INPI one-stop shop: set up your company without errors

Quick answer. Since 1 January 2023, the electronic one-stop shop for business formalities, operated by the INPI at formalites.entreprises.gouv.fr, is the only channel for setting up a company. You file a single online application (form plus supporting documents), which is then automatically forwarded to INSEE, the commercial court registry and the other relevant bodies.

You have signed your articles of association, deposited the share capital, published the legal notice, and only one step remains: declaring the company on the one-stop shop. That is often where the project stalls. A poorly framed corporate purpose, an unreadable document, a forgotten beneficial-owner declaration, and the application goes "on hold". Registration, expected within the week, slips by several days, sometimes more. This article describes how the filing actually unfolds, the documents to gather, and the errors that block a company formation application.

The one-stop shop for business formalities is an online platform, operated by the INPI, accessible at formalites.entreprises.gouv.fr. It stems from the PACTE Act (Act no. 2019-486 of 22 May 2019) and has been operating since 1 January 2023.

Before that date, the founder had to identify the right business formality centre (CFE) according to their activity. Six networks had coexisted since the 1980s: chambers of commerce and industry, chambers of trades and crafts, chambers of agriculture, commercial court registries, the DGFiP and the Urssaf. This split by type of activity is gone. From now on, every formality goes through a single channel.

The one-stop shop does not handle creation alone. It covers every business formality: creation, amendment, cessation, filing of deeds and filing of annual accounts. It is the single entry point for the company's administrative life.

The one-stop shop and the National Business Register#

The one-stop shop is inseparable from the National Business Register (RNE), also created by the PACTE Act and operational since 1 January 2023. Every business carrying out a commercial, craft, agricultural or independent activity in France must be registered in it. The RNE replaces three former registers: the national trade and companies register (RNCS), the trades register (RM) and the farm assets register (RAA).

One useful point: the trade and companies register (RCS), kept by the commercial court registries, remains for commercial companies. The RNE does not replace it. In practice, your SASU or SARL will be entered in both the RNE and the RCS; these are two complementary registers, fed by the same filing.

Our reading. The one-stop shop simplified the routing, but it shifted the difficulty. Before, the CFE could fix a slip at the counter. Today, the online form is more demanding and the review more formal. A poorly prepared application is not rejected outright: it is put on hold, and it is that waiting time that catches founders off guard.

The principle is the single application. You complete an online form, attach the supporting documents and validate. The one-stop shop then forwards the information to the recipient bodies: INSEE for the assignment of the SIREN, SIRET and APE code, the registry for entry in the RCS, the tax authorities, the Urssaf, and where applicable the other bodies concerned.

Here are the typical steps for setting up a company on the one-stop shop.

1. Create a personal account on formalites.entreprises.gouv.fr and authenticate.
2. Select the "business creation" formality and the type of structure (company, sole proprietorship).
3. Enter the company details: name, legal form, corporate purpose, registered office, capital, directors.
4. Declare the company's beneficial owners.
5. Upload the supporting documents (articles of association, proof of office, identity, deposit of funds, legal notice).
6. Check the consistency between the form and the documents, then validate and sign the application.
7. Pay the registration fees and track progress from your dashboard.

Once the application is validated, the one-stop shop forwards it to the bodies. INSEE assigns the identification number; the registry proceeds with entry in the RCS. As long as the application is complete and consistent, processing runs its course. Any missing point triggers a request to rectify and stops the clock.

Hayot Expertise tip. Prepare all the documents before opening the formality, not during it. An application opened then abandoned midway because a document is missing often means re-entering screens already completed. Gathering the full application upfront saves time and limits inconsistencies between the form and the documents.

The content varies according to the legal form and the activity, but the core of a company formation is stable. Here are the documents we gather systematically in our incorporation files.

For a regulated activity, you must add the proof of authorisation, accreditation or qualification required to operate. This is a point many founders discover late, even though it determines registration.

The certificate of deposit of funds assumes you have opened a dedicated professional bank account before depositing the capital.

The beneficial-owner declaration deserves a special mention. It is mandatory and is made through the one-stop shop at the time of creation. It identifies the natural persons who actually own or control the company. Forgetting it, or completing it inconsistently with the capital breakdown, is one of the recurring causes of being put on hold.

A formation application is almost never "rejected" in the strict sense. It is put on hold, with a request to rectify. The outcome is the same for the founder: registration is pushed back. Here are the blockers we see come up most often.

Practical takeaways:

• The corporate purpose must describe the activity actually carried out, neither too narrow (you constrain the company from the first adjacent project) nor a catch-all that includes regulated activities you do not perform.
• The form details must faithfully reproduce the articles: exact name, capital amount, registered office address, identity of directors. The slightest discrepancy attracts a request for correction.
• The documents must be readable, complete and up to date. A truncated scan or an expired identity document is enough to suspend processing.
• The beneficial-owner declaration is not optional: it is made in the same filing, and its consistency with the capital breakdown is checked.

The underestimated risk. The choice of activity and code determines elements that surface well after registration: reporting regime, applicable collective agreement, sector obligations. A wrong selection that goes unnoticed at creation is paid for later, during an audit or a hiring, when a poorly set parameter must be unpicked.

Regulated activity. Some activities require a qualification, an authorisation or an accreditation. The proof must be in the application. Without it, registration cannot succeed. Anticipate gathering these documents, which can take time to obtain.

Company being formed with contributions in kind. When assets are contributed to the capital, the application includes additional items linked to valuing those contributions. Structuring the share capital is prepared ahead of the articles, not at filing time.

Foreign director or shareholder. Identifying the representative and beneficial owners requires particular care when people reside outside France. Identity documents and supporting papers must remain readable and usable. This is an area where we regularly support foreign companies setting up a subsidiary in France.

Choice between sole proprietorship and company. The one-stop shop also handles sole-proprietorship creations, whose application is lighter. The choice of structure is decided before filing, not on the platform. For that trade-off, see our comparison between the sole proprietorship and the company.

2026 points of vigilance. The one-stop shop is now the only channel: there is no longer a paper fallback for routine formalities. This reinforces the value of a complete, consistent application from the first filing, because rectifying an application on hold is also done online, with the delays that implies.

Recently, a founder handed us an application that had been stuck for ten days. The cause came down to two details: a corporate purpose copied from a generic template, with no clear link to the declared activity, and a legal-notice certificate whose company name differed by one word from the articles. Two minor corrections in substance, but enough to put the formality on hold and push back the start of the business. The lesson is simple: overall consistency matters as much as each document taken in isolation.

The one-stop shop is open to everyone, and a founder can file their own application. The platform does not judge the relevance of your choices: it checks completeness and formal consistency. Yet many structuring decisions are made before filing: legal form, corporate purpose, capital, the director's tax and social regime. An error at this stage is not flagged by the one-stop shop; it surfaces later.

This is the logic of our business-creation support assignment: securing choices upfront, drafting articles consistent with the project, and preparing an application that goes through without back-and-forth. For purely legal structuring questions, our legal advisory offer complements this support. If you are still hesitating between filing yourself and delegating, our comparison between online creation and support from a chartered accountant details the trade-offs.

As a firm registered with the Order of Chartered Accountants of Ile-de-France, we regularly handle company incorporations and know the points that block a filing. This article informs on the general process; a decision specific to your situation requires a review of your project, your documents and the law applicable on the filing date.