IFICI with your own company: how founders get Portugal’s 20% rate

“I’m setting up my own company in Portugal. Does a one-person company even count for IFICI?” Yes, it can. Portugal’s tax authority says the sole owner-manager of a single-member company is eligible, and that route has no export test and no degree requirement.^[3]

The catch is everything around it. Your company’s main activity has to be on an official list, you have to pay yourself a salary as its manager, and you have to file by 15 January of the year after you become resident. Get the activity code wrong at incorporation and the door can close before you’ve even moved.

Here’s how the route works, whether you’re an EU citizen or moving on a D2, D7 or D8, what to check before you form the company, and in what order to do it.

For what IFICI is and who else qualifies, read our guide to IFICI first. This post covers the founder’s route only.

In this guide10 sections

1. Can you get IFICI with your own company?
2. Which IFICI route fits a founder?
3. Does your visa or nationality change anything?
4. Is your company's activity on the IFICI list?
5. What income actually gets the 20%?
6. In what order should you do this?
7. When does the IFICI clock start, and when do you file?
8. Moving in 2026: is it too late for IFICI?
9. Is IFICI worth it for a founder?
10. How do you find out if your company qualifies?

Can you get IFICI with your own company?

Yes, through the recognised-activity route: you’re the paid manager of your own Portuguese company, and its activity is on the official list. You don’t need an employer, and a single-member company counts.^[1][3]

A few terms you’ll meet:

• Lda: a Portuguese private limited company. A sociedade unipessoal is one with a single owner.
• Gerente: the company’s legally appointed manager. Your appointment shows on the certidão permanente, the company’s online registry certificate.
• IAPMEI: the state’s small-business agency. It checks this route for companies like yours.

“Some advisers say a one-person company can’t use IFICI.”

The tax authority says it can. Owning shares on its own doesn’t qualify you, but the sole owner-manager of a single-member company is eligible as a member of its corporate body.^[3]

“Do I need a degree?”

No. This route asks for a post-secondary qualification at level 5 of the European framework, which sits below a degree.^[4] Keep the certificate, because IAPMEI checks it.

“My company is brand new. Is that a problem?”

No. IAPMEI checks this route for new companies with no annual accounts yet.^[3]

Four gates apply on every route, whoever you are:

• You haven’t been a Portuguese tax resident in any of the previous five years.
• You’ve never had NHR, the regime IFICI replaced, and never used Programa Regressar, the scheme for returning emigrants.
• You can use IFICI once in your life.
• The ten years count from the year you become resident, not from the year you file.^[1]

Which IFICI route fits a founder?

For most founders it’s the recognised-activity route, as the paid manager of your own company in a listed activity. The startup route is the fallback when your activity isn’t listed, the exporter route is the hard one, and freelancing on green receipts has no route at all.

• Recognised activity: you’re the paid gerente, your company’s main activity is on the list, and IAPMEI checks it. No export test.^[1][4]
• Certified startup: your company is certified as a startup by Startup Portugal, which needs an innovation test or a prior declaration from them. It doesn’t depend on the activity list.^[5][6]
• Exporting company: your own job is on a list of highly qualified occupations, and the company exports at least 50% of its turnover. It also needs a doctorate, or a degree plus three years’ experience.^[1][3]
• Freelancer on green receipts: these routes need an employment contract or a corporate appointment, and a services contract doesn’t count.^[3] A sole trader can’t be certified as a startup either.^[5]

Does your visa or nationality change anything?

Not the IFICI rules, which are the same for everyone. What changes is how your own company sits with your right to live here, and that’s a separate check from the tax one.

More on each: registering as an EU citizen, the D2, the D8 and the D7.

Is your company’s activity on the IFICI list?

