In short
A Portuguese company pays corporate income tax (IRC) on its profit. The choices that set its tax in its first years are made when it registers, so we set them out before that. How you are paid by the company, as a salary or as dividends, is a further choice, and it changes both the company's tax and yours.
What decides it:
- what the company will do, and where its clients are;
- the turnover you expect in the first year;
- whether you or other founders live outside Portugal, and where the company is managed from;
- whether the company employs staff from the start.
What you get
- The tax regime to choose for the company, with the reasons for the choice.
- For a company abroad, the choice between a branch and a Portuguese subsidiary, with the reasons.
- The registrations the company needs, and when each is due.
- Its obligations in the first year, with their dates.
- A call with your adviser when your case needs it.
How it works
- Send your request. We reply within 2 working days with the price, a start date and your payment link.
- After payment, you upload your documents in your portal, such as the founders' details and the plan for the company's first year, and your adviser reads them.
- Your advice reaches your portal, signed by your adviser, with the first-year obligations and their dates. If it shows further work, we tell you its fee first.
The dates that matter
The start-of-activity declaration, where the company's first tax choices are made, is due within 15 days of its commercial registration. Once the company is running, its annual IES return is due by 15 July and is signed by its certified accountant.
What is not included
- Accounts, the corporate return, payroll and recurring filings, which our partner accountant can take on and bill directly.
- Corporate law work, such as the company's articles, which sits outside our tax advice.
- Wider group or treaty questions, which we quote once the scope is agreed, before any work starts.
What clients say
Taxbordr’s entity-versus-freelancer analysis proved I didn’t need a Portuguese company. Staying as a sole trader with corrected recibos verdes (Portugal’s self-employment receipts) reduced avoidable corporate and compliance friction.
Canadian freelancer, Lisbon You deal directly with the person doing the analysis. No account managers, no ticket numbers. When my situation changed a year later, I emailed and got a straight answer from the same person who already knew my file.
Canadian founder, Lisbon
From clients we have advised. Names withheld at their request.
Guides on this
Questions
Do you keep the company's accounts?
A company's accounts, corporate return and payroll are kept by a certified accountant. Our partner accountant can take them on and bill them directly, and the tax advice stays with us. You can share our advice with whichever accountant keeps the books.
Is a company the right choice, or self-employment?
Starting as self-employed covers working on your own account without a company. If you are deciding between the two, a Tax Consultation sets out the choice first.
I live outside Portugal. Can you still help?
A founder who lives abroad is one of the facts that change the answer, and the advice covers its Portuguese side. Your tax in your own country stays with your adviser there.
Our team
Our advisers check, decide and sign the advice in this project. If you have a question first, write to info@taxbordr.com or message us on WhatsApp.