Changing your financial year-end date: why and how

Quick answer. Shifting your financial year-end is a bylaws amendment: it is voted at a meeting (two-thirds of shares in a SARL since 4 August 2005, per the bylaws in a SAS), recorded in the national business register via the INPI single window, and published as a legal notice. The change creates a transition year of unusual length (a first or amended financial year cannot exceed 24 months). The results return is then filed within three months of the new year-end (instead of early May for a 31 December close).

Changing the year-end is more than a formality — it is a management lever. Three reasons recur in our engagements.

1. Match the business cycle. A restaurant, hotel or vineyard produces a clearer balance sheet after its season than on 31 December: normalised inventory, stabilised cash, available staff. A training body often aligns its close with the academic year. Closing outside the real cycle means producing "artificial" accounts. For the basics, see our article on the duration and closing of the financial year.

2. Relieve year-end congestion. 31 December overloads firms and ties up finance teams over the holidays. Closing on 30 June frees up schedules and lets inventory and provision work — and optimising the result before closing — proceed calmly.

3. Synchronise a group. When a subsidiary closes on 30 June and the parent on 31 December, consolidation and tax grouping (article 223 A of the Tax Code) become complicated. Aligning all entities on one pivot date simplifies reporting.

Step 1 — Shareholder decision#

The year-end is in the bylaws: changing it requires a collective decision under the bylaws-amendment conditions. Thresholds differ by legal form (SARL or SAS):

• SARL: two-thirds of the shares held by members present or represented, for companies created since 4 August 2005 (article L223-30 of the Commercial Code), with a quorum; older SARLs remain at a three-quarters majority;
• SAS: per the bylaws (article L227-9);
• SA: two-thirds of the votes of shareholders present or represented (article L225-96);
• SCI: unanimity, unless the bylaws provide otherwise (article 1836 of the Civil Code).

The decision is recorded in minutes, which underpin the bylaws amendment.

Step 2 — Bylaws amendment#

The financial-year clause is rewritten, e.g. "The financial year begins on 1 July and ends on 30 June each year." For the year in which the change occurs, its exceptional length is specified.

Step 3 — Filing with the INPI single window#

Since 1 January 2023, any bylaws change is filed online on the single window for business formalities (INPI), which updates the national business register. The minutes and updated bylaws are attached. The filing itself carries no significant state fee; the cost mainly comes from the legal notice.

Step 4 — Legal notice#

The amendment must be published in an authorised gazette of the registered-office district. The cost is a flat fee, around €100 to €200 depending on the department. The gazette issues proof of publication.

Step 5 — Results filing and notifying the authorities#

Where the year-end is not 31 December, the results return is filed within three months of closing (BOI-BIC-DECLA-30-50). For a transition year closed on 30 June 2027, the return is therefore due by 30 September 2027. The authorities are informed through the filing of that transition-year return.

VAT periodicity depends on the regime (standard monthly, simplified annual), not on the closing date: shifting the year-end does not change it.

• First year of activity. The first financial year may be shorter or longer than 12 months, without exceeding 24 (article L123-12 of the Commercial Code). This is an initial bylaws choice, not a later amendment.
• Group of companies. Aligning all subsidiaries means as many meetings and filings as entities. The administrative cost is justified by simpler consolidation and tax grouping; the authorities are informed at each results filing.
• Micro-enterprise. A micro-entrepreneur does not "close" a financial year in the corporate sense and reports turnover on its own schedule: the procedure above does not apply unless switching to a real-accounting regime.

• Justify the change. A shift motivated solely by deferring a tax payment may be requalified as abuse of law (article L64 of the Tax Procedures Code). Document the economic reason.
• Check banking covenants. Credit may require accounts at a given date: obtain the bank's agreement first.
• Anticipate the transition year. An 18- or 24-month year shifts expenses, depreciation and taxable income: simulate the impact before deciding.
• Mind VAT and thresholds. Over a long year, the basic exemption thresholds — €37,500 for services and €85,000 for sales and accommodation — remain assessed on the calendar year, regardless of the closing date.

Recently, an industrial SME manager consulted us about moving from 31 December to 30 June, to close the accounts after the winter shutdown rather than mid-activity. The idea was sound, but two constraints surfaced: a collective agreement setting a severance calculation at 31 December, and a loan with a covenant requiring accounts before 1 April. We renegotiated the clause and obtained a bank waiver before confirming. The lesson: changing the year-end is never isolated; it interacts with financing, collective agreements and tax calendars.

Hayot Expertise tip. Plan six months ahead. Audit your financing contracts, agreements and consolidation scopes, document the economic reason, and simulate the tax impact of the transition year. Entrust the INPI formality and the legal notice to a professional to avoid procedural defects. We run this pre-audit and manage the procedure end to end through our accounting and review service.