Your Portuguese company with a bank account in Lichtenstein – from 6,299 EUR

If you are thinking of starting a business company in Western Europe, Portugal may be the most convenient gateway to this prosperous region of the world. In an attempt to strengthen the county’s economy, the Portuguese Government offers some tempting incentives to foreign investors. The situation may change later but currently Portugal looks very attractive to establish a business there.

Reasons to register a company in Portugal

Establishing presence in the European Union would bring a number of benefits to your business, which is quite obvious. However, Western European countries are generally not very welcoming to foreigners especially with the view of the current migration crisis.

Things are a bit different with Portugal, though. The country suffered more than most other European states from the world economic crisis of 2008-2009. Consequently, it has had to take more serious recovery measures in order to restore the economy. The Portuguese Government has introduced a number of new regulations that make the country inviting for foreign investors. Here are some good reasons to consider starting business in Portugal if you want to make your way into the European Union:

1. Portugal is a reputable European jurisdiction and the companies registered there enjoy full trust on the part of the banks, the investors, the partners, and the clients. The importance of this factor is self-evident.
2. You do not have to leave home in order to form a company in Portugal. With our assistance, your Portuguese company can be established remotely.
3. The company registration procedure takes much less time than it used to in the past. The amount of red tape has been greatly reduced in Portugal over the last few years and now you can have your company in the country up and running within about ten days.
4. It will be safe to claim than no other EU country has lower costs of company registration and maintenance than Portugal.
5. There is a wide spectrum of business opportunities in Portugal as the Government is interested in promoting small- and medium-size business in the country. When setting up a company, you will be required to provide a brief description of your prospective economic activities. It is perfectly fine if you give a broad description, which will allow you to engage into various sorts of business activities.
6. In Portugal, it is possible for the company founder to be simultaneously its director.
7. There are no limitations at all as to the company owners’ nationality: 100% of the company can be owned by foreign nationals not even residing in Portugal.
8. If yours is a joint-stock company, the General Shareholder Meetings will be held in the Portuguese municipality where the company is registered, as a rule. However, if the Corporate Charter or the By-Laws contain an article stating that the Meetings can be held elsewhere, they can be held anywhere in the world.  
9. Cryptocurrency miners and traders are exempted from the income tax as well as the VAT. Only the capital gains tax is levied on them in Portugal.
10. The office rent price and the prices of other items necessary for establishing economic substance in Portugal are affordable. Economic substance means physical presence of the company in the jurisdiction where it is registered. Most banks will want to see that you have some tangible assets in Portugal before they agree to open a corporate account for you. The bank that we will describe below puts a special emphasis on this requirement.
11. There are two Free Economic Zones in Portugal. One is located on the island of Madeira and the other one on the Azores. Companies registered in these Zones receive substantial tax benefits.
12. The labor cost in Portugal is lower in comparison to other EU states but the living standards are generally as high as anywhere else in Western Europe.

A limited liability company in Portugal

If you are not planning to bring a huge international corporation to Portugal but rather engage in small- or medium-scale business activities, the best form of ownership for your company is a private LLC, or an LDA as it is abbreviated in Portuguese. 

These are the requirements to all LDA’s in Portugal – domestic or foreign ones:

• An LDA shall have minimum two constitutors and the maximum number of constitutors is undefined. Instead of shares, the constitutors shall hold ‘quotas’ of the company. The liability of each quota holder is limited by the cost of his or her quotas.
• The cost of each quota shall be no less than one euro. As a rule, LDA’s in Portugal register 5,000 euros as their charter capital. The full sum of the registered capital shall be on the company bank account by the end of the first year of operations.
• An LDA shall have minimum one director. A citizen of any country can hold this position.

The process of company registration in Portugal

There is more than one way to register a company in Portugal and each of them will have its own pros and contras. Here we will describe the standard method of setting up a company in the county. It consists of the following steps:

1. Acquire company name approval from the Registrar. There are two ways to select your prospective company name. First, you can choose from the list of names that are preapproved by the Company Registry. Second, you can come up with a name of your own invention. In the first case, you can move on to the next step immediately. In the second one, you will have to wait fifteen more days until your unique name is approved and pay additional 1,200 euros as a state duty. The choice is yours.
2. Appoint a Portuguese resident as you company representative. You will have to acquire an individual taxpayer number for your company in Portugal. However, you can do so only if a tax resident of the country introduces you to the national tax authorities.
3. Make a draft of your prospective company By-Laws or Charter.
4. Submit the application document package to the Registrar.
5. Open a corporate bank account and deposit the charter capital there.
6. Notify the tax authorities of the initiation of your business activities.
7. Register the company with the Commercial Registry.
8. Register with the social security authorities as a new employer.

