Which legal structure should a lawyer choose in France in 2026?
Which legal structure should a lawyer choose in France in 2026? 2026 analysis for law firms: choices, risks, evidence to keep, watchpoints and Hayot Expertise internal resources.
Expert note: This article was written by our chartered accountancy firm. Information is current as of 2026. For a personalised review of your situation, contact us.
Quick answer. For a French lawyer setting up in 2026, the useful choice narrows to four options: individual BNC practice, AARPI, SELARL or SELAS, possibly held through an SPFPL to organise transmission. Ordinance no. 2023-77 of 8 February 2023, in force since 1 September 2024, overhauled the regime for regulated professional companies (SEL) and has since opened previously impossible interprofessional configurations between lawyers, notaries and other legal professions.
The 2026 framework: what to retain from the SEL reform and bar guidance#
Ordinance no. 2023-77 replaced the historical 1990 SEL act by consolidating into a single text the rules governing regulated professional companies. For lawyers, its concrete effects rolled out from 1 September 2024 with a one-year transition period for existing statutes. The Conseil national des barreaux (CNB) issued guidance on supervision conditions, and the Reglement interieur national (RIN) continues to govern partnership terms, ethics and professional secrecy. Any creation or conversion requires bar council review of the articles of association before registration on the bar list.
Three changes drive 2026 arbitrations. First, the capital of an SEL may include partners from another legal or judicial profession, provided a practising lawyer remains a partner and operating majority stays with the practised profession. Second, the income lawyers receive from their SEL technical activity falls by default within the BNC (non-commercial profits) tax regime, unless a subordination link justifies salary taxation. Third, mandatory reception of electronic invoices applies to every French-established business from 1 September 2026, including law firms: the organisation chosen today must anticipate the digital reception of B2B fees.
Which status: individual practice, AARPI, SELARL or SELAS?#
The choice reads along four axes: professional independence, taxation, asset protection and partnership trajectory. Individual practice remains relevant for a solo lawyer building a clientele with limited investments. The AARPI suits two to four lawyers pooling resources and a brand without fully co-mingling cases. SELARL and SELAS take over once the firm exceeds three operating partners, when a significant investment must be amortised, or when transmission becomes a serious five-year horizon.
| Form | Liability | Default taxation | Manager s social regime |
|---|---|---|---|
| Individual BNC | unlimited on personal assets | personal income tax (form 2035) | self-employed, CNBF |
| AARPI | individual per partner | BNC transparency, IS option available | self-employed, CNBF |
| SELARL | limited to contributions | corporate tax by default, IR option under conditions | self-employed if majority manager, CNBF |
| SELAS | limited to contributions | corporate tax by default | salaried-equivalent, CNBF plus executive pension |
The AARPI has no legal personality; French case law treats it as a de facto company under the rules of joint ventures. Tax authorities, however, consider it a pass-through entity with its own tax personality: it determines its own profit, may opt for corporate tax, is liable for VAT on behalf of its members and conducts tax procedures in its own name. This fiscal personality requires accrual accounting, even though contractual flexibility remains higher than under a SELARL or a SELAS.
How to move from BNC to SELARL or SELAS#
The conversion is prepared twelve to eighteen months before the target date. Recently, a Paris tax lawyer asked us to convert a 380,000 euro individual practice into a SELARL: our projection showed that a calibrated manager s remuneration combined with measured dividends, after social contributions on the portion exceeding 10 % of capital, share premium and partner current account, stabilised personal cash flow without weakening CNBF pension coverage. The operating sequence is the following:
- Confirm fit between the practice project and the target form with the bar council.
- Build a three-year forecast covering fees, expenses, remuneration, dividends and contributions.
- Value the clientele or professional practice contributed in kind.
- Draft articles compliant with the RIN and the relevant local bar internal regulation.
- File the file with the bar council for statute review and registration.
- Incorporate the company and organise the BNC-to-IS accounting shift.
- Anticipate inbound and outbound electronic invoicing by September 2026.
SPFPL holding and the new interprofessional SEL#
The Societe de participations financieres de profession liberale (SPFPL) remains a powerful patrimonial tool in 2026. It holds the shares of the operating SEL, collects dividends under the near-exemption parent-subsidiary regime (95 % exempt, 5 % added back), and supports later transmission through the Dutreil pact. For a firm planning a family handover or a partial MBO, interposing an SPFPL must be arbitrated before reserves grow, not once the valuation has soared.
Ordinance 2023-77 also opened the door to interprofessional SELs among legal professions. Concretely, a law firm may now take capital alongside a notary or a judicial officer, provided a practising lawyer remains a partner and each profession s ethics rules are respected. The CNB strictly supervises these structures and demands strict client-fund segregation: CARPA for lawyers, dedicated accounting for notaries.
