Samuel HAYOT
Chartered Accountant
Pre-sale dividend, cash left in the price, or a holding-company contribution: the fate of excess cash is decided before the letter of intent, and the gap runs into tens of thousands of euros. A French chartered accountant's method.
Holding company, LMNP, startup, outsourced CFO: discover why a specialist accountant delivers far more than a generalist or an online accounting software.
Luxury watches, fine wine, premium leather goods: high-end business gifts in France are subject to layered tax rules. Deductibility under Article 39 of the French General Tax Code, VAT recovery limits, URSSAF thresholds, and form 2067 obligations.
The mandatory legal notices on a professional website in 2026 (editor, host, mediation, GDPR) and the penalties for non-compliance.
A 7-step method for building a coherent, legally sound salary structure in France: job classification, internal equity analysis, market benchmarking, SMIC and collective-agreement minima, gender pay-gap compliance (Rixain Law 2022), EU pay-transparency readiness (Directive 2023/970), and annual update discipline. A practical framework for any SME that takes governance seriously.
Vesting period, cliff, good and bad leaver clauses: how founder vesting protects a startup when a cofounder leaves early, and what to anticipate on the cap table.
The scissor effect erodes your margin silently: costs rise faster than revenue. How to spot it early using the income-statement intermediate balances and the EBITDA-style margin, and how to act before operating profit slips.
When a contract changes provider, the staff follow. What Annex VII of the cleaning agreement changes for your payroll, your social liabilities and your margin by site.
Is a DPO mandatory for your business? GDPR Article 37 sets out three specific triggers — none linked to headcount. For SMEs outside those cases, the real question is whether voluntary appointment makes operational sense. This article covers the legal thresholds, the DPO's core missions, the internal versus external versus shared comparison, applicable sanctions, and a practical decision framework for 2026.
First contact, documents to prepare, how the introductory meeting works, engagement letter and onboarding: everything a business founder, director or freelancer needs to know before booking an appointment with a French accountant.
How long and how to retain your digital documents (invoices, contracts, payroll) to ensure they remain admissible as evidence in tax audits or disputes.
The mandatory self-employed regime covers health and work interruption poorly: limited daily benefits and weak disability cover. Complementary health insurance and income protection, both tax-deductible, fill this gap.
Since 1 January 2023, all French company registration formalities go through the INPI guichet unique. This guide covers each step — legal structure, domiciliation, documents, filing — and the mistakes that cause delays.
Cost price, perceived value, target margin: our firm's method for setting your prices or daily rate at launch, without sacrificing profitability from the very first invoice.
Four families of financial ratios are enough to diagnose a company: profitability, structure, liquidity and activity. Formulas, reading benchmarks and sector comparison for an owner.
Bread at 5.5%, an eat-in sandwich at 10%, chocolate at 20%: why one display window mixes three VAT rates, and how to split the till without inviting an inspection.
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