The Portuguese government favors businesses in services related to tourism..
You can do business in Portugal in different ways through different types of companies. Here we will describe which ones are used for which purpose and for which type of business.
Companies in Portugal can be divided into 2 main groups: Empresas Singulares (individuals) and Empresas Coletivas (collective companies).
Empresas Singulares (individuals):
- Empresário em Nome Individual (Individual entrepreneur): Doing business in one's own name. You can read more info here.
- Estabelecimento Individual de Responsabilidade Limitada E.I.R.L. (Establishment of individual limited liability): The conditions here are the same, only you are doing business in your own name as a company. The company name must bear your name. More info here.
Empresas Coletivas (collective societies):
- Sociedade em Nome Coletivo (General partnership): There is no obligation min. amount of share capital. The name of the company is composed of the names of the owners of the company. A company usually has a suffix "e Companhia". More here.
- Sociedade por quotas (Limited company): Company suffix "Lda". It has more than one owner. The amount of the share capital is freely determined in the company's articles of association and is the sum of the quotas subscribed by the partners. This company, if it has only one owner, has the name "Unipessoal" before the suffix "Lda". The whole suffix is therefore "Unipessoal Lda" - a company with limited liability in the case of one owner. More info here.
- Sociedade Anónima (Joint stock company): Requires min. 5 companions. The share capital is at least €50,000, which is divided into shares of the same nominal value. The company has the suffix S.A. More info here.
- Sociedade em Comandita (Limited partnership): There are 2 types of limited partnerships: limited partners and general partners. The company suffix is "Em Comandita" or "Comandita por Ações". Více info here.
- Cooperativa (Cooperatives): They are autonomous, non-profit freely established companies, with variable capital and composition, which aim to satisfy economic, social or cultural needs. More info here.
- Associação (Association): Associations are established in the case of ownership of several companies (e.g. Lda type) in order to centralize purchases and reduce, for example, overheads. These companies usually operate on an international level. More info here.