The cost of business start-up formalities

Would you like to develop an entrepreneurial activity? If so, you need to know that a certain number of administrative formalities need to be completed before you can start concentrating on developing your business.

Many of these steps are subject to a fee, and can represent a significant cost.

Depending on the type of business you want to set up, it's essential to find out about the various costs involved.

Focus today on the cost of the various formalities involved in setting up a business.

The cost of registering with the clerk's office

The first cost to consider is theregistration of your company with the Greffe du Tribunal de Commerce on which your business depends, as part of the process of registering your business with the RCS or Registre du Commerce et des Sociétés.

The cost of this fee-based approach will vary according to the type of company involved.

Therefore :

• For one-person companies such as EIRLs or SASUs, the amount payable will be €28.68.
• For the majority of other legal forms: SAS, SARL, SA, EURL, SNC and only if their activity is of a commercial nature, the amount will be €41.50.
• For registration without BODACC, which is compulsory for a number of companies such as SELs, GAECs and CUMAs, a fee of €74.10 will be charged.

Publication in the Journal d'Annonce Légale

Then, when you create your company, you need to publish it in a JAL (Journal d'Annonces Légales) to publicize the creation of a new company.

This step is both compulsory and chargeable

The rate for an ad of this type is not fixed and will tend to vary according to a number of criteria, including : 

• The length of the advertisement. The length of the advertisement will vary, depending on the legal form and activity concerned, since the information to be included and the company's corporate purpose will not necessarily be the same. 
• The medium chosen for the publication

That's why the amount to be paid for publication in a JAL can vary between 70 and 200 euros on average.

Articles of association drafted by a formalist or lawyer

Finally, the drafting of articles of association, if carried out by professionals, can represent a significant cost.

It's true that more often than not, it's easy to be tempted to create your own articles of association based on templates found online, so as not to spend too much money.

However, the risk is quite high, particularly as these standard models do not always correspond to the paritcularities of a given company.

That's why it can be a good idea to delegate the drafting of your company's articles of association to a professional. Whether it'sa chartered accountant, a notary, a legal expert or a lawyer, the expertise offered will always be superior and the result less risky.

But such a service inevitably has a cost, which then depends on the particularities of the company in question:

• The legal form of the company: the legal form of the company will have a real effect on the complexity of drafting the articles of association. For example, the articles of association of a SARL (limited liability company), whose content is defined by law, will be simpler to draft than those of a SAS (simplified joint stock company) or SA (limited liability company), for which the law does not specify anything. 
• The number of partners: it's true that drafting the articles of association for a sole proprietorship is generally easier than for a company with several partners. 
• The desired operation: inaddition to the rules imposed by law, it is possible for associates to add a number of additional clauses, thus specifying the structure's operation. Adding clauses requires more work, and therefore additional costs.

As a result, several potential scenarios are emerging:  

• For the simplest projects, often relating to EURL or SASU, a draft of articles of association will cost between 800 and 1000 euros. 
• For companies with several partners, the bill is likely to be between €1,500 and €2,000.

It should be noted that the cost of drafting articles of association by an online professional will be greatly reduced, and could be around 500 euros.

Finally, in the specific case of the contribution of real estate to a company's share capital, the articles of association must be drawn up by a notary. If this contribution is already specified in a deed of contribution appended to the articles of association, it is only possible to have the latter drawn up by a notary and the rest by another professional. 

In conclusion, it's important to remember that, even if the entrepreneurial adventure is attractive, setting up a business has a cost that you need to take into account as soon as you define your project, to avoid unpleasant surprises.