Accountants and corporate service providers in Funchal

What sets the Funchal market apart

Eight of the 13 firms are accounting practices, 4 are corporate service providers and 1 is a law firm. Twelve are small practices and 1 is medium-sized. The corporate service providers are a large share of the field, and they are the firms that tend to take on registered office, secretarial and administration work on behalf of a company whose owners are elsewhere.

The industries named most often are construction and real estate (4 firms each), then shipping and yachting (3 each). International trade, agriculture, transport and industry appear twice each. This is a different mix from the cities on the mainland, where startups and freelancers lead. If your business is a vessel, a trading company or a property venture, the Funchal firms are used to such clients.

Several firms name companies in the Madeira International Business Centre as a client group, and 6 firms name branches among the entity types they handle. Branches are followed by the private limited company (Lda) and the public limited company, each named by 2 firms. The rules of that regime are set by the authorities and change over time, so ask any firm to show you the current conditions on an official page before you rely on them, and to state in writing what it will file for you.

Services, languages and what to ask

A company run from Madeira with owners abroad needs someone on the island who will receive official post, file the returns on time and answer when a notice arrives. Ask each firm who that person is, how the file is handed over if they leave, and whether the registered office service is priced separately from the accounts.

Company formation is offered by 12 of the 13 firms, as are accounting and tax compliance. Payroll is offered by 8, residency and visa help by 6, corporate secretarial work by 6, and VAT returns by 5. Bank account assistance and virtual office services are each offered by 4 firms, and audit by 2. VAT is worth a question here, because the autonomous regions may set their own reduced rates; see the Portugal VAT page for the general rules.

Portuguese is the working language of 12 Funchal firms, and 10 also work in English. French is offered by 3, Spanish by 2 and Russian by 1. One firm describes work for Russian-speaking clients.

Next steps

The Portugal country guide sets out the legal steps once for the whole country. For a larger choice of firms on the mainland, see Lisbon or Porto. One free quote request is enough to put your needs in front of suitable Funchal firms through Accountanty.