Opening A Company In Portugal

OPENING A COMPANY IN PORTUGAL

Companies The two most common forms of commercial enterprise in Portugal are: 1. Public Limited Company (Sociedade Anónima, or S.A.), 2. Quota Company (Sociedadepor Quotas, or Lda.) Other forms include partnerships and cooperatives. In both cases (1 and 2 listed above) the liability of the shareholders is limited. The minimum share capital amount is 50 000 €for a S.A. company and free (minimum of 1€) for an Lda. At incorporation a S.A. company must have a minimum of 5 shareholders, while a Lda. can be incorporated with only 2 shareholders or even with asingle shareholder (in this case the company will be designated as “Sociedade Unipessoal” Single Shareholder Limited Liability Company ). A S.A. company can have its shares quoted in an organized StockExchange Market. Companies incorporated in Portugal have to comply with extensive filing and legal requirements, including the following: · Accounts must be prepared in accordance with the PortugueseChart of Accounts. In certain specified cases (Financial Institutions and Consolidated Accounts of quoted companies) the adoption of International Accounting Standards is required. · All S.A.companies must have their accounts audited by a Statutory Auditor. · Quota companies that do not exceed specified limits (concerning the turnover, assets and employees) are exempt from this audit requirement;· A general shareholders meeting must be held at least once a year, to approve the accounts prepared by the management and the distribution of profits; · By the end of June, information regarding theprevious financial year, such as the annual accounts and other elements, must be filed to the Tax Authorities and to the Commercial Register Entity.

Setting up Before registration of a companyin Portugal the founders of either a public or a private company must ensure that their company's name isn't used by another firm (I can take care of this for you) if you don’t want to use a name of...