A Portuguese-registered company with a bank account in Belize – from 6,299 EUR

Would you like to have a business company registered in Portugal and a corporate bank account opened in Belize? With our assistance, you can do in without leaving the comfort of your home!

Portugal suffered greatly from the world economic crisis of 2008. Decrease in production, a severe drop in demand, high unemployment rates – no national state would want to see these nasty things happen again. Thus, Portugal is fighting back with all its might.

The Portuguese Government has introduced some earnest changes to the country’s legislation meant to promote the economic growth. These days, setting up a company in Portugal is easier that doing that in most other EU states. Due to this fact, the amount of foreign direct investments in the country has grown manifold over the recent years.

Foreign business people are attracted by the simple procedure of company registration, affordable office rent prices, and transparent tax system in Portugal. These favorable conditions may not last forever but establishing business presence in this country today can be lucrative indeed.

Company registration in Portugal

Most foreigners register an LDA in Portugal that is the local equivalent of an LLC – Limited Liability Company. The requirements to establishing a company of this ownership type are quite relaxed. The registered capital can be 1 euro only. Besides, the company can have a single founder who can also be its sole director. Other Western European countries usually put forward tougher requirements to an LLC formation.

There are several ways to form a business company in Portugal including a simplified procedure. This method will economize your time as the company can be established within a few working days.

To launch the company registration process you will have to submit the following documents:

• Articles of Association for your prospective company;
• The company owners’ and directors’ passport copies;
• Proofs of their residential addresses such as recent utility bills, for instance.

The company Articles of Association is the key document for company registration in Portugal. It contains the following information:

• The business sphere(s) that the company is going to operate in;
• The company owners’ personal data: their names, nationality, and place of residence;
• The company name (taken from the list of preapproved company names or a unique name);
• A description of the company management structure.

Choosing the name for your Portuguese company can be a bit tricky. The matter is that the Commercial Registry in the country has a list of company names that have already been preapproved. If you pick one of the names from this list, you will save time and money when registering a company in Portugal.

You can also use a name for your company that you have invented yourself. However, this will entail the registration process extension by fifteen days and the requirement to pay an additional state duty for the name approval of 1,200 EUR.

Thus, the second option does not look like a wise choice, in our opinion. Especially given the fact that your official company name can appear on the documents only while its ‘showcase’ name can be different. If you are prepared to keep your vanity in check and use one of the preapproved company names, the registration procedure should take not more than ten days.

In addition, you have to gain online access to the Commercial Registration Certificate. This Certificate will confirm your company reliability for the banks. A three-month access to the Commercial Registration Certificate is included in the overall service price of 6,299 UER.

Tax ID for non-residents of Portugal

Every company owner, director, or manager shall have a Portuguese Tax ID. What is also important, every company shall have a corporate Tax ID as well. Without it, banks will not service the company.

Acquiring a Tax ID in Portugal is not going to be a problem at all if you are an EU resident. All you have to do is pay a visit to the national tax agency. If you are a citizen of other countries, the procedure of obtaining a Portuguese Tax ID is going to take some time.

A non-EU resident has to use the services of a person who already holds a Tax ID in Portugal to act as his or her official introducer to the Portuguese tax authorities. You can acquire this mandatory service in three different ways:

• You can request it from us as it is already included in the overall service price;
• You can request it from another company at an additional cost;
• Or you can become a legal resident of Portugal yourself. If this is your choice, we will gladly provide support to you in this endeavor.

The costs involved in the company registration in Portugal

The overall price of the combined service that we are offering here includes the following expenditures:

• Company registration with the Portuguese authorities – 1,200 EUR;
• Portuguese Tax ID acquisition – 500 EUR per one applicant;
• A package of apostilled documents required for opening a bank account in another national state – 400 EUR;
• Accountant services for three months;
• Registered legal address for the company for three months;
• Family Office Basic service package (see below) for three months;
• Tax representative services in Portugal for three months.

If you want your Portuguese company to be registered under a name of your own invention, you have to add another 1,200 EUR to the service price. This is the payment to be made to the Registrar for approving a new company name.

To enhance the efficiency of your Portuguese company operations you can apply for our Family Office services. These are packaged company maintenance services that come in three variants. Each package includes a different number of services. Please see the table below:

We also provide additional company maintenance services:

Open a corporate bank account in Belize for your Portuguese company

Minimum initial deposit required – 1,000 USD

Account opening fee – 100 USD

Account maintenance fee, per month – 14.50 USD

We have deliberately specified the basic bank conditions at the very beginning of this section. You may be asking yourself “Why do I need a bank account in a classical offshore jurisdiction while my company is registered in a reputable European state?” Simply because no European bank can offer such attractive service conditions as this Belizean bank offers.

Belize is a tiny state in Central America whose territory is only about 23,000 square kilometers (8,880 sq. miles). In addition to the mainland territory, Belize also has about 200 islands that attract tourists by their coral riffs. The population of Belize is only 308,000 people. The largest part of them are of Spanish origin but there are also several ethnic minorities in the country. The official language of Belize is English but Creole and Spanish can be often heard in the streets as well. 

Like many other offshore jurisdictions located close to America, Belize was a British colony and it was called ‘British Honduras’ for 130 years. However, the country gained independence in 1981.

The contemporary Belize offers wonderful conditions for offshore business and it is particularly famous for its offshore banks. These outperform American and European banks in a number of aspects.

Apart from that, Belize is a politically stable state with a slow-paced life. Keeping money there is safe and the local currency is pegged to the US dollar at 2:1.

