose French bank account was hard to open \u2014 a frequent complaint of foreign founders \u2014 should solve the payment channel in January, not on 14 March.<\/p>\n Where the company cannot pay, the administration does not stop at the company. French tax procedure allows the Treasury to pursue the director personally where tax debts result from fraud or from serious and repeated breaches of tax duties that made collection impossible. Article L267 of the LPF (livre des proc\u00e9dures fiscales, the code of tax procedures) provides: “ce dirigeant peut, s’il n’est pas d\u00e9j\u00e0 tenu au paiement des dettes sociales en application d’une autre disposition, \u00eatre d\u00e9clar\u00e9 solidairement responsable du paiement de ces impositions et p\u00e9nalit\u00e9s par le pr\u00e9sident du tribunal judiciaire.” Read the full provision at article L267 of the Tax Procedures Code<\/a>. The provision covers “toute personne exer\u00e7ant en droit ou en fait, directement ou indirectement, la direction effective de la soci\u00e9t\u00e9”, which means a foreign president of a SAS, a German g\u00e9rant (manager) of a SARL or even a de facto manager who never appears on the Kbis can be summoned before the president of the judicial court and declared jointly liable for the company’s taxes and penalties.<\/p>\n The Cour de cassation (France’s supreme court for civil, commercial and criminal matters) polices the limits of that personal liability. In a decision of 17 June 2026, appeal no. 25-15.031, the Commercial Chamber held: “le dirigeant, qui ne peut \u00eatre d\u00e9clar\u00e9 solidairement responsable que du paiement de la somme correspondant aux impositions et p\u00e9nalit\u00e9s dues par la soci\u00e9t\u00e9, la personne morale ou le groupement, ne peut se voir condamner au paiement des int\u00e9r\u00eats au taux l\u00e9gal portant sur cette somme.” See Cour de cassation, Commercial Chamber, 17 June 2026, no. 25-15.031<\/a>. The ruling quashed a court of appeal that had loaded statutory interest on top of the taxes and penalties charged to a former manager. For a foreign director, the lesson is double-edged and useful: personal pursuit is real and must be taken seriously from the first summons, but its amount is capped by law at taxes plus penalties, and any claim beyond that cap can be fought and won. Never ignore an assignation (writ of summons) from the comptable public because you live abroad; French courts can rule in your absence, and a default order is far harder to undo than a claim contested from the start with counsel.<\/p>\n Finally, keep every payment proof. Instalments paid online generate receipts; wire transfers generate SWIFT confirmations. In a later dispute about surcharges, the administration’s computer log prevails unless you produce a dated receipt. Store the yearly schedule, the four debit confirmations and the final balance payment in one folder, and reconcile them against the annual tax notice (avis d’imp\u00f4t) when it arrives. Ten minutes of filing per quarter saves months of correspondence later.<\/p>\n Tax is only one of the two yearly calendars. French company law imposes a second one: the company must keep proper books, close the financial year, submit the accounts to the shareholders for approval within six months, and file the approved accounts at the greffe so that anyone \u2014 suppliers, banks, competitors \u2014 can consult them. For a shareholder living abroad, this calendar is where distance hurts most: the meeting must be convened under French formalities, the resolutions must be drafted in legally sufficient terms, and the filing must be made through the INPI Guichet unique (the single online window for business formalities, operated by the INPI, the French industrial property office) within weeks of the meeting. Each step below follows the statute and the cases that enforce it.<\/p>\n Every trader in France must keep books. Article L123-12 of the Commercial Code states: “Toute personne physique ou morale ayant la qualit\u00e9 de commer\u00e7ant doit proc\u00e9der \u00e0 l’enregistrement comptable des mouvements affectant le patrimoine de son entreprise.” See article L123-12 of the Commercial Code<\/a>. The same article requires an inventory at least once a year and the preparation of annual accounts \u2014 balance sheet (bilan), profit and loss statement (compte de r\u00e9sultat) and notes (annexe) \u2014 “qui forment un tout indissociable”. For the foreign owner, the consequence is that a French company cannot be run from a foreign spreadsheet and a bank app: it needs French-format books, closed on the financial year-end stated in the articles (statuts), and kept available for the accountant, the auditor if any, and the tax office.<\/p>\n Approval follows a hard six-month deadline. In a SARL, article L223-26 of the Commercial Code provides that the management report, inventory and annual accounts drawn up by the managers “sont soumis \u00e0 l’approbation des associ\u00e9s r\u00e9unis en assembl\u00e9e, dans le d\u00e9lai de six mois \u00e0 compter de la cl\u00f4ture de l’exercice sous r\u00e9serve de prolongation de ce d\u00e9lai par d\u00e9cision de justice.” See article L223-26 of the Commercial Code<\/a>. In companies with a board structure, article L225-100 states the parallel rule: “L’assembl\u00e9e g\u00e9n\u00e9rale ordinaire est r\u00e9unie au moins une fois par an, dans les six mois de la cl\u00f4ture de l’exercice, sous r\u00e9serve de prolongation de ce d\u00e9lai par d\u00e9cision de justice.” See article L225-100 of the Commercial Code<\/a>. A SAS, the vehicle most foreign founders choose, follows the meeting rules written in its own articles, but those articles almost always reproduce the same six-month rhythm, and the filing duty described below applies regardless. The only lawful way to gain time is a court order extending the deadline (demande de prorogation), filed before the six months expire with the president of the commercial court. Waiting until month seven and then asking is already too late.