A company in Portugal and a corporate bank account in Cook Islands – from 6,299 EUR

If you are thinking of establishing a business company in a foreign country, we suggest that you give Portugal some consideration. The rent prices are reasonable in the country, the tax system is sensible, and the EU membership is certainly precious. A company can be registered in Portugal in your name without your personal presence in the country. The same goes for your company corporate bank account: you do not have to visit Cook Islands in order to open a bank account there.

Portugal is among top tourist destinations in the world. It used to be a huge and prosperous empire a long time ago but currently it is just a stable state with no imperial ambitions nor unattainable goals. The clear ocean, the beautiful architecture, and the bright sun make Portugal so popular with tourists. 

However, business is picking up too and recently Portugal has become a very attractive jurisdiction for foreign investors. The explanation for this is the effort of the Portuguese Government to restore the country’s economy after the world financial crisis of 2008. It alters the existing legislation and passes new laws to attract more international capital to Portugal. This effort is evidently paying back as more and more investors are bringing money to the country from abroad.  

Register a company in Portugal

One form of company proprietorship is especially popular with foreign investors in Portugal. It is abbreviated LDA in Portuguese, which stands for LLC or Limited Liability Company in this language. This is perfectly understandable as only one person is required to establish an LDA, it can have only one employee (the director), and the sufficient charter capital is one euro only. These are not very tough bureaucratic requirements, are they?

What you have to do in order to establish a company in Portugal is collect the required documents to be submitted to the Commercial Registry in the country. These documents must contain the following information:

• Description of the company business spheres;
• Names, nationalities, and legal residencies of the prospective company owners;
• The name of the future company in the Portuguese language (an original name or one of those available with the Commercial Registry);
• Description of the company structure.

The basic company information should be found in the key application document, namely, the company Articles of Association. We will gladly help you draw up a draft of this document, as we know how exactly it should look to be accepted by the Portuguese Registrar.

We will ask you to submit the following documents to us for a start:

• Articles of Association;
• Passport copies of the prospective company owners;
• Proofs of their residential addresses.

Portuguese authorities pursue some peculiar policies in what concerns the company name. You have two options here. First, you can use one of the existing preapproved names for your company. You can select it from the list that you will obtain from the Commercial Registry.

Second, you can come up with an original name for your company. In this case, it will have to be approved by the Registrar before you can apply for company registration in Portugal. What does this entail? Extra fifteen days for the company registration procedure and an additional state duty of 1,200 EUR for the original name approval. You have to make up your mind about this matter.

We would like to tell you however, that many foreign business people use the following way around this awkward requirement. They register the company under one of the preapproved names but then use it only for the official documents. The Portuguese legislation allows using ANY company name as its brand name or its ‘shop window’ name.

In the process of company registration in Portugal, you are supposed to acquire online access to the Commercial Registration Certificate. This is an important document as it serves as a guarantee of the company reliability for the bank that you want to service you. Access to this document for three months is included in the overall price if the combined service that we are offering here.

Tax ID for non-residents in Portugal

The Portuguese tax legislation requires that every company owner/ director have a Tax Identification Number. In addition to that, every company shall also have a corporate Tax ID. Unless your Portuguese-registered company has such an ID, it cannot obtain banking services.

A non-EU resident will have to go through a special procedure in order to acquire a Tax ID in Portugal. He or she will also have to use the services of a tax representative in the country. However, a legal resident of an EU country can obtain a Portuguese Tax ID without any trouble simply dropping by at the national tax agency.

You have to realize that having a tax representative in Portugal is unavoidable if you are not a citizen of one of the EU countries. You can acquire this service in several different ways:

• You can hire us especially with the view of the fact that this service is included in the overall price of the combined service that we are promoting here;
• You can become a legal resident in Portugal yourself (we will gladly help you acquire a residence permit in the country);
• You can hire some other company to provide this service to you at an additional cost.

