Employer of Record Portugal
Hire staff in Portugal without forming a company there. We become the legal employer, issue a contract under Portuguese law, and run payroll, IRS, social security and the holiday and Christmas subsidies from the first month.
Book a DemoYour online portal
A portal that keeps your Portugal hires on track
Our specialists do the detailed work, and the portal shows you where everything stands. Contracts, payslips and requests sit in one place, so you never have to chase an update.
- Follow each onboarding and its signed documents
- Approve payroll runs and download payslips
- Record leave, pay changes and contract amendments
- Stay aligned with Portuguese payroll and Labour Code rules
Why choose EOR Portugal?
Why international companies hire in Portugal with us
Portugal is the only country we cover. Our team works with Portuguese payroll, Segurança Social and the Código do Trabalho every day, whether you need one engineer in Lisbon or a team spread from Braga to Faro.
Our own Portuguese company, registered in Lisbon, is the legal employer. The contract, the monthly returns to the Autoridade Tributária and Segurança Social, and each leaver’s final pay are handled by people who know the local rules.
What a hire costs
How much does it cost to employ someone in Portugal?
A common first question is how much a Portuguese hire really costs once tax and social security are added. Here is the breakdown for 2026.
Employer contributions (TSU)
Portuguese employers pay social security, known as the Taxa Social Única (TSU), at 23.75% of gross pay, including the holiday and Christmas subsidies. There is no upper earnings limit, so the cost rises with salary. Contributions go to Segurança Social by the 25th of the following month, and every employee must also be covered by workplace accident insurance.
What comes off the payslip
Two deductions are taken from gross pay each month:
- Income tax (IRS) is withheld using the 2026 withholding tables. The annual bands run from 12.5% to 48% on income above €86,634, with a solidarity surcharge of 2.5% above €80,000. The holiday and Christmas subsidies are taxed separately from monthly pay.
- Employee social security is 11% of gross pay, again with no upper limit.
Example calculation
A €70,000 salary, paid in 14 instalments
Cost to your business
≈ €86,600
Salary plus 23.75% TSU, before workplace accident insurance
Net pay for the employee
≈ €43,200
A year after IRS and 11% social security, about €3,086 per payment
Assumes a single mainland resident with no dependants who is not on IRS Jovem or the IFICI regime. Monthly withholding is set a little higher than the final tax, so most employees receive a refund after the annual IRS return.
Every month we calculate pay and deductions, report pay and IRS withheld to the Autoridade Tributária, pay social security to Segurança Social and send each payslip. You receive one invoice covering salary, statutory contributions and our fee.
How EOR works in Portugal
What does employing someone in Portugal involve?
Hiring in Portugal means a few registrations before day one and a fixed monthly routine once the employee has started.
Segurança Social must be told about each new hire before the employee starts work. The employer must also give written information on the main terms, such as pay, working hours, holiday and notice, within seven days of the start date, with the remaining details within a month. Fixed-term contracts must always be in writing.
We prepare the contract within hours of receiving your details. It follows the Código do Trabalho and any collective agreement or extension order that covers the role.
We then arrange the compulsory workplace accident insurance and add the employee to our payroll. Each month we withhold IRS and the 11% employee contribution, pay the 23.75% employer contribution and file the monthly returns. The holiday and Christmas subsidies are paid on schedule, giving the employee 14 payments a year.
Candidates from outside the EU need a work visa and then a residence permit from AIMA, the agency that handles immigration. As the employer, we issue the employment contract and the employer documents their application needs.
Some EOR providers will not support non-EU hires. With us, you can recruit from outside the EU without a Portuguese company of your own.
We can employ people in any sector, from software and customer support teams in Lisbon and Porto to engineering, tourism and renewable energy. The steps are the same in each case. Pay scales and benefits vary, often because of the sector’s collective agreement.
Fast, flexible contracts
Set up a new hire in Portugal within 24 hours
Speed only helps if the paperwork is right. Send us the key details and we prepare the contract, insurance and registrations in the correct order.
One portal for your team
See your Portugal employees, their documents and each payroll run from a single login.
Onboarding without the chasing
We collect the NIF, NISS and bank details, notify Segurança Social and arrange the accident insurance.
Correct Portuguese payroll
IRS withholding, TSU and the holiday and Christmas subsidies calculated and paid on schedule.
A fee you can plan around
One fixed monthly price per employee, with no company registration, accountant or bank fees.
No Portuguese company needed
Our own Portuguese company is the legal employer, and you direct the daily work.
Compliance taken care of
Contracts, leave records, monthly returns and HR questions handled under the Código do Trabalho.
Your named contact
One person who knows your team and your plans
You work with the same Portugal specialist throughout, from drafting the first contract to answering a payroll question a year later. Because they know your team, replies are quick and nothing gets passed around.
Get in touchEOR or your own company
Should you open a Portuguese company or use an EOR?
There are two ways to employ staff in Portugal. You can form your own company, usually a sociedade por quotas (Lda) or a single-member Unipessoal Lda, or use an Employer of Record that employs them for you.
Setting up your own Portuguese company
A Lda can be formed in a single day through the government’s Empresa na Hora service for €360, and share capital can be as little as €1 per quota. The company then files its start-of-activity declaration with the Autoridade Tributária, registers its beneficial owners in the RCBE within 30 days and opens a Portuguese bank account.
