Regardless of the legal form of the business, it is important to close the accounts correctly. Record all business transactions up to the end of the activity and remember that you must keep all accounting records for a period of 10 years.

At the Tax Authority services (Finanças), you must cease IRS (Imposto sobre o Rendimento das Pessoas Singulares – Personal Income Tax) if you are an individual, or cease IRC (Imposto sobre o Rendimento das Pessoas Coletivas – Corporate Income Tax) if you are a legal entity. You can do this through the online services of the Finance Portal (Portal das Finanças) by submitting the declaration of cessation of activity. The declaration of cessation of activity must be submitted within 30 days from the date on which the activity ceased.

Find out more information about this service at the FAQ for submitting the cessation of activity electronically, in the Portal das Finanças.

The Social Security services must communicate the termination of their activity and that of their employees. This communication must be made by the 10th day of the month following the closure of the company.

Also check that you have to report the closure of your economic activity. Search your area of activity in gov.pt and consult the available services to communicate the closure of activities to the competent authorities.

What is the deadline for the competent authority to respond?

The deadline for carrying out acts and formalities by administrative bodies and private parties during the procedure is, as a general rule, 10 working days, in accordance with Article 86 of the Administrative Procedure Code.

In the absence of specific deadlines, the deadline for a decision in the administrative procedure is, as a general rule, 60 working days, which may be extended up to a maximum limit of 90 working days, as provided for in Article 128 of the Administrative Procedure Code.