Portugal Mainland

Key Corporate Information

Compare against other jurisdictions

1 Corporate
Tax Rate
21%

(unless a SME – where first €50k of net taxable income is taxed at 17%)

2 Substance
Requirements

None

3 Withholding
Tax

Typically from 25% *
(unless a double taxation agreement applies, providing for a lower tax rate)

* Provided the non-Portuguese country is not a Portuguese ‘blacklisted’ jurisdiction; in this event the tax will be 35%
4 Participation
Holding Exemption

Yes, 10% minimum shareholding of subsidiary for at least 1 year *

* Not applicable to entities in a country, territory or region, subject to a favourable tax regime contained in the list approved by the Government. To benefit from participation exemption, the entity that distributes profits must be subject and not exempt from IRC , at the rate that cannot be less than 60% of Portugal CIT
5 Number of Double
Taxation Treaties

Over 70

6 Time to
Establish Company

2 Weeks

7 Audit
Requirement

Yes, if an S.A. company, holding company (SGPS only), or if the company exceeds two of the three limits over a two-year consecutive period:

  1. Total assets: €1.5m
  2. Total income: €3m
  3. Number of employees: average of 50
8 Filing
Requirements

Annual Tax filing requirements

9 Stamp Duty on
Transfer of Shares

Yes

10 Shareholder Information
Publicly Available

Yes

11 Other
Beneficial Factors
  • Angola and Peru, respectively, have one DTT with an EU jurisdiction, namely Portugal
  • Favourable DTT with Latam countries, including favourable investment protection clauses
  • Lower fixed company costs (including lower personnel costs) when compared to other EU jurisdictions
  • Portugal mainland may be used as an entry point to bring goods into the EU (namely, Porto de Sines and Porto de Leixões)