Edge cases: tax lawyer, business law firm, interprofessional structure#
- Solo or small-team tax lawyer. The classic SELARL is often the most efficient: optimisable manager s remuneration, self-employed regime, preserved CNBF coverage, cleaner accounting for tax audits than a salaried-equivalent vehicle. A SCM can complete the setup to share office space or a secretariat.
- Multi-partner business law firm. Beyond three operating partners, the SELAS often wins: more flexible general meetings, governance tunable by articles, possibility to bring in a minority SPFPL investor, executive pension for president partners. The higher social cost is offset by decision clarity and easier partner exit.
- Interprofessional SEL. The structure opened by ordinance 2023-77 lets lawyers team up capitalistically with other legal professions under one corporate roof. The risk to manage is voting-right allocation and documentation of ethics rules: a prior review with the CNB and the relevant chamber prevents a late blockage at registration.
Our chartered accountant s view#
At Hayot Expertise we systematically compare three ten-year scenarios: keeping the individual BNC, converting to SELARL with or without SPFPL, converting to SELAS with SPFPL for all three partners. On the engagements we run, SELAS beats SELARL as soon as the firm exceeds three operating partners or whenever a minority SPFPL investor becomes a credible prospect. The reason is simple: SELARL requires a majority management that becomes politically constraining once a new partner generation gains weight, whereas SELAS lets partners redistribute powers by statute amendment without changing the president s social regime.
The classic trap is to confuse AARPI and SELARL. The AARPI has no legal personality; its partners stay taxed as BNC unless the structure opts for IS. The SELARL is a corporate-tax legal person that pays VAT and settles its own taxes. Converting an AARPI into a SELARL therefore implies a contribution in kind of the clientele, a contradictory valuation and the bar council s approval. This step must never be treated as a simple administrative formality.
Hayot Expertise tip. Launch the three-scenario simulation as soon as the firm exceeds 250,000 euros of annual fees or when a serious partnership prospect appears. Document in writing the chosen status, the supporting articles, the shareholders agreement when relevant and the CARPA fund mapping. The structure is chosen for ten years: better invest three months of analysis upfront than convert an AARPI into a SELAS under pressure when a new partner arrives.
Key takeaways#
- Ordinance 2023-77 of 8 February 2023 overhauled the SEL framework and has applied to articles since 1 September 2024.
- SELARL fits structures up to three operating partners; SELAS wins beyond that threshold.
- AARPI offers maximum flexibility but is fragile when a partner leaves: document exit rules.
- An SPFPL should be considered before the SEL reserves grow, not afterwards.
- Any creation or conversion requires bar council review of the articles before registration.
- Inbound B2B electronic invoicing becomes mandatory for every law firm from 1 September 2026.
Go further#
- 2026 BNC form 2035 guide
- account 467 and third-party balances
- corporate tax deductible expenses
- SARL tax regime in 2026
- SASU versus EURL
- accounting support
- secure company setup legal work
- bookkeeping and review
- 2026 law firm BNC SELARL CARPA guide
- accounting support for law firms
- Power BI dashboards for law firms
Official Sources Used#
- impots.gouv.fr - Calendrier de la réforme de la facturation électronique
- Service-Public Entreprendre - Choisir la forme juridique de son entreprise
- Service-Public Entreprendre - SELARL, ce qu il faut savoir
- impots.gouv.fr - Formulaire 2035-SD, revenus non commerciaux
- Legifrance - Ordonnance n 2023-77 du 8 février 2023 relative à l exercice en société des professions libérales réglementées
- Conseil national des barreaux - Sociétés de professions libérales réglementées, conditions d encadrement
- Conseil national des barreaux - Guide de l exercice en association d avocats (association et AARPI)
- BOFiP - BNC, régimes sectoriels, associations d avocats
Current as of 3 May 2026.
Frequently asked questions
Quelle structure juridique choisir pour un avocat qui s installe seul en 2026 ?
Pour un avocat solo qui débute, l exercice individuel en BNC reste souvent le plus adapté la première année. Il évite les coûts de création et la complexité sociétaire tant que les honoraires sont en construction. Dès que les honoraires dépassent 80 000 à 100 000 euros annuels et que les charges déductibles dépassent 34 %, le régime réel de la déclaration 2035 s impose. Le passage en SELARL ou SELAS devient pertinent au-delà de 150 000 à 200 000 euros si une rémunération régulière doit être versée et si la pression fiscale à l IR devient pénalisante.
Quelle différence fiscale entre SELARL et SELAS pour un avocat ?