<\/p>\n The meeting itself must be convened properly: notice periods stated in the articles or the statute, agenda attached, accounts and reports sent to the shareholders in advance, attendance sheet (feuille de pr\u00e9sence), and minutes (proc\u00e8s-verbal) recording each resolution with its vote. From abroad, three tools keep this workable. First, allow written consultation or videoconference in the articles from day one, so the foreign shareholder can validly vote without flying to Paris. Second, appoint a French-based chairman of the meeting or give a proxy with precise voting instructions, never a blank proxy. Third, have the minutes drafted or reviewed by counsel before signature, because the standard yearly resolutions \u2014 approval of the accounts, allocation of profit (affectation du r\u00e9sultat) between reserves, dividends and retained earnings, discharge of the managers (quitus), and recording of regulated agreements (conventions r\u00e9glement\u00e9es, contracts between the company and its directors or shareholders) \u2014 must use complete legal wording to be effective and to be accepted later by the greffe.<\/p>\n Resolutions passed in breach of the rules can be annulled, and the Cour de cassation has recently clarified who must be sued. In a decision of 9 July 2025, appeal no. 23-23.484, the Commercial Chamber held: “la recevabilit\u00e9 d’une action en nullit\u00e9 d’une d\u00e9lib\u00e9ration sociale pour abus de majorit\u00e9 n’est pas, en l’absence de demande indemnitaire dirig\u00e9e contre les associ\u00e9s majoritaires, subordonn\u00e9e \u00e0 la mise en cause de ces derniers.” See Cour de cassation, Commercial Chamber, 9 July 2025, no. 23-23.484<\/a>. In plain terms, a minority shareholder asking only for the cancellation of an abusive resolution sues the company itself; the majority shareholders need not be joined. For the foreign minority investor in a French joint venture, this is genuinely helpful: an action to cancel a meeting that approved rigged accounts or swept all profit into reserves can target the company alone. Symmetrically, the foreign majority owner must understand that their votes can be reviewed for abus de majorit\u00e9 (abuse of majority, using majority voting power against the company’s interest to favour the majority) and abus de minorit\u00e9 (the minority blocking a decision required in the company’s interest). The yearly allocation of profit is the classic battleground: systematically starving a minority of dividends to force a cheap buyout is the textbook example courts sanction. Draft the allocation resolution with stated business reasons \u2014 investment plan, debt covenants, cash buffer quantified in euros \u2014 so the minutes themselves show a company interest, not a personal one.<\/p>\n If the six-month meeting never happens, the statute arms outsiders. Both articles quoted above allow the public prosecutor or any interested person to petition the court in summary proceedings (r\u00e9f\u00e9r\u00e9, an emergency court procedure) to order the directors, under penalty payments (astreinte, a daily fine for non-compliance), to convene the meeting or to appoint an agent (mandataire) to do so. A dormant French company whose foreign owner “will handle it next trip” can therefore be forced into a court-ordered meeting by a co-shareholder, a creditor or the prosecutor \u2014 with costs charged to the company. Diary the deadline the day the financial year closes, and start the accountant’s closing work in month one, not month five.<\/p>\n Approval is not the end. The approved accounts must be filed \u2014 d\u00e9pos\u00e9 \u2014 at the greffe for attachment to the RCS file, where they become consultable by the public and summarised in the BODACC. Article L232-23 of the Commercial Code provides: “Toute soci\u00e9t\u00e9 par actions est tenue de d\u00e9poser au greffe du tribunal, pour \u00eatre annex\u00e9s au registre du commerce et des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s, dans le mois suivant l’approbation des comptes annuels par l’assembl\u00e9e g\u00e9n\u00e9rale des actionnaires”. The same article extends the period “dans les deux mois suivant cette approbation lorsque ce d\u00e9p\u00f4t est effectu\u00e9 par voie \u00e9lectronique”. See article L232-23 of the Commercial Code<\/a>. SARLs and other companies face equivalent filing duties under the neighbouring provisions. In practice today the filing travels through the INPI Guichet unique, the portal that replaced the old direct greffe counter filings, and the one-month\/two-month clock runs from the date of the approving meeting, not from the accountant’s delivery date. File the full bundle the greffe expects: approved annual accounts, management report where required, auditor’s report where a commissaire aux comptes (statutory auditor) exists, the proposed and voted profit-allocation resolutions, and, for small companies that qualify, the confidentiality declaration (d\u00e9claration de confidentialit\u00e9) that keeps the profit and loss statement out of public view. Forgetting that declaration is a frequent and expensive oversight: without it, the whole P and L is published, readable by every competitor.