Your company earns $100,000: how much cash can you withdraw in France vs in Florida?
Updated: Sep 24
Your business is making money and profits. Congratulations! You're on the right track. But do you really know how much of that profit can actually end up in your personal account?
This is where the tax comparison between France and Florida becomes interesting. Because the corporate tax rate only tells part of the story.
For a shareholder-manager , it is essential to first consider the entire journey of the cash: company profit, corporate tax, and then taxation at the time the money is paid to the manager.
And in this respect, France and Florida operate very differently.
This article presents deliberately simplified scenarios to illustrate the differences in tax mechanisms between France and Florida. Applicable taxation depends in particular on the legal structure, the tax residency of shareholders, tax treaties, and the nature of the income.
For more information, ask Blendy, an international chartered accountant .
In France, withdrawing profits from a SAS (simplified joint-stock company) is done in two stages.
Let us take the example of a French SAS which makes €100,000 of profit before corporate tax (IS - impôt sur la société) , and whose shareholder then wishes to recover the balance in the form of dividends.
First step: corporate tax
The standard corporate income tax rate in France is 25%. Some SMEs may be eligible for a reduced rate of 15% on the first €42,500 of profit (subject to conditions).
To keep things simple, let's first consider a French company taxed entirely at 25%.
Of the €100,000 profit, €25,000 is subject to corporate income tax. This leaves €75,000 that can be distributed. But those €75,000 are not yet in the manager's pocket.
The dividends are then taxed at the shareholder's expense.
Since January 1, 2026, the flat tax rate (PFU - prélèvement forfaitaire unique) on capital income has increased to 31.4%: 12.8% income tax and 18.6% social security contributions. The French social security agency (Urssaf) also confirms this rate for dividends from SAS or SASU companies.
Let's return to our SAS example. Of the €75,000 distributed, €23,550 is therefore deducted as a flat-rate tax. The CEO is left with €51,450 net out of the €100,000 initially generated by the company.
In other words, in this simplified scenario, almost half of the initial profit is absorbed between corporate income tax and dividend taxation.
The situation can be slightly more favorable when an SME benefits from the reduced corporate tax rate of 15% on its first €42,500 of profit. But the principle remains the same. Before reaching the shareholder, the profit goes through two levels of taxation.
€100,000 in profit therefore does not mean €100,000 available personally.
And that's precisely where the comparison with Florida becomes interesting.
In Florida, a C-Corp can also face double taxation
Setting up a company in the United States does not automatically eliminate double taxation.
With a C-Corporation, the company is taxed separately from its shareholders. That means profits may be taxed once at the corporate level, and then again when they are distributed to the shareholder-manager as dividends.
This is exactly how the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the U.S. federal tax authority, describes the C-Corp system: the corporation pays tax on its profits, and shareholders may then be taxed again when those profits are distributed as dividends.
Step 1: tax paid by the C-Corp
At the federal level, a C-Corp is subject to a 21% corporate income tax rate.
In Florida, an additional 5.5% Corporate Income Tax may apply. However, Florida applies its own rules: federal taxable income is adjusted, and a $50,000 exemption is deducted before the 5.5% rate is applied.
That is why simply adding 21% + 5.5% and presenting 26.5% as a flat tax rate would be misleading.
In our simplified example, with $100,000 in profit, we use the following assumptions:
$100,000 profit before tax → $21,000 federal corporate income tax → $2,750 Florida corporate income tax, after applying the $50,000 exemption → $76,250 available for distribution.
But this is still not the amount the shareholder-manager actually takes home.
Step 2: the dividend is taxed at the shareholder level
In the United States, not all dividends are taxed the same way.
For this example, we assume that the dividend paid by the C-Corp qualifies as a qualified dividend.
This matters because qualified dividends may benefit from preferential federal tax rates of 0%, 15%, or 20%, depending primarily on the taxpayer’s taxable income.
Why are we using a 15% rate in this example?
To make the comparison realistic and easy to understand, we use the case of a single shareholder-manager filing as a single taxpayer in the United States.
For 2026, the 15% qualified dividend rate applies to taxable income above $49,450 and up to $545,500 for single filers.
That is a broad income range, which makes the 15% rate a relevant assumption for illustrating the situation of many U.S.-based entrepreneurs and shareholder-managers.
