What does registering a company in France mean?
Registration is the act that turns a signed contract into a legal person. A commercial company enjoys legal personality from the day it is entered in the trade and companies register, the registre du commerce et des sociétés or RCS (article L210-6 of the French Commercial Code, Code de commerce, checked October 2026). Before that day, there is a company in formation: a contract between its founders, who answer personally for what they sign.
One window since 2023
Every business declares its creation, the changes in its situation and the end of its activity through a single file, sent electronically to a single body (article L123-33). That body is the guichet unique des formalités des entreprises, run by INPI, the French intellectual property office, at formalites.entreprises.gouv.fr. The official service-public.gouv.fr guide to the formalities, checked October 2026, confirms that the application for registration is made on that site and nowhere else.
The window does not decide anything itself. It checks that the file is complete and forwards it to the bodies that keep the registers: the court registry for the RCS, INPI for the national register of businesses (RNE), INSEE for the directory of businesses, the tax office and the social security bodies. Each one returns a piece of the company’s identity, as the diagram below shows.
Which companies go through it
Every SAS, SARL, SA or civil company created in France, and every foreign company that opens a first establishment in France (article R123-112). The sole trader and the micro-entrepreneur use the same window, with a lighter file. The steps below describe a commercial company, the case of most founders who read the guide to starting a business in France.
What must be ready before you file?
The file is sent in one go, so everything it contains exists before it: signed statuts, a deposit certificate, a proof of the registered office, a published legal notice and the declarations about the directors. Taken in the wrong order, these steps block each other.
| Document | What it proves | Legal basis, checked October 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| The statuts, dated and signed | The form, the object, the name, the registered office, the capital and the duration, 99 years at most | Article 1835 of the Civil Code; article L210-2 of the Commercial Code |
| The deposit certificate | That the cash contributions have been paid to a credit institution or a notaire and are blocked | Articles L223-7 and L225-3; service-public.gouv.fr |
| The proof of the registered office | That the company has the use of its premises, or sits at the home of its legal representative | Articles L123-11 and L123-11-1 |
| The attestation of the legal notice | That a notice of incorporation was published in a newspaper or online service authorised in the département | Article R210-3; service-public.gouv.fr |
| The directors’ identity and declarations | Identity document, sworn statement of non-conviction and parentage, for each director | Article R123-54; service-public.gouv.fr |
| The declaration of beneficial owners | Who ultimately holds more than a quarter of the capital or votes, or otherwise controls the company | Article L561-46 of the Monetary and Financial Code |
The statuts come first
The statuts are in writing. They state the contributions of each partner, the form, the object, the name, the registered office, the capital, the duration and the way the company is run (article 1835 of the French Civil Code, Code civil; article L210-2 of the Commercial Code). Everything else refers to them: the bank names the company as it appears in the statuts, the notice reproduces their main terms, and the registry compares them with the declarations.
The capital is deposited and blocked
Cash contributions are deposited before the file is sent. At least one fifth is paid in a SARL (article L223-7) and at least half in an SAS, to which article L227-1 applies the rule of article L225-3; the balance follows within five years of registration. The depositary is a credit institution or a notaire: according to the official guide checked October 2026, the Caisse des dépôts has not taken deposits since 1 June 2021. The depositary issues a certificate naming the company, the registered office and the sum paid by each partner. The funds stay blocked until the company shows its proof of registration.
The office is proved, the notice is published
The company proves its right to use the premises where its registered office sits (article L123-11). The home of the legal representative is allowed (article L123-11-1), and so is an approved domiciliation company (article L123-11-3). The notice of incorporation is then published in a support authorised to carry legal notices in the département of the registered office (article R210-3): after the statuts are signed and before the file is sent, according to service-public.gouv.fr. The publisher issues an attestation of publication, which goes into the file.
How does the single online file work?
The file is a set of declarations and attachments, sent once, that the window dispatches. For a company, the declarations describe the legal person and the people who run it. The attachments are the documents of the table above. The receipt issued on sending is valid for one month at most, according to the official guide checked October 2026.
What the company declares about itself
Article R123-53 of the Commercial Code lists what the company states in its application: its name and, where relevant, its abbreviation; its legal form, and whether it has a single partner; the amount of its capital; the address of its registered office; its main activities; its duration; the closing date of its financial year when its accounts are published; and the address of its establishments.
