Sovereign - Consultoria e Planeamento Fiscal, Lda.

 

About Portugal

Background: Portugal was a world power during the 15th and 16th centuries, but during the subsequent centuries lost much of this wealth and status. In the 20th century, following the turbulence of the colonial wars in Africa, there was a peaceful military coup in 1974 which resulted in broad democratic reforms in the country. Portugal became a member of the EU in 1986 and then qualified for the EMU in 1998, subsequently changing the currency from the escudo to the Euro. The current ruling party is the Portuguese socialist party (PS).

Location: Portugal occupies the western part of the Iberian Peninsula and has boundaries with Spain to the North and East. The archipelagos of Azores and Madeira in the Atlantic Ocean are included in the Portuguese territory.

Economy - overview: Portugal's economy is based on traditional industries such as textiles, cork & wood products, wine, porcelain & glass, and tourism, however in recent years modern industries have also developed significantly, including oil refineries, petrochemicals, cement production, automotive and ship industries, electrical and electronic industries, machinery and paper industries. Thanks to EU funding the infrastructure has improved greatly and Portugal has made considerable economic progress since it joined the EU, due to foreign trade with EU members and the USA. However public spending in latter years had soared out of control necessitating the introduction of a number of austerity measures by the present government to reduce the budget deficit from the current level of 6% of GDP to 2.8% by the end of 2008. These, in addition to various anti-avoidance measures introduced to combat fiscal fraud and tax evasion, have meant a dramatic change to the mind set of the Portuguese business community which will take some time to adjust.

During its July - December EU presidency, Portugal will pursue a tax policy agenda that includes anti-tax-evasion, environmental protection, and VAT modernization goals.

Time

Portugal is on Greenwich Mean Time (GMT).

About Sovereign - Consultoria e Planeamento Fiscal Lda

The Portugal office of the Sovereign Group is one of the leading tax advisory firms in Portugal. In addition to our accountancy services, our core business is setting up structures to assist with tax planning, succession issues, wealth management, foreign property ownership and cross-border business.

Sovereign Lda is a corporate member of the British-Portuguese Chamber of Commerce in Lisbon, the Portuguese Chamber in London and the Spanish/Portuguese Chamber of Commerce in Lisbon.

We have a team of qualified accountants who can provide specialist tax advice and services to foreign individuals and companies with interests in Portugal, backed up by a strong administrative team.

For further details of our services, please see our website www.SovereignGroup.com/portugal.