You live in London, New York, Dubai or Singapore and you own a French SAS (soci\u00e9t\u00e9 par actions simplifi\u00e9e, the flexible joint-stock company most foreign founders choose) or a SARL (soci\u00e9t\u00e9 \u00e0 responsabilit\u00e9 limit\u00e9e, the closed limited-liability company). The company has its Kbis (the official registration certificate issued by the greffe, the clerk’s office of the commercial court), a French bank account, maybe one employee, and its first invoices. Then a letter from the SIE (service des imp\u00f4ts des entreprises, the local corporate tax office, acting for the DGFIP, the French tax administration) arrives: where is your corporate tax return, where are your advances, what is your balance? This guide explains French corporate income tax, called IS (imp\u00f4t sur les soci\u00e9t\u00e9s), for a foreign owner who runs the business from abroad: what profits are taxed at the standard rate, when advances and the balance are due, how to file the return online, how losses can be carried forward or back, and what late filing or late payment costs. Every French acronym is explained, every key rule is tied to the Code g\u00e9n\u00e9ral des imp\u00f4ts (CGI, the French Tax Code) and to official guidance from impots.gouv.fr and service-public.fr, so you can brief your accountant with precision and keep the company in good standing without flying to Paris.<\/p>\n
French corporate tax is a tax on the company’s own profit, separate from your personal income tax and separate from VAT (value-added tax). A French company pays IS on profits earned through business carried on in France, files one annual tax return (the liasse fiscale, the bundle of financial statements and tax schedules), pays four advances during the year and a balancing payment after the year ends, and keeps supporting records for inspection. The standard rate is 25%, advances are calculated on the prior year’s tax, losses can shelter future or past profits within strict caps, groups can consolidate, dividends from qualifying subsidiaries are largely exempt, and late payment triggers interest plus surcharges. If you manage from abroad, the practical risks are missed deadlines, a return filed on the wrong dates, advances computed on the wrong base, losses forgotten, and a reassessment answered too late. The sections below walk through each point with the exact legal references your adviser needs.<\/p>\n
For the choice of vehicle itself \u2014 SAS, SARL, branch or subsidiary \u2014 read our pillar guide on how to choose between a SAS, a SARL, a branch and a subsidiary when expanding into France from abroad<\/a>, which this tax guide completes.<\/p>\n French companies limited by shares are liable to IS by their very form. Article 206 of the CGI 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”, among other entities carrying on profit-making activity. Read the full text on article 206 of the Code g\u00e9n\u00e9ral des imp\u00f4ts on L\u00e9gifrance<\/a>. In practice, your SAS pays IS unless it made a short-term option for partnership taxation, and your SARL pays IS unless a valid family or young-company option applies. A branch (succursale) of a foreign company registered in France is taxed on the profits attributable to the French establishment. Pure holding, service, trading or operating subsidiaries with their seat or effective management in France are taxed on profits earned through business carried on in France, plus certain listed categories of foreign-source income and profits attributed to France by a double-tax treaty, as set out in article 209 of the Code g\u00e9n\u00e9ral des imp\u00f4ts on L\u00e9gifrance<\/a>, which frames territoriality and loss relief.<\/p>\n The standard rate is straightforward. Article 219 of the CGI states: “Le taux normal de l’imp\u00f4t est fix\u00e9 \u00e0 25 %.” See article 219 of the Code g\u00e9n\u00e9ral des imp\u00f4ts on L\u00e9gifrance<\/a>. Taxable profit is rounded to the nearest euro. Reduced rates survive only in narrow cases: long-term capital gains on certain assets, young innovative companies, or specific property regimes described in the same article. Do not assume your operating margin qualifies for a reduced rate. Budget 25% of taxable profit, then adjust for the add-backs and deductions your accountant computes in the liasse fiscale: non-deductible fines, excess depreciation on luxury vehicles, non-deductible portions of interest under the interest-limitation rules, the research tax credit (CIR, cr\u00e9dit d’imp\u00f4t recherche) if you do eligible research, and the participation-exemption described below.