What it declares about its directors
Article R123-54 adds the people. For each gérant, president, managing director or any person with the power to bind the company, the file gives the name, the date and place of birth, the personal address and the nationality, and states whether that person binds the company alone or jointly. Partners who answer without limit for the company’s debts are declared in the same way. The sworn statement of non-conviction and the declaration of parentage, required by the official guide, complete the identity of each director.
What the window forwards
Once the file is regular and complete for a given recipient, sending it counts as the declaration to that recipient (article L123-33). The court registry enters the company in the RCS. INSEE enters it in the national directory of businesses, the SIRENE directory (article R123-220). The tax office opens its file and, where the company is liable, issues the VAT number. The social security bodies open the accounts that an employer will need. The declaration of beneficial owners travels with the file (article L561-46 of the Monetary and Financial Code).
What does the registry check, and what if the file is incomplete?
The court registry, the greffe du tribunal de commerce, verifies that the declarations match the documents and that nothing required is missing: the form and the name against the statuts, the capital against the deposit certificate, the office against its proof, the directors against their identity documents. It does not assess the project. A company whose object is lawful and whose file is regular is registered.
Fifteen working days to complete
When the file is incomplete, the window notifies the missing elements. The official guide, checked October 2026, gives fifteen working days to send them; past that time, the application lapses and a new file must be sent. The time spent waiting for a document therefore counts against the founder, not against the registry.
What the registry can refuse
Registration is refused when a required document is missing or inconsistent, when the registered office cannot be proved, or when a director is under a prohibition to manage. The refusal is notified with its grounds and can be challenged before the judge supervising the register. In practice, almost every refusal is a document problem, and almost every document problem is avoided by reading the statuts and the attachments side by side before sending them.
What do you receive once registered?
The company receives four things, from four sources: its registration and the Kbis from the registry, its SIREN and SIRET from INSEE, its VAT number from the tax office, and the release of its capital from the depositary. The official guide describes the notification of the window confirming the registration and a proof of registration carrying the SIREN and the activity code.
| What you receive | Who issues it | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| The Kbis extract | The court registry (articles R123-150 and R123-152) | Proving, on a given day, who the company is and who may sign for it |
| The SIREN and SIRET | INSEE, through the SIRENE directory (articles R123-220 and R123-221) | Identifying the company and each establishment on invoices and forms |
| The VAT number | The tax office for businesses | Invoicing business clients, trading within the European Union |
| The release of funds | The depositary, on the proof of registration | Paying the first expenses from the company’s own account |
The two identifiers are explained in the guide to SIRET, SIREN and VAT numbers, and the extract in the guide to the Kbis. From the first invoice, the company shows its identification number, the mention RCS followed by the city of its greffe and its registered office (article R123-237).
Can you register a company from abroad?
Yes. The file is electronic and signed electronically, and the Commercial Code sets no condition of residence or nationality for the president of an SAS (article L227-6) or the gérant of a SARL (article L223-18). What a founder abroad has to organise is practical rather than legal.
The four practical points
- A registered office in France. The home of a legal representative who lives in France, or a domiciliation company approved by the administration (article L123-11-3).
- A depositary for the capital. A credit institution or a notaire, who will ask for the identity of each partner and the origin of the funds before issuing the certificate.
- The directors’ documents. An identity document and the sworn statements for each director, whatever their country of residence.
- A signatory in France when needed. A lease, a bank mandate or a notarial deed may require a presence; a power of attorney solves most cases.
A branch instead of a company
A foreign company that opens a first establishment in France does not create a new company. It registers its establishment with the court registry and files its statuts, translated, and every year its accounts (article R123-112). The choice between a branch and a subsidiary is compared in the guide to starting a business in France, and Concord handles both set-ups.
When does a lawyer change the outcome?
The file itself is a formality. The decisions it records are not. The name of the company, its object, the amount and the division of the capital, the powers of the president or the gérant, the clauses that govern the exit of a partner: all of them are written in the statuts before the file is sent, and all of them are harder to change afterwards than to write well the first time.
A lawyer earns the fee when the founders are several, when an investor is expected, when a foreign company is behind the project, or when the person who will run the company lives abroad. In those cases the statuts are the contract between the partners, and the registration is only the moment it becomes public. Concord drafts the statuts and handles the filing for an SAS or a SARL, from a Clarity Call in which the scope and the fee are fixed in writing before any work starts.