Kbis extract: getting one, and what it costs
The Kbis extract evidences a company's registration with the French trade and companies register (RCS); the K extract is its equivalent for a registered sole trader. A director obtains it free of charge for THEIR OWN company through MonIdenum. For any other request it remains chargeable: €3.06 electronically, €4 by post, €2.44 at the registry. No form, no CERFA number: issuance is an act of the registrar on simple request.
Up to date for 2026 — verified on September 6, 2026Official procedure, no printed formGuide: about 10 min
This content is part of the path: Registering my business and starting up· Step 9 of 10· Next step: Acre application — the start-up exemption, and its 60 days
Deadlines
- At registration, with no request
- The registrar sends the first Kbis to whoever filed the formality. There is nothing to ask for.
- Whenever a third party demands one
- An extract states the position of the entries at the date it is issued: it is the recipient who decides how recent it must be — no general rule makes it expire.
Documents to prepare
- MonIdenum credentials (director, for their own company)
- Company name or SIREN number
- For a third party: means of payment — €3.06 online, €4 by post, €2.44 at the registry
No form is attached to this procedure: the link leads to the official page that describes it.
What this page gives you
The guide above and the link to the official site. ActioFin does not produce any document for this page: whatever you fill in or file is done on the official medium.
Who this applies to
- Commercial companies registered with the RCS: the Kbis exists for them.
- Registered sole traders — including commercial micro-entrepreneurs — who receive a K extract, not a Kbis.
- Craftspeople and the professions, who fall under the national business register: their evidence is the RNE registration certificate, issued free of charge by the INPI.
- Any third party — bank, client, buyer — checking a company's legal existence, and who pays for the extract.
Worked example
Example: SAS Levasseur opens a business account
SAS Levasseur has to give its bank a Kbis. Its director logs into MonIdenum, authenticates, and downloads the extract for her own company free of charge. The same day, a supplier wants to check the company: they will have to pay €3.06 to obtain it electronically, since the free route only covers a director for their own company. The bank asks for a document less than three months old — its own practice, not a legal rule.
How to fill it in, step by step
- First check which document you actually need: Kbis for a commercial company, K extract for a registered sole trader, RNE certificate for a craftsperson or a professional.
- If you are the director and the request concerns your own company: authenticate on MonIdenum, run by the national council of commercial court registrars, and download the extract free of charge.
- If the request concerns ANOTHER company, or you are not the director: use the registry's chargeable route — €3.06 electronically, €4 by post, €2.44 in person.
- For a non-commercial business, or where a free universal document will do: download the RNE registration certificate, issued by the INPI alone.
- Before ordering an extract for a public body, check whether your SIREN number is enough: since 2021 the requirement to produce an extract has been removed from many procedures.
The form, line by line
- Contents of the extract
- Company name, SIREN number, activity code, legal form, share capital, addresses, date of incorporation, detailed activity, identity of the main director, of the board members and of the statutory auditors, and authorisations for regulated occupations.
- Kbis or RNE certificate
- The Kbis has the status of an authentic instrument. The RNE certificate evidences the information it carries at the date of issue and until proof to the contrary. The two are therefore not equivalent in litigation or in a notarial transaction.
- EUID
- Since 1 December 2025 the extract carries the European Unique Identifier (EUID), formed of FR followed by the SIREN number, under the interconnection of European registers. An earlier extract does not carry it.
Good to know
- The Insee does NOT issue K or Kbis extracts: it issues a SIRENE situation notice, which evidences a statistical identification, not registration in a legal register. Insee's SIRENE services are free — Insee itself warns against sites charging « registration fees ».
- A registry extract that is dated, signed and sealed is evidence until a formal challenge for forgery, the highest standard of proof in French law. Any erasure, interlineation or addition in the body of the document voids it.
- Where the RNE contains an error for a commercial company, it is the Kbis that serves as the fallback evidence. The reverse is not true.
- The single business formalities window is where you FILE a formality, not where you download an extract: do not look for it there.
Common mistakes
- Believing « the Kbis is free » without qualification: the free route is reserved to a director, for their own company. A third party always pays.
- Asking for a Kbis for a craftsperson or a professional: they have none — their evidence is the RNE certificate.
- Confusing Insee's SIRENE situation notice with a Kbis: the former evidences no registration in a legal register.
- Paying for an extract on a site imitating the State's visual identity: the official routes are MonIdenum, the registry and, for the RNE, the INPI.
- Ordering an extract when the receiving administration only needs the SIREN number.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Kbis really free?
For a director, for their own company, through MonIdenum: yes. For any other applicant: no — €3.06 electronically, €4 by post, €2.44 at the registry. The tariff remains in the Commercial Code, at article A743-10: the « extract from the trade and companies register » service is €2.03 excluding tax. Free access is a channel, not the abolition of the fee.
Is a Kbis more than three months old expired?
No. No general rule makes an extract expire: it states the position of the entries at the date of issue. The three-month rule is a practice of recipients. The legislation runs the other way: the order of 4 January 2022 replaced, in several procedures, the words « a Kbis extract less than three months old » with « the unique identification number ».
Is there a form to complete?
No. There is no CERFA number and no application form: registrars alone are empowered to issue extracts to anyone who asks, on simple request.
Kbis, K extract or RNE certificate — which do I need?
Kbis for a commercial company, K extract for a registered sole trader, RNE registration certificate for all businesses including craftspeople and the professions. The RNE certificate is free for everyone and issued by the INPI alone; it replaced the craftspeople's D1 extract.
Can an administration still demand it?
Less and less. Decree no. 2021-631 of 21 May 2021 removed the requirement to produce a registration extract in a set of procedures: the business gives its unique identification number and the administration accesses the data itself.
Go further
Understand this form: the related course
Related forms
- Declaration of non-conviction and filiation: free template
- Tax regularity certificate
- Becoming a French estate agent — professional card and financial guarantee
- Closing a French sole trader business — declaration and striking off
- Declaring beneficial owners — threshold, deadlines and striking-off
- Initial CFE declaration (form 1447-C)
- Form cerfa 14022 — the itinerant trader or craftsperson card
- Acre application — the start-up exemption, and its 60 days
Official sources
- entreprendre.service-public.gouv.fr — How to obtain a K or Kbis extract (sheet F21000, verified 3 April 2026): contents of the extract, free access through MonIdenum for the director, tariffs of €3.06 electronically, €4 by post and €2.44 at the registry, the « less than 3 months » practice — September 6, 2026
- entreprendre.service-public.gouv.fr — Kbis and RNE certificate (news item A18918, published 4 June 2026): the Kbis has the status of an authentic instrument, the RNE certificate evidences until proof to the contrary; the RNE covers all businesses and replaced the D1 extract — September 6, 2026
- Légifrance — French Commercial Code, article R123-152: the extract is issued at the applicant's expense and states the position of the entries at the date of issue; dated, signed and sealed, it is evidence until a challenge for forgery; any erasure, interlineation or addition is void — September 6, 2026
- Légifrance — French Commercial Code, article A743-10 (in force 1 March 2026): fee for service no. 55 « extract from the trade and companies register », €2.03 excluding tax — September 6, 2026
- Légifrance — Order of 4 January 2022, article 11: the words « a Kbis extract less than three months old » are replaced by « the unique identification number » — September 6, 2026
- insee.fr — Insee issues a SIRENE situation notice but does not issue K or Kbis extracts; SIRENE services are free, with a warning about fake sites charging registration fees — September 6, 2026
Guide and document provided for information purposes only; they do not constitute personalised legal or tax advice. Check the recipient organisation's requirements and consult a professional if needed.