Setting up a business means dealing with administrative and legal formalities!
Do you find them numerous, boring and complicated? Don't worry, so do we!
That's why we've written this article, which explains quickly and simply what you need to do when setting up your company.
When you set up your company, you must provide proof of its registered address.
The documents to be provided differ depending on whether the registered office is located at
a. At the President's home, in which case you must provide :
- 1 copy, dated and signed by the Chairman, of the certificate of domiciliation ;
- 1 proof of address less than 3 months old (e.g. a copy of your electricity or telephone bill)
b. Elsewhere, in which case you should provide the contract justifying your domicile, such as :
- a lease contract if your company rents its own premises;
- a domiciliation contract if your company uses a domiciliation address;
- etc...
When you set up your company, you must be registered with the Registre du Commerce et des Sociétés (RCS).
This formality can be carried out either online, or directly with the Commercial Court having jurisdiction over your registered office. To register your company online, visit theinfogreffe website.
Registration with the RCS is evidenced by the SIREN number and, above all, by the Kbis extract issued by the clerk of the Commercial Court. This registration is a prerequisite for the exercise of most of your company's rights and obligations, and for the legal operation of your business.
Please note: the cost of registering a newly-created company is €26.68.
When setting up a new business, the appointment of a contribution auditor is mandatory only when contributions in kind are involved. His role is to assess the value of the assets contributed to the company, and he will issue a report on the valuation of these contributions at the end of his work.
Note: for SAS and SARL companies, the appointment of a contribution auditor is not mandatory if the value of the contributions in kind is less than €30,000 and they do not represent more than 50% of the share capital.
Every company must have its own Articles of Association, which must be filed with the Clerk of the Commercial Court in the district where your registered office is located. They are fundamental, as they set out all the rules governing the operation of the company.
The drafting and conclusion of articles of association must therefore be approached with great care. For more detailed information on the content of articles of association, you can already consult our complete guide "How to draft your company's articles of association?
Please note that the Chairman of the company is usually appointed in the Articles of Association, although a separate deed can also be used to appoint him.
Every company is obliged to publish a legal notice of incorporation. This must be done before you submit your incorporation file to the Centre de Formalité des Entreprises (CFE), as you will immediately receive a certificate of publication, which you must then enclose with your formalities file. However, it should be drawn up after the articles of association have been signed.
There are two ways to publish a legal notice :
- Contact an authorized newspaper in the department where your company's head office is located;
- Use an online legal announcements site, such as annoncelegale.com, to help you with this process.
Finally, the cost of a legal announcement for the incorporation of a company generally varies between €70 and €200 excluding VAT.
For limited liability companies (SARL, EURL...) and joint-stock companies (SA, SAS, SASU...), the annual financial statements must be filed with the RCS within one month of the Annual General Meeting held to approve them.
Please note: if you decide to file your annual accounts online, you have an extra month to do so.
Now that you have all the information you need to set up your company, get started!
Written by our expert Maxime Ravier
October 30, 2017