Whichever of the (first two) ways you choose, you have to understand that having a Portuguese Tax ID is mandatory if you want to register a business company in the country.

Company registration in Portugal: the expenditures

Several costs are involved in the process of registering a business company in Portugal. We must note that the price of our service does not include the cost of company registration under an original name. The Portuguese Commercial Registry will offer you a list of company names you can choose from. If you want to use a name of your own invention, however, you will have to pay 1,200 EUR more for the name approval.

The overall service cost includes the following items:

• Company registration:
  • Under a name from the Registrar list – 1,200 EUR;
• Tax representative in Portugal for three months – 600 EUR;
• Accounting support for three months;
• Company legal address for three months including additional services:
  • Interaction with the accountant (up to 5 e-mails or phone calls per month);
  • Original documents storage, archive, and scanning of the incoming mail;
  • Interaction with tax authorities, state agencies, and banks (up to five contacts per month)
• Personal Tax ID for the company owner – 500 EUR or a corporate Tax ID if a legal entity is going to own the company – 800 EUR.

If you wish, we can also set up a corporate account for your company with a Portuguese bank. The cost of this additional service is going to be 4,000 EUR. A personal visit to Portugal is required if you want to have a local bank account. However, we would like to suggest opening a corporate bank account outside Portugal. In this case, you will not have to travel anywhere.

The company registration service in particular includes the following items:

• Payment of state duties;
• Company registration with the Portuguese tax authorities and acquisition of a Tax ID;
• Social security number;
• Preparation of corporate documents including:
• Standard Articles of Association;
• Certificate of Incorporation;
•  Company Scope of Activities;
• A physical company ID card that carries the basic company information;
• Online access code to the Certificate of Commercial Registration for three months.

It is important to note that acquiring accountant’s services is mandatory in Portugal and their cost starts at 300 EUR per month.

Besides company registration and account opening services, we also provide foreign company maintenance services. We sell three different service packages called Family Office. Each Family Office package contains a smaller or a larger number of services: please see the table below.

Company extension in Portugal

There are no state duties for company extension in Portugal. However, there will be some mandatory expenditures anyway. For instance, you cannot avoid paying the rent for the legal address nor for the accounting support.

A full-fledged Portuguese company will require 6,750 EUR in maintenance costs. We will gladly provide these services to you. You can cover them on a monthly basis by paying 550 EUR each month. The price includes access to the Commercial Registration Certificate.

You can also use some additional company maintenance services that we provide

A corporate bank account for your Portuguese company in Cook Islands

Cook Islands is an independent state in the southern part of the Pacific Ocean that consists of fifteen islands. They are located to the southeast of Tahiti. The islands have a strategic geographical position that gives them access to both Asian and American markets. The bank that we are advertising here was established in 1997 and its mission is to provide high quality private banking services.  

This bank has only one office and this means that it is located in one jurisdiction only. Due to this fact, the bank clients can be sure that it operates in accordance with the legislation of a single national state. Huge multinational banks do not usually have this characteristic. Besides, the Cook Islands legislation is clear and easy to understand. The judicial system of the country is very well tuned and very reliable.

The Cook Islands laws and the bank policies ensure a high level of personal financial information confidentiality.  

Because the bank seeks to provide a wide spectrum of VIP banking services, its clients usually have the following qualities:

• They are persons of high net worth;
• They want to use the most effective ways to protect their assets;
• They like receiving high-level private banking services;
• They are conservative about their investment targets;
• They count on cautious processing of their financial information.

The bank is licensed to perform both domestic and international financial operations. Lately, it has introduced an Internet banking service that gives the clients unlimited access to the account information via the Internet Portal.

In addition to that, upon the clients’ request, the bank has also started issuing prepaid debit cards, which it did not do before. When you become the bank’s client, you can place a request for an international pay card that you can use in any part of the world.