<\/p>\n This filing duty is enforceable by third parties, and the sanction is a court order obtained in days. The Cour de cassation confirmed the mechanism in a published decision of 3 March 2021, appeal no. 19-10.086, ruling that the special actions created by the code “ne sont pas exclusives de celle fond\u00e9e sur les dispositions de droit commun pr\u00e9vues par l’article L. 232-23 du code de commerce, qui font obligation \u00e0 toute soci\u00e9t\u00e9 par actions, et non \u00e0 son dirigeant, de d\u00e9poser ses comptes.” See Cour de cassation, Commercial Chamber, 3 March 2021, no. 19-10.086<\/a>. In that case, former distributors obtained in r\u00e9f\u00e9r\u00e9 an order condemning a supplier, under penalty payments, to file its accounts, reports and profit-allocation resolutions. Three points matter for a foreign director. First, the duty lies on the company, not on the director personally \u2014 but the order, the astreinte and the costs hit the company you own. Second, any person showing a legitimate interest (unpaid supplier, former partner, bank) can sue; the claimant need not be a shareholder. Third, the judge in r\u00e9f\u00e9r\u00e9 treats persistent non-filing as a manifestly unlawful disturbance (trouble manifestement illicite), so the order issues fast and the daily penalty accumulates until filing. A French company kept opaque for two years can therefore be forced open in a fortnight, with the bill for the procedure added to the accountant’s catch-up fees.<\/p>\n Beyond lawsuits, non-filing carries administrative consequences that accumulate silently. The greffe notes the missing filings on the company’s record; banks consulting the file before renewing a credit line draw their conclusions; the president of the commercial court can summon the directors to explain; and in insolvency proceedings, missing or late accounts feed the finding of mismanagement (faute de gestion) that can extend personal liability. Conversely, a clean public record \u2014 accounts filed every year, Kbis fresh, BODACC entries consistent \u2014 is the cheapest possible signal of seriousness to French banks, landlords and public buyers. Order a fresh Kbis and check the BODACC entry after each filing season; if the filing does not appear within weeks, chase the Guichet unique receipt with your filing agent rather than assuming all is well.<\/p>\n Close the loop between the two calendars. The accounts approved at the June meeting are the same figures that fed the May tax return; a mismatch between the tax return and the filed accounts is the first thing a tax auditor checks. Keep one reconciled set of numbers, one signed set of minutes, and one filing receipt per year, stored for at least the statutory retention periods. When both calendars are handled together \u2014 tax return in spring, meeting within six months, electronic filing within two months of the meeting \u2014 the French company runs itself almost silently, and the foreign owner’s trips to France can be devoted to business instead of paperwork emergencies.<\/p>\n Running a French company from abroad is entirely possible, but it is a two-calendar discipline. On the tax side, confirm that the company falls within corporate tax, apply the 25 percent rate to a properly computed French-law base, file the return within three months of year-end \u2014 or by the second working day after 1 May for a 31 December closing \u2014 and pay the four quarterly instalments without waiting for a bill, keeping every receipt. On the company-law side, close the books, convene the annual meeting within six months, draft allocation resolutions that show a genuine company interest, and file the full bundle electronically within two months of approval, with the confidentiality declaration where it matters. Around both calendars stand the guardrails this guide has quoted: automatic 10, 40 and 80 percent surcharges for late returns, joint personal liability of a director who makes tax collection impossible through fraud or repeated breaches \u2014 capped at taxes and penalties, not legal interest \u2014 and fast court orders forcing opaque companies to file under daily penalties. Put the four tax dates and the meeting deadline in the diary on the day the year closes, give your accountant and your mail agent standing instructions, and check the public record each summer. The French system rewards the punctual foreign owner with something valuable: a company that borrows, contracts and grows without ever making the news at the greffe or the tax office.<\/p>\n Our firm offers an initial telephone consultation for 80 EUR incl. VAT, within 48 hours, with an attorney of the firm. Call +33 6 46 60 58 22<\/a> or reach us through our contact page<\/a>. We assist foreign founders and companies doing business in France, in English, from our Paris office.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Foreign founder guide: French corporate tax at 25 percent, filing deadlines, quarterly instalments and surcharges, plus the yearly calendar to approve and file your company accounts from abroad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":251031309,"featured_media":16389,"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-2128555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-decryptage","category-doing-business-in-france"],"yoast_head":"\nB. Pay Quarterly Instalments and the Balance, or Face Automatic Collection<\/h3>\n
II. Keep Your French Company Compliant Every Year: Approve, File and Publish the Accounts<\/h2>\n
A. Hold the Annual Meeting Within Six Months and Keep Resolutions Challenge-Proof<\/h3>\n
B. File Your Accounts at the Greffe and Watch the Public Record<\/h3>\n
Conclusion<\/h2>\n
Need a quick opinion on your case?<\/h2>\n