How to Start a Company in France: English Guide for Non-French Speakers

Starting a company in France is a single online filing through the Guichet unique (“one-stop shop”) at formalites.entreprises.gouv.fr, but the entire portal — and most of the supporting forms — is in French. This guide explains, in English, the practical path to incorporating a SARL (Société à responsabilité limitée) or SAS (Société par actions simplifiée) in France for non-French-speaking founders, with cross-references to the French statutes and source URLs that govern each step.

The guide is written from a Gyoseishoshi (行政書士) document-preparation perspective — we prepare administrative documents for filing, and the path below is exactly the path Scrib🐮 walks for our French-incorporation customers.

1. Choose between SARL and SAS

The two most common French private corporate forms are:

For most foreign founders building a tech-enabled or scaling business, the SAS is the dominant choice in 2026 due to flexibility of statutes and the salaried social-security regime for the président. For a 1-person SAS, the form is called SASU (Société par actions simplifiée unipersonnelle).

Primary source — French Code de commerce: https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/codes/texte_lc/LEGITEXT000005634379/

2. Reserve a corporate name (vérification)

There is no formal pre-reservation of a company name in France, but founders should:

1. Check the INPI trademark database to ensure the proposed name does not infringe a registered trademark: https://data.inpi.fr/
2. Check the company name database at the Infogreffe registry: https://www.infogreffe.fr/

If a similar name exists in the same business sector, the proposed corporate name may not be unique enough — you may want to choose a more distinctive name to avoid trademark disputes after incorporation.

3. Draft the statutes (statuts)

The statuts are the corporation’s constitutional document. For a SAS, the statutes are largely freely drafted within the framework of Code de commerce L. 227-1 to L. 227-20. Mandatory content includes:

• Corporate name (dénomination sociale)
• Registered office (siège social) — must be a French address
• Corporate purpose (objet social) — describing the business activities
• Share capital amount and division
• Identity of shareholders and contributions
• Identity of the président (and any other officers)
• Method of decision-making for collective decisions
• Term of the corporation (typically 99 years, the maximum)
• Methods for transferring shares

For an SARL, the statutes follow the more rigid template of Code de commerce L. 223-1 to L. 223-43. Pre-drafted SARL templates are widely available; SAS statutes are typically more customized.

Primary source — Legifrance Code de commerce: https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/codes/texte_lc/LEGITEXT000005634379/

4. Open a capital deposit bank account

The share capital must be deposited before incorporation, in a French bank account opened in the name of “Société [name] en formation” (society in formation). The bank issues a certificate of deposit (attestation de dépôt des fonds) which is filed with the incorporation package.

For non-French-speaking founders, opening a French business bank account is often the single hardest step of the process. Major French banks (BNP Paribas, Société Générale, Crédit Agricole, LCL) generally require the founder to attend in person and present:

• Passport or national ID
• Proof of French residence or French address (for the registered office)
• Draft statutes
• Business plan summary

Many foreign founders use online-only banks that accept remote-onboarding with foreign passports:

• Qonto — most popular for foreign founders, French-licensed, English UI
• Shine — French neobank, English UI available
• N26 Business — Berlin-based, French operating license
• Revolut Business — UK / Lithuanian license, accepted by Greffes

For banks that require physical presence, plan a 1–2 day Paris trip after the statutes are drafted.

5. Publish the legal notice (annonce légale)

Under Code de commerce R. 210-3 and R. 210-4, the incorporation must be announced in a legal gazette (journal d’annonces légales) authorized in the département where the registered office is located. The notice must include:

• Corporate name and form (SARL / SAS)
• Capital amount
• Registered office address
• Corporate purpose
• Term
• Identity of officers (gérant or président)
• Information about the Greffe where the corporation will be registered

The cost is typically EUR 100 to EUR 200 for a basic notice. Most online incorporation services arrange this on the founders’ behalf. The published notice must be obtained as a tear-sheet (attestation de parution) for the incorporation file.

6. File the incorporation through the Guichet unique

Since 1 January 2023, all company formalities in France must go through the Guichet unique at formalites.entreprises.gouv.fr, operated by INPI (Institut national de la propriété industrielle).

