Legal notice of incorporation 2026: template and cost

Quick answer. Publishing a legal notice of incorporation is mandatory before registering a company. Since 2021, the fee is a flat rate set by company form. In 2026, in mainland France, expect 142 € excl. tax for a SASU, 199 € excl. tax for a SAS, 148 € excl. tax for a SARL and 191 € excl. tax for an SCI.

You are finalising your articles of association, the capital is in place, and one line on the checklist stops you: the legal notice. Many founders discover it at the last minute, overpay on a poorly chosen platform, or forget to collect the right supporting document. The result is a registration file stalled over a paper worth a few dozen euros. This guide explains what the notice is for, what it must contain, and what it really costs in 2026, flat rate by company form.

The legal notice of incorporation is a publicity requirement. It informs third parties (clients, suppliers, banks, the administration) that a new company has just been formed. It is published in an authorised medium in the department of the registered office: a legal announcements journal, or an authorised online press service.

Publication happens before registration. Once the notice has appeared, the medium issues you a publication certificate, which you attach to the incorporation file filed with the one-stop shop (guichet unique). Without that certificate, the file is incomplete and registration cannot go through. It is a short formality, but it conditions everything that follows: until the notice is published and evidenced, the company does not legally exist.

Our view. The legal notice is not the heaviest cost in a company formation, but it is one of the items that most often blocks a file at the last moment. A wrong entry (capital, registered office, registry) forces a re-publication, and therefore a second payment. The right reflex is to handle it once the articles are definitively settled, not before.

Since 1 January 2021, the fee for an incorporation notice has been a flat rate. It depends on the company form and the department of the registered office, and no longer on the number of characters published. This flat rate is revised every year by ministerial order. For 2026, it follows the order of 19 November 2025, in force since 1 January 2026.

Here are the 2026 flat rates applicable in mainland France. Amounts are shown excluding tax.

These amounts are fixed: whether your corporate purpose fits in two lines or a full paragraph, you pay the same flat rate for an incorporation. This is a major difference from the old per-character system, where a long text inflated the bill.

Hayot Expertise tip. Before validating your notice, check that the medium is applying the incorporation flat rate, not a per-character price. On some platforms, enriched wording or add-on options can push the bill up with no added value. The regulated flat rate is your benchmark: anything above it deserves a question.

The departments of Réunion and Mayotte apply a specific, higher flat rate than the mainland. If the registered office is located there, these amounts apply.

The criterion is the address of the registered office, not that of the director. A company whose office is on the mainland, even formed by a director living overseas, falls under the mainland flat rate.

The incorporation notice follows a standard structure. It stays short, but each entry must match the signed articles exactly. Here are the usual elements of an incorporation notice:

1. The company name.
2. The legal form (SAS, SASU, SARL, EURL, SCI, etc.).
3. The amount of share capital.
4. The address of the registered office.
5. The corporate purpose, summarised.
6. The duration of the company.
7. The identity and address of the director(s).
8. The mention of the registration registry (RCS).

A minimal template reads roughly as follows: "Notice of incorporation. Under a private deed dated [date], a company has been formed with the following characteristics: Name: [name]. Form: [SASU]. Capital: [amount] euros. Registered office: [address]. Purpose: [summarised purpose]. Duration: [99 years]. President: [identity and address]. The company will be registered with the RCS of [city]."

This outline is not exhaustive, and each situation calls for adjustments (contributions in kind, approval clause, collective management). But it gives the expected format.

The underestimated risk. The mismatch between the notice and the articles. If the notice states a capital, an address or a director that does not match the signed deed word for word, the registry may reject the file. You then have to re-publish, pay the flat rate again, and the formation timeline slips. A cross-check between articles and notice before publication avoids this detour.

Three situations fall outside the simple flat rate and deserve specific attention.

Company amendments: per-character pricing#

The flat rate covers only the incorporation. All later amendment notices (change of registered office, change of purpose, appointment or departure of a director, capital increase, transfer, conversion) are still billed per character. In 2026, the rate ranges between 0.185 € and 0.239 € per character excluding tax depending on the geographic zone. In practice, a long amendment can cost more than an incorporation. Anticipating the wording (concise text, no needless repetition) therefore directly affects the bill. For a change of purpose, for instance, the procedure and its notice are detailed in our guide on changing the corporate purpose and extending the activity.

Overseas departments#

As seen above, Réunion and Mayotte apply a higher flat rate. The department of the registered office drives the price: check it before choosing the publication medium, which must itself be authorised in the right department.

Contributions in kind#

When the formation includes a contribution in kind (an asset, a business, securities), the notice stays at the incorporation flat rate. However, the contribution in kind may trigger other upstream costs and obligations: depending on thresholds and form, a contributions auditor (commissaire aux apports) may be required. The legal notice does not absorb that cost: these are two distinct items. On the interplay between capital amount, paying-up and contributions, see our analysis of share capital, amount and paying-up in 2026.

The notice fee is just one brick. It adds to the other incorporation costs: registry registration fees, and, where relevant, contributions-auditor fees for a contribution in kind. An important reminder: all the flat rates quoted here are excluding tax. The amount actually debited includes the applicable VAT, which changes the figure shown on the publication platform.

2026 points of attention. First, the flat rate applies only to incorporation: do not confuse it with the per-character rate for amendments. Second, the publication medium must be authorised in the department of the registered office, otherwise the certificate is not valid. Third, keep the publication certificate: it is the certificate, not the notice itself, that the one-stop shop requires.

In order, forming a company runs like this: final articles, capital deposit, publication of the legal notice, collection of the publication certificate, then filing of the complete file with the one-stop shop for registration. The notice therefore sits after the articles and before the final filing.

In the formation files we support, the most frequent friction point is not the cost of the notice, but its timing and consistency. One founder had published the notice before settling the final address of the registered office; the office changed in the meantime, the notice was void, and it had to be re-published and the flat rate paid again. The lesson is simple: publish the notice once the structuring elements (capital, office, director, purpose) are fixed, not while they are still moving.

To place this formality within the whole process, our company formation support covers drafting the articles, publication and filing, and our legal advisory service secures sensitive clauses. If you are unsure whether to do it alone online or through a professional, our comparison of creating your company online or with an accountant sets out the trade-offs. The final filing takes place on the INPI one-stop shop, and the purpose summarised in the notice must reflect the corporate purpose set out in your articles.