Before hiring, you also need a certified accountant (contabilista certificado), workplace accident insurance and occupational health and safety services. The bank account is often the slowest step, especially when the owners are outside Portugal.
- A certified accountant is compulsory
- Corporate tax and VAT returns to the Autoridade Tributária
- Monthly payroll returns and Labour Code compliance
- Yearly RCBE confirmation and the Relatório Único
- Ongoing accounting and compliance costs
Employing through an EOR
Your hire joins the payroll of our own Portuguese company, so there is no company to form, no bank account to open and no accountant to appoint. We issue the contract, notify Segurança Social, arrange the accident insurance, run payroll every month and handle HR and compliance.
- No Portuguese company to form
- Contract drawn up the same day
- IRS, TSU and subsidies all handled
- No contabilista or bank account on your side
- One monthly invoice
Which option suits you?
An EOR is the better fit when…
You plan to employ a handful of people in Portugal, want to test the market first, or need someone to start in days rather than weeks. Running a company, an accountant and a bank account for two or three staff rarely pays off.
Your own company is the better fit when…
You are building a large, long-term team in Portugal, or you need a local company for other reasons, such as invoicing Portuguese clients, holding a licence or applying for local grants.
There is no set headcount at which a company becomes the better choice. It depends on what you plan to do in Portugal, and we are happy to help you weigh it up.
Employee rights
What are employees in Portugal entitled to?
Portuguese employment law gives employees firm rights, and mistakes can lead to fines after an ACT labour inspection or claims in the labour courts. These are the main entitlements for 2026.
Paid holiday
Employees get at least 22 working days of paid holiday a year, plus a holiday subsidy worth about a month’s pay. In the year they join, they earn two working days per month worked, up to 20 days, usable after six months.
National public holidays
Portugal has 13 compulsory public holidays. Carnival and the local municipal holiday are added when the contract or collective agreement provides for them. Holidays that fall at a weekend are not moved, and four do so in 2026.
Sick leave
The first three days of sickness are unpaid unless a collective agreement or the employer tops them up. From day four, Segurança Social pays sickness benefit: 55% of reference pay for up to 30 days, 60% to day 90, 70% to day 365 and 75% after that. Employees can self-declare up to three days of illness through SNS 24, twice a year.
Initial parental leave
Parents can take 120 days of initial parental leave at 100% of reference pay, or longer periods at lower rates, up to 180 days when both parents share it. Segurança Social pays the benefit, and the mother must take six weeks straight after the birth.
Father’s leave
Fathers must take 28 days of leave within six weeks of the birth, seven of them straight after it, and can add seven optional days. All of it is paid at 100% by Segurança Social.
Marriage and bereavement leave
Employees get 15 consecutive days of paid leave when they marry. Paid bereavement leave is up to 20 days for a spouse, partner or child, five days for a parent and two days for a grandparent or sibling.
We keep track of it for you
We keep leave balances up to date, make sure the holiday and Christmas subsidies are paid correctly, and flag anything that needs your attention. When someone goes on parental leave, we update payroll and the leave records. You can employ people in Portugal without becoming an expert in the Código do Trabalho.
What we offer
What does our Portugal EOR service cover?
Our Employer of Record Portugal service means you can hire before, or instead of, setting up a company. Our Portuguese company is already registered, and your team joins its payroll.
See the full service ›Hire without a Portuguese company
We employ the person you have chosen in Portugal and look after everything from the offer letter to the final payslip.
Portuguese payroll and IRS
Monthly payroll with IRS withholding, social security and the holiday and Christmas subsidies, plus the returns that go with them.
HR and Labour Code support
Clear advice on the Código do Trabalho and collective agreements when you onboard, change terms or end a contract.
Benefits Portuguese candidates expect
Meal allowance paid on a card, private health insurance and other extras that help your offer stand out.
Employing in Portugal
Help me understandonboarding|in Portugal
Portuguese employment rules raise questions at awkward moments, whether about subsidies, leave, visas or ending a contract. Our Employer of Record Portugal team answers them plainly, because Portuguese employment is what we deal with every day.
Portugal Employment Guide ›About EOR Portugal
Why work with EOR Portugal?
We built EOR Portugal so international companies could hire in Portugal without months of set-up. Our own Portuguese company is the employer, with no third-party partner in between, so the people you talk to are the people running your payroll and compliance.
Book a DemoCommon questions
Yes. Through an Employer of Record, the person is employed by our own Portuguese company. You avoid incorporation, a local bank account, a certified accountant and the annual filings, and your hire can start once the contract is signed.
For EU citizens, usually one to two days after we receive the details we need. We issue the contract, notify Segurança Social before the start date and set up payroll and accident insurance. Non-EU hires need a visa and residence permit first, which takes longer.
No. You choose the employee, and they work only for you on a standard Portuguese employment contract with our company. A temporary work agency (empresa de trabalho temporário) needs a licence from the IEFP and places its own workers with client businesses for temporary assignments. We act as an EOR for people you have selected.
A fixed monthly fee per employee, from €499, agreed before anyone starts. It covers the contract, payroll, IRS and social security returns, and HR support. We do not take a percentage of salary, and there are no hidden extras.
Found your next hire in Portugal?
Tell us who you want to employ and EOR Portugal will put them on a compliant contract and on payroll, with no local company needed.
We look after the contract, payroll and monthly returns while you work with your new team member.
Speak to an expert
Get in touch
Hire your first employee in Portugal
Book a free call to go through your plans and see how we can employ your team in Portugal.