<\/p>\n Two regimes soften the 25% for groups and for dividends, and foreign founders with several French entities should know them early. First, dividends from qualifying subsidiaries can be almost fully exempt at the parent level. Article 216 of the CGI provides that “Les produits nets des participations, ouvrant droit \u00e0 l’application du r\u00e9gime des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s m\u00e8res et vis\u00e9es \u00e0 l’article 145, touch\u00e9s au cours d’un exercice par une soci\u00e9t\u00e9 m\u00e8re, peuvent \u00eatre retranch\u00e9s du b\u00e9n\u00e9fice net total de celle-ci, d\u00e9falcation faite d’une quote-part de frais et charges.” See article 216 of the Code g\u00e9n\u00e9ral des imp\u00f4ts on L\u00e9gifrance<\/a>. The exempt amount is reduced by a 5% add-back for costs (1% inside a tax group), so a 100,000 euro dividend costs tax on 5,000 euros, meaning 1,250 euros of IS at 25%. The conditions \u2014 5% holding, two-year retention, qualifying shares \u2014 are strict, and your accountant checks them before you strip the dividend from taxable profit. Second, a French parent holding at least 95% of French subsidiaries can form a tax-consolidated group. Article 223 A of the CGI allows a qualifying parent company to become solely liable for corporate tax on the combined results of a group formed with subsidiaries held at 95% or more continuously during the financial year. See article 223 A of the Code g\u00e9n\u00e9ral des imp\u00f4ts on L\u00e9gifrance<\/a>. The parent files one group return and offsets profits of one company against losses of another, which matters when your French holding owns an operating subsidiary that is still loss-making while a sister service company is profitable.<\/p>\n Territoriality decides what a foreign founder must declare. A SAS registered in France with its si\u00e8ge social (registered office) in Paris is fully liable even if the shareholder lives abroad and board calls happen on video. Profits of a French permanent establishment of your foreign company are taxable in France even if invoices are issued from headquarters. Conversely, profits earned exclusively abroad through a genuinely separate foreign branch are generally outside French IS, subject to treaty attribution rules. Exchange-control and transfer-pricing rules then police the flows between your French company and its foreign parent: management fees, royalties, interest on shareholder loans and cost recharges must be at arm’s length and documented, or the SIE can add them back during an audit. Your intercompany agreements, invoices and bank traces should be ready before the return is filed, not reconstructed after the audit notice.<\/p>\n A short numerical example helps. Your SAS closes its first full year with 200,000 euros of accounting profit. After tax adjustments \u2014 add back 4,000 euros of fines, deduct a 10,000 euro eligible research expense supplement, add the 5% cost share on 40,000 euros of exempt dividends (2,000 euros) \u2014 taxable profit is 196,000 euros. IS at 25% equals 49,000 euros, before imputable tax credits. That 49,000 euros is paid through advances during the year and a balance after year-end, declared in the annual return, and recorded in the BODACC (Bulletin officiel des annonces civiles et commerciales, the official gazette where company filings are publicised) only indirectly through the filed accounts at the greffe, not as a tax figure. Keep this arithmetic in mind when you set dividend policy: dividends are paid from after-tax profit, and distributing without enough distributable reserves creates an irregular dividend that the company can later reclaim.<\/p>\n IS is paid before it is finally computed. The system uses four acomptes (quarterly advances) plus a solde (balancing payment), all paid online to the SIE through your espace professionnel on impots.gouv.fr. Each advance is one quarter of the IS due on the prior year’s profit, paid on fixed dates \u2014 commonly 15 March, 15 June, 15 September and 15 December for a calendar-year company \u2014 with the balance due around the 15th day of the fourth month after year-end, once the return fixes the exact liability. The official calendar and the forms (relev\u00e9 d’acompte 2571, d\u00e9claration de r\u00e9sultat 2065 with its schedules) are published by the DGFIP; the practical reference is the enterprise taxation section of impots.gouv.fr, the portal of the French tax administration<\/a> and the business-tax pages of service-public.fr, the official French public-service portal<\/a>. Mandate a French accountant or a tax representative with online payment rights, because a foreign bank transfer that arrives two days late still counts as late.<\/p>\n New companies get a short breathing space, then fall into the normal rhythm. A company in its first financial year generally pays no advances and settles the full IS as a balance after its first return. From the second year, advances are computed on the first year’s tax, even if the second year looks weaker. If you expect a sharp drop in profit, you can reduce or stop advances by filing a modulation request with a forecast return, but an unjustified reduction triggers a surcharge on the underpaid amount. Conversely, if profit jumps, advances based on a small prior year leave a large balance \u2014 lawful, but plan cash accordingly. Companies whose IS is modest may pay fewer advances or settle annually under thresholds set by regulation; your accountant confirms which schedule applies from the prior year’s figures.