The bank is rapidly growing and constantly improving the services that it provides to the clients. Its Tier 1 capital ratio is more than 19%, which is a remarkably high ratio in comparison to most other banks on the planet.

The bank invests the clients’ money only in highly secure bond portfolios or with the most reliable banks, those that are ranked A- or higher by Standard and Poor’s.

A corporate account with the bank in Cook Islands

This bank can open corporate accounts for limited liability companies, partnerships, trusts, funds, and foundations. Accounts can be opened in the following currencies: USD, GBP, and EUR. On a special request, you can open an account in other world currencies as well.

If you want to establish a corporate account in Cook Islands, you have to fill out, sign, and scan the bank application forms and then send them to us by e-mail. (Please rest assured that we will send you the forms to be completed.) After we examine the completed forms carefully, we will send them to the bank administration in order to obtain a preapproval. A preapproval from the bank will mean that it is prepared to consider your application. However, it will NOT mean that the application has been accepted yet. The bank will have to examine the document originals before accepting your company as a client.

In addition to the bank forms, all company beneficiaries will have to submit the following documents:

• A notarized copy of their foreign passports;
• Proofs of residential addresses (notarized copies or the originals of utility bills or bank statements carrying the information about the person’s residential address);
• A brief résumé.

The necessary corporate documents include the following ones:

• A copy of the Certificate of Formation or Registration Certificate;
• A copy of the Memorandum and Articles of Association/ Bylaws/ Operating Agreement;
• A copy of the Certificate of Good Standing (in case the company has been in operation for over one year);
• A copy of the Director’s Decision to open a corporate account with this bank.

In addition to these documents, the bank can also request a description of the company business activities (the information about its turnover, partners, regions of operations, mutual account settlement systems, company structure, etc.). The company owner (director) has to sign this document.

Important: all documents shall be written in English or translated into this language if necessary. Please also note that the bank may request additional documents in the process of considering your application for services.

The application consideration procedure takes approximately three weeks since the date on which the bank receives the completed and scanned forms. If your application for services is approved, you will have to submit document originals before the account number can be assigned to your company.

Bank limitations

The bank will deny services to the applicant company if it is registered in one of these countries or in case a company beneficiary is a legal resident in one of them:

Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cote d’Ivoire, Cuba, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Haiti, Iran, Iraq, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Lebanon, Liberia, Libya, Myanmar (Burma), Pakistan, Serbia, Somalia, Sri Lanka, South Sudan, Republic of Sudan, Syria, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Yemen, and Zimbabwe.

The bank will conduct Due Diligence procedures with double caution if the company is registered in one of the countries from the following list or in case a company beneficiary is a legal resident of one of these countries:

Algeria, Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bolivia, Brazil, Burundi, Ecuador, Gaza Strip, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Indonesia, Kenya, Kosovo, Moldova, Morocco, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Republic of the Congo, Russia, Sao Tome and Principe, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Thailand, Ukraine, Vanuatu, Venezuela, and West Bank.

In addition to that, the bank will deny services to the company that is engaged in the following types of activities:

• Any illegal activities;
• Unregulated/ unlicensed money services;
• Financial institution that do not hold the necessary licenses;
• Prostitution, pornography, materials with sexual content;
• Narcotics, reaction medications, and online pharmacies;
• Trade in rough diamonds;
• Gambling, lotteries (both online and offline), casinos, betting organizers;
• Defense contractors, manufacturers and suppliers of weapons and ammunition, private security firms;
• Legal entities that are entitled to issue bearer shares or are owned by holders of bearer shares;
• Shell banks;
• Tobacco, cigars, cigarettes including electronic cigarettes and accessories;
• Illegal activities connected with the wild nature;
• Counterfeit goods;
• Dating services;
• Telemarketing;
• Chemical precursors to narcotics.

