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Paris 8 · Monceau · serving international businesses across France

English-speaking accountant in Paris

By Samuel Hayot — chartered accountant (OEC Paris–IDF) + statutory auditor (CRCC) · 12+ years serving international groups in France · Updated

Hayot Expertise is an English-speaking accountant in Paris: a French chartered firm (OEC + CRCC) working entirely in English with international businesses, French subsidiaries of foreign groups and scale-ups. Statutory accounting, IFRS bridge, payroll, VAT, R&D tax credit and audit sign-off — same firm, same English-speaking partner. Paris office, remote-first model across France and Europe.

5/5 · 39 verified Google reviews
OEC + CRCC member firm
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What you get in those 10 minutes

  • Your group structure mapped to French obligations
  • Immediate compliance bottlenecks flagged
  • A definitive action plan to act on — no obligation
  • Reply under 24 working hours
  • Fixed-fee engagement letter
  • Pennylane + Dext digital workflow
  • No hand-off — same partner year-round
35+
Foreign subsidiaries served
39
Verified Google reviews
< 24h
Reply SLA — contractual
5 days
Typical onboarding
€240k
Cumulative 8-year impatriate saving

In short

An English-speaking accountant in Parisis a French chartered accountant (expert-comptable, OEC + CRCC) who keeps your French entity's statutory books and delivers every report — monthly close packs, board memos, VAT and tax filings — in English. Hayot Expertise works exclusively with businesses that have a French legal entity: foreign-headquartered groups, international scale-ups and French companies with non-French boards. We do not handle individual expat personal tax returns. Delivery is remote-first through Pennylane: businesses in Paris and across France get the same service and the same fixed fee in every French department.

Foreign groups we serve in Paris

B2B-only positioning. We work with groups headquartered abroad and their French entities — not individual expat personal tax returns.

US

US scale-ups & subsidiaries

Delaware C-Corps, US groups, SaaS scale-ups (Series A–C). We bridge French GAAP to US GAAP / IFRS, model RSU and BSPCE plans, prep your Big 4 group auditor pack.

UK

UK groups post-Brexit

PLC / Ltd companies setting up French operations after Brexit. We handle VAT registration, post-Brexit OSS / IOSS, A1 certificates for cross-border employees and UK GAAP to French statutory bridge.

DE

German Mittelstand & DACH groups

GmbH / AG groups expanding into France. HGB-to-French-GAAP reconciliation, transfer-pricing files aligned with Verrechnungspreise documentation, monthly board packs in English (or German on request).

IL

Israeli tech & dual-listed groups

Israeli HQs with French R&D centres and SaaS sales offices. CIR (R&D credit up to 30%), JEI status, Pennylane multi-entity views, coordination with OCS and tax authority in English.

Also serving groups headquartered in Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Italy and Spain, and French entities whose boards work in English wherever they sit.

What changes when your French accountant works in your team's language

What an English-speaking chartered accountant brings to your French entity

Every French chartered accountant can keep your books. The point of choosing an English-speakingone is not the credential — it's what changes in your day-to-day operations, your group reporting, and your due-diligence readiness. Here's what a bilingual partner removes from your calendar and your risk register.

One conversation, one language

No translator between your CFO and your French accountant. No "lost in translation" on a transfer-pricing memo, no ambiguous email thread on a tax position. You read what we write, you reply, we act — same day.

Deliverables your auditors use as-is

Monthly close pack, board memo, tax-audit response, transfer-pricing dossier — every document drafted in English. Your PwC London or KPMG New York team consumes them without a re-translation step.

French jargon mapped to your business vocabulary

URSSAF, CFE, CIR, BSPCE, article 155 B, liasse fiscale 2065, Greffe — none of these mean anything to a US or UK director. We explain each one in terms you already use (payroll tax, R&D credit, stock plan, corporate tax return, companies house).

Direct line to your home-country accountant

We pick up the phone in English with your US tax preparer, your UK auditor, your German group controller. No game of telephone, no slowdown on treaty positions, foreign tax credits or intercompany eliminations.

Same English-speaking partner year-round

You don&apos;t get a French-speaking junior who escalates anything complex. Samuel Hayot — chartered accountant + statutory auditor (OEC + CRCC) — owns your file directly. Slack, Teams, email, video — all in English, all with the same person.

