# Starting a company

[Companies](/companies/)

We set out the tax regime to choose for your company, the registrations it needs and its obligations in its first year.

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## Send us your request

We reply within 2 working days with the right service, its price and how to start.

## 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

1. 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.
2. Your advice reaches your portal, signed by your adviser, with the first-year obligations and their dates.

## 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 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

From clients we have advised. Names withheld at their request.

## Related guides

- Guide

  ### [VAT in Portugal](/guides/vat-tax-portugal/)
- Guide

  ### [Social security in Portugal 2026: employees and freelancers](/guides/portugal-social-security-expats/)
- Guide

  ### [CAE codes in Portugal and IFICI](/guides/ifici-qualifying-sectors-cae-codes/)

## Questions

### Do you keep the company's accounts?

Our partner accountant can keep the company's accounts, corporate return and payroll, and the tax advice stays with us.

### Is a company the right choice, or self-employment?

The facts that decide it are what the business does and where its clients are, the turnover you expect in the first year, where you and any other founders live, and whether the company employs staff from the start. The advice weighs the two on those facts and sets out the tax regime, the registrations and the first-year obligations of the structure that fits. [Starting as self-employed](/services/freelancer-setup-compliance/) covers working on your own account without a company.

### I live outside Portugal. Can you still help?

Yes. We assess the Portuguese tax position of the company and how your residence abroad affects it. Your adviser in your country covers your tax there, and you can share our advice with them.

[Send us your request](#request)

## Related services

[Companies](/companies/)

[Tax Consultation for your company](/services/tax-consultation-company/) [Moving to Portugal with a company abroad](/services/moving-with-a-company-abroad/)

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Source: https://taxbordr.com/services/starting-a-company/

General guidance only. Individual facts govern.