A company's registered office must be declared to the RCS when applying for registration. Among the options available for company domiciliation, entrepreneurs can choose to use a domiciliation address offered by a commercial domiciliation company such as sedomicilier.fr.
To achieve this, the domiciliary and the domiciliary must sign a domiciliation contract, which must comply with certain formalities and entails obligations for both parties.
Firstly, the domiciliary, who may be a legal entity or an individual, must be registered with the Registre du Commerce et des Sociétés (RCS) or the Répertoire des Métiers (RM) while occupying the premises.
In addition, the domiciliary must provide the domiciled person with premises equipped with a room capable of ensuring the necessary confidentiality and allowing regular meetings of the bodies responsible for the management, administration or supervision of the company, as well as the keeping, conservation and consultation of the books, registers and documents prescribed by laws and regulations.
Lastly, the domiciliation agent is required to keep a file for each person domiciled, containing supporting documents relating to the domicile of their legal representative and their telephone number, as well as each of their places of business and the place where their accounting documents are held if they are not kept with the domiciliation agent.
On expiry of the domiciliation contract or in the event of early termination, the domiciliary must inform the court clerk's office of the cessation of the company's domiciliation on its premises.
In addition, if the person domiciled on the premises has not picked up his or her mail for three months, the domiciliary must inform the clerk of the Commercial Court or the Chamber of Trades and Crafts.
He is also required to provide bailiffs with a writ of execution with the information they need to contact the person domiciled.
Lastly, each quarter, it provides the relevant tax center and social security contribution collection bodies with a list of people who have registered with it during this period or who have terminated their registration, and each year, before January 15, a list of people registered with it on January 1.
The domiciled person undertakes to use the premises effectively and exclusively as the company's registered office, or if the registered office is located abroad, as an agency, branch or representative office.
It also undertakes to declare any changes to its business, legal form and purpose, as well as to the names and personal addresses of the persons empowered to bind it on a regular basis.
Finally, the person domiciled gives the domiciliary a mandate to receive any notification on his or her behalf.
The domiciliation contract must be in writing and concluded for a period of at least three months, renewable by tacit agreement, unless notice of termination is given.
In addition, the domiciliation contract must include a number of mandatory details, such as the company name, legal status, registration number, registered office address and the amount of capital held by the domiciliary and the domiciled party.
It must also mention the obligations of the domiciliary and the beneficiary as set out above.
The practice of domiciliation without having first obtainedprefectoral approval, or after withdrawal of approval, is punishable by 6 months' imprisonment and a €7,500 fine.
The same penalty is incurred by a domiciliation company if it fails to ensure that the domiciled company complies with its obligations.
Now that you know everything about the obligations of the parties entering into a domiciliation contract, don't hesitate to domicile your company!
Written by our expert Maxime Ravier
December 12, 2017