Due-diligence in English on day one

When you raise, exit or pass an audit, the buyer&apos;s diligence team reads every memo, every position, every contract in English from a single repository. No translation sprint at the worst possible moment.

Why I built this practice

I'm Samuel Hayot — French chartered accountant (Expert-Comptable, OEC Paris) and statutory auditor (Commissaire aux Comptes, CRCC). For 12+ years I've watched foreign-headquartered groups in Paris pay French firms twice: once for the work, once for the translation. I built Hayot Expertise so that the English-speaking founder, the US group controller, the UK board chair never again receive a tax-audit notification they can't read on their phone.

The point isn't that I speak English. The point is that my entire workflow — close pack templates, memo library, audit-response routines, tax authority correspondence — runs in English by default. French version included, never the other way around.

How to choose an English-speaking accountant in France

Four checks separate a firm that genuinely works in English from one that merely takes calls in English. First, verify the registration: only an expert-comptable listed in the public directory of the Ordre des experts-comptables may legally keep books for third parties in France. Second, ask for a sample deliverable: "English spoken" on a website says nothing about the language of the monthly close pack. Third, if you report to a parent company, test group-reporting capability (IFRS or US GAAP bridge, intercompany files). Fourth, require a fixed fee in writing: the engagement letter (lettre de mission) is mandatory in France and should leave no room for hourly surprises.

The table sums up what changes in practice between a traditional French-first firm and an English-first model like ours.

Typical French-first firm vs English-first firm: what changes in practice
What to compareTypical French-first firmEnglish-first firm (our model)
Monthly close packFrench statutory formats; your team translates for the groupDrafted in English by default, French statutory version included
Who answers your group auditorYou do, after a translation round-tripWe do, directly, in English
Translation cost and delayExternal translation billed on every memo and board packNone: board, controller and auditors consume deliverables as-is
Tax-authority lettersForwarded to you raw, in FrenchExplained in plain English with a recommended action
Pricing modelOften hourly, with year-end surprisesFixed fee agreed in writing before the engagement starts

If your group operates day-to-day in French and mainly needs a regulated expert-comptable for a foreign-owned entity, our French-first service is the better fit: see French CPA for foreign companies.

English-speaking accountant for businesses with a French entity

Our hub is built for companies that already have — or are creating — a legal entity in France. We work in English daily with foreign groups, scale-ups and bilingual founders. Individual expat personal-tax matters (US-France treaty, FBAR) sit in our dedicated practice.

Foreign-headquartered groups setting up a French subsidiary

You are a US, UK, German, Swiss or Israeli group launching a SAS, SARL or branch in France. We handle incorporation at the Greffe, VAT registration, social contributions onboarding (URSSAF, AGS) and the first English-reported closing — all coordinated with your global CFO and legal counsel.

See entity setup

International scale-ups expanding into France

Series A to C with founders or boards based outside France. We manage statutory accounting, payroll for French and impatriate employees, R&D tax credit (CIR up to 30%), VAT one-stop-shop and quarterly board packs. Pennylane multi-entity views give your finance team live consolidation data.

Explore startup support

French entities with non-French shareholders or boards

You run a French SAS, holding or family office whose shareholders, directors or auditors operate in English. We deliver every deliverable in both French and English: statutory accounts, board packs, transfer-pricing memos, year-end auditor coordination — without translation gaps or duplicated work.

Holding & investor reporting
Premium B2B specialization

Built for scaling entities reporting into a foreign group

Our infrastructure — IFRS bridges, parent reporting, intercompany files and in-house audit sign-off — is built for a real French entity that has to satisfy a global CFO, a board and a group auditor in English. That focus is what makes us the right partner for a group, and an honest mismatch for a simple individual filing.

If you only need a personal income-tax return, an online volume firm will serve you faster and more cheaply, and that is a different job. We deliberately specialise so the work a scaling group needs is done by the same English-speaking partner from day one.

IFRS & US GAAP bridges by default

Every close ships with a French-GAAP-to-group-standard reconciliation. That machinery is built for an entity consolidating into a parent — not for a one-off personal return.

Parent reporting in your group template

Monthly board packs, intercompany breakdowns and multi-currency views, delivered in English for a group finance function.

Intercompany & transfer-pricing files

Documented management fees, royalties and cost-plus arrangements aligned with OECD guidelines — a B2B discipline, not a consumer service.