So, in our example:
$76,250 available for distribution
→ 15% federal tax on the qualified dividend, or $11,437.50
→ $64,812.50 net to the shareholder-manager
The 15% rate used here is therefore not a universal U.S. dividend tax rate. Depending on the taxpayer’s income and circumstances, a qualified dividend may be taxed at 0%, 15%, or 20%.
Florida does not add a personal state income tax
This is where Florida creates an important difference: Florida does not impose a personal state income tax.
The shareholder-manager is still subject to U.S. federal income tax, of course, but Florida does not add an additional state-level personal income tax.
There is one additional federal tax to keep in mind: the 3.8% Net Investment Income Tax (NIIT) may apply to certain investment income, including dividends, once income exceeds the relevant thresholds. For a single taxpayer, the current modified adjusted gross income threshold is $200,000.
To keep this example easy to follow and comparable with the French scenario, we do not include NIIT in the calculation.
France vs. Florida: what the €100,000 / $100,000 example actually shows
We apply the same logic on the French side: a single individual shareholder-manager receiving the company’s profit as dividends from a SAS.
The result is straightforward:
France, SAS: €100,000 in profit → €51,450 net to the shareholder-manager.
Florida, C-Corp: $100,000 in profit → $64,812.50 net to the shareholder-manager, assuming a qualified dividend taxed at 15% and excluding NIIT.
The comparison shows why looking only at the corporate tax rate gives an incomplete picture.
In our simplified example, we use 25% corporate income tax + 31.4% flat tax on dividends in France, versus 21% federal corporate income tax + 15% tax on qualified dividends in the United States.
But those rates should not simply be added together when calculating the effective tax burden, because the second layer of tax applies to an amount that has already been reduced by the first.
In our simulation, the shareholder-manager keeps:
51.45% of the original profit in France
64.81% of the original profit in Florida
That is the most meaningful comparison.
For a shareholder-manager, the real question is therefore: “After the company pays tax and distributes the profit, how much actually reaches my personal account?”
And with an S-Corp, the comparison changes again.
This is where simply comparing "French company versus American company" becomes misleading. An American company can opt for the S-Corporation regime, when it meets the necessary conditions.
Under this system, profits are generally paid directly to shareholders and taxed on their personal tax returns. This helps avoid the double taxation typically associated with C-Corps.
But there is an important downside for the manager who works in the company.
He cannot simply convert all of his compensation into distributions to avoid US social security contributions.
The IRS requires executive-shareholders working for their S-Corp to receive reasonable compensation, meaning a salary commensurate with the work actually performed. This salary is then subject to payroll taxes. The remaining amount can then, under certain conditions, be distributed differently.
This is one of the reasons why the shareholding structure becomes crucial.
And for a French entrepreneur, there is another major limitation: a non-resident alien cannot be a shareholder of an S-Corporation.
The relevant structure therefore depends as much on the tax residence and status of the shareholder as on where the company is created.
"How much cash will I get?" is ultimately not the right question.
To compare two tax environments, looking only at corporate tax gives an incomplete view.
For an entrepreneur who is also a shareholder, the true simulation should follow the cash flow all the way to the end: How much the company earns → how much it pays → how much it distributes → how much the manager actually keeps.
In France as in the United States, the result then depends on the status of the company, the method of remuneration of the manager, his tax residence and his personal situation.
And when a French executive plans to develop a business in the United States, the question becomes even more important: the American company that is least taxed on paper is not necessarily the one that will allow its shareholder to recover the cash under the best conditions.
Therefore, the entire structure (company, compensation and shareholding) must be checked and defined before making a choice.
Blendy helps you structure cash outflow, not just the company
At Blendy, international CPA based in Paris, Montréal and Miami, we support leaders who are developing their business between France and the United States, with teams perfectly bilingual.
The goal is not simply to choose between a SAS, a C-Corp, or another structure. We always look first at the entire scheme: where the business is located, where the manager resides, how they are compensated, how profits are distributed, and how the shareholding is structured.
This overall view makes it possible to simulate what each option really implies, from both the company's and the manager's perspective, before putting the structure in place.
Are you planning to establish a presence in the United States or do you already have a company on both sides of the Atlantic?
Blendy can help you model different scenarios and choose an organization that aligns with your objectives.
This article presents deliberately simplified scenarios to illustrate the differences in tax mechanisms between France and Florida. Applicable taxation depends in particular on the legal structure, the tax residency of shareholders, tax treaties, and the nature of the income. For more information, contact Blendy, an international chartered accountant.
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