Tuesday June 10, 2008
Where & how to register your business in France
The nature of your activity will determine where you should register your company in France. If your business involves trade or industry, you will register with the Chamber of Commerce & Industry. Activities involving crafts or a mixed type of crafts and trade will register with the Chambre de Métiers. Activities based on services such as private lessons, translator or consultant will register as “profession libérale” with the URSSAF.
In France several business activities are regulated, such as itinerant tradesmen, estates agents or drivers’ education school; so you must always check first whether you satisfy the required conditions. These could be based on diplomas, experience or holding a professional card. For instance, estate agent and sales representative require a professional card and will register with the Greffes du Tribunal (commercial court clerck’s office).
Many business activities registered with the Chambre de Métiers such as builder, hairdresser or electrician require a Brevet d’Etudes Professionnelles (BEP) or Contrat d’Apprentissage Professionnel (CAP), which are the equivalent to an apprenticeship. You will therefore have to bring a copy of your English diplomas or prove that you have been working in this field for over 3 years. Anyone registering with the Chambre de Métiers will also have to attend a one-week compulsory training entitled “Stage préalable à la création d’entreprise” costing about 200€.
What about gîtes and bed & breakfast? Should you be registering with the Chamber of Commerce or the Centre des Impôts? If the revenue from the gîtes activity is your main source of income, you will have to register with the Chamber of Commerce. This will imply paying social charges of 3500€ for the first year. If it is a secondary income, you are entitled to register direct with the Centre des Impôts.
The Centre de Formalité des Entreprises (CFE) will inform the RSI, URSSAF and general direction of taxes of your inscription. The official registration papers or “Extrait KBIS” with your SIRET and SIREN number will be posted to you within 10 days.
Registering a one-man business in France or “enterprise individuelle” is straightforward and can be completed within an hour. On the other hand formalities for registering a company – EURL or SARL – can take a couple of weeks. Three stages have to be completed before going to the CFE:
- Funds composing the capital have to be blocked on a professional bank account. A “récipissé de dépôt” or confirmation of deposit will be given to you.
- The “Statuts” or articles of incorporation can be written by a notaire, lawyer or accountant. These statuts will have to be recorded by the Centre des Impôts. The CFE, and usually your bank, will require a copy of the validated statuts.
- Finally, an advertisement costing about 150€ will have to be placed in the “Journal Officiel” to confirm your registration. Once again a “récipissé” will be required for the CFE.
You could save yourself a lot of hassle by using an accountant or notaire to register the company (about 1400€).
Next month: “How to set up a gîte, B&B or tables d’hôtes.”
