Declaring the end of your business to the tax office: deadline, documents, steps

The cessation declaration tells the tax administration that your business is stopping, wholly or partly, and on what date. It lets the office close your tax position at that date and end your periodic obligations. Without it, the office keeps expecting your returns, and every month without a return can become a penalty.

You will also need it for the deregistration. To remove a trader or a company from the trade register, the CNRC (National Trade Register Centre) office asks for a tax document confirming that the closing balance sheet or the cessation return has been filed.

Every taxpayer who stops a taxable activity is concerned: company, sole trader, professional, craftsperson, auto-entrepreneur. The rule covers total and partial cessation, and also the sale of the business.

• Company: the declaration is signed by the manager (gérant) or, in liquidation, by the appointed liquidator.
• Individual: the taxpayer in person.
• Sale of the business or goodwill: the seller declares the sale within the same deadline.
• Representative (accountant, firm): with a power of attorney.

1. 1

   Set the effective date

   The last day of activity. For a company, align it with the dissolution decision or the close of liquidation, as your accountant advises.

2. 2

   Bring your returns up to date

   File and pay the G n°50 or IFU returns up to the cessation. A late return discovered later blocks the closure.

3. 3

   Have the closing balance sheet prepared

   Under the real regime, your accountant closes the accounts at the cessation date. If a VAT credit remains, prepare the refund request at the same time.

4. 4

   Write the declaration

   Identity, NIF, article number, trade register, type and date of cessation, list of attachments, and a request for the certificate of filing.

5. 5

   File within 10 days

   At the managing office, with the documents. Have your copy stamped.

6. 6

   Collect the certificate and go to the CNRC

   With the document confirming the filing, prepare the trade register deregistration file, then notify CASNOS and, if you had employees, the CNAS.

You file the declaration with the tax office that manages your file, where you filed form G n°8: inspection, tax centre (CDI), local tax centre (CPI) or the Large Enterprises Directorate (DGE). Keep a copy bearing the office's date stamp.

When you file, ask the office for the document confirming that the closing balance sheet or cessation return was filed. That is what the CNRC office asks for at deregistration. Several professional guides say it is issued on form Série C n°20; check that it actually mentions the cessation filing.

Neuron only fills in business setup forms and does not do bookkeeping or routine returns: this guide is free and all you need to do it yourself.

According to the DGI, when a business is sold or ceases wholly or partly, the taxpayer must notify the tax office within 10 days and state the date on which the cessation took or will take effect.

If you miss the 10 days, file anyway without delay. A late filing is better than months of missing returns, which expose you to surcharges.

• Stopping returns without declaring the cessation: missing returns pile up.
• Letting the 10-day deadline pass without filing anything.
• Forgetting the last G n°50 or the last IFU return.
• Filing the cessation without the closing balance sheet under the real regime.
• Losing a VAT credit by not requesting the refund with the balance sheet, or after 31 December of the following year.
• Applying for deregistration at the CNRC without the tax document confirming the cessation filing.
• Believing that deregistration wipes out tax debts: they remain due.