Accounting for an SCI at corporate tax: obligations, balance sheet, checklist 2026

Quick answer. An SCI at corporate tax carries three key obligations. 1. Accounting: commercial accrual accounting under the general chart of accounts (journal, ledger, balance sheet, income statement and notes). 2. Depreciation: it depreciates the building by components, excluding land, which lowers taxable profit. 3. Taxation: it files a 2065 tax return and settles corporate tax at 15% up to 42,500 euros of profit, then 25%. By contrast, an SCI at income tax most often makes do with cash accounting and a 2072 return.

Moving an SCI to corporate tax radically changes its accounting obligations. Where an SCI at income tax lives with lightened management, the SCI at corporate tax enters the world of business accounting, with its formality, its depreciation tables and its tax return. The liability follows the option exercised by the company, under article 206 of the French Tax Code, and it is in principle irrevocable beyond the legal time limit. Here is the checklist of obligations to keep, the figures in force in 2026, and the concrete gaps with an SCI at income tax, to avoid nasty surprises at the first year-end.

From the option for corporate tax, the SCI must keep accrual accounting compliant with the general chart of accounts (ANC regulation no. 2014-03).

Accrual accounting records income and charges when they are earned or incurred, not when cash is received or paid. Rents are recorded as soon as they are due, even if unpaid, charges as soon as they are incurred, with a follow-up of receivables, payables, prepaid expenses and accrued income. This logic differs deeply from the cash accounting tolerated for an SCI at income tax, which only reasons in flows actually received and paid.

In practice, the SCI must keep a journal and a ledger, retain supporting documents for the legal period, and prepare each year a balance sheet, an income statement and notes. This rigorous bookkeeping joins, in spirit, the accounting obligations of SMEs, even though the SCI runs no commercial activity in the legal sense.

Depreciation is the marker of the SCI at corporate tax, and one of its reasons for being.

The SCI at corporate tax depreciates the building over its useful life, component by component (structure, roof, facade, technical installations, fittings), except the land which is never depreciated. The first step, often overlooked, is therefore splitting the purchase price between land and building, then between components: it determines the accuracy of every following year. This depreciation is a deductible charge that reduces taxable profit throughout the holding period, neutralising much of the current corporate tax while the building is held.

To set orders of magnitude, here is a simplified illustration. A building bought for 500,000 euros, of which 100,000 euros is non-depreciable land, leaves a depreciable base of 400,000 euros. Depreciated globally over 40 years, this represents about 10,000 euros of annual charge; in practice, the component split refines these useful lives and therefore the amount deductible each year.

The trade-off is paid on resale: the deducted depreciation lowers the net book value and increases the taxable professional capital gain by the same amount, with no holding-period allowance. This mechanism, central to the choice of regime, is detailed in our article on the capital gains trap on resale of an SCI at corporate tax. Before opting, it is wise to place the SCI within an overall wealth strategy, because the depreciation gained during ownership is given back, at least in part, on disposal.

The SCI at corporate tax files each year a tax return specific to companies subject to this tax.

The declaration of results is made on form 2065, accompanied by the annex tables. Depending on the size of the SCI, these tables fall under the simplified actual regime (2033 series) or the normal actual regime (2050 series). The taxable result is computed from the accounting result, after add-backs and deductions, under article 209 of the Tax Code. The tax is then settled at the reduced rate of 15% up to 42,500 euros of profit, under conditions, then 25% beyond.

The reduced rate of 15% is not automatic: it requires, in particular, turnover below the legal ceiling and fully paid-up capital held, in part, by individuals. An SCI held by a company (holding) may be excluded. The SCI must also meet the corporate tax payment deadlines, instalments and balance, like any company subject to this tax.

A point often forgotten: under corporate tax, the profit is only taxed in the partners' hands when it is distributed.

As long as the profit stays in the SCI, only corporate tax applies. If the company distributes dividends, the individual partner is in principle taxed under the single flat-rate levy (PFU), made up of 12.8% income tax plus social levies, unless a global option for the progressive scale is made. The social levies on dividends were raised on 1 January 2026 (the social security financing act for 2026), so the overall flat-rate taxation of the dividend now exceeds 30%: the exact rate applicable at the distribution date must be checked. This double charge (corporate tax in the company, then the flat-rate levy on distribution) must be anticipated in the wealth projection: a good taxable result does not mean immediate available income for the partner.

