Creating a new company in France is easy

It is easy to create a new company in France !

Unlike most people think, it is relatively easy to settle a new company in France. According to a study recently done by Ernst & Young, France is the country among the G20 countries where you can create the most easily and rapidly your company : 7 days in average are necessary (against 22 in average) with 5 administrative procedures (against 7.6 procedures in average in the remaining 19 other countries of G20).

The steps to register a new company in France are indeed relatively simple once you have defined
 * the structure of your business (legal form of the company)
 * the articles of association (agreed rules about running the company)
 * the address of your business

The main steps to be achieved are :
* to set-up a bank account
* to register the company by a unique administrative center in charge of formalities for companies : CFE (Centre de Formalités des Entreprises). A few documents have to be given : an appropriate form depending upon the form of your company (giving a few details on the business and taking a few options concerning taxes and VAT), articles of associations signed by the shareholders, information on the breakdown of the share capital, an evidence showing that funds have been deposited for the share capital, some documents concerning the address of the business, identity papers… This administration will communicate the information to the other French administrations
* to do some official advertisement on appropriate newspapers ; the CFE can help you in this task
* to set-up your company for corporation tax and VAT
* to register your by an organism in charge of pensions (even if you do not have any employee !)

Nevertheless, after the company’s creation, it becomes more difficult according to the study, especially

* in terms of taxes (especially tax on wages) and regulations, as France is ranking on this point only 15th among 20th
* in terms of access to financing means and bank credits (rank 16th)

The French Government has announced early in September 2013 somefurther simplifications measures to be soon implemented , like the reduction of obligations in terms of statutory accounts for small companies…

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