Madeira`s International Business Centre

BUSINESS SECTORS

The IBCM includes three main business sectors, available for investors and corporations, from Portugal and abroad:

Industrial Free Trade Zone of Madeira (IFTZ), with the possibility of an effective CIT rate reduction from 5% to 2,5% (if some conditions are met).
International Services, such as: trading, e-commerce, shareholding, consultancy, various services, maritime and air transport, intellectual property ownership and management, telecommunications, and others.
Madeira’s International Shipping Register – MAR.

REQUIREMENTS

Excluded from this preferential tax regime are, amongst others, any financial related activities such as banking, insurance, re-insurance or financial brokerage.

IBCM is not a ring-fenced regime, and thus all companies may carry out activities in Portuguese territory without restrictions. For International Service companies, profits deriving from such operations (sales or service provisions to individuals or companies within Portuguese territory) will however not benefit from the reduced CIT rate, except if resulting from commercial relations between IBCM companies.

All types of companies and other forms of corporate representation, such as branches, foreseen in Portuguese company law, may be licenced to operate within in the IBCM. Companies must have their headquarters in Madeira.

Companies must comply with one of the following requirements:

Creation of one to five jobs in the first six months of activity and undertake a minimum investment of 75.000 EUR on the acquisition of fixed assets, tangible or intangible, in the first two years of activity; or

Creation of six or more jobs in the first six months of activity.

The 5% CIT rate is limited to the following ceilings, according to the number of jobs held in each fiscal year:

The taxable income that exceeds the limits listed above is subject to the normal CIT in Madeira, currently 14,7%.

BENEFITS

Reduced CIT rate of 5%, subject to ceilings;

Because IBCM companies are fully Portuguese, they benefit from the implemented worldwide participation exemption regime, that includes profits and/or reserves as well as capital gains resulting from the disposal of shares, provided some conditions established in the corporate income tax (Portuguese IRC) code are fulfilled;

Foreign shareholders, whether individuals or companies, are exempted from withholding tax on dividends and interest payments;

The payment of services and royalties, by an IBCM company, to companies or individuals not resident in Portugal, is exempt from withholding tax. This exemption also applies to interest payments to foreign companies;

Companies benefit from an 80% reduction on the following taxes: stamp duty, municipal property tax, municipal property transfer tax, municipal and regional surtax, other taxes;

Unrestricted access to the European common market;

Access to Portugal’s network of double taxation agreements and agreements on the promotion and protection of investments;

Possibility to apply to public investment aid schemes.