Setting Up a Portuguese Company Remotely: What's Possible, What Requires a Visit
Audrey Marques
Consultant in business establishment & company formation in Portugal
Founder of Business Portugal, Audrey supports French-speaking entrepreneurs in setting up their company in Portugal and opening their bank account. She coordinates a network of partners (accountant, tax adviser) and points clients to the right contacts, she is neither an accountant, nor a tax adviser, nor a lawyer.
« Setting up your Portuguese company remotely »: the phrase is everywhere, and it is partly true, partly misleading. The honest truth, the one we apply at Business Portugal: the NIF and all the preparation are done remotely, but signing the articles and opening the bank account are done in person, during a trip to Portugal. It is precisely that trip that makes a real setup rather than a shell run from afar. This article is the practical companion to our by-country guidance: where that hub tells you whether the project fits your situation, this one walks you through the procedure, in order, from your tax number to your bank account, clearly separating what is prepared remotely from what requires your presence. One caveat right away, and it is central: the technical ease of formation says nothing about the soundness of the setup. A Portuguese company only makes sense if you genuinely settle there; for anyone who remains a resident of their own country, the real risk lies not in Portugal but in their country of residence. We will return to this at the end. First, the journey.
Step 1: the NIF, your fiscal point of entry
Everything begins with the NIF, the tax identification number for individuals. It is your personal tax identifier in Portugal, indispensable before almost any step: opening an account, signing deeds, appearing as a partner. How you obtain it depends on your country of residence. If you reside in the European Union or the EEA — the case for the vast majority of our clients (France, Belgium, Luxembourg, etc.) — you no longer need a tax representative (since 2022): it is enough to provide an EU/EEA address and, where applicable, to opt in to the authorities' electronic notifications. If you reside outside the EU/EEA (Switzerland, Monaco, the Maghreb, etc.), obtaining it generally goes through a tax representative in Portugal, that is, a person or structure that acts as your point of contact with the authorities. In all cases, the NIF can be obtained without travelling, remotely, by sending an identity document, proof of address and, where required, the representation mandate.
A common confusion is worth clearing up at once: the NIF is not the NIPC. The NIF identifies an individual; the NIPC, on the other hand, is the company's tax number, and it is assigned automatically at the moment of registration, not before. You therefore need your personal NIF to create the company, and the company will receive its own NIPC once incorporated. The two numbers coexist and never substitute for one another.
Step 2: remote preparation, ahead of your visit
Once the NIF is in hand, all the preparation work is done remotely, by video call and document exchange. Together we frame the structure (ENI, Unipessoal Lda, Lda), the business object, the capital and the split between partners, we draft the articles and gather the documents. Some documents must be legalised in your own country (by a notary and, where applicable, with an apostille, or through the Portuguese consulate): it is often those timelines, at home, that stretch the calendar, far more than the Portuguese steps themselves.
The right reflex is therefore to anticipate these elements so that your trip is short and efficient. Because signing the articles and opening the bank account are done in person in Portugal: we get to that in the next steps. This is exactly what we coordinate: preparing the whole file remotely so that a single trip is enough to bring the company to life.
Step 3: signing the articles and registration, on site
Next comes incorporation itself, and this is the step that requires your presence. Signing the articles of association, which set out the purpose, the partners, the management and the allocation of capital, is done in person in Portugal, with Audrey by your side. The company is then registered and receives its NIPC along with a Certidão Permanente, the official, permanent extract that proves its existence and is routinely presented to banks and partners; it is available within 24 to 48 hours after registration. Share capital is not an obstacle: for an Unipessoal Lda as for an Lda, it can start at 1 € per partner, which keeps formation accessible.
Two filings accompany registration and must not be overlooked. The RCBE, the central register of beneficial owners, identifies the individuals who genuinely own or control the company: its declaration is mandatory and is filed by our partner lawyer, right after the Certidão Permanente is issued. And registration with the Segurança Social, the Portuguese social security, attaches the company and its director or directors to the social regime. These steps are coordinated for you once the articles are signed.
Step 4: the business bank account, at the branch
Here is where honesty is required, because this is the least predictable step. Opening a business account is done in person, at a branch, in Portugal: that is banks' practice for a non-resident file, and it is also why your visit serves both to sign the articles and to open the account, during the same trip. The file (Certidão Permanente, RCBE, articles, supporting documents) is prepared in advance, remotely, so that the branch appointment runs smoothly.
It is therefore better to build this trip into the timeline from the outset than to discover it at the wrong moment. We point you towards the partner bank whose practices match your situation and support you on the day of the appointment, but without promising anything we do not control: the final decision to open the account belongs to the bank, and we prefer to say so plainly.
Step 5: accounting, and the real underlying question
Once the company is alive, accounting becomes a continuous obligation, entrusted to a Contabilista Certificado, the Portuguese certified accountant. It is they who keep the books, prepare the filings and watch over the IRC and IVA deadlines. This role is regulated: we do not substitute for it. Our work at Business Portugal is support with company formation and setup; we structure the project, prepare the steps remotely, support you on site on the day of the signing and the bank, then connect you with a partner accountant and, for sharper tax decisions, with a tax adviser. Since 2025, this is how we have supported more than 75 French-speaking entrepreneurs.
There remains the question that outweighs all the others. Setting up remotely is technically easy, but a Portuguese company protects you from nothing if your activity is, in reality, carried out and managed from your own country. Portugal's relevance rests on substance: living there, managing there, genuinely operating there. An address is not enough, and for anyone who remains resident elsewhere, the risk sits in their country of residence, not in Portugal. The most useful thing, before launching the procedure, is to talk it through from your concrete situation, to check that the project rests on solid foundations and not merely on a registered address.
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