SARL or SAS? Compare liability, capital, governance, transfers and the head’s social-security status, and check which one a French company is with the API.
The SARL and the SAS are the two most common French company forms. Both limit the owners’ liability to their contributions and neither has a minimum capital. They differ in how much the statutes may bend the rules, how ownership is transferred, and the social-security status of the person who runs the company.
| SARL | SAS | |
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Société à responsabilité limitée | Société par actions simplifiée |
| Owners’ liability | Limited to contributions | Limited to contributions |
| Minimum capital | None (EUR 1 is enough) | None |
| Capital is divided into | Parts sociales | Actions (shares) |
| Number of owners | 1 (EURL) to 100 | 1 (SASU) or more, with no maximum |
| Governance | One or more gérants, under rules largely set by law | A président; other bodies freely set in the statutes |
| Transfer of ownership | Transfers to outsiders need the partners’ approval | Set by the statutes, which can add approval clauses |
| Offering shares to the public | No | No |
| Head of the company, social security | A majority gérant is self-employed (TNS) | The président is treated as an employee (assimilé salarié) |
| Single-owner variant | EURL | SASU |
| Typical use | Small businesses and family firms | Start-ups, subsidiaries, joint ventures and companies with investors |
A general comparison of the usual rules, not legal advice: a company’s own articles and the current law of its country decide the details.
The API returns the form in legal_form (SARL, SAS, EURL, SASU, SA...), with the INSEE legal-category code in local_legal_form where the register gives one. Search by name and read the result, or look the company up by its SIREN.
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer rk_live_..." \ "https://api.prometiam.com/functions/v1/risk-api/companies/search?country=FR&name=<company name>" # read on each result: # "legal_form" -> "SARL" or "SAS" # "legal_form_family" -> "private_limited_company" or "private_limited_company"
The API's legal_form values for these two: SARL is Private limited company; SAS is Simplified joint-stock company.
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