How to verify a French company before you pay it

SIREN, SIRET, and where the data lives

Every French business has a 9-digit SIREN (the company itself) and a 14-digit SIRET per establishment (the SIREN plus five digits). The French VAT number is FR, a two-character key, then the SIREN, so all three should line up. French invoices are legally required to carry the SIREN or SIRET; ask for it if your quote does not show one.

The free check, step by step

1. Start at annuaire-entreprises.data.gouv.fr, the government's company directory. Search by name or SIREN/SIRET: you get the legal name, legal form (SAS, SARL, SASU and so on), administrative status, addresses, declared activity, and the executives (dirigeants).
2. Match the record against the quote. Name, number, address, character for character. Lookalike names are cheap to register everywhere.
3. Check age and status. The incorporation date, and whether the company and the specific establishment are active. A company shown as ceased should end the conversation until it is explained.
4. Search the SIREN at bodacc.fr, the official legal gazette, for collective proceedings: redressement judiciaire (court-supervised restructuring) or liquidation judiciaire. This is how you find out a supplier is in the French equivalent of administration before your deposit becomes an unsecured claim.
5. Pull documents at data.inpi.fr (free account): the national register record, filed acts and statutes, and annual accounts where the company files them publicly. For a pre-payment check, existence and recency matter more than analysis.
6. Validate the VAT number in VIES and check it equals FR + key + SIREN. Our VIES guide covers what a valid result does not prove.
7. Check the mentions légales. French websites must carry a legal notice naming the operator, normally with the registration details and registered office. Compare it with the register record.

Gaps to know about

• Some sole traders opt out of public listing ("non-diffusible"). A missing record is then not proof of anything bad, but it does mean you should ask the supplier for their registry documents directly.
• Small companies may file their accounts confidentially, so the absence of public accounts is normal for small French firms and not a flag by itself.
• The register proves the company exists and who runs it. It says nothing about the bank account on the invoice or the person emailing you. Verify the IBAN by phone on an independently sourced number before the first payment, and use the bank-detail change checklist if the account ever changes.

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