Statutory audit (CAC) sign-off in-house

When a scaling entity crosses the audit thresholds, our CRCC-registered auditor signs off — same firm, same English-speaking partner.

Need a personal US-France return (1040, FBAR, FATCA)? That is a different job — see our dedicated US-clients practice.

Individuals, freelancers and expats: where you fit

Searches for an English-speaking accountant mix two very different needs: running a company and filing personal taxes. Here is the honest routing, so you land with the right specialist first time.

Freelancer or contractor with a French company

You invoice through your own SASU or EURL and need books, VAT and payslips handled in English. That is squarely in scope: the same fixed-fee model applies from a one-person company upwards, with the same partner and the same SLA.

US citizen with personal filings (1040, FBAR, FATCA)

Personal US-France tax is a different job from company accounting, with its own treaty mechanics and its own workflow.

See our practice for US clients in Paris

Personal French income-tax return only

If you are an employee with no company and simply need the annual French return filed, we are honestly not the right fit: a volume online firm will serve you faster and at lower cost. Bookmark us for the day you incorporate.

English-language accounting, tax and payroll services in Paris

Every deliverable comes in both French (for legal filings) and English (for your group, board and auditors).

Statutory accounting & French GAAP

Bookkeeping under French GAAP (PCG), monthly closings, annual statutory accounts (liasse fiscale 2065), filing at the Greffe — explained in English so your parent company and auditors stay in control.

IFRS bridge & parent reporting

Reconciliation French GAAP → IFRS or US GAAP, monthly reporting packs in your group template, intercompany eliminations, multi-currency views. We talk directly with your group controller.

VAT, transfer pricing & tax compliance

French VAT registration, intra-EU OSS/IOSS returns, corporate tax (IS) optimisation, transfer-pricing documentation aligned with OECD guidelines, withholding tax on dividends and royalties.

Payroll for French and international staff

Payslips, DPAE, employment contracts, BSPCE plans, payroll for impatriate executives (article 155 B CGI), expat health & retirement schemes, redundancy modelling — full English documentation.

R&D tax credit (CIR) & innovation

Eligibility review for CIR (30% of R&D spend) and CII for SMEs, dossier preparation, defence in case of tax audit, JEI / Young Innovative Company status. Particularly relevant for tech and biotech subsidiaries.

Statutory audit & sign-off (CAC)

When your French entity exceeds the audit thresholds, our CRCC-registered auditor signs off your accounts — same firm, same English-speaking partner, no hand-off to a third party.

Differentiator

Monthly parent reporting that your group controller actually uses

Most French firms hand you a French-GAAP balance sheet and let you do the bridging. We don't. Your monthly close lands in your group template, in your reporting standard, with the footnotes and intercompany breakdown your global CFO expects.

We talk directly with your group controller, not through a translator. Quarterly board calls in English are part of the engagement — same partner, no escalation chain.

  • Group reporting template

    We map French GAAP accounts to your group P&L, balance sheet and cash-flow lines from day one.

  • IFRS / US GAAP bridge

    Lease accounting (IFRS 16), revenue recognition (IFRS 15 / ASC 606), goodwill — explicit reconciliation memo each close.

  • Multi-currency P&L

    Pennylane multi-entity and multi-currency views give your finance team live consolidation data.

  • Intercompany & transfer pricing

    Documented management fees, royalties, cost-plus arrangements aligned with OECD guidelines.

  • Auditor coordination

    We deal directly with PwC, EY, KPMG, Deloitte, Mazars and Grant Thornton on your group audit requests.

Common foreign-group tax scenarios — French statutory vs group reporting

A snapshot of the typical situations we resolve every quarter for international clients. Each row maps the French statutory treatment to the parent-reporting impact and our usual delivery cadence.

