Investment in France
Since the global dimension can be difficult to control from a legal point of view, our accountants can assist you in this process and more particularly in investing in France. Guaranteeing the effectiveness of its investments on French territory will influence the future of your structure. As a foreign investor, you would need the support of a professional in France aware of figures and law.
Concretely, we support our foreign customers who wish to develop their activity in France without a physical presence on our territory, or on the contrary by declaring a presence in France. Thus, here are the steps taken in these two cases of presence:
Temporary posting of an employee in France
Foreign companies subsidiaries
Branches of foreign companies
Hire employees in France
Outsourcing payments
The IP Box taxation regime
The e-commerce VAT package
Transfer pricing
Property investment in France
VAT advisory and compliance services
Assistance without the foreign company having actual physical presence in France:
Generally speaking, these are foreign companies seeking to test a product or service on the French market without first creating a structure in France.
Employment work
- Employing staff subject to the French social security system: registering staff as members of the Strasbourg URSSAF social security administration, drawing up contracts of employment in French and English choosing a National Joint Agreement, convention collective, drawing up payslips, making employment declarations and deductions at source, drawing up income tax declarations for employees whether resident or non-resident.
- Employing staff remaining subject to the social cover in their country of origin; drawing up contracts of employment in French and English choosing a National Joint Agreement, convention collective, drawing up payslips and deductions at source.
- Temporary secondment of foreign employees in France: representing foreign companies in France, making SIPSI declarations to DIRECCTE, the Regional Business, Competition, Consumption, Work and Employment Directorate (Translation Note: DREETS the Regional Directorates for the Economy, Employment, Work and Solidarity from 1 April. 2021).
Taxation work
- Registration for VAT in France: whatever the activities of foreign companies may be e-commerce in a single window environment, a European commercial hub or distribution centres in France
- Managing EORI Economic Operator Registration Identification (customs)
- Managing periodic VAT returns and foreign company DEB Declarations of Exchange of Goods
- Implementing VAT exemption schemes for the import of goods into France being subject to immediate delivery to the EU (Régime 42)
- Implementing the special customs scheme enabling self-. settling of VAT on all imports (the ATVAI scheme for Postponed VAT Accounting)
- Managing applications for the reimbursement of foreign VAT (8th, 6th and 13th European Directives)
- Taxation representation: for ad hoc transactions (capital gains on property, purchasing and selling assets, seminars etc.)
Assisting the foreign company in establishing a physical presence in France:
Generally international companies seeking to establish themselves on the French market.
- Full outsourcing of accounting, tax compliance, employment aspects (salaries and Human Resources) and legal aspects for French subsidiaries and branches of foreign companies: support on a broad or specialist basis in the various areas:
- Legal: creating a branch or forming a company which is appropriate to the company’s needs, choosing the company legal form, drawing up its Articles of Association deciding on the form of governance, registration,
- Taxation: managing international VAT issues, transfer pricing, local direct and indirect taxation,
- HR: deciding on the appropriate National Joint Agreement convention collective, drawing up tailor-made contracts of employment,
- Accounting: making our accounting platform available and sharing full web documents, setting up appropriate periodic financial reporting.
- Drawing up annual accounts package for tax purposes: recovering the accounting held by the foreign company, mostly under UK or US standards, establishing mapping to obtain accounts under French standards or International standards preparing and sending accounts packages for tax purposes, drawing up Fichier des Ecritures Comptables (FEC) drawn up from sources of prime entry in chronological order (standard audit file for tax purposes (SAF-T) or for the French administration.
- Financial Audit: statutory audit (Statutory Auditors) or contractual audit for French subsidiaries of foreign companies, auditing programs or expenses for the European Commission or international bodies, assistance by members of the Allinial Global partnership where necessary.
Attractiveness of France
France, which Emmanuel Macron baptised “the start-up nation” is one of the most attractive countries in the world in spite of its legislative and local administrative environment. GMBA can give you an appropriate answer to meet our foreign clients’ needs, reflecting this image of this “start-up nation”, a far cry from the caricature portrayed by the media of France as “burdened by tax”. With the skills of our experts on international subjects and solid experience, the GMBA firm will allow you to demystify investing in France for your company.