Les deux formes sont soumises à l impôt sur les sociétés par défaut. La différence principale tient au régime social du dirigeant. Dans une SELARL, le gérant majoritaire est travailleur non salarié (TNS) avec environ 40 à 45 % de cotisations sur la rémunération nette, dont les caisses CNBF. Dans une SELAS, le président est assimilé salarié avec environ 65 à 75 % de cotisations sur le brut, avec la retraite des cadres en complément de la CNBF. La SELAS coûte donc plus cher socialement mais offre une couverture chômage et retraite plus protectrice. Les dividendes versées à un gérant majoritaire de SELARL sont soumis aux cotisations sociales au-delà de 10 % du capital, des primes d émission et du compte courant d associé ; les dividendes de SELAS sont uniquement soumis au prélèvement forfaitaire unique de 31,4 %.
L AARPI est-elle une société au sens juridique ?
Non. L AARPI (Association d Avocats à Responsabilité Professionnelle Individuelle) n a pas de personnalité morale. La Cour de cassation l a confirmée dans un arrêt du 8 mars 2023 en l assimilant à une société créée de fait soumise au régime des sociétés en participation. Elle dispose en revanche d une personnalité fiscale : elle détermine son propre résultat, peut opter pour l IS, est redevable de la TVA en lieu et place de ses membres et suit les procédures fiscales en propre. Chaque associé reste responsable individuellement de ses dossiers et engage son propre patrimoine.
Que change l ordonnance n 2023-77 du 8 février 2023 pour les cabinets d avocats ?
L ordonnance n 2023-77 a refondu le statut des sociétés d exercice libéral et est entrée en vigueur le 1er septembre 2024. Elle remplace la loi 90-1258 de 1990 et consolide en un texte unique les règles d exercice en société des professions libérales réglementées. Trois évolutions concernent directement les avocats : la possibilité de détenir le capital d une SEL avec un associé d une autre profession juridique ou judiciaire, la confirmation que les rémunérations techniques des associés de SEL relèvent par principe des BNC, et l obligation pour les SEL existantes d adapter leurs statuts dans le délai d un an après l entrée en vigueur.
Faut-il créer une SPFPL pour détenir une SELARL ou SELAS d avocat ?
La SPFPL (Société de Participations Financières de Profession Libérale) devient utile dès qu un projet de transmission, de regroupement multi-sites ou d entrée d un investisseur familial se dessine. Elle perçoit les dividendes de la SEL en quasi-exonération via le régime mère-fille (95 % exonérés, 5 % réintégrés). Elle facilite aussi la donation des titres aux enfants via un pacte Dutreil. L interposition doit être étudiée avant que les réserves de la SEL ne s accumulent, sinon la valorisation des titres apportés au capital de la SPFPL devient trop élevée pour optimiser la transmission.
Quand basculer une AARPI en SELARL ou SELAS ?
La bascule s impose quand l AARPI montre ses limites : un associé apporte la majorité du chiffre d affaires sans cadre formel de redistribution, un investissement lourd (logiciel de gestion, local, recrutement de collaborateurs salariés) doit être amorti par la structure et non par les personnes, ou un nouvel associé veut entrer avec une valorisation claire. La transformation implique un apport en nature de la clientèle, une évaluation contradictoire, l accord de l Ordre et la rédaction de nouveaux statuts conformes au RIN. Comptez six à neuf mois entre la décision et l immatriculation effective.
Comment l Ordre des avocats valide-t-il les statuts d une SELARL ou SELAS ?
Tout projet de création ou de transformation est soumis au conseil de l Ordre du barreau compétent avant inscription au tableau. Le contrôle porte sur la conformité des statuts au Règlement intérieur national (RIN) et au règlement intérieur du barreau (RIBP pour Paris), sur la répartition du capital et des droits de vote, sur les règles d entrée et de sortie des associés, sur les conditions de rémunération et sur la protection du secret professionnel. Le Conseil national des barreaux (CNB) publie des modèles indicatifs mais chaque dossier reste examiné individuellement.
Article written by Samuel HAYOT
Chartered Accountant, registered with the Institute of Chartered Accountants.
Regulated French accounting and audit firm based in Paris 8, built to support companies across France with a digital and decision-oriented approach.
Sources
Official and operational sources cited for this page.
- impots.gouv.fr - Calendrier de la réforme de la facturation électronique
- Service-Public Entreprendre - Choisir la forme juridique de son entreprise
- Service-Public Entreprendre - SELARL, ce qu il faut savoir
- impots.gouv.fr - Formulaire 2035-SD, revenus non commerciaux
- Legifrance - Ordonnance n 2023-77 du 8 février 2023 relative à l exercice en société des professions libérales réglementées
- Conseil national des barreaux - Sociétés de professions libérales réglementées, conditions d encadrement
- Conseil national des barreaux - Guide de l exercice en association d avocats (association et AARPI)
- BOFiP - BNC, régimes sectoriels, associations d avocats
This topic is part of our service Company formation in France | SASU, SAS, SARL
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