# Self employment / Business / Papers



## Rico16 (Feb 4, 2013)

Good morning ALL!

I am looking to move to a place in the sun  as the TV show always suggests and I have been looking @Portugal as well. 

I am running my own small online business and I would like to ask you if it is easy to set up a self employment activity in Portugal or not, I have read some previous threads here and it all looks a bit complicated.

Do I need to show a minimum income for my activity in order to support myself or can I just have an estimation of my final income? Do I need a fiscal code as well?

Another idea would be to keep my business in Ireland and live in Portugal, can I do that with the NHR scheme?

Thank you very much for all your help, cheers
Rico


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## andromi (Sep 3, 2014)

Everyone seems to focus on the NHR scheme when considering Portugal as a destination but consider that for the employed/self-employed you must still pay social security which is not an insignificant sum compared to places like the UK or Ireland.

Granted an income tax rate of 20% (23.5% with surcharge) is better than marginal rates of up to 48% but add on social security (29.5% for the self-employed) and you should make a careful comparison before making a decision.

--- end of sermon ---

To answer your question, setting up as self-employed is easy. You need a fiscal number to do it. Once you have that, go to any Finanças and ask to register your activity. Give them an estimate of your first year turnover (doesn't matter too much as long as the figure is not totally out), choose an accounting regime (simplified or normal regime), purchase workers insurance (a legal requirement) and you're off.

They'll give you a form to complete with all the details or you can download it from the finanças website and do the translation/completion before going to register.


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