France vs Germany
Side-by-side comparison of France and Germany — the two largest EU economies — for founders evaluating an EU operating base.
Side-by-side
| Taxation | France | Germany |
|---|---|---|
| Corporate tax | 25% | 30% |
| VAT | 20% | 19% |
| Dividend tax | 25% | 26.375% |
| Formation | France | Germany |
|---|---|---|
| Difficulty (1–5) | 3 | 4 |
| Cost | 800 EUR | 800 EUR |
| Time | 7 days | 21 days |
| Banking & Payments | France | Germany |
|---|---|---|
| Banking difficulty (1–5) | 3 | 3 |
| Stripe | Yes | Yes |
| PayPal | Yes | Yes |
| Wise | Yes | Yes |
| Operations | France | Germany |
|---|---|---|
| Accounting difficulty (1–5) | 4 | 4 |
| Payroll difficulty (1–5) | 5 | 4 |
| Compliance difficulty (1–5) | 4 | 4 |
| Market access | France | Germany |
|---|---|---|
| EU member | Yes | Yes |
| EEA member | Yes | Yes |
| Currency | EUR | EUR |
When France wins
- You qualify for the SME 15% reduced CIT on the first EUR 42,500 of profits
- You want access to the Crédit d'Impôt Recherche (CIR) R&D tax credit and JEI status
- Your customer base is primarily French- or French-speaking-Africa-oriented
When Germany wins
- You need access to Germany's larger domestic market (~84 million consumers)
- Your customer base is the German Mittelstand or German-speaking enterprise market
- You want lower employer-side social charges (Germany's are heavy but lower than France's URSSAF)
Related
Rankings
- Best Countries for AI Startups
- Best Countries for E-commerce
- Best Countries for Freelancers
- Best Countries for Online Business
- Best Countries for SaaS Founders
- Best Countries for Startups
- Best Countries to Start a Business
- Best EU Countries for Business
- Best Low-Tax Countries
- Easiest Countries for Company Formation
- Lowest Corporate Tax Countries
Sources
- Direction Générale des Finances Publiques — Direction Générale des Finances Publiques — France (accessed )
- Bundesministerium der Finanzen — Federal Ministry of Finance — Germany (accessed )
- European Commission — European Commission — policy and country information (accessed )
- Eurostat — Eurostat — official statistics of the European Union (accessed )
- OECD — OECD — economic and tax statistics (accessed )
- PricewaterhouseCoopers — PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries (accessed )
Last updated: