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Just bouncing off the walls with energy won’t work in launching the venture you are dreaming of day and night. It requires commitment, dedication, knowledge, and terrific guts to go through all the red tape for tax, business registration, licenses, permits, and so forth.
Have you planned to locate your business in France, the world’s seventh-largest and Europe’s third-largest economy? Great! With a highly developed and market-oriented economy, you can see your business flourishing in the country in no trice. Being a business-friendly country that offers a talented and passionate workforce, premium quality transportation facilities and infrastructure, robust intellectual property protections, and innovative and dynamic business leaders, France renders itself almost an ideal country for basing a startup. However, before finalizing your decision of launching a venture in France, you should know the qualifications as a native, EU citizen, or non-EU citizen to start a business in the country, the legal obligations one has to follow, and knowing the business registration process, etc.
Although starting a business is exciting, at one point, it can numb you when going through the formalities needed for its incorporation. And there comes in handy the knowledge of legal obligations, processes, and other details relevant to starting a business. It will spare you some pain and hassle while establishing your venture.
France ranked 32 in the Ease of Doing business, a position conferred by the Doing Business report to indicate how easy it is to launch a business in a specific country. France bears a market of more than 65 million customers and enjoys access to the single market of over 500 million customers in Europe. These figures signify the steep purchasing power of French consumers, averting your decision to start a business here. However, to launch a startup in the country, you need to go through a process, abide by legal regulations, and fulfill certain requirements and formalities.
For instance, you have to begin by having a profitable business idea, preparing a business plan, that would be translated into French (if written in another language), do market research, and grasp the demand and supply of the product/ service your business intends to offer in the market.
All this is done, keeping France in mind specifically (unless you want to engage in export/ import). Then, you will have to open your French business bank account, get your business registered, choose a legal structure for the business, incorporate it, and finally hire the employees.
Fret not. The following sections break down the process of starting a business in France. Read on!
How to start a business in France? Starting a business in Paris, France, or, say, anywhere can get nerve-wracking as you move through the hoops of bureaucracy and red tape. Nonetheless, with the right information in hand about launching a business in France, you can streamline your journey and preserve your mojo.
If you are starting a business in France as an American or from another country, you need to heed the official directives like having a residence permit, needed diplomas and qualifications, and so forth. In order to launch your venture in France, you will have to delve into the market, research the demands and supply of the product, prepare a business plan, make financial plans and budget forecasts, register your business, and more. There’s a lot this endeavor demands, but, in the end, you would smile and say to yourself, “it was worth it!“.
Here is an ultimate and worthy guide to help you understand what the process of starting a business in France looks like. Read on!
The type of venture you want to launch determines the legal structure you need to choose. Furthermore, factors like who will be in charge of your business. The business owns personal assets that need to be safeguarded, or paying tax through corporation tax or income tax also determines the legal structure.
Then you need to send these documents to different administrations, such as INSEE (the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies). Here, your business will be registered in the national business directory. Furthermore, these documents are also sent to the tax office and commercial court.
To ensure that your company is reimbursing the appropriate labor payments and pensions, you need to inform the URSSAF (social security office) and Inspection du Travail and Caisses Sociales in case you are recruiting staff, Send the documents to Chambres des Métiers as well. These steps and procedures are required to formalize the incorporation of your company.
With the advent of the Kbis, the banker activates the French business bank account while unblocking your share capital. On top of this, the tax office will also send you a welcome letter with the contact details of the tax officer and your VAT number, which begins with the letters FR, a two-digit code, and your SIREN number.
 Your hiring process must focus on discovering great candidates that will only facilitate you, your team, and your company. Recruiting the workforce neither starts with getting applications from job seekers nor does it end with showing the chosen candidate his/ her work desk in the company. You need to follow legal obligations and many things you need to consider for managing employees. With the help of an experienced HR consultant like Zimyo, you can certainly enjoy a hassle-free working experience in France.
Here we shall walk you through an employer’s legal obligations and duties in France that you shouldn’t ignore. Dive in!
In case the employee and the employer satisfy each other’s work expectations, the employment contract is made definitive. The maximum length of the probationary period is determined by government laws which differ across different employee categories. The trial period should be clearly stated in the employment contract should be done while adhering to the Labour Code, as per the contract’s duration.
If the employee misses work due to sickness, he/ she has to observe certain formalities such as submitting a sickness slip to the employer and the Social Security Office. If the employee fulfills all the requirements, he/ she is entitled to get a regular allowance during his leave, however, after a waiting period of three days. The daily allowance reimbursed for sick leave is 50 percent of the basic daily wage.
This allowance will be increased to 66.66 percent after 30 days of sick leave if the employee has a minimum of three children to look after. After three months of sick leave, the daily allowance would be reassessed.
When dismissing an employee due to valid reasons, the employer should issue a letter five working days ahead of a meeting. The time and place of conducting a meeting and the employer’s authority to take a fellow employee or third-party person should be stated in the letter.
Through the meeting, an employer must clarify the grounds for dismissal. The employee is rightful to solicit further information regarding the dismissal within 15 days period and disputes the reasons of dismissal in Labour court.
In France, employees should not work beyond:
The employer must ensure that employees aren’t exceeding weekly or daily work limits. Overtime should be paid as 25 percent charges for initial eight hours in a week, then surcharged 50 percent. Each overtime hour may be made up by providing corresponding hours of rest or payment with a pertinent surcharge.
How easy is it to conduct business in France?
How easy it is to start a business in a particular country is determined by its Ease of Doing Business rank. EODB rank is given by the Doing Business, which investigates several factors that contribute to launching a business in a specific economy. The Doing Business considers and compares 190 countries on diverse factors such as Getting Electricity, Resolving Insolvency, Getting Credit, Paying Taxes, and so forth. Knowing the rank helps one decide the profitability and practicality of launching a startup in a country. The 2020 Dong Business Report studied various elements in France for grasping the Ease of Doing business. The country ranked 32, a position it has borne since 2018 while scoring 76.8 out of 100. Let’s parse through individual ranks and other details related to subindex subjects.
When it comes to basing a business, one gropes for a place that offers maximum opportunities for the venture to grow. With its 32 ranks in the EODB index, France promises fortune, however, at the cost of drudging through a bit of bureaucracy. Today, the businesses that enjoy the most scope in France are transport/ tourism business, cultural bites sale, photography, restaurant, translation service, resort business, plumbing, house decoration, and more.
Zimyo has emerged as a leading HR solutions provider in France, offering businesses a one-stop solution for all the HR requirements, be it acquiring and training new employees or managing advances against payroll. With multiple years of experience, the team at Zimyo is equipped to take on every challenge that you may encounter.
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