As an entrepreneur in France, to register your business, you can choose between several legal forms, including the société par actions simplifiées unipersonnelles (SASU).
What does domiciliation of a SASU entail?
When you choose to set up a business in France, you officially declare your activity to the State, and submit to the rules and obligations governing the operation of companies. If you're setting up a business in Lille, Paris or anywhere else in France, one of the compulsory steps is to register your company.
Domiciliation of your SASU or SAS unipersonnelle is an act aimed at defining the address of your company's registered office. This address represents the administrative, legal and tax address associated with your company. It is recorded on all official documents (articles of association, Kbis extracts, etc.). This official address is used for correspondence with the tax authorities, notably for VAT declarations, and also determines the clerk's office of the commercial court to which the company is geographically affiliated.
To finalize the formalities for registeringthe company with the RCS (Registre du Commerce et des Sociétés), you must register the company at the address of the registered office. During the SASU creation process, you must indicate the business address chosen for the registered office via the "guichet électronique des formalités d'entreprise" (electronic business formalities counter), which replaces the "centers de formalités des entreprises" or CFE (business formalities centers) as of January 1, 2023. If you choose to have your registered office in your own home, you should therefore enter your personal home address when filling in the address for the registered office.
What are the conditions for domiciling a SASU at home?
To register a company as a SASU, you only need to make a formal declaration to the guichet unique des entreprises (formerly the CFE). Before you can do this, you need to meet a number of conditions.
Company domiciliation: when the registered office address differs from the place of business
Before you can domicile a company in your own home, certain conditions must be met. Only the personal home address of the president and sole shareholder, the company's legal representative, is eligible. So it's not enough to be a company director to be able to register your registered office at home.
As the company's legal representative, to register the registered office at your home, you must be the owner or tenant of the property. It must also be your principal residence, not a second home. Proof of ownership or tenancy is one of the documents required to set up a SASU.
Before setting up a new address, you must obtain the agreement of the lessor (in the case of a rental property) or the syndicate of co-owners (in the case of a condominium). If your home is owned by you alone, no third-party agreement is required. In any case, once you've registered your business activity at your home, the company name must appear on your lease, EDF or telephone bills, and so on.
Conditions for domiciling a company and using it as a place of business
The legal requirements are stricter when you use your home address as your company's registered office, and when your home address becomes your business premises. When your main residence is used as your business premises, you are required to inform the tax authorities of this change of use within 3 months of starting your business.
If you're the company's only active employee, and you don't receive customers or merchandise, you must be located in an urban area with a population of less than 200,000, or in a ZFU - TE (zone franches urbaines - territoire entrepreneur). If you live on the first floor, you must ensure that your business activity does not generate any noise pollution likely to disturb other residents. In any case, you can only set up your own business if there is no clause in your lease or condominium by-laws to prevent you from doing so. It must also comply with local planning regulations.
In this respect, if several people are to work in your home, which has been converted into commercial premises for your business, you may need to obtain authorization from the syndicate of co-owners. In the case of rental premises, you will need the agreement of the landlord with whom you have signed a rental lease. Then, before using the property as a place to carry on your business and receive customers and goods, you need to apply to the local council for authorization. Of course, if you're planning any work to transform the property, make sure you obtain planning permission.
Domiciling a single-member SAS at home: advantages and disadvantages
There are a number of advantages to running a SASU from your own home. However, there are a few constraints you need to take into account.
The advantages of domiciling your SASU at home
By choosing to domicile your SASU in your own home, you're opting for an efficient solution. There's no need to devote resources to finding business premises and signing a commercial lease. You'll save money on rental charges (rent, property taxes, etc.)!
At the same time, you're spared the daily commute to work. There's a certain practicality to this, as you benefit from greater flexibility in managing your diary.
Domiciling a SASU at the director's personal residence: disadvantages/constraints and how to counter them
When you read the conditions for domiciling a SASU at the personal address of the company's director and legal representative, you may have noticed a number of constraints. There are others. One of the first disadvantages to be highlighted concerns the mixing of private and professional life. To limit the impact of this confusion between work and private life, set up an office separate from the living quarters.
Another disadvantage of domiciling an SASU at home concerns the company's image. Partners are unlikely to perceive that the home address of the director is identical to the address of the company's head office. Your company's reputation could suffer! To remedy this, you can work from home, but domicile the company at another business address, using online domiciliation services such as those offered by SeLoger.
The final constraint to highlight concerns the limits to business development. With your home as your place of business, you can quickly find yourself cramped for space as your business evolves. You'll need to move house, notify the tax and legal authorities of a new address for your registered office, change your company registration number, etc., and so on. Here again, an online domiciliation agency offers the best solution.
By registering your business with an online domiciliation company, you get a prestigious address right from the start, projecting a good image of your company. Online domiciliation even gives you access to a range of additional services:
- incoming mail ;
- mail digitization ;
- mail or parcel forwarding ;
- meeting room, etc.
You can then continue to develop your business with peace of mind, by simply changing work premises when the situation requires, without having to change your registered office address!
Written by our expert Phil D.
November 24, 2023
