Are you a company that wants to sell its products and services in France? This article is for you.
To carry out a commercial or other activity in France, you can register with the commercial court as a branch.
But then what is a branch?
A branch is a secondary establishment of your main foreign company, which has exactly the same activities and which acts on behalf of this company.
To create a branch, you must register with the Trade and Companies Register of the city where you want to establish your activity.
To do this you must create a file which contains, among other things:
- a copy of the legal file of the foreigner company
- your registration certificate from the commercial register of the country of origin,
- ID of the legal representative in France.
Please note that all these documents must be certified as true to the original by the legal representative and translated into French. Once the file is complete, it takes between 4 to 10 days to obtain the French kbis.
IMPORTANT TO KNOW:
- the branch has no separate assets
- The foreign company is financially responsible for the shares of the branch
- the branch is part of the assets of the foreign company
And on the tax level?
The profits of the branch are taxed in France without being subject to taxation in the country of the foreign company.
- The foreign company must include the assets and liabilities of the branch in its balance sheet.
- The branch must keep separate accounts.
Should I create a branch?
The branch can be interesting if you want to test the market before creating a subsidiary. For more information contact us