France vs United Kingdom
Side-by-side comparison of France and the United Kingdom for founders weighing two large European economies on opposite sides of the Channel.
Side-by-side
| Taxation | France | United Kingdom |
|---|---|---|
| Corporate tax | 25% | 25% |
| VAT | 20% | 20% |
| Dividend tax | 25% | 0% |
| Formation | France | United Kingdom |
|---|---|---|
| Difficulty (1–5) | 3 | 1 |
| Cost | 800 EUR | 50 GBP |
| Time | 7 days | 1 days |
| Banking & Payments | France | United Kingdom |
|---|---|---|
| Banking difficulty (1–5) | 3 | 3 |
| Stripe | Yes | Yes |
| PayPal | Yes | Yes |
| Wise | Yes | Yes |
| Operations | France | United Kingdom |
|---|---|---|
| Accounting difficulty (1–5) | 4 | 2 |
| Payroll difficulty (1–5) | 5 | 2 |
| Compliance difficulty (1–5) | 4 | 2 |
| Market access | France | United Kingdom |
|---|---|---|
| EU member | Yes | No |
| EEA member | Yes | No |
| Currency | EUR | GBP |
When France wins
- You need EU single-market access by default and EUR-denominated operations
- You qualify for the Crédit d'Impôt Recherche (CIR) R&D tax credit or the JEI status
- Your team or customer base is primarily French- or French-speaking-oriented
When United Kingdom wins
- You want the fastest possible incorporation (Companies House ~24 hours)
- You want significantly lower employer-side social charges than France's URSSAF
- Your profits stay below the £50,000 small-profits-rate threshold
Related
Countries
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 )
- HM Revenue & Customs — HM Revenue & Customs — UK Corporation Tax (accessed )
- OECD — OECD — economic and tax statistics (accessed )
- PricewaterhouseCoopers — PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries (accessed )
Last updated: