Setting up Portugal Company with Macedonia Corporate Account

Incorporating an LLC in Portugal opens the door to corporate account setup in a Macedonia bank considered to be among the best in the jurisdiction. No need to go anywhere in this case, as both the company incorporation and the bank account setup are accomplished remotely.

Reasons behind company incorporation in Portugal

Business environment is typically in perpetual motion. With legislative changes and new requirements issued by regulatory authorities, banks try to be thorough about their KYC standards. Under these circumstances, old methods are no longer effective.

The situation calls for new approaches that fit the times to the max. Transparent and legal, they offer asset protection and bank account access combined with easy account setup and management.

International Wealth is known to offer various options and approaches, including, inter alia, company incorporation in Canada. Today, however, we will tell you why Portugal is entering the market as a major novice player. 

Located in the core Europe, Portugal is a part of the Euroregion with low company setup prices and costs. In Portugal, it will take you up to 10 work days to set up a company. Applying for a residence permit in Portugal remains an affordable opportunity if you need one, especially if an applicant purchases real estate in the country.

Portugal welcomes foreign investors and invites professionals from different industries to the country. Lately, fintech and hi-tech experts have developed an interest in the jurisdiction. 

Portugal boasts a transparent tax system and affordable office rents providing for a substance in the state.

With its no checkered history, Portugal stands out among multiple European countries.

For quite some time, Portugal had faced economic growth issues and the country’s banks used to be at a low ebb. This however never applied to money laundering, terrorism financing, or the like issues that many banks worldwide struggle with at present. This was not and is not the case with Portugal banks as everything is OK here. 

Setting up a bank account is no big deal for a Portugal company. The related procedures are fairly easy and effective. It is no secret that companies shall have a physical office. With low prices therefor it is easy for legal entities to secure a substance and thus meet international business requirements.

Where necessary, companies are free to open bank accounts both in Portugal and abroad. To set up a corporate account in Portugal, you will have to visit the jurisdiction, while company incorporation may be handled remotely. . Besides, you don’t need to visit third countries to open bank accounts therein. For Portugal companies and representatives thereof, visiting Macedonia is not necessary to set up a corporate account with the Macedonia bank.

Company incorporation in Portugal: study the basics

To incorporate a company in Portugal, its founders will have to prepare the necessary documents, pay the required fees, and pick a name for their business.

Articles of Association is the main document that shall be submitted. At International Wealth, our experts will assist you with the preparation thereof. The document shall contain company info, as well as the details pertaining to its operations and owners.

A Portugal company shall have the authorized capital of EUR 1 and above, while the number of its members shall be 1 or more.

With Portuguese companies, you are free to choose a company name that has already been registered. This provides for faster incorporation procedures.

If you intend to register your own original company name, you will require 2 extra weeks to formalize it and pay the related commissions and fees.

Setting up a bank account to make a contribution to the company’s authorized fund comes as a next step. It will be faster and easier if you contact the International Wealth industry professionals for assistance.

The submitted documents are filed with the Register and the company gets registered both as a legal entity and a taxpayer.

All in all, the procedures take 10 or more workdays.

To get yours, you are welcome to pay the corresponding fees and employ the services of a Portuguese official. Remember, the latter is a must.

You can either hire International Wealth as your tax agent (this is a part of the service package) or employ the services of any other authorized person. A Portuguese non-resident with no Tax ID in Portugal may not be registered as a Portugal company owner.

Documents required for company incorporation in Portugal

Be sure to check whether you have all documents necessary to set up a Portugal company:

• notarized copy of your foreign passport
• proof of your residential address (a utility bill usually does the trick)
• Articles of Association – draft
• company name certificate – if or when submitting documents to the Company Registry.

Company incorporation in Portugal: setup and maintenance expenses

Expenses for company incorporation in Portugal range from 5600 EUR for companies with already registered names to EUR 6800 EUR for businesses with their own original names. In both cases, these will be companies with bank accounts already opened for them.

Take a look at the service components:

• company incorporation
• official fees
• set of corporate documents
• obtaining a Tax ID for your new company
• registration with local social security agencies
• access code to the Permanent Commercial Registration Certificate (analogous to the Certificate of Good Standing)
• access e-card for the above certificate
• company profile with general company info (in a physical form)
• obtaining a Tax ID for the company owner (who is a natural person)
• tax representative services (booked for 3 months)
• accounting services agreement with a 3-month validity
• legal address valid for 3 months, plus family office service package* valid for 3 months, including, inter alia:
  • record keeping, document storage, filing, and archiving, as well as scanning incoming mail for viruses and malware
  • coordination of company operations with the bookkeeper (up to 5 contracts per month)
  • coordination of company operations with government agencies and tax authorities (up to 5 assignments per month).
• Costs of corporate account setup with the Macedonia bank are included in the service package costs. For more details, please, refer to the article below.

