How do you set upa company in Portugal.
You register a sociedade por quotas with the commercial registry, appoint a manager, give it a Portuguese address, then register it with the tax authority and social security. Teamed does all of it and runs the company afterwards.
Portugal at a glance
The facts most people need first
Portugal is one of the cheaper places in Europe to put a company, and the state has spent twenty years making it faster. You can incorporate online, or in a single appointment through the Empresa na Hora service, and the fee is published rather than negotiated.
- Usual company type
- Sociedade por quotas, an Lda
- One owner only
- Sociedade unipessoal por quotas
- Registry
- Instituto dos Registos e do Notariado
- Minimum share capital
- €1 per quota
- Registration, online with standard articles
- €220
- Registration, online with custom articles
- €360
- Corporation tax on profit, 2026
- 19%
- Annual filing
- IES, by 15 July
The part that surprises people
How much share capital do you actually need
Almost none, and you do not have to hand it over on the day. The minimum is one euro per quota, not one euro per company, so a two-partner Lda can be formed with two euros of capital between them. That is the floor rather than a recommendation, and most companies choose a larger number because banks and counterparties read it.
The second half is the one nobody expects. If the capital is not deposited when the company is formed, the partners can choose to pay it in within five business days, or simply by the end of the first financial year. So the money does not gate the incorporation.
What this means in practice is that capital is not the obstacle in Portugal. The obstacles are the tax number, the bank account and the registrations that follow, and those are worth planning before you file rather than after.
Standard articles or your own, and it changes the fee
The registry charges by how much work your incorporation makes it, which is a genuine decision rather than a formality.
€220 online. A pre-approved pacto social you accept as it stands. Fastest and cheapest, and adequate for most single-shareholder companies.
€360 online. Needed where the ownership, voting or transfer rules are not standard. Urgent service doubles either figure.
Before you file
What you need to have ready
The filing itself is quick. What takes time is the paperwork behind the people, particularly where the owners live outside Portugal.
Start with the name. You either pick from the registry's pre-approved list, which is instant, or submit your own for approval, which is not. A name that suggests a regulated activity needs a consent you probably do not have.
Then the people. Every Lda needs at least one gerente, the manager, who is named publicly and carries real duties. Everyone involved, owners and managers alike, needs a Portuguese tax number. Getting those for people who live abroad is usually the longest single step, and it is worth starting before anything else.
The company needs a Portuguese address that can receive official post, a set of articles, and a declared share capital. The bank account follows incorporation rather than preceding it, but start it early because it is the least predictable part.
How it runs
How long does it take to set up a company in Portugal
Faster than most of Europe once the documents exist. Empresa na Hora can incorporate in a single appointment, and the online route is a matter of days. What stretches the timeline is almost never the registry.
Tax numbers for everyone involved
Owners and managers each need a Portuguese tax number. For people living abroad this is the step that sets your real start date.
Name and articles chosen
A pre-approved name and the standard articles keep it cheap and fast. Anything bespoke costs more and takes longer.
The company incorporated
Online or in a single appointment. You come away with the company registered and its tax identification issued.
Tax and social security registrations
Activity declared with the tax authority, and the company registered as an employer. Payroll cannot run before this is done.
Bank account and share capital
The capital can be deposited within five business days or by the end of the first financial year, so the account does not block the incorporation itself.
Setting up your own entity takes anywhere from a few weeks to several months, depending on the country's registry and how fast you can open a local bank account. Portugal sits at the fast end, provided the tax numbers are in hand.
What it costs
How much does it cost to set up a company in Portugal
The state fee is published and small. €220 online with the standard articles, €360 if you bring your own, and double either if you need it urgently. Share capital is one euro per quota. The money goes on the professional work around those fees.
| What | Amount |
|---|---|
| Online, standard articles | €220 |
| Online, custom articles | €360 |
| Minimum share capital, per quota | €1 |
| Corporation tax on profit, 2026 | 19% |
Market estimate
€1,500 to €3,500What the market charges to form the company and handle the tax and social security registrations. Not a Teamed price.
Note the rate. Portuguese corporation tax is falling by one point a year to 17% by 2028, so a figure you read last year is probably wrong this year. Smaller companies also pay 17% on their first slice of profit, and municipalities add their own charge on top.
Before you commit
Sometimes an employer of record is the better fit
Portugal is cheap to incorporate in, which makes it tempting to do before you need to. A company still brings managers with duties, an annual filing calendar and a tax registration that all outlive the decision to open it.
If the team here is small, still changing shape, or you are testing whether the market works, an employer of record can be the better answer, and it is a fair one rather than a lesser one.
Teamed's employer of record in Portugal is a flat €560 per employee per month, with zero FX mark-up in any currency pairing and one invoice at the end of it. Contractors, employer of record and your own entity all run on one platform, so moving between them later does not mean changing provider or re-onboarding anybody. Real HR and legal experts handle the work, not a ticket queue.
Talk to a member of the team and we will tell you plainly which one suits where you are. If you would rather look at the numbers yourself first, the crossover calculator models it for Portugal.
Who carries it
Your own entity, when it's time. We set it up, migrate you in, and hand it back intact.
Global Entity and Employment Operations, which we call GEMO, is how Teamed forms your company, registers it for corporation tax and payroll, runs it month to month and keeps its filings current, across 100+ countries. You stay the employer. We do the work behind it.
In Portugal that matters a little more than elsewhere, because Teamed employs through its own local entity rather than a partner. The people who would run your company are the people already running ours.
They set up our EU entity and moved hires across without missing a payroll.
Questions
Questions people ask before they register
How much share capital does a Portuguese company need?
One euro per quota, not per company. It is a floor rather than a recommendation, and the partners may pay it in within five business days of incorporation or by the end of the first financial year.
Can a non resident own a Portuguese company?
Yes. What everyone involved needs is a Portuguese tax number, and obtaining those for people living abroad is usually the longest step in the whole process.
What does it cost to register?
220 euro online using the state's standard articles, or 360 euro with your own. Urgent service doubles either figure.
How fast can it be done?
Empresa na Hora can incorporate in a single appointment and the online route takes days. The tax numbers beforehand are what set the real timeline.
What is the corporation tax rate?
19% for 2026. It is falling one point a year to 17% by 2028, and smaller companies pay 17% on their first 25,000 euro of profit. Municipalities add a charge on top.
Sources
- Ministerio da Justica, criar uma empresa online, custos and capital social
- Governo de Portugal, the IRC reduction schedule to 2028
- Autoridade Tributaria, IES submission deadline
The rest of the Portugal guides
Looking for a job in Entity Setup yourself? Teamed does not hire people directly. Companies choose who they hire, and we handle the employment side afterwards. Here is why we cannot help with your search.