<\/p>\n The filing that fixes the balance is the annual return. Article 223 of the CGI provides: “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.” See article 223 of the Code g\u00e9n\u00e9ral des imp\u00f4ts on L\u00e9gifrance<\/a>. For a 31 December year-end, that means early May. The return includes the 2065 form and the liasse fiscale schedules: balance sheet, profit and loss, fixed assets, provisions, deficits carried, and tax credits. Even a dormant company with zero revenue files. A company that closes on 30 June files within three months of that date. Missing the return does not cancel the tax; the SIE assesses by default (taxation d’office) and adds surcharges, which are far harder to contest than a filed figure.<\/p>\n Payment mechanics from abroad deserve a checklist. Open the espace professionnel early, register the French SIRET (the 14-digit establishment identifier issued by INSEE, the statistics office, through the INPI single window, the Guichet unique run by the INPI, the French intellectual-property and business-registration office) and the SIE code, authorise SEPA direct debit from a French or SEPA-zone account, and set calendar reminders in both Paris time and your home time zone. Keep proof of each advance (the dated 2571 receipt), reconcile advances against the final IS, and carry any overpayment forward or claim a refund rather than leaving it unallocated. If the bank blocks a debit because the mandate was signed abroad, fix the mandate before the next due date; repeated rejections can be treated as late payments with interest.<\/p>\n Late payment has a meter that starts immediately. Article 1727 of the CGI states: “Toute cr\u00e9ance de nature fiscale, dont l’\u00e9tablissement ou le recouvrement incombe aux administrations fiscales, qui n’a pas \u00e9t\u00e9 acquitt\u00e9e dans le d\u00e9lai l\u00e9gal donne lieu au versement d’un int\u00e9r\u00eat de retard.” See article 1727 of the Code g\u00e9n\u00e9ral des imp\u00f4ts on L\u00e9gifrance<\/a>. Interest accrues monthly on top of surcharges for late filing, late payment and, where the administration shows bad faith or fraud, heavier penalties. Interest keeps running while you argue, so pay the principal under protest and contest separately rather than withholding everything during a dispute.<\/p>\n The annual return is where foreign founders win or lose. Prepare the liasse fiscale from French GAAP accounts (PCG, plan comptable g\u00e9n\u00e9ral), not from your home-country management pack. Reconcile revenue to VAT returns (CA3 monthly or quarterly returns and the annual summary), reconcile payroll to the DSN (d\u00e9claration sociale nominative, the monthly payroll and social-data return sent to URSSAF, the social-security collection agency), and tie intercompany charges to signed agreements. Attach the schedules your situation requires: deficit tracking, tax-credit forms for CIR or family-credit schemes, participation-exemption detail, and group schedules if you elected consolidation. File online through the espace professionnel; paper filing is no longer the norm and misses the secure timestamp you need when you live abroad.<\/p>\n Losses are an asset if you track them. Article 209 of the CGI provides that “ce d\u00e9ficit est consid\u00e9r\u00e9 comme une charge de l’exercice suivant et d\u00e9duit du b\u00e9n\u00e9fice r\u00e9alis\u00e9 pendant ledit exercice dans la limite d’un montant de 1 000 000 \u20ac major\u00e9 de 50 % du montant correspondant au b\u00e9n\u00e9fice imposable dudit exercice exc\u00e9dant ce premier montant.” See article 209 of the Code g\u00e9n\u00e9ral des imp\u00f4ts on L\u00e9gifrance<\/a>. In plain terms, a loss carried forward (report en avant) shelters the next profit up to 1 million euros in full, then 50% of profit above that threshold, with the unused balance carried to later years indefinitely. A company with 2.4 million euros of accumulated losses that earns 1.6 million euros this year deducts 1 million plus 50% of 600,000 (300,000), meaning 1.3 million deducted, 300,000 taxed, and 1.1 million of losses still available. The schedule must be maintained every year, even profitable ones, or the balance is challenged.<\/p>\nI. What your French company pays and when it pays it<\/h2>\n
A. Which profits of a foreign-owned French company pay corporate tax at 25%<\/h3>\n
B. How advances, the balance and payment dates work when you live abroad<\/h3>\n
II. How to file correctly, use losses and stay clear of penalties<\/h2>\n
A. Filing the return, carrying losses forward and back, and documenting from abroad<\/h3>\n