To operate on legal grounds, Portugal companies shall keep accounting records. The partner accounting firm charges EUR 300 per month for their services (or EUR 3600 per year, if you need them for a longer term).

The International Wealth service package comes with a legal address for your Portugal company, yet the validity thereof is limited to 3 months. In future, you will have to either extend the corresponding agreement or choose your company address independently. It will cost you EUR 3000 per annum to rent a legal address for your Portugal company.

Family Office Package in Portugal

Family office is an all-in-one solution to protect your family assets and secure company maintenance. To enjoy maximum protection, setting up an offshore family office in Belize, Nevis, or Panama comes highly recommended. Portugal is an ideal option if you plan to expand your business globally in order to lure European customers.

Family offices in Portugal fall into 3 different types (or levels, to be exact).

Basic Family Office Package (EUR 300 per month) comes with basic services:

• legal address
• keeping and storing original document copies, archiving them, scanning incoming e-mail messages for malware and viruses, as well as coordinating the company’s activities with the accounting officer (up to 5 e-mails and/or calls per month)
• coordinating the company’s activities with local tax authorities, government institutions, and banks.

Medium Family Office Package (EUR 600 per month) comes with the following services:

• all services in the Basic Family Office Package
• 2 hours of consultations or legal work
• 2 hours of work ordered by you

VIP Family Office Package (EUR 1200 per month) comes with the following services:

• all services in the Medium Family Office Package
• 1 hour of consultations
• transfer from the airport to the city and back to the airport
• local intercity transport services for 2 days
• 3 hours of simple assignments 
• unlimited assistance with communicating and cooperating with government institutions and accountant firms.

It will cost you EUR 6750 per year to renew your company. The above price comes with bookkeeping services, a legal address and an access to the Permanent Commercial Registration Certificate.

Optional services 

Service	Price (EUR)
Professional director services in Portugal	PERSONALIZED PRICE
PoA	400
PoA (translated, notarized, and apostilled)	700
Legal opinion	3000
Legal consultations, rate per hour	700
Change of company names	1500
Mailing address and utilities connection (per year)	2500
Translation (per page)	40
1 set of apostilled documents	400
Setting up a corporate account in Portugal	4000

Company incorporation in Portugal plus Macedonia bank account

With its high-quality services and an opportunity to open bank accounts remotely, including the ones for offshore companies, the Macedonia bank is a banking market supernova. With this in mind, opening a Macedonia bank account for your Portugal company is simple and straightforward, provided the bank requirements are met.

Corporate banking in Macedonia

Below, you will find the list of services the Macedonia bank offers to its customers:

• account opening
• international and domestic payments
• lending and credit
• bank deposits
• Internet and mobile banking;
• safe deposit box rentals
• bank guarantees
• overdrafts
• trading in securities
• bank card issue, including American Express, etc.

Macedonia bank rates and tariffs for corporate and retail banking

General rates and tariffs for retail and corporate customers of Macedonia bank

Account setup with Macedonia bank
Non-refundable registration fee, including the upfront fee for the first corporate account in foreign currency	EUR 1000
Upfront fee	EUR 200 per currency and account
Account maintenance fees for corporate accounts set up with Macedonia bank
Monthly corporate account maintenance fee (for accounts with bank account turnover above zero)	EUR 50 to EUR 100 per month
Maintaining corporate accounts blocked due to no turnover thereon for over 2 years or due to outdated documents	EUR 25 per month
Closing corporate accounts with Macedonia bank
Per customer’s request or following the Macedonia bank’s resolution	up to EUR 5000
In accordance with the law or the Macedonia bank’s internal regulations (due to zero account turnover within 2 years or no balance on the account within the said period)	no charge
Cash transactions
Depositing cash into the customer’s own account	0.1% to 5% of the amount withdrawn (deposited)
Withdrawing cash from the customer’s own account
Payment transactions
Incoming payments	EUR 1 to EUR 500,000 or its equivalent in any other currency – 0.5% EUR 500,000 or its equivalent in any other currency – 0.3%
Outgoing international or national money transfers	0.75% (with the minimum fee of EUR 300 + correspondent bank fees) no charge, where the minimum annual corporate account balance stays at EUR 1,000,000 or its equivalent in any other currency
Intrabank transfers	no charge
Amendments in payment orders	EUR 100
Chargeback	EUR 200