The bank will also conduct an especially stringent Due Diligence check of the company that deals in the following areas:

• Companies that provide consultation services;
• Companies with that use large amounts of cash (retail stores, grocery stores, hotels, restaurants, taxi companies, etc.);
• Companies that accept third parties’ money with the purpose of investing it;
• Precious stones and metals dealers;
• Computer and technical appliance retail sales;
• Debt collectors;
• Pharmacies and pharmaceuticals;
• Trading firms or exchange markets dealing in non-fiat or foreign currency exchange;
• Online game providers;
• Secondhand car dealers and used car spare parts dealers;
• Labor brokers;
• Multilevel marketers;
• Court trial financing.

As you can see from the limitations described above, the Cook Islands bank is rather selective when it comes to servicing clients. This is an indication of thoughtful approach to providing banking services and a guarantee that your money will be perfectly safe if you put it in this bank.

Share dealing account with the Cook Islands Bank

In addition to the possibility to open a corporate bank account with this bank for your Portuguese-registered company, there are other interesting services that you can us. In particular, the bank offers the opportunity to gain access to the trading platforms, which allows trading on more than thirty stock exchanges all over the world. The assets are kept with a custodian, which makes the bank clients certain that their investments are secure.  

You will have protected access to your portfolio and you will be able to control your investments by placing purchase and sales orders at your own discretion. You will also see the ranges of possible investment options available at various stock exchanges. 

With a share dealing account in the bank that we are promoting, you will have access to numerous markets including the following ones:

• AMEX — NYSE MKT (American Stock Exchange);
• HKEX — Hong Kong Stock Exchange;
• HSE — NASDAQ OMX Helsinki Stock Exchange;
• LSE_SETS — London Stock Exchange;
• NASDAQ;
• and many others.

Precious metal account with the Cook Islands Bank

The bank also offers an opportunity to open a metal account for such precious metals as gold, silver, and platinum. You can keep ingots and coins in a special vault located in New Zealand.

A metal account allows safely purchasing and selling precious metals. In addition to that, you can visit the vault personally or have the metals transported to a different place.  

The online banking platform will allow you to check the balance on the metal account and securely give various instructions on the account management.

Investment account with the Cook Islands Bank

An investment account with this bank is an effective instrument of investment management via a private investment bank.

There are almost no limitations as to the types of investments that you can make. These can be shares, bonds, raw materials, currencies, or mutual funds. You can choose the preferable investment type with the consultation of your personal investment manager.

You will also be able to select the investment manager while the bank will issue recommendations depending on your preferences. Your personal manager can also manage your investment portfolio that you will transmit to the Cook Islands bank.  

You can give the account management instructions by e-mail or fax but these have to be signed by you personally.

The information that you will have submitted when applying for the corporate account will usually be sufficient for establishing an investment account as well. However, some investment managers may request additional information from you.

Apply for our combined service of foreign company registration and bank account opening

You may think that opening a foreign company and a foreign bank account would involve travelling to distant countries and going through a lot of red tape. These factors could make the mission hardly accomplishable. Yes, they could if you were to do it on your own.

You do not have to visit either Portugal or Cook Islands to establish a business company in an EU country and a bank account in a reputable and secure jurisdiction. You can stay home while we are dealing with all the bureaucratic issues on your behalf.

We know the laws and other regulations that govern the company registration procedure in Portugal. It is true that this process involves a considerable amount of paper work but this is not going to be your trouble! We can handle the matter for you with almost a 100% guarantee of success.

We have also opened bank accounts in Cook Islands for a large number of clients in the past. Thus, we know what application documents are required and what they should like to ensure the success of this enterprise as well.

We do not bill our clients unless we have a high level of certainty that company formation and account opening are possible in every individual case. When you apply for the combined service that we advertise above, our managers will have to ask you several questions in order to ascertain that we are able to provide the service to you.

If you find the proposal that we have made here appealing or if you would like to ask us any clarifying questions, please write to [email protected] without hesitation. We love helping people make their lives a bit better. This is a very rewarding feeling indeed!