Even though 80% of Portugal’s expatriates are pensioners, some of them, such as myself, will certainly plan to come and live in Lisbon with the aim of setting up a company and starting a new professional activity. Setting up a company in Portugal can be done very quickly if you are well accompanied. In this article, I will give you useful information concerning the registration of a trademark (Marca Na Hora) and the creation (Empresa Na Hora) in 1 hour of a english company in Portugal. A difficult process to set up by yourself if you don’t master Portuguese. If you would like to be accompanied by a english speaking Portuguese accountant in Lisbon, please contact me using the button below.
Create a Portuguese company quickly
As mentioned above, the administrative process of setting up a business in Portugal can be done very quickly with the “Empresa Na Hora” (Business in One Hour) service set up by the Portuguese government to simplify procedures. A service that has been available in 214 locations throughout Portugal for several years. Among other things, it allows :
- To create a business faster
- Do without having to obtain a certificate of eligibility in advance from the company or to draft a public deed.
- Obtain the company card, social security number, social pact and the Código de Acesso à Certidão Permanente (Permanent Certificate of Acesso Status) valid for one year or three months, renewable, from the moment of creation.
There are two possibilities regarding the choice of company name:
- Creating a new name and requesting its validation from the commercial register: waiting several days.
- Choose a name from a list of pre-approved names that you will find here: you cannot reserve a name, it will have to be chosen during the creation of your Portuguese company on the spot.
- An element to be confirmed but it seems to me that company names being identical to the names of the directors or partners are automatically approved: “Paulo Santos & Alexander” / “Rui Santos Silva”, etc…
The cost of setting up a business in Portugal is €360 to be paid immediately on the spot by credit card but you may have to pay more depending on the number of activities you wish to associate with your business. In case you don’t have a bank account in Portugal yet, make sure that your credit card will work properly, it didn’t work for me the first time! This service still requires you to go to a physical reception point and the waiting time may be longer than an hour (the procedure took about 2 hours for me).
Please also be aware that since all the papers are in Portuguese, you will have to sign a document stating that the person who accompanied you to set up your business spoke the language and explained the information to you in Portuguese. This person will also have to sign as proof of good faith.
Portuguese company in 1H, additional information
Below is a translation of the Portuguese administration’s answers to frequently asked questions about the process of setting up a business in Portugal in one hour.
The companies that can be set up under the Empresa Na Hora service are :
- Unipessoal companies per quotas
- Quota companies
- Public limited companies (S.A.)
To set up a business in Lisbon, you don’t have to go to a Lisbon office. They are all interconnected and you can set up your business wherever you want. You will find the list of places offering this service on this page. Attention: companies wishing to register movable or immovable assets in the capital, should go to the places marked “Com Procedimento de constituição com Entradas em Espécie”.
Be aware that it is not mandatory to deposit your company’s capital directly at the time of creation. However, you will be required to sign an official document confirming that you and your partners will pay the capital within 5 working days of the creation of your business. The capital can be made up entirely of movable or immovable property.
The communication between Portuguese administrative services is not the strong point of the country. You will therefore have 15 days from the date of the creation of your company in Portugal to formalize the launch of your activity and to go to different services to register your company. Being accompanied by a local will allow you not to worry about this kind of details. The main thing you will need to do is to make the declaration of business start-up with the General Labour Inspectorate and register your business with the Portuguese social security services.
It is quite possible to set up a business in Portugal in one hour with partners who are legal entities in Portugal or European country. In this case, all that is required is the official identification documents:
- For Portuguese legal persons: company card, Portuguese TIN of the company representatives, deliberation act of the general meeting or board of directors and updated memorandum or social agreement.
- For foreign legal entities: documents proving the existence of the company in the country of origin, the company’s articles of association, the company’s deed of participation in the creation of a new company in Portugal and the identity documents of the legal representatives of the foreign company.
When you set up your company, you will automatically receive the corresponding domain name in “.pt”. You will need to activate a coupon within 90 days at this address. Once your domain name is activated, it will be available with different tools for hosting and creating your website.
Register your Portuguese trademark in 1 hour : Marca Na Hora
The various “Empresa Na Hora” reception points also offer a fast trademark registration service for Portuguese companies (“Marca Na Hora”). Unfortunately, you will not be able to register a new trademark (longer process) but you can choose a trademark from a list pre-approved by Portugal. This list consists of 200 trademarks and is updated regularly. This fast trademark filing service can be used immediately at the time of the creation of the company or later at the service as on the internet.
It is not mandatory to settle in Portugal to use this trademark registration service. You can also be a foreign resident, but you will still need to provide an address in the country and a means of contact. Registering a trademark at the “Empresa Na Hora” counter will cost you 200€ for one class of product or service, plus 44€ for each additional class. I haven’t checked but it seems that it only costs 100€ if the application is made online.
The creation of your trademark in Portugal must be done in one of these classes, which are the only ones available through the “Marca Na Hora” service:
- Class 25 – Clothing, footwear and headgear
- Class 33 – Alcoholic beverages (except beer)
- Class 35 – Advertising, Business management, Business administration, Office work, Sales promotion, Retail or wholesale
- Class 36 – Insurance, Financial affairs, Monetary affairs, Real estate affairs, Real estate management, Financial sponsorship, Mediation services in buying and selling real estate
- Class 37 – Construction, repairs, installation services
- Class 41 – Education, training, amusements, sporting and cultural activities
- Class 43 – Food services, Temporary accommodation
Only these classes are available through the “Marca Na Hora” service as they are the most requested classes for a trademark application in Portugal (61% of applications). A trademark can be filed in another class but this application has to go through another administration: the process will be longer. It is important to note that you can set up a computer company and register a clothing trademark at the same time: the two applications are independent and the sectors do not have to be similar.
Trademarks registered in Portugal through this fast service are only registered in Portugal and for a period of 10 years.