Macedonia bank rates and tariffs for corporate customers

KIBS DIGITAL CERTIFICATES FOR INTERNET BANKING
Initial PKI Verba Sign token issue for legal entities (with a 1-year validity)	EUR 52
Initial PKI Verba Sign token issue for legal entities (with a 2-year validity)	EUR 70
Initial PKI Verba Sign token issue for legal entities (with a 3-year validity)	EUR 86
Verba Sign PKI Token reissue for legal entities
for 1 year	EUR 26
for 2 years	EUR 44
for 3 years	EUR 61
Report issue
in a Macedonia bank branch office	no charge
via mail delivery or fax transmission	EUR 10
SWIFT 90	EUR 50
legal review	EUR 200
Document management
Export – expert review of documents and sending them for collection	0.5%, with the minimum fee of EUR 500
Import – payment notification with general delivery	0.5%, with the minimum fee of EUR 500
Import – deferred payment notice	0.3%, with the minimum fee of EUR 500
Ls/C
IMPORT Ls/C ISSUED BY MACEDONIA BANK
Issue of unconfirmed L/C secured with foreign currency	0.5% per quarter, with the minimum fee of EUR 250 + EUR 100 as SWIFT fee
Issue of unconfirmed Ls/C, depending on the security amount	0.6% to 1.8% per quarter, with the minimum fee of EUR 250 + EUR 100 as SWIFT fee
Amendments in L/C terms	EUR 150 + EUR 100 as SWIFT fee
Fee for L/C certificate maintenance, with payment deferred for over 90 days	50% of standard L/C issue fee per each subsequent quarter
EXPORT Ls/C RECEIVED BY MACEDONIA BANK
Unconfirmed acknowledgement of receipt	0.5%,with the minimum fee of EUR 250
Confirmed acknowledgement of receipt	1%, with the minimum fee of EUR 500
Unconfirmed L/C transfer	0.3%, with the minimum fee of EUR 250 + EUR 100 as SWIFT fee
Confirmed L/C transfer	1%, with the minimum fee of EUR 500 + EUR SWIFT as SWIFT fee
Expert review of documents	0.4% of the document cost, with the minimum fee of EUR 500
Amendments in L/C terms	EUR 100 + EUR 100 as SWIFT fee
The above L/C fees are charged on a quarterly basis as upfront payments. L/C fees for the last quarter are calculated and charged on a monthly basis. Where the remaining L/C validity for the current month is less than 5 days, no fee is charged. After the 6th day of the month, the fee is charged for the whole month. The fee is not refunded, if for any reason the L/C is not used in full. In case of stand-by Ls/C, fees are calculated and paid under the correspondent agreement terms.
Secured deposit box rentals with Macedonia bank (with security amounts depending on safe deposit box dimensions)
7.80х25.50х61.10	EUR 100
13.10х25.50х61.10	EUR 150
26.50х25.50х61.10	EUR 200

To have a corporate account opened for you in the Macedonia bank, you will first have to be pre-approved by the bank’s management as their would-be customer. The pre-approval procedure successfully completed, the Macedonia bank will set individual rates and tariffs to open a Macedonia bank account for you.

Documents required to set up a Macedonia bank account

• Here are the documents beneficiaries shall submit to the Macedonia bank to have a corporate account opened for them:
  • notarized foreign passport copy
  • notarized proof of residence
  • PoA to remotely open accounts.
• Below, corporate documents to be submitted by companies are listed:
  • Certificate of Incorporation – notarized copy
  • Articles of Association – notarized copy
  • Certificate of Good Standing (or Permanent Commercial Registration Certificate for Portuguese companies)
  • Incumbency Certificate – original copy or notarized copy
  • extract from the Trade or Court Register
  • notarized copy(ies) of Share Certificate(s)
  • notarized copy of the company’s Register of Directors
  • notarized copy of the company’s Register of Members
  • notarized copy of Resolution of Manager, BoD member, Director, or any other constituent document that sanctions account opening with the Macedonia bank
  • declaration of trust (for nominee shareholders / members)
  • financial statements for previous years (as a rule, 1 to 2 years). The latter are requested by the bank where necessary and based on risk assessments
  • company profile (the latter shall be submitted as a letter to the bank on official letterhead).

FYI: all documents shall be issued within 3 months before the submission date, translated into English and notarized. Documents issued by government agencies shall also be apostilled.

Set up a Portugal company with a Macedonia bank account – procedure to follow

1. To set up a Portugal company with a Macedonia bank account, you are welcome to message the International Wealth consultants at info@offshore-pro.info.
2. As a second step, discuss all the issues bothering you with the International Wealth consultant and make sure you have prepared all the documents you will need to submit.
3. Pay the International Wealth fees in any hard currency. Feel free to use Bitcoin for the above purpose, we accept it. International Wealth charges upwards of 5600 EUR for company incorporation with the name already available and upwards of EUR 6800 if you wish to set up a company with an original name.
4. After International Wealth has received the payment and the documents, we will proceed with company incorporation and corporate account setup.
5. All things done, we will grant you access to both your Portugal company and its Macedonia corporate account.