Your EU subsidiary, run from Lisbon for its first year.
One contract, one fixed fee, one report to head office.
Your European company, registered in Portugal, trading in weeks
We incorporate, we open the doors at the bank, and we keep the filings on time, for owners who do not live here and do not intend to. Fixed fees quoted in writing, and a straight answer to every question.
Four services, and the same clarity every time: what it costs, how long it takes, what you get
We are a corporate and tax practice, not a company-formation mill. Most of our clients are businesses outside the European Union that need a real operating entity inside it: with real substance, set up to bank, trade and file properly from day one.
Company formation in Portugal
A registered Lda or Unipessoal Lda with its own tax number, beneficial ownership filed, activity codes that match what you actually do, and an accountant in place from the first day.
- NIF for every shareholder, obtained in parallel
- Empresa na Hora or Empresa Online, whichever is faster for you
- RCBE filed the same week, not eventually
- Share capital declared correctly, no bank account needed first
Corporate and tax support
A certified accountant is mandatory in Portugal from day one, trading or not. We take the whole calendar: monthly SAF-T, VAT, payroll, Modelo 22, the IES and the payments on account.
- Every statutory filing, submitted on time
- Payments on account forecast a year ahead, so they are budgeted
- A written split of who files what, agreed at the start
- A reminder ahead of every deadline
Business launch and EU market entry
Entity, VAT and VIES registration, invoicing that satisfies Portuguese rules, first hire, and the sequence that gets you from incorporated to actually invoicing a European customer.
- VAT and VIES registration, with the OSS position checked
- Activity codes and invoicing software that will pass a review
- First employment contract, properly drafted
- Remote team and contracts, set up right
Trademark and IP protection
A name you can defend, in Portugal through the INPI or across all twenty-seven member states through the EUIPO, with a clearance search first, so the filing goes through cleanly.
- Clearance search before anything is filed
- Class selection that covers what you will sell, not just what you sell now
- National or EU route, chosen on cost and on reach
- Oppositions and renewals tracked
Three ways to start, priced before you commit
Our fee is fixed and quoted in writing, with the state charges (the registry fee, the name certificate, the apostilles) shown at cost, so you see exactly what each part pays for.
- NIF for up to two shareholders
- Incorporation, articles and registration
- RCBE filed within the week
- Activity codes and tax registration
- Upgrade to the first-year package at any time
- Everything in Company formation
- Certified accountant for twelve months
- Registered address that receives official post
- Every statutory filing for the year
- Bank file prepared and introductions made
- Payments on account forecast for the year
- One contract for the subsidiary’s first year
- Landing: entity, bank, VAT, accounting and tax for the year
- Operating, €2,000 a month: the full scope
- Regional, €3,200 a month: plus a branch or Spain, up to 10 memos
- One contact in Lisbon for the whole year
- Second year from €1,000 a month
Indicative fees for a straightforward structure with up to two individual shareholders. Corporate shareholders, trusts, regulated activities and more than four owners are quoted individually.
Not ready to set up yet? Start with a written memo
Ask one question. Get a clear answer in writing, at a price fixed before we start.
- from €500
- Reply within one business day
- Fixed price before we start
Structuring memo
Subsidiary, branch or no entity at all? One clear answer.
Tax memo for your business model
How Portugal taxes your business model, in plain words.
Remote team and contracts
Where your team can work from, set up correctly, in writing.
Tax office letter answered
Send the letter. Get what it means and what to do next.
Eight steps, in the order that actually works
Portuguese incorporation moves quickly when it runs in the right order: the shareholders’ tax numbers first, then the company, then the bank. That is how we run it.
You tell us the structure, where the owners live and what the business does. We come back with the plan, the fee and the state charges itemised, so you know the whole route before anything starts.
Each owner needs a Portuguese NIF before the company can exist. Non-EU residents obtain one through a fiscal representative. Documents issued abroad need an apostille and a certified translation, and those run on timetables we do not control, which is why we start here.
Articles executed, share capital subscribed, the company entered in the Conservatória do Registo Comercial. Same day at the counter through Empresa na Hora, or one to two days through Empresa Online.
The RCBE filed immediately, activity codes registered with the Autoridade Tributária, Social Security registration where there will be payroll. This is the week that gets the bank file moving.
The company needs an address that receives official post and a certified accountant from the first day, trading or not. Both are appointed before the first filing falls due, so every filing starts on time.
The full pack assembled before anyone is approached, then two banks at once rather than one after another, which gets you to an open account faster.