Performing these steps should not take more than ten business days in the normal case. However, you have to make sure that your intended business activities do not require some special permits or licenses. It is illegal to perform certain types of activities without a license in Portugal.

We will instruct you carefully on collecting the application document package. We know exactly how each document should look and what information it should contain in order to be accepted by the Portuguese Registrar for consideration. With our assistance, your application documents will look as neat as possible.

You also have to bear in mind that any business company shall have a legal address in Portugal and do the accounts. If you wish, we will gladly rent a legal address for your Portuguese company and provide the accounting support. Please contact us via e-mail [email protected] on the company maintenance matters.  

Doing business in Portugal

Over the recent years, small business in Portugal has been growing at an especially fast pace. The economy has not reached the point of comfort so far but it is recovering from the latest blow quite successfully. The Government is supportive of new business initiatives and the bureaucracy involved in company registration and tax reports has been minimized.

The improving economy attracts more and more tourists to Portugal. For this reason, tourism-related businesses are doing remarkably well in the country today. Opening a small hotel, a family restaurant, or a souvenir shop somewhere on the coast would be very promising indeed. Of course, there are multiple other services that you can provide to the tourists in Portugal.

Medium-scale business operations in the country can also turn out lucrative. A dental clinic in Portugal, for example, should bring you good profit if you are a highly qualified specialist in this field. You have to remember, however, that providing medical services requires a license.

International trade can be another option if you have substantial investment capital. Import-export operations can often bring good income.

You can also engage in some manufacturing operations in Portugal. Goods produced in the country enjoy good reputation in the world markets, as their quality is normally very high. Besides, the workforce comes at a lower price in Portugal in comparison to other Western European countries. This makes a large number of international manufacturers open factories in Portugal.

Generally, there are vast opportunities for doing business in the Portugal of today. In addition to that, the country can serve as a good starting place for your company to later expand to other EU states.

A corporate bank account in Lichtenstein for your Portuguese company

Your company will benefit greatly if you establish a bank account for it in Lichtenstein. Moreover, the account can be opened without a personal visit to the country. Thus, you can stay home while we are registering a company for you in Portugal and setting up a corporate bank account in Lichtenstein.

The bank that we are bringing to your consideration will effectively protect your financial information, provide all the classic banking services, and also those that go beyond the standards. However, it takes the question of economic substance very seriously as we have noted above. This Lichtenstein bank will not service you unless you can provide evidence of your company physical presence in Portugal to the bank officers’ satisfaction.

Why open a corporate account with a Lichtenstein bank?

Financial services and banking services in particular are traditionally at the top level in Lichtenstein. Habitually, we will think of Swiss banks as the exemplary banks but as time goes by, the banks in the neighboring Lichtenstein are coming up to the highest standards. They have borrowed the Swiss banking model and in certain aspects, the ‘pupils’ already outperform their ‘teacher’. This concerns, first and foremost, the level of the client information privacy and asset protection.

Standard & Poor’s has been assigning the highest AAA rating to Lichtenstein consistently since 2016. The triple A rating indicates that the country provides more than favorable conditions to all agents who want to do business there.

The exceptionally high rating that Lichtenstein enjoys is conditioned by the stable political and economic situation in the country. The fact that the Swiss franc – one of the hardest currencies in the world – is in circulation there also plays an important role. (Lichtenstein is part of the European Economic Area but it is not an EU member state).

The average capitalization coefficient that Lichtenstein banks have is 21.3%. Very few banks in the world can boast such a high level of capitalization.

Standard & Poor’s national banking sector risk assessment puts Lichtenstein among the lowest risk countries.

Lichtenstein focuses on private banking. This is a financial center oriented towards sensible business strategies and personalization of asset management. The 150 years of experience in providing professional financial consultations and services to the clients from all around the world will create a solid foundation for your business activities and allow avoiding risky investments.

