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Market entry without entity setup

Skip incorporation, share capital, commercial registry filings, the Portuguese bank account, employer registration with Social Security, and arranging accident insurance and a meal card provider. Komp’s existing Portuguese infrastructure lets you make offers as soon as you find the right person.

Hire-to-retire lifecycle management

Komp Activate runs onboarding, contracts, and benefits; Komp PayOps runs EUR payroll with monthly Social Security declarations and correctly timed subsidies; Komp TimeOps tracks working time, leave, and absence; and compliant offboarding closes the loop, all in one flow.

One view across every country

Komp Workforce gives HR, Finance, and Legal a single source of truth for Portuguese and global headcount, covering payroll status, fully loaded employer costs, subsidy accruals, leave balances, and compliance alerts, with audit trails built in.

Compliant employment contracts

We issue contracts that meet Labor Code requirements and reflect any applicable collective agreement, setting the contract type, job category, base salary across fourteen payments, working time, probation, notice, and confidentiality terms.

Digital onboarding and registrations

We collect tax identification and Social Security numbers, register employment with Social Security before the start date, arrange mandatory workplace accident insurance, set up the meal card, and complete the health and safety formalities.

Payroll processing and salary disbursement

Komp PayOps calculates gross-to-net pay in EUR, applies IRS withholding at the correct band, processes the meal allowance, and pays employees on the monthly cycle through our owned payment infrastructure with clear payslips.

Social Security contributions and declarations

We calculate and remit the employee contribution of 11% and the employer contribution of 23.75%, both uncapped and applied to all fourteen payments, file the monthly declaration, and settle within the statutory deadlines.

Holiday and Christmas subsidies

We accrue and pay the holiday subsidy and the Christmas subsidy, each equal to a month of base pay, on the statutory timing. These are legal entitlements rather than bonuses, and Komp builds them into the cost model from the first offer.

Meal allowance and benefits administration

We administer the meal allowance through a meal card, where it is exempt from IRS and Social Security up to the statutory daily limit rather than the lower cash threshold, alongside health insurance and any other benefits you choose to offer.

Working time, leave, and HR support

Komp TimeOps tracks the 22 working days of annual leave, public holidays, parental and family leave, and working time limits. Employees get support in Portuguese and English, with data held in line with the GDPR.

Offboarding and final settlement

We manage exits through the correct route, whether resignation with proper notice, mutual agreement, or a dismissal supported by a formal disciplinary or redundancy procedure, then settle final pay, accrued leave, pro-rated subsidies, and compensation fund reporting.

Startups and scale-ups going international

Place your first European hires in a cost-competitive EU market without tying up capital in a subsidiary and validate demand before you commit.

Technology and SaaS companies

Hire engineering, data, and product talent in Lisbon, Porto, and Braga, where strong technical universities meet salary levels well below Western European averages.

Shared services and customer operations

Build multilingual support, finance, and back-office teams using Portugal’s deep pool of English, Spanish, French, and German speakers.

Nearshore delivery for US and UK companies

Use Portugal as a European delivery base with convenient time-zone overlap for both North America and the rest of Europe.

Companies moving away from recibos verdes

Convert long-standing independent contractors onto compliant employment where the working relationship warrants it, with documentation that stands up to inspection.

HR and Finance leaders

Get a consistent employee experience, predictable costs, consolidated invoicing, owned payment rails with zero FX markup, and audit-ready records for every Portuguese hire.

AI Agent Swarms with human control

Autonomous agents continuously check payroll, classification, contracts, and regulatory change. Recommendations are surfaced for review before anything is executed: autonomous intelligence, human control.

Worker classification intelligence

Our jurisdiction-based rules engine analyzes 50+ risk factors to help you decide whether a Portuguese worker should be engaged as an independent contractor or an employee, which matters because reclassification brings retroactive contributions, back-dated entitlements, and fines.

Owned payroll infrastructure

Komp PayOps runs on owned infrastructure with 135+ currencies, transparent flat fees, and no FX markups, so paying EUR salaries from a USD, GBP, or INR budget costs exactly what you expect.

One platform, four modules

Komp Activate, Komp Workforce, Komp TimeOps, and Komp PayOps connect hiring, workforce records, time, and pay across Portugal and 150+ countries.

Enterprise-grade security

AES-256 encryption, SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, GDPR compliance, role-based access control, and AWS hosting with multi-region redundancy protect your Portuguese employee data.

