French Cerfa 2571-SD — Corporate Tax Installment Payment

Any company subject to French corporate income tax (IS) — including SAS, SASU, SARL and EURL electing IS — whose IS liability for the prior financial year exceeded 3,000 €. Below that threshold no instalments are due: the full tax is settled in a single payment through the balance form 2572. Newly incorporated companies are also fully exempt during their first financial year, regardless of the projected profit.

Four deadlines apply each calendar year: 15 March, 15 June, 15 September and 15 December. All instalments must be paid electronically (by télérèglement, the mandatory online bank transfer) through your professional account on impots.gouv.fr. Paper payments are no longer accepted for any IS instalment. If a due date falls on a weekend or public holiday, check the official tax calendar for any adjustment. A failure to pay electronically or a late payment triggers an automatic 0.2% surcharge on the amount concerned.

Each instalment equals 25% of the IS computed on the taxable result of the most recently closed financial year (the reference year). The standard IS rate is 25%; qualifying small and medium-sized enterprises may benefit from a reduced rate of 15% on the eligible portion of profit. The first instalment of a new financial year is initially calculated using the year before last, then adjusted once the actual prior-year IS is confirmed, with any difference absorbed in the following instalment.

No. A company entering the IS regime for the first time is fully exempt from quarterly instalments throughout its first financial year and pays only the end-of-year balance. Instalment obligations begin automatically from the second financial year onward, provided the first-year IS exceeds the 3,000 € threshold. This exemption can be a meaningful cash-flow advantage in the early months of operations — plan accordingly so that the transition to instalments does not come as a surprise.

Payment is made exclusively by télérèglement (electronic bank transfer) through your professional account on impots.gouv.fr. Log in, navigate to the IS payment section and complete the transfer before midnight on the relevant due date. Paper filing is no longer accepted under any circumstances. Failing to use télérèglement, or paying after the deadline, automatically triggers a 0.2% surcharge on the late or improperly paid amount. No paper form or cheque is accepted as a substitute.

Yes. If a company reasonably anticipates that its final IS liability will be lower than the cumulative instalments it has already paid, it may — on its own responsibility — reduce or suspend the final instalment. However, if the total instalments paid ultimately represent less than 80% of the actual IS due, the company becomes liable for late-interest penalties on the shortfall. The decision to modulate must therefore be based on a realistic and documented estimate of the year-end result.