Common foreign-group situations we handle weekly
SituationFrench statutory treatmentGroup-reporting impactTypical timing
New US sub, year 1 lossesCarry-forward losses indefinitely under ISIFRS deferred tax asset memo for parent closeClosing + memo within 30 days
UK group, dividend up-streamWithholding tax under the France–UK tax treaty (Art. 11) since Brexit; 0% only where Art. 119 ter CGI conditions are met — fact-dependent, not automaticBooking timing for parent close, treaty form completionQuarterly
German Mittelstand acquisitionPPA under French GAAP + goodwill impairment testHGB-to-IFRS bridge memo, group consolidation noteWithin 12 months of acquisition
Multi-country VAT (OSS / IOSS)OSS registration via French portalSingle quarterly return, transaction-level export to parent ERPQuarterly
French entity exceeds audit thresholdsStatutory audit (CAC) mandatory — sign-off filed at GreffeIn-house CRCC partner — same firm, no hand-off to a third partyWithin 6 months of FY end

Indicative summary. Each engagement is scoped against your actual group structure, fiscal year and parent-reporting standard.

For founders & impatriate executives

Running a French company as an English-speaking founder or impatriate director

If you set up a French SAS or moved to Paris as an executive, the impatriate regime (article 155 B of the French Tax Code) can exempt up to 50% of your impatriation premium from income tax for eight years. We handle the company side: payroll, BSPCE plans, dividends, social contributions on directors' salaries.

Personal tax filings (US Form 1040, FBAR, FATCA, UK self-assessment) are handled by partner firms we coordinate with — or our dedicated practice for US clients in Paris.

Anonymised client case

VP Engineering, US tech scale-up — Paris assignment 2024

€240,000 total compensation

  • •Base salary €180k + bonus €60k + RSU vesting
  • •Eligible: no French residence in 5 prior years, employee status, household in Paris by Q3
  • •Elected: 30% flat-rate impatriation premium (€72k exempt) over actual €60k bonus
Year-1 French income-tax saved
~€30,000
Foreign workdays exemption (US HQ trips ~30 days/yr)
~€18,000 extra
Projected 8-year cumulative saving
~€240,000
Hayot fee for impatriate modelling + monthly close
included in package

Representative case based on a 2024 engagement. Actual savings and operational figures depend on individual compensation, family status, foreign-workdays share, entity complexity and the state of the prior firm's records.

The same scale-up: before and after switching to a bilingual firm

The tax saving above sat alongside an operational one. Here is what changed for the US subsidiary's finance function once reporting moved into English.

Before

  • Reporting delivered in French only — the US group controller re-translated every close
  • Month-end pack landed 15+ working days late, blocking the parent consolidation
  • External translation billed on every board memo and tax position
  • Constant re-keying between the French ledger and the group ERP

After Hayot Expertise

  • Onboarded onto Pennylane + Dext in 5 working days
  • Bilingual monthly close pack delivered by working day 5
  • Direct English line to the group controller — no intermediary
  • Automated feeds (Stripe, Qonto, Silae) — zero re-keying
15+ → 5
Days to close
~20h
Finance hours saved / month
~€8,000
Annual translation cost removed

Onboarding an English-speaking French accountant — 4-step process

From discovery call to first English close pack in five working days.

  1. 1

    10-Minute Diagnostic Flash (free)

    A focused 10-minute video call in English with Samuel Hayot. We map your group structure, flag your immediate French compliance bottlenecks, and hand you a definitive action plan — before any quote or commitment.

  2. 2

    Tailored engagement letter

    Fixed-fee proposal in English (or French + English) detailing scope, deliverables, SLA and review cadence. No hidden hourly billing surprises.

  3. 3

    Onboarding in 5 working days

    Pennylane and Dext set-up, banking integrations, recovery of historical accounts, introductions to URSSAF / DGFiP / Greffe contacts, payroll cut-over.

  4. 4

    Monthly cadence — bilingual

    English monthly close pack, quarterly board call with your group controller, annual statutory accounts, year-round Slack / email support under 24h.

Samuel Hayot, English-speaking chartered accountant and statutory auditor in Paris
Who actually does the work

You work directly with the partner who signs your accounts

Hayot Expertise is deliberately partner-led. Samuel Hayot, chartered accountant ( OEC Paris–IDF) and statutory auditor ( CRCC), owns every file personally: the person who answers your Slack message is the person who signs your statutory accounts. No juniors learning on your dossier, no call-centre, no escalation chain.

In a market where larger firms rotate staff every year, that continuity is the point: your group's history, tax positions and reporting quirks stay in one head, in English, year after year.

Coverage

English-speaking accountant for French entities across France

Our office is in Paris 8 (Monceau) but our delivery model is remote-first. Through Pennylane multi-entity views, Dext for receipt capture and Slack / Teams for daily collaboration, we serve French subsidiaries of foreign groups regardless of where in France the entity is registered.