The bank that we are promoting in this article is a classical offshore bank that is proud of its well-trained personnel and vast experience in providing banking services. If you are looking to set up an account in an offshore bank, this financial institution is what you need. You can use the splendid investment opportunities that the bank offers and the top-class services provided by qualified finance specialists.

Prepaid Visa card from the Belizean bank

Beginning early 2019, the bank issues Visa prepaid cards. These are normal plastic cards that are reloadable and that can be used anywhere where Visa cards are accepted. Any one is entitled to apply for a prepaid Visa card from this bank.

Below please find some specifics of the card use:

• Minimal prepaid balance on the card – US# 1,000;
• Maximal prepaid balance on the card – US# 10,000;
• Maximal allowed total value of the card – US$50,000
• Maximal cash withdrawal from an ATM – US$ 2,000 per day;
• Maximal number of cash withdrawals – 10 per day;
• Maximal amount of online or POS transactions – US$ 25,000 per day;
• Maximal number of online or POS transactions – 15 per day.

A prepaid Visa plastic card from the Belizean bank provides for a convenient and safe way to pay for goods and services at almost any place in the world. The card use comes at a certain cost but the amounts of fees and commissions are quite competitive.

Corporate on demand account  

This kind of account will perform the functions of a standard transactional account.  

• Available currencies — USD, CAD, EUR, GBP, and CHF;
• Minimum initial deposit required — US$ 1,000 or the equivalent in another currency;
• Account opening fee — US$ 100, and US$ 350 for citizens if the United States of America;
• Monthly account maintenance fee – US$ 14.50;
• Interest on the deposit of up to US$ 9,999.00 is 0%;
• Interest on the deposit above US$ 10,000.00 is 0.1%;
• The interest is paid monthly and the payments are made to the same account;
• The account information is accessible 24/7.

A fixed-term deposit

In addition to other bank products, you can use the possibility to make a fixed-term deposit with this bank. This will allow earning interest on your money.

• Available currencies — USD, CAD, EUR, GBP, and CHF;
• Minimum required deposit amount — US$ 25,000.00 or the equivalent in another currency;
• The deposit term is from one to five years. The interest rate depends on the term.
• The interest can be transferred monthly, quarterly, or yearly to your current account in this Belizean bank or to any other account in any other bank depending on your preferences.

Online banking security

Today, banking via the Internet is common practice. However, when it comes to online banking, the Belizean bank takes the matter of security very seriously. It uses the state-of-the-art technologies that serve to protect online banking systems. In addition, the Belize state agencies monitor the bank’s operations regularly to ascertain that all of them are perfectly legal.

Bank tariffs:

• Cash deposit or withdrawal (a notification has to be made two days prior to the operation)— 3% of the sum;
• Bank statement on paper — US$ 5.00 plus the courier services;
• International courier delivery — US$ 50.00 minimum
• Local courier delivery — $ 10.00 minimum
• Internal transaction between accounts – US $5.00

International transfers:

• Incoming payments – US$ 10.00 plus the correspondent bank fees;
• Outgoing payments – US $100.00

Documents required for setting up a corporate account in the Belizean bank

Important: all documents have to be written in English or translated into this language with the translations apostilled. The apostil shall be not more than one year old on the date of the application documents submission. Please also mind that the bank may request more documents in addition to the ones specified below.

The following documents have to be collected in order to apply for services to this bank:

For ALL beneficiary account holders, signers, company directors, nominees, and other officers:

• Bank account opening forms – printed out, completed and signed;
• A color notarized copy of the passport or any other official identification document (with the holder’s photograph and signature); 
• A notarized document to serve as proof of address (such as a utility bill, for example);

Important: the proof of address shall be not more than two months old on the date of application. It also has to be translated into English, if necessary, and notarized.

• A Letter of Recommendation from a bank that the applicant has been cooperating with for over one year;
• A Letter of Recommendation from a professional (such as a lawyer, a notary, etc.) that the applicant has been in relations with for over one year;
• A notarized copy of the Share Certificate if the company has issued shares and a notarized copy of the Deed of Trust if the company has corporate shareholders;
• A notarized Power of Attorney authorizing the representative (that is, our company) to open the bank account;
• A notarized copy of the Minutes of the General Meeting and the company Charter/ By-Laws;
• A notarized copy of the company Certificate of Incorporation;
• A notarized copy of the Certificate of Good Standing if the company has been in operation for over a year;  
• A notarized copy of the company Memorandum and Articles of Association/ By-Laws/ Operating Agreement, etc.;
• A notarized copy of the Certificate of Shareholders/ Subscribers.

Apart from that, you will have to provide a description of the company business activities. This should include the information about the company turnover, its partners, regions of operation, mutual payment systems, company management structure, and so on.

The account will normally be opened within two weeks since the day when all the application documents are submitted to the bank administration by mail.

How to open a company in Portugal with a corporate account in a Belizean bank

We would be happy to help you establish a company in Portugal and a bank account in Belize. You will not even have to leave home in order to accomplish these tasks! Please contact us via [email protected] and we will supply the exact list of documents required for company formation in Portugal and account opening in Belize. Without doubt, we will help you complete all the application forms in the correct way. Within approximately one month since the start of the company registration procedure, you will have your EU-located company fully functional, which will allow you to do business in any part of the world!

We have to warn you, however, that in case you want to engage in some illegal or semi-legal business activities, we will not be able to service you. Neither will we be able to assist you in tax evasion.

At the same time, if you are an honest businessperson and you want to pursue lawful goals, you will certainly appreciate the level of services that we provide. We have been establishing foreign companies and opening foreign bank accounts for our clients for over twenty years now and we know this business inside out. Why travel to distant places and deal with all the bureaucratic hassle? Trust the matter to professionals and you will not be disappointed!