Here are the obligations not to miss, from daily work to the annual close.

1. Keep accrual accounting compliant with the general chart of accounts.
2. Record operations in the journal and the ledger, and retain documents.
3. Split the purchase price between land, building and components from the first year.
4. Depreciate the building, component by component, excluding the land.
5. Prepare each year a balance sheet, an income statement and notes.
6. File the 2065 tax return with its annex tables on time.
7. Compute the taxable result and settle corporate tax, instalments included.
8. Have the accounts approved by the partners at the annual meeting (within six months of the close).
9. If there is a distribution, follow the taxation of dividends at partner level.
10. Keep the company registers, the register of beneficial owners and the articles up to date.

The comparison with the SCI at income tax shows the scale of the extra obligations.

An SCI at income tax that merely lets unfurnished property can, in practice, keep simplified cash accounting and declare its income on form 2072, each partner reporting their share of property income on their personal return. It does not depreciate the building and files no 2065 return. The SCI at corporate tax, conversely, bears full business accounting, but unlocks the deduction of depreciation and acquisition costs.

The choice between these two regimes is not just a question of formality: it governs the whole taxation of holding and exit. We cover it in our comparison SCI at corporate tax or income tax, in the note SCI at corporate tax: definition, taxation and choice and, for the manager's professional premises, in our income tax / corporate tax arbitrage applied to professional premises.

Our view: depreciation appeals, the exit surprises#

The accounting of an SCI at corporate tax is not anecdotal: it requires regular bookkeeping and a proper tax return. In our files, two pitfalls keep coming back. First, many partners opt for corporate tax drawn by depreciation, without factoring in the management cost or the extra formality. Second, and more seriously, they reason on the current tax saved during ownership while forgetting the exit bill: the professional capital gain, calculated on the depreciated net book value, can absorb a substantial share of the gain on resale. Our advice is to decide on the regime by simulating both the holding and the disposal, then to secure the calculation of the result and corporate tax with a chartered accountant from the first year. Clean accounting is also the best protection in case of an audit, because it documents the depreciation, the result and the net book value that will form the basis of the exit gain. Poorly kept, it weakens precisely the advantages sought by the corporate-tax option.

Partners had opted for corporate tax in order to depreciate a rental building bought for 400,000 euros, without gauging the resulting accounting obligations. The first close revealed the absence of regular bookkeeping, the omission of depreciation tables and a land/building split that had never been made. The reconstruction was heavy: an opening balance sheet had to be rebuilt, the price split between land and components, then a component-based depreciation plan established. Once the accounting was put back in order, the SCI was able to file a compliant 2065 return, settle its corporate tax correctly and, above all, secure the calculation base of its future gain. The episode confirmed that a corporate-tax option without accounting support is rarely a good idea: the risk is invisible in the first year, it surfaces at the close, then on resale.

In practice: securing the first close of an SCI at corporate tax#

• Get the deed of acquisition and split the price without delay between land, building and components.
• Rebuild a faithful opening balance sheet: value of the building, loan, partner current accounts.
• Build the component-based depreciation plan and document the useful lives chosen.
• Distinguish deductible charges (loan interest, management fees, property tax) from capitalisable expenditure.
• Prepare the 2065 return and the annex tables of the applicable actual regime, and meet the corporate tax instalments.
• Organise the accounts-approval meeting within six months of the close.

• The option for corporate tax is in principle irrevocable beyond the legal time limit: you do not go back to income tax on a mere regret, so this choice must be simulated in advance.
• The reduced rate of 15% is not acquired automatically: it requires a profit ceiling of 42,500 euros, paid-up capital and ownership by individuals.
• Forgetting the component split distorts depreciation, hence the result of each year and the exit gain.
• The land is not depreciated: including it in the depreciable base is a common and reassessed error.
• The professional capital gain on exit benefits from no holding-period allowance, unlike the individual capital gain of an SCI at income tax.
• The social levies on dividends changed on 1 January 2026: have the exact flat-rate applicable to your distribution confirmed before deciding it.
• Unlike a commercial company, a civil SCI is not required to file its annual accounts at the registry, but approval of the accounts by the partners remains mandatory.