In practice, our clients are headquartered in Paris, Lyon, Bordeaux, Marseille, Nice, Toulouse, Lille, Nantes, Strasbourg and Rennes — plus a long tail of clients with no physical French staff (registered office at our address). Quarterly board calls happen on video; in-person meetings in Paris are always available.

For statutory in-person obligations (capital deposit, Greffe filings, tax-audit hearings, URSSAF on-site audits), we coordinate locally — either directly when the entity is in Île-de-France, or via our partner network of OEC-registered firms in the relevant department.

  • Paris HQ

    58 rue de Monceau, 75008 — main office, daily walk-in availability

  • Île-de-France

    Direct in-person coverage across all 8 departments

  • Rest of France

    Remote-first via Pennylane / Dext / Slack — same SLA, same partner

  • Cross-border

    EU clients (DE, IT, ES, BE, NL) and UK / US / IL groups — async-friendly workflow

Three physical offices in France

For groups that want a face-to-face partner in addition to remote delivery. In-person meetings available at all three locations.

Main office

Paris 8 — Monceau

58 rue de Monceau, 75008 Paris

Métro Monceau (2) · Courcelles (2)

Walk-in availability Monday–Friday for foreign-group teams visiting Paris.

East metro

Noisy-le-Sec

Seine-Saint-Denis, eastern Paris metro

RER E · Tram T1

Second office serving clients in the 93 / 94 / 77 departments.

French Riviera

Cannes

Côte d’Azur — southern France

Cannes city centre

Riviera coverage for tech founders, hospitality groups and EMEA-based executives.

Looking for English-speaking accountants in France, not just Paris?

Most searches for English-speaking accountants in France surface Paris firms and expat directories. In practice, location matters far less than registration: any expert-comptable registered with the Ordre can act for an entity registered in any French department, and our delivery model is built for exactly that. Bookkeeping runs on Pennylane, documents flow through Dext, meetings happen on video, and the fixed fee is the same whether your company is registered in Paris, Lyon, Bordeaux or a village in the Dordogne.

What is genuinely hard to find are accountants in France who work in English as their default deliverable language, and who keep the same interlocutor as you grow. Here, the partner who signs your accounts stays your direct contact wherever the entity is registered; statutory in-person obligations (capital deposit, Greffe filings, tax-audit hearings) are coordinated locally through our network of OEC-registered correspondent firms.

Transparent pricing — fixed fees in EUR, agreed in writing

All packages are fixed-fee and exclude VAT (20%). No hidden hourly billing.

Subsidiary Starter

from €390 / month

New French subsidiary, < €500k revenue, 0–5 employees

  • Bookkeeping + monthly close (English)
  • Annual statutory accounts + tax returns
  • VAT returns, payroll up to 5 employees
  • Quarterly call with parent CFO
Most common

Scaling Subsidiary

from €890 / month

Scale-up, €0.5–10M revenue, 5–30 employees

  • Everything in Starter
  • IFRS / US GAAP reporting bridge
  • CIR / CII innovation tax credits
  • Transfer-pricing documentation
  • Monthly board pack in English

Group Reporting

on quote

Multi-entity French perimeter, > €10M revenue or > 30 employees

  • Everything in Scaling
  • Statutory audit (CAC) sign-off in-house
  • Group consolidation support
  • Tax-audit defence, due-diligence prep
  • Direct partner ownership of the file
Glossary

French accounting terms — quick reference for English-speakers

The French accounting and tax terms that come up in every initial call with a foreign group, explained in one line each so your global CFO does not need a translator.

