Change of SASU registered office: formalities and fees

You're already a company director and want to change your registered office address?

The SASU or "Société par Actions Simplifiée Unipersonnelle" is a legal form, developed in 1999, based on the existence ofa single shareholder. It is a joint-stock company, which differentiates it from the EURL or "Entreprise Unipersonnelle à Responsabilité Limitée", and the SARL or "Société à Responsabilité Limitée".

The sole shareholder of such a structure is therefore a shareholder.

He is also the Chairman of the company , whether he is an individual or a legal entity.

According to INSEE, this legal form is one of the most favored business models today, thanks in particular to its great flexibility in terms of governance and liquidity. It is also a way of carrying on business alone, while limiting the legal liability of the SASU manager.

To get started on your own, discover the steps to follow

Administrative formalities (documents, stages)

What are the formalities for a SASU? Changing your registered office is not very complicated, but it does involve a number of administrative formalities.

First of all, in a SASU, the decision to relocate the registered office does not require a majority of the partners, since the company's president is none other than the sole partner.

Secondly, as with all other legal forms, transferring the registered office necessarily requires amending the company's articles of association.

To this end, minutes must be ratified. It should also be noted that the act of amending the articles of association implicitly implies publication in a Journal d'Annonces Légales or JAL, within one month of the amendment.

Finally, the French Commercial Code also requires formalities to be carried out at the Centre de Formalités des Entreprises (Business Formalities Center) on which the SASU concerned depends, as well as at the Registrar's Office of the relevant Court.

What documents do I need to provide?

A number of documents are required to complete these administrative formalities. Firstly, you need to draw up a deed of amendment to the articles of association.

This will then be attached to a file for presentation to the CFE and the Registrar of the Commercial Court.

This file is made up of various documents, including :

• A copy of the updated bylaws
• A completed and signed M2 form
• A certificate of publication in a JAL
• And finally, proof of ownership of the new premises, whether in the form of a title deed, a lease contract, a certificate of domicile or a simple invoice.

In order to have all the cards in hand, it's also necessary to consider the cost of such an act.

The cost: fixed costs and formalist fees if you don't do it yourself

Transferring the registered office entails amending the company's articles of association, which in turn entails costs: registry fees and the cost of legal notices.

For a SASU, these correspond to :

• Registrar's fees: these fees, set by decree, cover the dispatch of extracts and amendments to the Institut National de la Propriété Industrielle (INPI) and the Bulletin Officiel des Annonces Civiles et Commerciales (BODACC). If this is not already the case, payment of the Registry fees can be accompanied by an insertion in the BODACC, for which a charge is made. As for the INPI, notification is free of charge in the case of a standard procedure, and subject to a fee in the case of an accelerated procedure. Registry fees average 82.64 euros if the SASU remains in the same département, and 103.46 euros if such a structure moves to another département, as this procedure requires a change of reference court.
• Fees for legal announcements : the cost of publishing an announcement in a Journal d'Annonces Légales (JAL), calculated according to precise rules laid down by ministerial decree, is around 100 euros if the SASU remains in the same département , as only one announcement is required. If the SASU changes département, two announcements are required (one for the current département and one for the new département) , doubling the price.

In addition to these fixed costs, there may be formal fees to cope with the complexity of this procedure.

The administrative formalities involved in transferring a company's registered office are relatively complex. It is therefore possible to call on the services of professional formalists. Whether they are chartered accountants or trained lawyers, hiring their services is a real guarantee of quality, and a real time-saver.

However, these can be expensive(between 500 and 2000 euros). So it's important to take your company's needs into account in order to make the best decision.

In conclusion, before thinking about changing the address of your registered office, it's a good idea to think carefully before making the right choice.

To this end, why not take an interest in company domiciliation?

It's the ideal way to get the support you need to launch your business. 

It's also the possibility of obtaining a quality address for your head office, a real strategic showcase, and thus a gain in credibility with all your customers and future customers.

Last but not least, it's less expensive than obtaining your own business premises, and gives you the assurance of preserving your private life, which is not possible with a home address.