The Annual Compliance Calendar for a French Subsidiary

A French subsidiary files more often than most foreign parents expect. To many accountants’ disdain, the dates are set by law rather than by your group’s reporting calendar, and the penalties for missing them are automatic.

Most of the year is relatively stable, except two workload peaks: October-November (preparation for the tax season) and March-June (tax filing season). It is then when the tax return, the tax balance, the local tax instalment and the approval of your annual accounts all land within six weeks of each other. Plan for that stretch with your advisor well and the rest of the year will look smooth.

The year at a glance

Everything below assumes the most common set-up: a simplified joint-stock company (société par actions simplifiée, or SAS) that is registered for VAT, employs people, and closes its financial year on 31 December. If your year-end is different, there is a section on that further down.

Corporation tax: four payments and one return

You pay French corporation tax in four instalments across the year, then settle the difference afterwards. Article 1668 of the Tax Code fixes the instalment dates at 15 March, 15 June, 15 September and 15 December. Each one is calculated from the profit of your last closed financial year, so the amount does not move if this year turns out better or worse than the last.

The return itself is called the liasse fiscale. Article 223 gives you three months from your year-end to file it. Companies closing on 31 December get a different rule: the second working day after 1 May, which in practice falls in the first week of May.

The balance of the tax is then due on the fifteenth day of the fourth month after your year-end. For a December close, that is 15 May.

The local business tax that catches people out

France charges a local business tax on top of corporation tax, the cotisation foncière des entreprises, usually shortened to CFE. It is calculated from the rental value of your premises, which means you can owe it even in a year when you lose money.

Article 1679 quinquies sets two dates. An instalment of half of last year’s bill is due on 31 May, and only if last year’s bill came to €3,000 or more. The rest falls due from 1 December.

This bill is published in your online tax account, and the responsibility for going to look at it is yours - or your advisor’s, if you have one.

Approving the accounts, and then filing them

These are two separate steps with two separate deadlines, and foreign parents often treat them as one.

First the shareholder approves the annual accounts. For a single-shareholder SAS, which is what most foreign groups own, Article L227-9 of the Commercial Code allows six months from the year-end. For a December close, that is 30 June.

The accounts are then filed at the commercial court registry (greffe du tribunal de commerce). Article L232-23 gives you one month from approval, or two months if you file electronically. That makes 31 July, or 31 August if you file online.

Once filed, your accounts are public, and anyone can download them. French law lets some small companies keep part of their accounts private, but Article L232-25 closes that door for you: a company belonging to a group cannot use it. If your French company has a foreign parent, its profit and loss account will be public and there is no way around that.

If your year-end is not 31 December

Some of these dates move with your year-end and some do not.

The ones that move are tied to your closing date: the return three months after it, the balance on the fifteenth of the fourth month after it, approval of the accounts within six months, and filing within one month of approval, or two months online.

The four instalment dates stay where they are, on 15 March, June, September and December, whatever your year-end. However, what changes even for those dates is which financial year each payment belongs to.

Every month: VAT and payroll

Another two filings repeat all year and never appear on an annual calendar, which is why they are easy to forget when you plan.

The VAT return, form CA3, is monthly. The exact day falls between the 15th and the 24th and depends on your company type and your registration number, so check your own date rather than assuming a common one. If you owe less than €4,000 of VAT across a year you can move to quarterly filing.

Payroll is reported through a single monthly payroll declaration, the déclaration sociale nominative, or DSN. It replaced almost every separate payroll declaration France used to require. It falls due on either the 5th or the 15th of the following month, depending on how many people you employ. What an employee costs sets out the contributions behind it.

Your first year works differently

A newly created company pays no corporation tax instalments during its first financial year. Article 1668 says so directly, and the reason is practical: there is no closed year to calculate them from. Your first payment is the balance, after you file your first return.

Note that for your cash flow planning. For example, a company incorporated in March 2026 and closing on 31 December pays no French corporation tax at all until May 2027.

What a missed deadline costs

Filing late adds 10% to the tax due. If the administration sends a formal notice (mise en demeure) and you still do not file within thirty days, that rises to 40%. Article 1728 sets both figures, along with 80% where an activity was never declared at all.

Late payment is penalised separately from late filing, so filing on time does not protect you if the money arrives late.

Where this leaves you

Put the four instalment dates into your group calendar first, then block out March-June as a busy period for your accountants, then stop worrying until the autumn. The pattern repeats every year, and the only part that regularly changes is your own year-end.

If you would like to inquire about your case in France to local experts, feel free to contact KeyPoint International - we are supporting foreign businesses in France in their incorporation and success since 2003.