How much does it cost to change head office?

Your company may change its head office during its lifetime, whether for practical or strategic reasons.

Such a change of registered office is feasible, but requires a number of steps to be taken

In the first instance, the decision is taken by different bodies depending on the legal form of your company.

For a Société Anonyme, the principle is to obtain a qualified majority at the Annual General Meeting, which is then competent to deal with the potential transfer of the registered office.

In the case of limited liability companies (Sociétés Anonymes à Responsabilité Limitée), it's a little different, since the decision is taken by the managing director, and must be ratified by a majority of shareholders.

The next step is to amend the company's Articles of Association. To this end, minutes must be produced to ratify the amendment. These modifications must be published in a Journal d'Annonces Légales (J AL) within the following month.

Under the French Commercial Code, you are required to complete a series of amendment formalities with the Centre de Formalités des Entreprises (CFE) and the Greffe du Tribunal de Commerce (Registrar of the Commercial Court).

These procedures also apply to the transfer of the registered office within the same département or to a different département.

First and foremost, it's important to note that there's no charge for changing the registered office of an auto-entrepreneur. However, it is for other legal forms.

For the rest, we tell you more in this article!

Fixed costs: registry fees and publication (JAL)

As we've seen, relocating the registered office to a new location requires a change in the company'sarticles of association, which in turn entails costs:registry fees and the cost of legal notices.

Without taking into account the location of your head office relocation, there are two main fixed costs that must be paid to carry out a head office relocation:

• Registrar's fees: these fees, set by decree, cover the cost of mailing extracts and changes to the Institut National de la Propriété Industrielle (INPI) and the Bulletin Officiel des Annonces Civiles et Commerciales (BODACC). Filing with the Registrar can therefore be followed by an insertion in the BODACC, if this has not already been done, which is also subject to a fee. For the INPI, notification is normally free of charge under the standard procedure. However, if the latter is an accelerated procedure, it may be subject to a charge.
• Advertisement costs: these are the costs of advertising in a Journal d'Annonces Légales (JAL), calculated according to precise, fixed rules laid down by ministerial decree. The average cost of such a procedure is 150 euros.

Relative costs: transfer within the same department or not?

The relativity of registry fees and advertising costs depends on the location of the company's registered office:

• In the same département: when the transfer is established in the same département, there is no need to change the reference court. Registry fees for a SASU or EURL will be 82.64 euros, compared with 198.64 euros for companies where the sole shareholder is not the director. Announcement fees, on the other hand, are around 100 euros, given thatonly one announcement is required.
• In another département: in this case, registry fees will be higher, due toa change of reference court. They will be 103.46 euros for SASU and other EURL companies, compared with 246.86 euros for other companies. Announcement costs double with a change of department. In fact, since two announcements have to be made (one in the département of departure and one in the département of arrival), the price can reach 200 euros.

In addition to these fees, whether fixed or relative, there may be a formalist's fee, more suited to the complexity of such a procedure.

Formalist fees... or not?

Delegating these procedures to a formalist, such as a chartered accountant or lawyer, represents a significant additional cost (ranging from 500 to sometimes 2,000 euros). However, it is the assurance of a procedure carried out with genuine expertise.

The formalities file compiles a number of papers, depending on so many variables, that an expert will be in a better position to carry out this procedure with confidence, so as to save real time.

In conclusion, you need to think carefully about your choice of registered office address when setting up your business, before thinking about changing it. There are a number of different possibilities, ranging from domiciliation at home, in a business premises, in a coworking space, in a business incubator or even in a specialized domiciliation company .

Knowing the specifics of your project will help you choose the right type of domiciliation!