French accounting annex thresholds 2026: who is exempt, who files a simplified version?

The question sounds technical, but it has concrete consequences: what your annual accounts must contain, what you are required to file with the commercial court registry (greffe), and what your banking partners and investors can read about your structure. Since French decree 2024-152 of 22 February 2024, transposing EU directive 2023/2775, the size thresholds have been raised substantially for financial years opening on or after 1 January 2024. Many companies changed category without realising it.

This guide clarifies which regime applies to your entity, corrects the most common classification errors, and explains what the annex must contain even in its simplified form.

Direct answer: under decree 2024-152 (financial years opening ≥ 1 January 2024), French companies are classified into three active size categories — micro-enterprise, small, and medium — under the rule that two out of three thresholds must be met across two consecutive financial years. The micro-enterprise (balance sheet ≤ €450,000, revenue ≤ €900,000, ≤ 10 employees) is fully exempt from the annex; the small company (balance sheet ≤ €7.5 million, revenue ≤ €15 million, ≤ 50 employees) files a simplified annex; the medium company (balance sheet ≤ €25 million, revenue ≤ €50 million, ≤ 250 employees) must file a full annex.

The annex (annexe comptable) is the third mandatory component of the annual accounts, alongside the balance sheet and the income statement. Its purpose is not to repeat those documents but to complete and explain them. Under article L. 123-13 of the French Commercial Code (Code de commerce), the annex must provide all information necessary to give a true and fair view of the company's assets, financial position and results.

In practice, the annex always covers:

• the accounting policies and methods applied (depreciation methods, inventory valuation — AVCO or FIFO — provision policies)
• explanatory notes on significant balance sheet and income statement line items
• off-balance-sheet commitments: guarantees given and received, pledges, finance leases, contingent liabilities
• significant events after the balance sheet date
• the supplier and customer payment period disclosure (mandatory whenever an annex is required, article D. 441-6 of the Commercial Code)

For entities subject to the full annex, additional schedules are required: the fixed assets schedule, the depreciation schedule, and the provisions schedule.

The thresholds result from decree 2024-152 of 22 February 2024 and apply to financial years opening on or after 1 January 2024. They replace the former thresholds (€350,000 / €700,000 for micro-enterprises; €6 million / €12 million for small companies), which are no longer in force.

Sources: Commercial Code articles L. 230-1 and L. 230-2; decree 2024-152 of 22 February 2024; service-public.fr reference F37169.

A company belongs to a given category if it does not exceed at least two of the three criteria (balance sheet, revenue, headcount) across two consecutive financial years. This double condition — two thresholds and two consecutive years — is the most frequent source of misclassification in practice.

Worked example — a manufacturing SME in growth mode#

A French SARL manufacturing industrial components presents the following data:

At the close of year N:

• Balance sheet: €510,000 > €450,000 → micro threshold exceeded in N but not in N-1
• Revenue: €1,100,000 > €900,000 → micro threshold exceeded in N but not in N-1
• Headcount: 11 > 10 → micro threshold exceeded in N but not in N-1

Conclusion: in year N, all three micro thresholds are exceeded — but only for one financial year. The company remains a micro-enterprise for year N. If it again exceeds two of the three thresholds in N+1, it will move to the small company category from N+1 onwards. The annex exemption therefore still applies to the year N accounts.

What this means in practice: a director who files year N accounts without an annex commits no irregularity, even if the company temporarily crossed the thresholds during that year. The two-year rule protects against accidental threshold effects.

The exemption covers accounting micro-enterprises that satisfy the two-out-of-three threshold rule (balance sheet ≤ €450,000, revenue ≤ €900,000, headcount ≤ 10) across the last two financial years.

This exemption is provided under article L. 232-25 of the Commercial Code. Three important clarifications:

1. The accounting micro-enterprise is distinct from the micro-entreprise tax regime. A sole trader registered under the auto-entrepreneur scheme may be a tax micro-enterprise without ever being subject to the company accounting rules that govern SARLs and SASs. Conversely, a SARL whose balance sheet and revenue remain within the thresholds is an accounting micro-enterprise and may be exempt from the annex even if it pays corporate income tax.

2. Certain entities cannot benefit from the exemption even when they meet the size conditions: holding companies, credit institutions, insurance companies, and entities required to produce consolidated accounts. The list is set out in article L. 232-25 paragraph 2.