Real-time visibility and reporting

Live dashboards for payroll status, fully loaded employment costs including subsidy accruals, leave balances, and compliance alerts, with exportable reports for Finance, HR, and audit.

Hire without setup delays

Forming a Portuguese company means registration, banking, Social Security enrolment, and insurance arrangements before anyone can be paid. With Komp, you can make offers and onboard without waiting for any of it.

Stay compliant from day one

The Labor Code is prescriptive on contracts, working time, and termination; Social Security declarations are monthly, and thresholds reset each January. Komp keeps contracts, calculations, and filings current.

Understand the true cost of a hire

Fourteen payments a year, uncapped employer Social Security on all of them, mandatory insurance, and the meal allowance all sit above base salary. Komp makes that fully loaded number visible before you make an offer.

Deliver a better employee experience

Subsidies paid on time, the meal allowance handled through a card rather than cash, correct payslips, and support in Portuguese all signal a serious employer, and shape whether strong candidates accept and stay.

Manage Portugal like every other market

See Portuguese headcount, costs, and compliance in the same platform as the rest of your global workforce. No separate vendor, no data silos.

Employment contracts and collective agreements

Contracts should be in writing, and fixed-term contracts are permitted only on defined grounds with limits on duration and renewal. Many sectors are covered by a collective agreement that sets pay scales, job categories, and conditions above the statutory baseline.

Minimum wage and the fourteen-payment structure

The national minimum wage is €920 gross per month in 2026, paid across fourteen payments a year rather than twelve. Salary is quoted monthly, so annual employment cost is the monthly figure multiplied by fourteen, not twelve, before any contributions.

Holiday and Christmas subsidies

Employees are entitled to a holiday subsidy and a Christmas subsidy, each equal to one month of base pay, typically paid in June and December. These are statutory entitlements under the Labor Code, not discretionary bonuses, and both attract Social Security and IRS.

Social Security contributions

Employers contribute 23.75% of gross pay and employees 11%, with no upper ceiling, applied to all fourteen payments. Monthly declarations are due by the 10th of the following month, with payment due by the 20th.

Income tax withholding

IRS is withheld at source across progressive bands, with a solidarity surcharge on higher incomes. The IFICI regime, which replaced the former non-habitual resident scheme, offers a reduced flat rate to qualifying scientific, technical, and research professionals, and a separate youth regime reduces IRS for younger employees in their early working years.

Meal allowance

The meal allowance is near-universal market practice. It is exempt from IRS and Social Security up to a daily limit, and that limit is meaningfully higher when paid through a meal card than in cash, which is why most employers use a card.

Leave and public holidays

Employees are entitled to 22 working days of paid annual leave, plus 13 mandatory public holidays and, in most locations, a municipal holiday. Parental, family, and carer leave entitlements apply on top and are largely funded through Social Security.

Working time and insurance

Standard working time is 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week, with overtime premiums and rest requirements set by the Labor Code or a collective agreement. Workplace accident insurance is mandatory from an employee’s first day, alongside occupational health obligations.

Probation, notice, and termination

Probation runs to 90 days for most roles, 180 days for positions of higher complexity or trust, and 240 days for senior management. There is no at-will employment: dismissal requires a documented disciplinary procedure or a collective redundancy process, and an unlawful dismissal can result in reinstatement or substantial compensation.

Worker classification and data protection

Engaging someone on an independent contractor basis when the relationship is in substance employment can trigger retroactive contributions, back-dated entitlements, and fines. Employee data is processed under the GDPR and Portuguese implementing law.

Employer of Record in Lisbon

The capital and the center of Portugal’s technology, startup, and international business activity, with the deepest pool of software, product, finance, and multilingual commercial talent, and the highest salary levels in the country.

Employer of Record in Porto

The northern economic hub, strong in software engineering, industrial technology, and shared services, with a large technical university pipeline and salary expectations below Lisbon for comparable roles.

Employer of Record in Braga and the Minho region

A fast-growing technology and electronics cluster anchored by the University of Minho, offering engineering and R&D talent at competitive cost.

Employer of Record in Coimbra and Aveiro

University cities with established strengths in software, telecommunications, health technology, and research, well suited to technical and scientific roles outside the main metropolitan salary bands.

Employer of Record in the Algarve and remote-first hiring

A growing base for remote and distributed workers, particularly in technology and customer operations, supported by strong connectivity and an international resident population.