Valuing contributions in France
In France, it is pretty much required for any company to build up its “social capital” before it can be registered. To do that, the associates must make contributions to the capital of the company.
However, while it’s easy to determine the value of contributions in cash (giving a certain amount of money to the company), finding the value of contributions in kind (giving a certain asset to the company) can be more complicated.
How can I determine their value?
In most cases, companies will have to hire an auditor who will analyze the asset and define its value. However, that’s not always mandatory.
In particular, if your company is an SARL, it doesn’t have to hire an auditor as long as the following conditions are met:
- No contribution in kind is worth more than 30 000€
- The combined value of contributions that weren’t determined by an auditor is less than half of the company’s overall capital
- All associates agree that they don’t need to hire an auditor to determine the value of the contribution in kind.
In these cases, the associates determine the value of the contribution themselves. They also become liable if the value of this contribution is called into question.
It’s also worth noting that you don’t need to determine the value of contributions in industry. Indeed, the shares these contributions give access to don’t have any real value.