Share capital deposited, invoicing set up to Portuguese rules and the VAT position confirmed before the first invoice goes out.
Every statutory deadline on a schedule your accountant owns in writing. You get a reminder ahead of each one.
Portugal is not the cheapest rate in Europe. It is the best total cost for a company with people in it
Headline corporate rates are what gets compared, and they are rarely the largest number on the invoice. For any business that employs anyone, the cost of employing them dwarfs the tax on the profit, and that is where Portugal separates from the alternatives.
On a team of five, the gap in employer contributions is worth more each year than the entire difference between a 19% and a 25% corporate rate. We built a calculator that puts your own numbers through all three jurisdictions, including the Gulf.
Built for real operating businesses
Our clients trade, hire and grow. We set them up with structures that last, and we stay with them as the business develops.
- Operating companies with real customers, owned from outside the EU
- Groups putting a European subsidiary under a foreign parent
- Founders relocating with the business and needing both sides handled
- Madeira structures where the arithmetic genuinely works, and we show the arithmetic
- Companies already incorporated here that need the accounting and filings fixed
- Trademark protection filed before a product launch rather than after a dispute
- A fixed fee, quoted in writing before we start
- One contact in Lisbon who knows your file
- A written reply within one working day
- Every statutory date on a calendar we own
- Structures built on real substance, made to last
- Work in English, Russian and Portuguese
We publish the arithmetic, openly and in full
Twenty-four analysis pieces, twenty-two calculators that run on your own numbers, and a digest every Tuesday marking what became law and what is still only a bill. None of it is gated and none of it asks for your email.
Madeira 5%: licences open until 31 December 2026
Salary or dividends, and the election almost nobody makes
The document pack your case actually needs
- Company law and the sociedade por quotas: Código das Sociedades Comerciais.
- Corporate tax, rates and the participation exemption: Código do IRC, in particular articles 51 and 51-C.
- Beneficial ownership: the Registo Central do Beneficiário Efetivo, filed through the Portal RCBE.
- Simplified incorporation: the Empresa na Hora and Empresa Online regimes, operated by the Instituto dos Registos e do Notariado.
- Madeira International Business Centre: licence window to 31 December 2026, benefits running to 31 December 2033.
Questions we are asked every single week
How long does it take to register a company in Portugal?
The incorporation itself takes a day through Empresa na Hora, or one to two days online. What sets the real timetable is the tax number for each shareholder: non-EU residents need a fiscal representative, and documents issued abroad need an apostille and a certified translation. Budget three to six weeks from first contact to a registered company, and longer if the bank account must be open before you trade.
Do I need to live in Portugal to own a Portuguese company?
No. There is no residence requirement for shareholders or for a manager of a Lda. You do need a Portuguese tax number for every shareholder, a registered address in Portugal, and a certified accountant. If the company will be managed day to day from another country, we set up the governance so that it stays tax resident in Portugal.
What does it actually cost in the first year?
The state fee to incorporate is €360 at the counter or €220 online, plus €75 for a company name of your choosing. Everything after that is professional cost: a certified accountant is mandatory from day one whether or not you trade, you need a registered address that receives official post, and non-EU shareholders usually need fiscal representation. Our fee for forming the company is €900 + state fees, and the written quote lists the state fees at cost.
What is the corporate tax rate in Portugal in 2026?
Nineteen per cent on the mainland, with 15% on the first €50,000 of taxable profit for small and medium enterprises (art. 87.º(2) CIRC), plus a municipal surtax of up to 1.5% that varies between councils. Madeira and the Azores apply 13.3% (art. 2.º(1) DLR 2/2001/M). A licensed company in the Madeira International Business Centre pays 5% on qualifying income, but that licensing window closes on 31 December 2026 (art. 36.º-A(1) EBF).
Can you open a Portuguese bank account for a company with foreign owners?
Yes. We prepare the file and make the introductions. Portuguese banks review non-resident ownership in more detail as a matter of routine, so we assemble a complete file before anyone is approached, go to the institutions best suited to your structure, and keep a payment institution running so the business trades from day one.
Do you work with clients outside the European Union?
That is most of our work. Brazil, the Gulf, India, the United States, the United Kingdom and the CIS. The questions that matter for a non-EU owner are different from the ones a Portuguese business asks, and so is the paperwork: fiscal representation, apostilles, beneficial ownership chains and withholding on the way out.
Send us the structure. You get a plan and a price, not a brochure
Where the owners live, what the business does, and when you need to be trading. We come back within one working day with the sequence, the fee and a clear plan you can act on.