The K-bis of a commercial company is its identity card.
It is, in fact, an extract from the commercial register issued by the registry of the Commercial Court. It is considered as the only official document attesting and proving the legal existence of a company.
Although it doesn’t have a fixed duration, in most cases, to be opposable and to be authentic for administrative procedures, the extract must be less than 3 months old.
Content of the document
The extract K or K-bis informs about the activity of the company and gathers all the mentions presented to the Registry of Commerce and Companies (known in France as RCS):
- Name of the corresponding registry;
- Company name, acronym, and logo;
- Identification number (the SIREN number) and NAF code;
- Legal form (ltd, inc...);
- Total amount of the company constitution capital;
- Registered address of the head office and principal establishment, and any secondary establishments in the European Union or the European economic area;
- Duration of the company (up to 99 years);
- Date of constitution;
- Detailed activity;
- Domain name of the company's website;
- Function, surname, given name, date of birth, municipality of birth, nationality and address of the director, shareholders, associates, or any other member involved in the management of the enterprise;
- Reference of the authorizations required for regulated professions.
In addition, it includes all the decisions of the Commercial Court in terms of insolvency procedures: safeguards, recovery, and liquidations.
How to obtain a K-bis extract?
The information given on the K-bis extract is public. Everyone can therefore access it by making a request for K-bis extract from the registry concerned.
The request for a K-bis extract can be made directly online, by mail, or by physically going to the RCS, providing:
- The corporate name,
- The acronym or name of the company,
- The SIREN number.
A K-bis extract costs € 2.96 if it’s requested physically in the registry, € 3.96 by mail and € 3.70 by electronic means.
The K extract for an individual enterprise
The K-bis only concerns legal persons. Individual companies inform about their legal existence by means of a "K". The K includes the same information as the Kbis extract, but it is not an authentic instrument signed by a notary. Any newly created individual company obtains a ‘K’ extract by post.
Conclusion
Any natural entity (micro entrepreneur) or legal entity (Inc., Ltd...) that carries out a professional or commercial activity must register in the RCS after its creation. The lack of registration may be considered a crime of concealed work.
The K-bis extract allows the company to certify its registration in the RCS to any person who requests it.