Beginning 2017, Lichtenstein complies with the OECD standards including automatic exchange of fiscal information with the EU member states. However, this should be a matter of concern only for those who are engaged in illegal or semi-legal business. If you are involved in no criminal financial activities, you do not have any reasons to worry. At the same time, the legality and transparency of your business are necessary conditions for obtaining services from Lichtenstein banks.   

Cutting a long story short, a foreign client will find the following main advantages when opening a bank account in Lichtenstein:

• High security (nearly inexistent financial risks);
• Confidentiality guarantee;
• Deposits in Lichtenstein banks are insured for up to 100,000 Swiss francs or the equivalent in other world currencies;
• Economic stability in the country (minimal investment and asset protection risks);
• Lichtenstein is a low-tax jurisdiction.

A corporate bank account in the Lichtenstein bank: opportunities beyond classical banking

The bank that we invite you to consider puts emphasis on satisfying the clients’ needs and individual approach to every customer. You can count on the significant experience that the bank has in investments, security trading, and business deal support. The bank also provides trade financing and issues letters of credit.

If you, as the company owner, are aiming at the maximum utilization of all the financial instruments that modern banking offers, do consider this bank. If you have long-term business development perspectives in sight, do consider this bank.

Corporate clients can establish euro or Swiss franc accounts with this bank.

The minimal initial deposit required to open a corporate account is 5,000 euros or the equivalent in francs.

Bank commissions and fees

 Important: This bank does not perform US dollar transactions.

The Lichtenstein bank prioritizes loyalty to the clients and sensitivity to their business needs. The bank’s major goals are your financial security and business growth.

The bank that we are promoting here practices the so-called Beyond Banking approach. This is a business model that allows the client to obtain a package of various services via a provider ecosystem.

This will bring a whole spectrum of business solutions to your company:

• Classic trade flow products including letters of credit, standby letters of credit, and bank guarantees;
• Structured trade financing and export financing;
• Structured financing of trade in raw materials;
• Bank trade partnership.

In the frameworks of international trading, these solutions will provide reliable backup to you. Their use will allow you to minimize risks in the new unknown territories, accelerate capital flows, and optimize your business processes.  

Besides trading solutions, the Lichtenstein bank can provide fund raising services to you, consultancy, analytics, and assistance in the securities market, as well as storage and clearing services.

You can learn more about the possibilities and the services that this Lichtenstein bank can offer to you and to your Portuguese company if you contact our specialists by e-mail [email protected].

List of documents required for opening a corporate account with the Lichtenstein bank

For all beneficiary account holders, signers, company directors, and nominees:

• Notarized passport copies (notarization not more than six months old);
• Notarized proofs of addresses (utility bills, bank statements not more than three months old);
• A signed résumé of the beneficiary account holder;
• A detailed description of the company business activities in English;
• Corporate documents package:

• • • Company Charter or By-Laws;
    • Articles of Association or Deed of Incorporation;
    • Company Registration Certificate;
    • Director Appointment decree;
    • Share Certificate;
    • Certificate of Good Standing (for companies over one year old);
    • Documents certifying the physical presence of the company in the country of registration.

Important: All the documents shall be translated into English if they are written in another language and legalized and apostilled. Submission of office rent agreements and employment agreements is also mandatory. The bank reserves the right to request additional documents should the need arise.

The procedure of setting up a corporate account with this Lichtenstein bank normally takes between two and three weeks.

What you have to do to set up a company in Portugal and a bank account in Lichtenstein

To tell the truth, you do not have to do very much. As both of these tasks can be performed remotely, you will not even have to leave the comfort of your home in order to acquire a powerful business instrument. You can have your new Portuguese company with a bank account in Lichtenstein fully functional within less than a month.

However, you will have to tell us where you stand and what you would like to use your company for. Every personal situation will be different and before billing you, we have to make sure that we are able to provide the services described above in your personal case. If we are able to do that, you will have to cover the cost of the services. The base price of the combined service of establishing a company in Portugal and a bank account in Lichtenstein is 6,299 euros. Additional services will come at an additional cost.

Apart from that, you will also have to supply all the required documents to us. Naturally, different packages are needed for forming a company in Portugal and for setting up a bank account in Lichtenstein. We will tell you exactly what documents you have to collect and how you should fill out all the application forms. This is the area of our expertise.

Do you have any questions left? If yes, please write to [email protected] and ask them without hesitation! We will be happy to see you among our clients.