Primary source — Guichet unique (one-stop shop): https://formalites.entreprises.gouv.fr/

The portal accepts:

1. Statutes signed by all shareholders
2. Bank certificate of deposit for the share capital
3. Legal-gazette publication attestation
4. President / gérant declaration of non-conviction (déclaration sur l’honneur de non-condamnation) — a sworn statement on a printed form
5. Proof of the registered office (lease, certificate of domiciliation, or property title)
6. ID copies of the president / gérant and shareholders
7. Beneficial owner declaration (registre des bénéficiaires effectifs) — identifying any individual holding 25%+ of the corporation

The portal is in French; Scrib🐮 generates each document in French (with English working copies for the founders’ reference).

7. Receive the Kbis extract

After processing (typically 1 to 2 weeks for SAS, slightly longer for SARL), the Greffe du tribunal de commerce issues the Kbis extract — the official certificate of registration showing:

• SIREN number (the corporation’s national identifier — 9 digits)
• SIRET number (the registered office identifier — 14 digits)
• Code APE (sector classification)
• Greffe of registration
• Officers and capital

The Kbis is the proof of corporate existence and is required to:

• Convert the capital-deposit account to a normal operating account
• Enter contracts in the corporation’s name
• Register for VAT (TVA)
• Apply for any business licenses

Primary source — Infogreffe (Greffes): https://www.infogreffe.fr/

8. Register for tax and social security

The Guichet unique automatically forwards the registration to:

• DGFiP (Direction générale des Finances publiques) — tax authority, for SIREN/SIRET assignment and VAT registration
• URSSAF — social security collection agency, for the président’s social-security registration
• INSEE — national statistics, for the APE sector code

The corporation will receive a mémento fiscal (tax overview) within 4–6 weeks. The président must register personally with URSSAF for social security contributions on salary or distributions.

9. Costs summary

Compared to UK, US, or Canada, France’s incorporation cost is moderate. The dominant friction is language and the bank account — not fees.

10. Foreign founder considerations

11. Common errors

1. Using a non-French registered office address — the registered office must be in France
2. Skipping the legal-gazette publication — incorporation will be rejected without the attestation
3. Forgetting the beneficial owner declaration (registre des bénéficiaires effectifs) — automatic rejection since 2017
4. Using a copy-paste SAS template without specifying a quorum for collective decisions — defaulting to the residual provisions can cause governance friction later
5. Depositing capital in the founder’s personal account — must be in a “société en formation” account
6. Naming a sole foreign president without considering visa/work-permit implications — running a French company from abroad is permitted, but periodic French presence may be required for banking and bureaucratic interactions

12. Timeline

A clean French incorporation, prepared with Scrib🐮 in French (with English working copies), takes about 4–6 weeks end to end. The same path applies to creating a French subsidiary of a foreign parent — the parent company appears as the sole shareholder of the SASU.

13. After incorporation

Annual obligations include:

• Annual financial statements (comptes annuels) filed with the Greffe (deadline: 7 months after fiscal year end)
• CFE / CVAE business taxes annually
• Social security declarations for the président
• VAT declarations monthly or quarterly, depending on turnover
• Updated beneficial owner register within 30 days of any change

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Disclaimer

Legal information, not legal advice. MmowW Scrib🐮 is operated by a licensed Gyoseishoshi (行政書士) office in Japan. We are not French avocats.

Sources

1. Legifrance Code de commerce — https://www.legifrance.gouv.fr/codes/texte_lc/LEGITEXT000005634379/
2. Guichet unique — https://formalites.entreprises.gouv.fr/
3. INPI — https://www.inpi.fr/
4. INPI data (trademark / company search) — https://data.inpi.fr/
5. Infogreffe (Greffes) — https://www.infogreffe.fr/
6. URSSAF — https://www.urssaf.fr/
7. DGFiP (impots.gouv.fr) — https://www.impots.gouv.fr/
8. service-public.fr (entreprises) — https://entreprendre.service-public.fr/
9. INSEE — https://www.insee.fr/