Portugal: registering a company

Being a member of the EU, Portugal borders on another EU member state - Spain. The capital of the country is Lisbon, a city with a population of 2.2 million. The official currency of Portugal is the Euro. The official languages ​​are Miranda & Portuguese. The key sectors of the Portuguese economy are textiles, mechanical engineering, tourism, agriculture & metallurgy.

The main advantages of registering a company in Portugal are:

• quick registration;
• lack of bureaucracy;
• favorable conditions for doing business;
• access to EU markets.

Those seeking to register a company in Portugal can choose from one of the following organizational & legal forms:

• LDA (analogue of LLC) - the most popular type of company;
• SA (analogue of JSC) - suitable for large businesses.

Registering an Lda in Portugal requires:

• submitting a standard set of documents;
• coming up with a unique company name;
• describing a company’s future activities;
• having a director (at least one);
• having founders (at least two).

There’s no requirements for the minimum authorized capital. LDAs are only allowed to issue registered shares (the value of each share must be no less than 1 EUR). LDAs can be managed by 1 director.

Registering a Sociedade anônima in Portugal requires:

• submitting a standard set of documents;
• coming up with a unique company name;
• describing a company’s future activities;
• having founders (at least five);
• having a minimum share capital of fifty thousand euros.

Management is performed by a company’s BoD. SAs are allowed to Issue of shares. SAa are required to maintain & submit accounting records to regulatory authorities. They must also conduct an audit on an annual basis.

Taxation

Income tax in Portugal is 23%.