Accountants and corporate service providers in Lisbon

Who works with foreign founders in Lisbon

The 49 firms split into 37 accounting practices, 6 law firms and 6 corporate service providers. Small practices make up 28, medium-sized firms 16 and large networks 5. A small practice usually gives you one named contact. A large network can staff a group with several entities, a branch and a subsidiary at once, though you may deal with a different person for each task.

Real estate is the industry named most often, by 15 firms, followed by startups with 12. Freelancers, technology, construction and tourism each appear several times. Expats are the client group named most often (11 firms), then foreign investors and digital nomads (6 each). If you plan a trading company or a consultancy, ask whether the firm already keeps books for businesses like yours, and not only for property owners or private clients.

Several firms name the entity types they handle: the private limited company (Lda) comes first with 11 firms, then branches with 10, subsidiaries with 8 and the public limited company (SA) with 7. Single-member companies (unipessoal Lda) are named by 6. The right choice depends on whether you want a separate Portuguese legal entity or only a local presence for a foreign parent, and a good firm explains the difference before it quotes.

Services and languages

Tax compliance is offered by all 49 firms, accounting by 40 and payroll by 36. Company formation is offered by 34, and VAT returns by 30. Corporate secretarial work, which covers registers and yearly filings, is offered by 21 firms. Residency and visa help is offered by 20, and 16 will assist with opening a bank account. Audit is a narrower service, offered by 6 firms, so a company that approaches the audit thresholds should confirm this before signing.

Forty-three firms work in English and 39 in Portuguese. French is offered by 13, Spanish by 12, Chinese by 3 and German by 2. Registry forms and tax notices arrive in Portuguese, so ask whether the firm will explain each one in your language and answer your messages in it. The certified accountant must be registered with the Ordem dos Contabilistas Certificados, and a firm can show you the registration of the person who will sign for your company.

Next steps

The legal steps for a new company are the same wherever the office is, so they are explained once in the Portugal country guide. If the company will sit elsewhere, the other pages cover Porto, Funchal, Faro, Almancil and Albufeira. To compare firms in one go, send a single free quote request and Accountanty will forward it to suitable firms.