French micro-entrepreneur: preparing your activity in Portugal

Inventory the activity you already operate

List contracts signed in your name, invoices issued, amounts still receivable and business subscriptions. A payment received after your move may relate to an earlier project, so retain service dates as well as invoice dates. Prepare the material your French advisers need, then describe the work you will actually perform from Portugal. Keeping French customers alone does not establish either your residence or the location where the work takes place.

Separate relocation from the structure decision

Service Public explains that French tax residence depends on several criteria and the applicable treaty. Do not infer the outcome from a departure ticket. In Portugal, compare self-employment and a company against your plans, contracts and any future shareholders. The French label micro-entrepreneur is insufficient to select a Portuguese procedure. Have continuation, amendment or closure of the French activity examined without assuming in advance which option is appropriate for the facts.

Prepare the Portuguese formation file

If the project leads to a new company, assemble shareholder identification, proposed ownership, management roles, the actual activity and intended address. Portugal’s online incorporation service requires shareholders to have a Portuguese NIF, among other conditions. Documents and signing options depend on the file, so check them before committing a date to customers. For a commercial company, also organise accounting and the start of activity with a contabilista certificado. Keep evidence of decisions available to the people preparing those steps.

Build a practical timeline

Set out the known dates and the dates that remain conditional: any relocation, contract expiry or renewal, intended formation and the first service delivery. For every action, record the responsible person, the document needed and the condition that allows the next step to proceed. Ask each adviser to specify their scope. The formation request becomes more useful when the business purpose, existing activity and timing constraints are described together, with cross-border questions raised at the start and ownership of each follow-up clearly assigned.

• Sample contracts and invoices without unnecessary customer data.
• Residence, working location and customer countries recorded separately.
• The main question to resolve before the first invoice is issued.