Portugal vs Spain
Side-by-side comparison of Portugal and Spain for founders evaluating an Iberian EU jurisdiction.
Side-by-side
| Taxation | Portugal | Spain |
|---|---|---|
| Corporate tax | 19% | 25% |
| VAT | 23% | 21% |
| Dividend tax | 25% | 19% |
| Formation | Portugal | Spain |
|---|---|---|
| Difficulty (1–5) | 2 | 4 |
| Cost | 360 EUR | 1000 EUR |
| Time | 1 days | 21 days |
| Banking & Payments | Portugal | Spain |
|---|---|---|
| Banking difficulty (1–5) | 3 | 3 |
| Stripe | Yes | Yes |
| PayPal | Yes | Yes |
| Wise | Yes | Yes |
| Operations | Portugal | Spain |
|---|---|---|
| Accounting difficulty (1–5) | 3 | 3 |
| Payroll difficulty (1–5) | 3 | 4 |
| Compliance difficulty (1–5) | 3 | 3 |
| Market access | Portugal | Spain |
|---|---|---|
| EU member | Yes | Yes |
| EEA member | Yes | Yes |
| Currency | EUR | EUR |
When Portugal wins
- You want the fastest formation in the Iberian peninsula via Empresa na Hora (same-day registration)
- You qualify for Portugal's 15% reduced SME CIT rate on the first EUR 50,000 of taxable income
- You want the lower headline mainland CIT (19% Portugal vs 25% Spain standard)
When Spain wins
- You qualify under Spain's Start-up Law (Ley 28/2022) for a 15% reduced CIT for the first four profitable years
- Your customer base is primarily Spanish-speaking or Latin American
- You can use the Beckham Law regime for inbound qualifying employees
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Sources
- Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira — Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira — Portugal (accessed )
- Agencia Tributaria — Agencia Estatal de Administración Tributaria — Spain (accessed )
- European Commission — European Commission — policy and country information (accessed )
- Eurostat — Eurostat — official statistics of the European Union (accessed )
- OECD — OECD — economic and tax statistics (accessed )
- PricewaterhouseCoopers — PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries (accessed )
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