Check it before you incorporate. Your company’s main activity code has to be on the list IAPMEI and AICEP published, and management consultancy and training aren’t on it.^[4]

Every Portuguese company registers a CAE code, a number that says what the business does. The list covers, in plain names:

• Software, IT services, publishing, film, broadcasting and telecoms.
• Architecture, engineering, technical testing, and scientific research and development.
• Mining and manufacturing.
• Energy supply and civil engineering.
• Hotels and similar accommodation.
• Head-office activities, two finance codes, and combined office administration.
• Higher education and most human health activities.
• Any activity inside a project the state has classed as of national interest.^[4]

“I’m a consultant. Is my business on the list?”

It depends on the kind. IT consultancy and software are on it. Management consultancy isn’t, and neither is training.^[4]

From recent files we analysed: a US consultant forming a one-person Lda in 2026 chose management consultancy and training as the company’s activities. Our partner accountant’s company report found IFICI didn’t fit the business as planned, with startup certification as the possible alternative.

What income actually gets the 20%?

Only the salary your company pays you as gerente. Dividends from your own Portuguese company get no IFICI treatment, so a founder who takes profit only as dividends gives IFICI nothing to work on.^[7][9]

“Do I have to pay myself a salary?”

Yes, if you want anything taxed at 20%. Each year’s benefit needs qualifying income in that year. The law sets no minimum salary, so pay a sensible wage for a real management job, through payroll.^[1]

“How much is the 20% worth on my salary?”

It depends on the size of the salary. At lower pay, Portugal’s normal scale averages less than 20%; the switch comes at about €32,500.

Try your own numbers in our income tax calculator, and see what a salary costs your company next to dividends in the salary vs dividends calculator.

“So what’s the bigger prize?”

For some founders, it’s the foreign-income exemption. With IFICI, your foreign employment, business, investment, rental and capital-gains income is exempt in Portugal, though it still counts when the rate on your other income is set.^[9]

• Foreign pensions aren’t covered.
• Income from blacklisted tax havens is taxed at 35%.^[9]

If you keep investments abroad, that exemption can be worth more than the 20% on a modest salary.

In what order should you do this?

Company, codes and your appointment come first, then your residence and the move, and the IFICI filing comes last, by 15 January of the year after you become resident.

The step most likely to go wrong is choosing the activity code. Everything after it is paperwork; a wrong main code means changing your company’s registered activity later, which is hard.

If you use our company formation service, say at the start that IFICI matters, so the codes are checked against the list before anything is filed.

When does the IFICI clock start, and when do you file?

It starts in the year you become a Portuguese tax resident, and you file by 15 January of the following year. Your move date fixes the year; your visa or registration date doesn’t.^[8]

You become resident from your first day living here, in the year you spend more than 183 days in Portugal or keep a home here as your habitual residence.^[8] You then have 60 days to report the change to the tax authority,^[10] and you can only file for IFICI once its records show you as resident.^[2]

“What if I miss 15 January?”

You can still file, but you lose the years you missed. A late registration runs from the year you file, for what’s left of the ten counted from your residence year.^[1][3]

Moving in 2026: is it too late for IFICI?

No. If you became resident in 2026, your deadline is 15 January 2027, whether you landed in March or this autumn.

• If you already live here: get your appointment onto the certidão, your first pay through payroll and the documents IAPMEI checks in place now, then file by 15 January. Our guide to how long it takes to open a company in Portugal shows where company set-up stalls.
• If you haven’t moved yet: your move date is the thing you control. Arrive in early 2027 with the company, the codes and your appointment ready, and 2027 becomes year one, with 15 January 2028 as the deadline.

Plan for your appointment and first salary in your first year as a resident, because each year’s benefit needs qualifying income in that year.^[1]

Is IFICI worth it for a founder?

Yes, when your salary will run above about €32,500, or when you have foreign income for the exemption to cover. Below that salary the 20% changes little, and the payroll and yearly filings still cost time.

I’d rather you pay yourself a proper salary for a real job and treat the 20% as a bonus than build the company around a tax rate.