Liasse fiscale 2065
The annual corporate-tax return filed with the DGFiP (French tax authority). Equivalent to a US 1120 or UK CT600, but with French GAAP balance-sheet annexes.
Greffe (Tribunal de Commerce)
The commercial-court registry where statutory accounts are deposited each year — the equivalent of Companies House in the UK or SEC EDGAR filings (for private companies).
URSSAF
The French social-security and payroll-contributions agency. Equivalent to combining IRS payroll taxes + SSA + employer-side ERISA filings into one body.
CFE (Cotisation Foncière des Entreprises)
A local business tax assessed on rental-value of premises used for business activity. Due even by companies with no employees.
CIR (Crédit d’Impôt Recherche)
R&D tax credit equal to 30% of eligible research spend, refundable in cash for SMEs and young innovative companies (JEI).
BSPCE
Bons de Souscription de Parts de Créateur d’Entreprise — French startup employee stock options with a uniquely favourable tax regime when properly structured.
Article 155 B CGI (impatriate regime)
French tax-code article granting up to 50% income-tax exemption on impatriation premium and foreign workdays for up to 8 years, for executives moving to France for work.
CAC (Commissaire aux Comptes)
French statutory auditor — required once an entity exceeds two of three thresholds (€5M revenue, €2.5M total assets, 50 employees). Hayot Expertise has the CRCC-registered auditor in-house.
IS (Impôt sur les Sociétés)
French corporate income tax: 25% standard, with a reduced 15% rate on the first €42,500 of profit for SMEs under €10M revenue with mostly individually-held capital. The equivalent of US federal corporate tax or UK corporation tax.
TVA (Taxe sur la Valeur Ajoutée)
French VAT: standard 20%, plus reduced rates of 10%, 5.5% and 2.1%. Intra-EU B2C sellers file a single quarterly return through the OSS one-stop-shop.
Prélèvement à la source (PAS)
Pay-as-you-earn income-tax withholding deducted from every French payslip and remitted monthly to the tax authority — similar to US or UK PAYE withholding.
K-bis (extrait Kbis)
The official company registration certificate issued by the commercial-court registry — the French equivalent of a Certificate of Incorporation or Good Standing.
SIREN / SIRET
The 9-digit company identifier (SIREN) and 14-digit establishment identifier (SIRET) — France’s company and site registration numbers, quoted on every invoice and statutory filing.
PDP (Plateforme de Dématérialisation Partenaire)
Government-accredited e-invoicing platform. From 1 September 2026 every French-established company must be able to receive electronic invoices through one; issuing becomes mandatory between 2026 and 2027 depending on company size.
Factur-X
The Franco-German hybrid e-invoice format: a human-readable PDF with embedded structured XML data, exchanged through the accredited platforms (PDP) under the 2026 French e-invoicing reform.

2026 French tax and compliance changes foreign-owned entities must know

The four 2026 changes we brief every international client on, and what to do about each.

E-invoicing becomes real on 1 September 2026

Every French-established company must be able to receive electronic invoices through a government-accredited platform (PDP) from 1 September 2026. Issuing becomes mandatory the same day for large and mid-size companies, and on 1 September 2027 for SMEs. Action: connect the entity to a PDP (we run this through Pennylane) and verify its entry in the central directory.

Flat tax on dividends rises to 31.4%

The French flat tax (PFU) on dividends and interest paid to individuals rises from 30% to 31.4% in 2026, following the CSG increase in the 2026 social-security financing law. It concerns founder-shareholders resident in France; dividends up-streamed to a foreign parent follow tax treaties and the EU Parent-Subsidiary Directive instead.

VAT franchise thresholds confirmed

Small entities stay outside VAT below €37,500 of services or €85,000 of goods per year (the planned single €25,000 threshold was abandoned). Relevant for a first French entity in its opening months and for solo founders: crossing the ceiling mid-year triggers registration.

Payroll floor: SMIC at €12.31 per hour

The French minimum wage is €12.31 gross per hour since 1 June 2026, about €1,867 gross per month full-time. Employer social contributions come on top and vary sharply with salary level, so ask for a full employer-cost simulation before budgeting a first French hire.

Key French fiscal deadlines for international subsidiaries

Calendar-year entities — adjust by ±1 month for fiscal-year filers.

  • 1 September 2026

    E-invoicing: every French-established company must be able to receive electronic invoices through an accredited platform (PDP)

  • 15 December 2026

    CFE (local business tax): annual payment deadline

  • 4 May 2027

    Corporate tax return (liasse fiscale 2065) for FY 2026: second working day after 1 May, +15 calendar days when filed electronically

  • 30 June 2027

    AGM approving the FY 2026 accounts (6 months after close); Greffe deposit due within the following month (two months if filed online)

  • 15th–24th of each month

    VAT return (régime réel normal): exact day set by the DGFiP filing schedule

  • Quarterly

    Transfer-pricing documentation review

Insights for foreign-led groups in France

Featured insight

Why Your French Accountant Must Speak English in 2026: Tax, Legal and Operational Risks

A monolingual French accountant is not a neutral choice for a foreign-born director: impatriate regime under-claimed, board minutes misread, board pack ignored. What a genuinely bilingual French practice actually changes in 2026.

