Starting a business in France in 2026: the complete pillar guide

This guide is written for expats and foreign founders by a French CPA, an English-speaking accountant in Paris, with practical focus on accounting in France, French corporate tax, business setup in France and French payroll.

You want to start a business in France in 2026? Welcome to the most comprehensive pillar guide dedicated to this topic, written by Samuel HAYOT, English-speaking French CPA in Paris 8th, drawing on 200+ founder cases over the past 5 years.

This guide centralises everything you need to know: legal form choice, formalities, banking, taxation, social protection, grants, post-setup. It links to our 9 specialised guides for deep dives, and includes interactive tools (simulators, calculators) to model your project in real time.

Promise: by the end of this guide, you will know exactly which legal form to pick, how much it costs, how to optimise your compensation, which grants to apply for, and how to set up your company in 2-6 weeks.

1. Step 0: validate the business opportunity
2. Step 1: pick the right legal form
3. Step 2: tax election IR vs IS
4. Step 3: director social protection
5. Step 4: incorporate (INPI single window)
6. Step 5: 2026 grants and financing
7. Step 6: post-setup obligations
8. Special cases: foreigner, employed, jobseeker
9. Fatal mistakes to avoid
10. How Hayot Expertise helps

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Before any incorporation, 3 documents are essential:

1. Market study (1-2 weeks) — market size, 5-year trend, competitors, pricing, ICP
2. Financial business plan (1 week with CPA) — 3-year P&L, 36-month cash flow, financing plan, documented assumptions
3. Year-1 cost budget — equipment, capital + setup fees, rent, director cost (TNS 30-45% or employee-equivalent ~80%), CPA + insurance + bank, marketing

If any of these is missing, stop: 60% of business setup failures stem from insufficient preparation.

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The most structuring decision — 80% of your future taxation depends on it.

Detailed guides#

• Set up a SASU step by step
• Set up an EURL — solo guide
• Set up a micro-entreprise
• SAS / SASU / SARL / EURL comparison
• Set up a rental SCI
• Family SCI & transmission
• Holding vs SCI comparison
• Set up a French company as a foreigner

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2026 rule of thumb: opt for IS at €40-50k+ expected profit or MTR ≥ 30%.

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TNS regime (majority gérant SARL/EURL, EI, micro)#

• Contributions 30-45% of net compensation
• No unemployment (private cover Macif/AMA/GSC)
• Limited daily allowances
• Pension based on income

Employee-equivalent (SAS/SASU presidents, minority gérant SARL)#

• Contributions ~80% of gross (employer + employee)
• No unemployment either (unless employee + officer)
• General regime pension + IJ
• Mandatory payslips

Numbers (€50k net compensation)#

• TNS: ~€17-22k contributions
• Employee-equivalent: ~€38-42k contributions
• Difference: ~€20k/year

Our director compensation simulator compares both regimes for your profile.

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Total timeline: 2-6 weeks (24-72h INPI)#

Official costs#

With CPA support#

• Simple bylaws (solo SASU/EURL): €800-1,200 excl. VAT
• Complex bylaws (multi-SAS, SCI, SELARL): €1,500-2,500 excl. VAT

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1. ACRE — 50-100% Y1 social charges exemption (jobseekers, < 26, RSA recipients)
2. ARCE — 60% capital of unemployment rights in 2 instalments
3. NACRE — 3-year mentoring + 0% loan up to €8,000
4. Honour loan — Initiative France, Réseau Entreprendre, 0% rate, up to €50,000
5. Bpifrance — setup loan up to €75,000, guarantees, innovation grants
6. Regional grants — PM'up Île-de-France, CRE, Hauts'Up, etc. up to €50,000

Stack potential: > €100k over 3 years for a strong dossier.

Fundraising (tech startup)#

• Pre-seed: €100-500k (BA, micro-funds)
• Seed: €500k - €3M (Bpifrance, early-stage VC)
• Series A: €3-15M (French + EU VCs)
• Tools: BSPCE for talents, AGA, BSA for investors

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1. Balance sheet + accounts within 6 months of fiscal year-end
2. Approval by AGM or sole-member decision
3. Filing with registry within 1 month
4. Tax filing 2065 (IS) / 2031 (IR) by 2nd business day after May 1
5. VAT monthly or quarterly
6. CFE before December 15
7. CVAE if turnover > €500k
8. DSN monthly if employees
9. Document retention 10 years

Annual CPA fees#

CPA pricing guide 2026.

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Setting up while employed#

• Check non-compete / exclusivity clauses
• Loyalty duty to employer
• Available: business creation leave (1 year renewable) or part-time

Setting up while jobseeker#

• Maintain ARE (70%) if creation income limited
• OR ARCE (60% capital in 2 instalments)
• • ACRE (Y1 exemption)
• Optimal: resign → ARE → micro-entreprise → ARCE → 18-24-month bootstrap

Foreigner setting up in France#

• EU/EEA/Swiss: full freedom
• Non-EU: free to create/own, visa needed to reside and operate (Talent Passport)
• Impatriation regime (article 155 B): up to 30% salary + 50% foreign passive income exempt, 8 years

See our complete guide for foreign founders.

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1. Setup without costed business plan → 60% failure rate
2. Wrong legal form → €5-15k/year tax surcharge
3. €1 capital → bank decline, no fundraising
4. Generic copy-paste bylaws → litigation, lost tax optimisation
5. Forgetting ACRE/ARCE within 45 days
6. Mixing personal/pro accounts → URSSAF requalification
7. No CPA Y1 → wrong filings, penalties
8. Distributing dividends without modelling → TNS contribution surprise
9. Under-declaring micro-entreprise revenue → URSSAF audit
10. No RC pro insurance → unlimited personal exposure

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A poorly prepared business setup costs an average of €15-50k over 3 years (overtaxation, wrong structure, missed opportunities).

Our complete setup service — Paris#

• Free 45-min audit: legal form choice, tax simulation, stackable grants
• 3-scenario modelling: SASU vs EURL vs micro
• Tailored bylaws (FR or EN, optimised clauses)
• INPI / bank / insurance / visa coordination
• First tax filing included
• 12-month post-setup support

Pricing: €800 excl. VAT (standard SASU/EURL) to €2,500 excl. VAT (multi-SAS / SCI) — see our Paris business creation service page.

Book my free audit (45 min)

• Director compensation simulator — TNS vs employee-equivalent
• Employer cost calculator
• CIR / JEI startup simulator
• Mileage allowance simulator

• service-public.fr — Business creation
• INPI — Single window
• URSSAF — Self-employed contributions
• BOFiP — Tax regimes
• Bpifrance — Setup encyclopedia
• France Travail — ACRE/ARCE/NACRE
• Legifrance — Commercial code

Pillar guide updated May 7, 2026 by Samuel HAYOT, French CPA registered with the Paris Île-de-France Order. Quarterly updates per regulatory changes.