How do you find out if your company qualifies?

Start with an eligibility assessment, before you incorporate, so the check happens while the codes can still change.

Frequently asked questions

Can a one-person Lda get IFICI?

Yes. The tax authority says the sole owner-manager of a single-member company is eligible as a member of its corporate body, on the recognised-activity route.^[3]

Do I need a degree for IFICI as a company founder?

No. The recognised-activity route asks for a level 5 post-secondary qualification, below a degree. Keep the certificate for IAPMEI.^[4]

Is there an export requirement on the founder’s route?

No. The 50% export test only applies to the exporting-company route.^[1][3]

Does management consultancy qualify?

No. Management consultancy and training aren’t on the activity list. IT consultancy and software are.^[4]

Can I pay myself only dividends and still get IFICI?

No. Dividends from your own Portuguese company get no IFICI treatment, and each year’s 20% needs your gerente salary in that year.^[1][7]

Can I get IFICI as a freelancer on green receipts?

No. The founder routes need an employment contract or a corporate appointment, and a services contract doesn’t count.^[3] Form an Lda and become its paid gerente instead.

Does a company with two partners work?

The tax authority confirms the single-member case. If you’ll have a partner, have your structure checked in the eligibility assessment before you choose it.^[3]

What if I miss the 15 January deadline?

You can still file, but only for the years left. The ten years count from your residence year, so every late year is lost.^[1]

What happens if I stop being gerente?

Report it by 15 January of the following year. Start a new qualifying activity within six months and you keep the benefit; otherwise you can resume later for the years left, and the clock doesn’t restart.^[1]

Do IFICI-friendly activity codes hurt my D2 application?

Not if they describe the business you’ll actually run. The consulate reads your business plan and your company’s registered activity together, so they have to tell the same story.

I’m an EU citizen. Can I get IFICI with my own company?

Yes, on the same terms. You don’t need a visa: you register your residence at the town hall, and the IFICI conditions are the ones in this post.^[1]

Can I get IFICI with my own company on a D7 or D8?

Possibly, if your visa still fits. On a D8, keep your clients abroad and meet the income test with your salary and other income. On a D7, keep your passive income above the D7 threshold without counting your gerente pay.

I had NHR before. Can I get IFICI now?

No. Anyone who has had NHR, or opted into Programa Regressar, is excluded, and IFICI itself can be used once.^[1]

Is IFICI worth it on a small salary?

Usually not for the rate alone. Below about €32,500 the normal scale does about as well. The foreign-income exemption can still make it worthwhile.^[9]

Sources and how we checked

We read the IFICI law, its regulation and the tax authority’s own guidance in Portuguese. The €32,500 switch point and the salary figures come from our own income tax calculator. “From recent files we analysed” means anonymised client work, with no name, date or employer. This post isn’t tax advice: whether IFICI works for you depends on your facts and on the checks IAPMEI, Startup Portugal and the tax authority make.

1. The IFICI law, its routes, exclusions, late filing and annual conditions: Tax Benefits Statute, article 58-A.
2. The procedure, the January to March dates and the documents: Portaria 352/2024/1, as amended by Portaria 52-A/2025/1.
3. The tax authority’s IFICI guide and questions, including single-member companies, employment contracts, new companies and late filing: Ofício Circulado 20276/2025.
4. The activity list and the level 5 qualification for the recognised-activity route: AICEP notice for IFICI.
5. What counts as a startup, and the prior declaration: Lei 21/2023, with Startup Portugal’s procedures manual for certification times.
6. Startup certification online (5 working days, or 30 with the prior declaration): Startup Portugal procedures manual.
7. A gerente’s pay is employment income: Portuguese income tax code (CIRS), article 2.
8. When you become a tax resident: CIRS article 16.
9. The foreign-income exemption, the pension exclusion and the 35% rate: CIRS article 81.
10. The 60 days to report a change of residence: General Tax Law, article 19.