Carlos Gonçalves is a Chartered Accountant and University Professor in Tax Law who says the Algarve is just the place to start a new business.

Although the Algarve is a region predominantly characterised by the business sector related to tourism and services, the growth both in population quantity and in social and economic dimension has proliferated new retail trends as a response to the population that intends to settle for a longer stay and make the Algarve its permanent residence.

Both from the point of view of accessibility and in terms of infrastructure, the Algarve is able to respond to the needs of the vast majority of business activities. For example, excellent living conditions have invited many entrepreneurs and professionals to try the facilities of coworking: this was very quickly a new trend that drove many to move here.

I sincerely believe that the Algarve has a promising line of prosperity for foreign citizens who want to settle here to develop their businesses.

The ease of communication processes may soon de-characterise the international standards of business strategy regarding the location factors of some activities, which makes the Algarve region a potential for future growth as an attraction for new business chains, which allows connecting any business located here to any part of the world: If we were not in an expert region that welcomes millions of tourists from all over the world every year!

The Portuguese tax system is often known by some legal or technical complexity, but as a university professor in Tax Law I have to say it is not more complicated than in the vast majority of other civilised countries. Good strategic planning synchronised with tax benefits and combining the frequent mechanisms already in place to avoid international double taxation will be an excellent starting point for those who have plans to launch a business project in the Algarve: the trick is to know how to do it, and very easily you can have a healthy business with balanced and fair taxation.

On the other hand, we also know that the Portuguese Government is available to assist some strategic investments with grants sponsored by European funds from the RRP (Recovery and Resilience Program) in the context of Portugal 2030 investment plan. The possibility of exploiting this type of support allows you to drastically reduce the return on investment and obtain a faster and more fluid payback on a startup business. You may also consider the proximity and ease of access to a prestigious local Portuguese university that easily allows for specialised labour, without language barriers and with great breadth for multicultural interaction.

Both because of my long experience in management consulting as a certified accountant, and because of my academic knowledge of tax law as a university professor, I sincerely believe that the Algarve has a promising line of prosperity for foreign citizens who want to settle here to develop their businesses.

Business strategy location will have a future tendency to allocate attributes that until today were ignored… emotional management, international income taxation and the compatibility between family and professional life will be critical success factors in the future… and I see that the Algarve meets the conditions for those who want to start today.

This article is purely for information purposes. It is not to be taken as investment advice, financial advice, legal advice or any type of advice.