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  • Compulsory Beneficial Ownership Disclosure
French Tax Insight:

Compulsory Beneficial Ownership Disclosure

08 November 2021

In the context of the fight against money laundering, a new French reporting obligation was introduced for all non-listed entities registered with the Registre du Commerce et des Sociétés (RCS), including SCIs.  This exercise is necessary to populate a French beneficial owner registry in line with EU directive 2015/849.

Each entity must submit a report (forms DBE-S-1/DBE-S-bis/DBE-S-2) listing each beneficial owner defined as the individual (not entities) who either:

  • holds (directly or indirectly) over 25% of the capital or voting rights in the structure (one annexe per beneficiary); or
  • exercises the effective control over the entity’s management or over the shareholders’ AGMs; or
  • in the absence of any effective beneficiary, the person(s) who directly or indirectly acts as the entity’s legal representative(s).

This initial one-off reporting exercise must be completed no later than 31 March 2018 for all existing entities.  The report must be submitted to the Greffe du Tribunal du Commerce, accompanied by a payment of €54.42 (including VAT).  This is a one-off obligation.  Non-compliance or the filing of incomplete or incorrect reports may incur a €7,500 penalty and a possible 6 months’ imprisonment sentence.

Going forward, any new entity must file the beneficial ownership statement within 15 days of its registration with a payment of €24.80.  The changes listed below must also be reported to the Greffe within 30 days with a payment of €48.49:

  • Changes concerning the entity such as a name change, new legal form or registered office;
  • Changes concerning the beneficial ownership such as: removal or new appointment of beneficial owners, changes to any of the legal representatives initially reported as beneficial owners, changes to the forms of control exercised by the beneficial owner(s).

For more information, please contact Virginie Deflassieux or Catherine Le Pelley


This publication has been carefully prepared, but it has been written in general terms and should be seen as containing broad statements only.  It cannot be relied upon to cover specific situations without obtaining professional advice.

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