Read the article

From foreign founders, group controllers and finance directors who hired us.

Frequently asked questions

Are you a Certified Public Accountant (CPA)?

No — we are a French chartered accounting firm registered with the Order of Chartered Accountants (OEC Paris–IDF) and the National Auditor body (CRCC). This is the European equivalent of a CPA practice and is the qualification recognised by the French tax authorities to sign your statutory accounts.

Can you handle French GAAP to IFRS or US GAAP reconciliation for our parent company?

Yes. We produce a monthly bridge between French GAAP and your group reporting standard (IFRS, US GAAP or a custom group template). We talk directly with your group controller and deliver the pack inside Pennylane or as Excel exports.

Do you provide board packs and monthly close packs in English?

Yes — every monthly close pack, board memo and reporting deliverable is drafted in English by default, with the French statutory version included. Your group controller, board and auditors consume them as-is, with no re-translation step.

Can you coordinate directly with our home-country accountant or group auditor?

Yes. We speak directly in English with your US tax preparer, UK auditor or group controller on treaty positions, foreign tax credits, intercompany eliminations and group audit requests. No intermediary, no game of telephone — which is what keeps cross-border closes on schedule.

Do you sign off statutory accounts and file them at the Greffe in English?

We sign and file the statutory accounts in French (legal requirement at the Tribunal de Commerce) and provide the English version of every deliverable for internal use, board approval and parent reporting.

How fast can you onboard a French subsidiary?

Five working days for a clean set-up: 10-Minute Diagnostic Flash, engagement letter, Pennylane and Dext configuration, banking integrations, payroll cut-over. If we recover historical accounts from another firm, count two to four weeks for the full migration.

Can you act for a French entity that has only a registered office and no local staff?

Yes. A large share of our clients have no physical team in France — the entity is registered at our address or domiciled, and we run the full accounting, VAT and statutory cycle remotely via Pennylane, Dext and Slack / Teams. Your group still gets the same monthly English close pack and the same SLA.

Can you incorporate the French entity for us?

Yes. We coordinate the SAS, SARL or branch creation with the Greffe, draft the bylaws in French (with English translation), file the immatriculation, set up the share-capital bank account and register the company for VAT and social contributions.

Do you handle payroll for impatriate directors under article 155 B CGI?

Yes. Impatriate executives can benefit from up to 50% income-tax exemption on their impatriation premium for eight years. We model the saving, run the dedicated payslips and produce the documentation required by the tax authorities.

Will we have a dedicated point of contact?

Yes, and it is the partner himself. Samuel Hayot, the chartered accountant and statutory auditor who signs your accounts, owns your file personally. You always reach the same person on Slack, Teams or email: no rotating call-centre, no junior handoffs, no escalation chain.

How much does an English-speaking accountant in Paris cost?

Our packages start at €390 per month for a new subsidiary and scale to €1,890+ per month for groups with parent-reporting and audit requirements. Pricing is fixed-fee, agreed upfront in writing, with no hourly surprises.

Do you support Pennylane, Dext, Stripe, Qonto and other tools we already use?

Yes. We are a Pennylane Premium partner and integrate Dext for receipt capture, Stripe / Mollie / Adyen for revenue, Qonto / Revolut / BNP for banking, and Spendesk / Pleo / Ramp for expense management.

Can you assist with a French tax audit?

Yes. We prepare the documentation requested by the French tax authorities, attend the meetings on your behalf, and negotiate the closing position. Two of our clients went through full corporate-tax audits in 2025 with €0 reassessment.

Do you also serve individuals and freelancers?

Our hub serves businesses with a French legal entity. For individual expat tax matters (US-France treaty, FBAR, FATCA, ITIN), we run a dedicated practice — see our Saint-Germain-en-Laye and Paris US-clients page.

Where are your offices and can we meet in person?