3. Enhanced confidentiality is available. A micro-enterprise may file its accounts requesting non-publication of the income statement. Only a simplified balance sheet is made public. This is a competitive advantage that many directors overlook.

ANC regulation 2014-03, approved by ministerial order of 8 September 2014, sets out the minimum content for each annex category.

Even in simplified form, certain disclosures cannot be omitted without producing a misleading picture. Seven non-negotiable items:

1. Accounting and depreciation policies: straight-line or reducing-balance, useful lives applied per asset category, inventory valuation method.
2. Off-balance-sheet commitments: any guarantee given on behalf of a third party, any finance lease in progress with its residual value, any pledged asset. These disclosures are what allow readers to assess real indebtedness.
3. Changes in accounting method: if a method changed between N-1 and N, the annex must disclose this and quantify the impact.
4. Post-balance-sheet events: a dispute that arose after the closing date, loss of a major customer, or a significant asset loss. Omitting such information creates legal and reputational exposure.
5. Payment period table: its absence is a formal deficiency, sanctionable even for small companies.
6. Related-party transactions: loans to directors, transactions with group companies, current account balances with shareholders.
7. Significant differences between accounting and taxable income: temporary differences (non-deductible provisions, accelerated depreciation) warrant a brief disclosure.

Across the files we handle, two errors recur consistently.

First error: treating exemption as equivalent to silence. Being exempt from the annex does not mean that accounts can remain silent on information that a reader would need. A micro-enterprise that has provided a director personal guarantee for a bank loan carries that commitment outside its published accounts — but any counterparty that later discovers an undisclosed guarantee will not be forgiving.

Second error: applying the old thresholds. Many companies continued to classify themselves as "small enterprises" under the former thresholds (€6 million / €12 million) when decree 2024-152 raised the bar to €7.5 million / €15 million. For entities close to those boundaries, this may represent a real simplification — or a surprise for those who incorrectly believed they remained micro-enterprises.

All commercial companies must file their annual accounts with the greffe within one month of approval by the general meeting (or two months for electronic filings). The content of the filing depends on the category:

• Micro-enterprises: simplified balance sheet only. The income statement is not published if the company requests confidentiality. The annex is absent since the company is exempt.
• Small companies: balance sheet, income statement and simplified annex. They may also request confidentiality of the income statement and balance sheet under article L. 232-25-1.
• Medium and large companies: balance sheet, income statement, full annex and, where applicable, management report (rapport de gestion).

Failure to comply exposes the company to a fine of €1,500 for individuals and €7,500 for legal entities (article L. 123-24 of the Commercial Code). The registry may refuse to accept an incomplete filing.

1. Collect the three indicators from the last two completed financial years: net balance sheet total, revenue excluding VAT, average annual headcount (in full-time equivalents).
2. Compare each indicator against the thresholds for all three categories (micro, small, medium) for each of the two years.
3. Count how many thresholds are exceeded per category and per year.
4. Apply the two-out-of-three rule: your company no longer qualifies for a category if it exceeds at least two of the three thresholds across two consecutive years.
5. Retain the lowest category for which you do not meet the upward reclassification conditions.
6. For a first financial year: classification is based on that year's data alone — the consecutive-year condition cannot apply.

For fast-growing structures, tracking these three indicators during the year (not only at closing) makes it possible to anticipate a category change and prepare the annex without last-minute pressure.

Beyond the statutory obligation, a well-drafted annex performs several practical functions that are often underestimated.

For banking relationships, a complete and clear annex accelerates loan instruction. A credit analyst who finds all the information on off-balance-sheet commitments, depreciation methods and related parties directly in the accounts does not need to request supplementary documents. Incomplete files generate delays and additional guarantee requirements.

For disposal transactions, a properly maintained annex reduces price adjustment disputes during acquisition due diligence. Undisclosed liabilities — provisions not recognised, ongoing disputes not mentioned — are a standard source of post-closing conflicts.

For your internal governance, the annex acts as institutional memory. It traces accounting choices from year to year and facilitates variance analysis. An annex neglected over several years complicates subsequent closing exercises, especially during a tax audit or M&A process.

Updated 2026-06-14. This article provides information and does not replace personalised advice. For your specific situation, please consult a chartered accountant (expert-comptable) registered with the French Institute (Ordre des Experts-Comptables).