FAQ for international companies

Subcontracting your tax: your questions, our answers

• 1. How many persons will work for my company at Primexis?
  Under the supervision of a partner - chartered accountant, professionals of 3 different levels will assist you: an assistant, a senior assistant and a manager. Our objective is to best adapt the cost of our services to the levels required.
• 2. How to contact you rapidly?
  Knowing that a team of 4 professionals will deal with your accounts (a partner, a manager, a senior assistant and an assistant), you will always be able to reach one of them. In case of time difference emails are obviously the best solution.
• 3. Do your professionals speak English?
  English is an essential requirement to join our IBS department and most of our staff is fluent.To ensure this, Primexis provides in-house English training and translation by native English speakers.
• 4. We are a big organisation. Are you able to manage our accounts?
  Our firm has been providing assistance to major accounts for more than 30 years. We formerly belonged to one of the big four for more than 10 years and we have kept the same organisation. Our size also allows us to rapidly adapt to all clients requirements. We didn't need to amend our processes when we became the first French firm to be SAS 70 Type II certified.
• 5. We are a small firm. Will you process our accounts as if we were a big one?
  We provide the same quality of services to all our clients, be their parent company quoted or not. In most cases French subsidiaries have the same size and their requirements are the same. Meeting deadlines is one of our essential quality labels, as proved by our ISAE 3402 and SSAE 16 certifications.
• 6. We keep the accounts of our French subsidiary from abroad. How can you help us?
  We have been dealing with the French subsidiaries of foreign groups for more than 30 years and we thoroughly understand the groups' internal difficulties (standards, reporting, deadlines...) and their external ones (relations with French tax authorities, employees, statutory auditors...). Based on our experience, we can ensure perfect integration of your subsidiary in France, as we anticipate and settle in advance a number of issues likely to result in further problems for the group, for example as regards on-time compliance with various changes in French legal, accounting; social and tax regulations throughout the year (new tax, new standard, mandatory electronic transfer of declaration or payment...) or more simply with local habits and customs.
• 7. Is it possible to have our French subsidiary's accounts kept according to our group's chart of accounts?
  Contrary to branches, French subsidiaries' books have to be kept in French, i.e. according to a French chart of accounts and with French headings and descriptions. However there are ways to anticipate difficulties, for example by creating a mapping process between the group's accounts and the French accounts. We are also used to provide assistance in case of a tax audit in France.
• 8. Which are the documents required at year-end, who requires them, under which format and within which deadlines?
  Two summary documents must be prepared. The corporate income tax return required by French tax authorities as a printed document or by electronic data transfer (mandatory in some cases) within 3 months after year-end (4 months if year-end is 31/12). In most cases the same form - 18 pre-printed pages - has to be filled in.
  
  The annual accounts required by shareholders and by the clerk of the Commercial Court for publication (i.e. possible presentation to the public). They include 4 statements, the Balance Sheet (Assets, Liabilities) and the Profit & Loss Account (generally 2 statements). These 4 statements are completed by the Notes to the Accounts (no specific form) which present the significant information required to understand the Balance Sheet and the Profit & Loss Account. Annual accounts have to be prepared within a maximum of 6 months after year-end and approved by the annual general meeting.
  
  Only the corporate income tax return is required in case of a branch.

Outsourcing your payroll: your questions, our answers

• 1. We are located outside France and we wish to recruit an employee in France. Can you help us?
  Yes we can. We have a thorough knowledge and experience of the context and formalities required.
• 2. Do you manage relations with social organisations?
  Yes we do, notably for foreign structures that have no payroll department in France.
• 3. Can you extract interfaceable HR or accounting data with our software applications?
  Yes, we can design the interfaces required to enter data with your systems.
• 4. Will our contacts at Primexis be dedicated to our company?
  The team dedicated to your company will include a manager, a senior assistant and an assistant. This organisation guarantees quality (tasks are systematically reviewed) and team availability (at least one of your contacts is always reachable).
• 5. At which date do we have to provide payroll information?
  At the beginning of our assignment, you will receive a payroll time schedule that will take into account both your constraints and the required deadlines for information returns.
• 6. Can we entrust you with the high management payroll only?
  We have a long experience in part processing payroll, and we know how to return interfaceable information with your accounting and payroll software applications.
• 7. How do you price your services?
  Our fees are computed according to the number of employees and the expected tasks.
• 8. What is the approximate rate of social charges in France - employer and employee parts?
  The employee part of social charges represents about 20% of the gross salary, directly withdrawn by the employer. The employer pays the employee's part to social organizations, plus about 45% of the gross salary.
• 9. What is the common form of employment contract?
  The common form is the open-ended contract (contrat à durée indéterminée or CDI).
• 10. Is Primexis SAS 70 Type II certified?
  We have obtained the SAS 70 Type II certification for 5 consecutive years, after being the first French CPA firm to meet this requirement. In 2011, we obtained the ISAE 3402 and SSAE 16  international and U.S. certifications. We have requested this certification because most of our clients are subsidiaries of foreign companies,including companies listed in the US.