Main office: 58 rue de Monceau, 75008 Paris (five minutes from Monceau and Courcelles métro). Second office: Noisy-le-Sec (Seine-Saint-Denis, eastern Paris metro). Riviera office: Cannes — for clients in southern France. We welcome in-person meetings at any of the three and also work fully remotely across France, Europe and the US.

What is the French VAT (TVA) rate in 2026?

Four rates apply in mainland France: standard 20% (most goods and services), intermediate 10% (restaurants, transport, tourism), reduced 5.5% (books, food, energy), and super-reduced 2.1% (medicine, press). Intra-EU B2C sellers use the One-Stop-Shop (OSS) regime — single quarterly return for the whole EU. We handle TVA registration, monthly or quarterly returns and OSS / IOSS for foreign-group subsidiaries.

What is a fiche de paie (French payslip)?

The fiche de paie is the statutory French payslip — every employee receives one each month. It must list gross salary, employee and employer social-security contributions, withholding income tax (prélèvement à la source), net taxable salary and net pay. We run monthly French payslips on Silae with highly-automated imports — variable elements, expense claims and HR feeds flow in without manual re-keying — plus an optional English translation appendix for your foreign HR team.

What is the French corporate-tax (IS) rate in 2026?

Standard rate is 25% on all corporate profits since 2022 (one of the lowest in mainland Europe). Reduced rate of 15% applies to the first €42,500 of profit for SMEs with revenue under €10M and at least 75% individually-held capital. Withholding-tax exemptions exist for dividends remitted under the EU Parent-Subsidiary Directive and most bilateral tax treaties.

How much does an English-speaking accountant cost in France, outside Paris?

The same as in Paris, at least with us: fees are driven by transaction volume, payroll headcount, VAT regime and the group-reporting standard, not by geography. Remote-first delivery means one fixed fee in every French department. Whatever firm you choose, insist on the written fixed-fee quote in the engagement letter before committing.

Can a foreign company work with a French accountant before having a French entity?

Yes. We advise pre-incorporation on the structure (subsidiary versus branch), register foreign companies for French VAT without an establishment where the activity requires it (EU companies directly, non-EU companies through a fiscal representative), and set up payroll for a French-based employee without an establishment through the dedicated URSSAF scheme for foreign firms.

Is hiring an expert-comptable legally mandatory in France?

No law forces a company to appoint one. The legal obligations are to keep compliant books, file the annual accounts and tax returns in French, and appoint a statutory auditor above certain thresholds. Foreign groups appoint a chartered accountant anyway because the expert-comptable is the only profession legally allowed to keep books for third parties, and because getting French filings wrong is expensive.

Can you take over from our current French accountant mid-year?

Yes, at any point in the fiscal year. Notice is contractual (typically three months in the engagement letter; there is no statutory notice), and the handover runs accountant-to-accountant under French professional rules: we send the confraternal takeover letter, recover the ledgers (FEC file), balances and permanent file, and reconcile before the next close. The smoothest switch follows an annual return, but mid-year transfers are routine.

What changes for foreign-owned French companies in 2026?

Four things. E-invoicing: from 1 September 2026 every French-established company must be able to receive electronic invoices through an accredited platform (PDP). The flat tax on dividends paid to individuals rises to 31.4%. The VAT franchise thresholds are confirmed at €37,500 (services) and €85,000 (goods). And the minimum wage (SMIC) is €12.31 gross per hour since 1 June 2026.

How do I verify an English-speaking accountant in France?

Check the public directory of the Ordre des experts-comptables (annuaire.experts-comptables.org): every legitimate firm and partner is listed with its registration. For statutory audit work, check the CNCC directory as well. Then test the English-speaking claim itself: ask for a sample monthly close pack in English. Many accountants in France speak English on calls but still deliver everything in French.

Ready to talk to an English-speaking accountant in Paris?

No obligation, no slide deck. In 10 minutes we map your group structure, flag your immediate French compliance bottlenecks and hand you a definitive action plan.

58 rue de Monceau, 75008 Paris · 06 51 47 43 92

Samuel Hayot, Chartered Accountant registered with the French Order (OEC Paris-IDF)

Written by Samuel Hayot

Chartered Accountant, registered with the Institute of Chartered Accountants. Certified Pennylane trainer.

Regulated French firmUpdated 10 July 20265 sources cited

Regulated French accounting and audit firm based in Paris 8, built to support companies across France with a digital and decision-oriented approach.