Fill in the declaration of the Central Register of Beneficial Owners (RCBE)

Beneficial owners can be: 

• one or more natural persons who own or control, directly or indirectly, a sufficient percentage (25 per cent in the case of corporate entities) of the shares or voting rights or participation in the capital of a legal person
• one or more natural persons who exercise control over that legal person by other means. Some examples of these means are:
  • a power of attorney giving control of the entity in question to a particular natural person, such as the power to appoint and dismiss the entity's top manager
  • a person who receives the entity's profits, controls the bank accounts, but has no connection to the legal person.
• one or more natural persons who hold top management (manager, administrator or director), if no person has been identified in the previous two points or if there are doubts that the person or persons identified are the beneficial owners.

The RCBE declaration must be made in three stages.

The initial RCBE declaration must be made within 30 days of:

• the registration of the legal person
• the entity's first registration in the Central Registry of Legal Persons (FCPC)
• the allocation of the tax identification number (NIF), in the case of an organisation that does not need to be registered with the FCPC.

If you need to update the initial declaration, you have 30 days after changing any data in the declaration to do so.

Organisations also need to confirm their information in the Central Register of Beneficial Owners every year. Confirmation must be made by 31 December. However, if you have made any changes to your declaration that year, you don't need to make this annual confirmation.

• To fill in the declaration on the Justice Portal, you need to authenticate yourself with one of the following forms:

  • Digital Mobile Key (CMD)
  • Citizen's Card
  • Lawyer's, solicitor's or notary's digital certificate

Filling in and submitting the declaration for the Central Register of Beneficial Owners is free of charge. 

You can request assisted completion of the RCBE at an IRN branch, with the help of a member of staff. This assisted completion service costs 15 euros.

The RCBE declaration can be filled in online or in person at one of the two branches of the Institute of Registries and Notaries (IRN) available.

Online

Access the Central Registry of Beneficial Owners service on the Justice Portal and authenticate yourself in one of the following ways:

• Digital Mobile Key (CMD)
• Citizen's Card
• Lawyer's, solicitor's or notary's digital certificate

Once you have authenticated yourself, fill in the information requested regarding the organisation and the Beneficial Owner and submit the declaration. A proof of submission of the declaration is generated. An email will be sent to the email address you indicated on the declaration. The email contains an access code for consulting the RCBE declaration online.

In Person

You can fill in and submit the RCBE declaration at the IRN branch on Avenida Fontes Pereira de Melo, in Lisbon, and at the Business Spot at the Coimbra Citizen's Bureau. If you need help, you can request assisted completion of the declaration. This service costs 15 euros.

You can consult the RCBE online, on the Justice Portal. You'll need the access code, which is sent to you by e-mail once you've submitted the RCBE declaration.