Starting a business in Tours in 2026: registry, costs and steps

Setting your company's registered office in Tours involves a little more than an address at the top of a letter. The location of the office fixes the competent registry, shapes part of the procedures and determines the content of the registration file. Here, form by form, is what starting a business in Tours in 2026 costs and involves, from the choice of address to the issuing of the Kbis extract.

The competent registry: why your address in Tours matters

The greffe du tribunal de commerce de Tours keeps the trade and companies register (RCS) for Indre-et-Loire. A company whose registered office is established in Tours is entered there. It is the address of the registered office that determines the competent registry, not the director's place of residence or where the activity actually takes place. In practical terms, setting your company's address in Tours attaches it to the RCS kept by the Tours registry, which will then handle all the formalities in the life of the business (registration, amendments, deregistration).

This connection has a practical benefit for a professional working locally or targeting a Tours-based clientele: your business appears as an Indre-et-Loire structure, with a consistent address on your documents and in your dealings with the authorities. Among the documents expected is, moreover, proof of the right to occupy the premises of the registered office. A business address agreement serves this purpose: it certifies that you hold an address for your registered office. If you do not operate commercial premises in your own name, this is a common way to obtain an address in Tours and the proof the registry requires. We set this out in detail on our page devoted to business address in Tours.

The INPI one-stop shop, mandatory since 2023

Since 2023, all formation formalities go through the INPI electronic one-stop shop. It is the mandatory point of entry: there is no longer any direct paper filing with the registry. You put your file together online, the INPI receives it and then forwards it to the competent registry, in this case the one in Tours. The registry checks that the file is in order, validates the registration and issues the Kbis extract, the document that certifies the company's legal existence.

Good news for the budget: access to the INPI one-stop shop is free. The amounts you pay correspond to the registry formalities and the legal notice, described below. Once the registration is validated, your company receives its identification number and the Kbis extract becomes available, usually requested to open a dedicated bank account or to contract with third parties.

The documents to gather before filing

A complete file at the first filing avoids back-and-forth and requests for correction. For a company, gather the following documents:

• the company's signed articles of association;
• proof of the right to occupy the premises of the registered office (a business address agreement is suitable);
• a proof of identity of the director;
• the declaration of beneficial owners;
• the certificate of publication of the legal notice of incorporation;
• for a company, the certificate of deposit of the capital.

How much does setting up cost in 2026?

Setting-up costs fall into two blocks: the registry formalities and the legal notice. Both are set at national level, so they are the same in Tours and everywhere else in mainland France. The choice of your address changes the competent registry, not the amount of these fees.

The registry formalities bring together the registration and the declaration of beneficial owners, for a total of around 53 € (a registration fee of 22,14 € excluding VAT and a declaration of beneficial owners of 19,33 €). The legal notice of incorporation, for its part, follows a national flat rate stated excluding VAT, which varies according to the legal form. This notice appears in a publication authorised to carry the department's legal notices, in this case Indre-et-Loire. The table below summarises these two blocks by form.

Once the legal notice and the registry formalities are added together, and excluding any fees as well as the share capital, an SARL comes to around 230 € and an SAS to around 290 €. These orders of magnitude include neither the support of a professional nor the sums you decide to place as capital. They give a realistic basis for costing the launch, bearing in mind that the form chosen weighs directly on the initial bill.

The steps, in order

In practice, setting up a company follows a fairly stable sequence:

• choose the legal form and draft the articles of association;
• deposit the share capital and obtain the certificate of deposit;
• publish the legal notice of incorporation and obtain the certificate of publication;
• gather the other documents (proof of registered office, proof of identity of the director, declaration of beneficial owners);
• file the complete file on the INPI one-stop shop;
• wait for validation by the Tours registry and the issuing of the Kbis.

The order matters: the certificate of deposit of the capital and the certificate of publication of the legal notice are prerequisites for filing the file. It is therefore better to deal with these two points before approaching the one-stop shop, otherwise the file may be blocked for want of a document.

The case of the SCI and sole traders

Not all set-ups fall under the same cost regime. An SCI is a civil company: it publishes a legal notice (a flat rate of 191 € excluding VAT) and pays the registry formalities, just like a commercial company. Conversely, auto-entreprises and sole traders pay neither a legal notice nor registry fees: their registration with the national business register (RNE) is free. The choice of form therefore has a direct effect on the initial budget, even before any tax or social considerations.

Setting up in Tours in 2026 essentially means securing three things: a registered-office address that fixes the competent registry, a complete file submitted on the one-stop shop, and a legal-fee budget calibrated to the form chosen. To compare the ways of obtaining an address and to place the business address among the other options, you can consult our comparison of solutions.

Sources as at 20 September 2026: French commercial code (registration with the RCS, INPI one-stop shop); order setting the tariff for legal notices; greffe du tribunal de commerce de Tours; service-public.fr, infogreffe.fr. Domisiège, business address in Tours, backed by the firm Épiphyse Conseil. This article gives general guidance and does not replace a review of your situation.