Any entity that conducts economic activity and has legal personality in Portugal can request its electronic certification. However, only companies that fall within SME thresholds can effectively obtain SME Certification

Companies can register and subsequently proceed with their electronic certification on the IAPMEI website, at www.iapmei.pt.

Both registration in the online SME Certification service and obtaining the first certification can be done at any time. The service is permanently available.

Certification maintenance operations – operations for already certified companies that wish to continue being certified – have, however, deadlines or conditions to be performed, namely the communication of corrections or changes, estimate confirmation, or certification renewal.

Companies that were certified at a given point in time, but meanwhile saw their certification expire or be declared void, can certify again at any time.

Certification is entirely performed online and must be preceded by an electronic registration of the company as an IAPMEI client, which can be done directly from the SME Certification electronic area.

For registration purposes, a form must be filled with the following information:

• Company identification (tax identification number, name, address, postal code, district, municipality, parish, telephone and email). The company must also define its access password.

For actual certification purposes, a form containing the following type of information must be filled and submitted:

• Company identification (name or corporate name; address or headquarters; tax identification number; social security identification number; legal form; dates of incorporation and start of activity, or recent mergers or divisions; company capital or assets; CAE).
• Information that allows classifying the entity requesting certification (identification of partners and company participations, indicating participation percentage, voting rights or eventual forms of control; identical information regarding each partner or shareholder or each company in which the applicant participates, as well as all those who maintain relevant relationships with them; characterization information that allows assessing specificities of entities with which the applicant has relationships to verify the possibility of benefiting from more favorable treatments provided by law).
• Activity information (workforce, turnover and balance sheet of the applicant, as well as all direct and indirect partner and associated entities, relative to the number of years necessary for status determination).

Certification forms are personalized, so the requested information has some variations depending on the concrete characteristics of the company requesting certification and the entities it relates to (for example, legal form, year of activity start, legal obligation to present accounts, consolidated accounts, among others).

In parallel, a form for identifying the company’s representative before the SME Certification service must be initially filled and kept updated (tax identification number of the individual entity representing the company, name, position, gender, telephone and email).

The service is free.

The decision on the certification request (on the first certification or any subsequent operation) is made available immediately after complete filling and subsequent submission of the electronic form, on the company’s electronic certification platform, in the “Consult Process” area.

The decision on the certification request is made available electronically, through the Internet. Specifically, it is made available on the company’s electronic certification platform, in the “Consult Process” area.

The decision on the certification request is made available through the issuance of an electronic certificate of micro, small or medium enterprise that becomes immediately available in the “Consult Process” area. Simultaneously, this entire “Consult Process” area is updated based on that decision.

Yes. However, before having the “First Certification” form available in the “Obtain Certification” item of its certification platform, it must fill the “Representative” file. Only after filling this small identification form of the person representing the company before the electronic SME certification service will the “First Certification” form become available, which can be filled and submitted immediately.

No, operation menus are personalized; they only have available the operations that the certification lifecycle phase of the company allows to be performed at that moment.

No. A group of companies seeking certification must proceed with the certification of each company individually. For reasons related to individual data protection, it is also not possible to export/import data from some certification processes to others.

Companies certified using estimated workforce and financial data, their own or from companies with which they have partner or associated relationships (designated relevant relationships), must communicate the respective definitive workforce and financial data, at most, until 30 working days after the legally established deadline for submitting the annual declaration of the year, namely the annual accounting and tax information declaration to the Tax Authority. This communication must be made through an “Estimate Confirmation” operation.

Companies certified using estimated workforce and financial data, their own or from companies with which they have partner or associated relationships (designated relevant relationships), must communicate the respective definitive workforce and financial data through an “Estimate Confirmation” operation. This operation must be submitted, at most, until 30 working days after the legally established deadline for submitting the annual declaration of the year, namely the annual accounting and tax information declaration to the Tax Authority.

Companies certified using estimated workforce and financial data, their own or from companies with which they have partner or associated relationships (designated relevant relationships), must communicate the respective definitive workforce and financial data, at most, until 30 working days after the legally established deadline for submitting the annual declaration of the year, namely the annual accounting and tax information declaration to the Tax Authority. After this deadline, if all definitive workforce and financial data have not been communicated, certifications obtained using estimated workforce and financial data will expire, with retroactive effects to the date of certification obtained using estimated workforce and financial data.

Yes. It is not the performance of the operation itself – filling and submitting the “Estimate Confirmation” form – that guarantees compliance with the obligation. What ensures compliance with the obligation is the communication, through this “Estimate Confirmation” operation, of definitive workforce and financial data.

That is, if the company, in the “Estimate Confirmation” form, continues to indicate in the respective field that it has not yet proceeded with the submission of the annual accounting and tax declaration of the company or companies for which estimated data had been presented, even if it submits this form, it will continue to maintain estimated data in its process; only after submission of the annual accounting and tax declaration can the data be considered definitive data for purposes of procedures associated with SME certification.

Furthermore, if a company certified itself, for example, based on estimates relating to itself and two partner or associated companies (designated relevant relationships), and performs an “Estimate Confirmation” operation in which it only presents its definitive data, then it continues to have estimates to be confirmed in its certification process (those relating to the two companies with which it has relevant relationships). Under these circumstances, its certification will expire when the deadline for presenting definitive data of the companies in question is exceeded.

Companies certified using estimated workforce and financial data, their own or from companies with which they have partner or associated relationships (designated relevant relationships), must communicate the respective definitive workforce and financial data, at most, until 30 working days after the legally established deadline for submitting the respective annual declarations of the year, namely the annual accounting and tax information declarations to the Tax Authority. This is valid, therefore, both for the certification applicant company and for any of the companies with which it has relevant relationships.

In case they have different economic years, several “Estimate Confirmation” operations will have to be performed, at different moments in time, according to the deadline dates for submitting the annual declaration of the year of each of them. For example, if the certification applicant company has a year coincident with the calendar year (therefore has July 15 as the submission deadline) and the companies with which it has relevant relationships have September 15 as their deadline, it will have a first deadline to present its definitive data (July 15 + 30 working days) and a second, later deadline (September 15 + 30 working days), to present the definitive data of companies with which it has relevant relationships. If it fails the first deadline, the certification will expire on that date, with retroactive effects to the date of the operation in which estimated data were presented; if it meets the first deadline, but does not meet the second, the certification will expire on that second date, with the same retroactivity (retroactive effects to the date of the operation in which estimated data were presented).

These communications must be made through “Estimate Confirmation” operations.

Yes. If a certification applicant company certified itself, at some point, also based on estimated data of a company with which it had a relevant relationship (partner or associated relationship) at the time, it will not be exempted from proceeding with the communication of the respective definitive data, through the appropriate “Estimate Confirmation” operation, even if, at the time of presenting the corresponding accounting and tax declaration, the company in question is no longer a related company.

No. If a company lets its certification expire for a reason other than the absence of estimate confirmation, but has, at the moment of expiration, estimated data to be confirmed in its process and is still within the deadline to proceed with the corresponding “Estimate Confirmation” operation, then it will continue to have the possibility to perform this operation after the expiration situation.

Note, however, that performing this operation will not allow it to become certified again. It will only allow it to comply with the obligation to present definitive data related to previous operations that allowed one or more certification decisions, that is, it will prevent the certification from expiring due to the absence of estimate confirmation in periods prior to the expiration meanwhile applied for another of the legally established reasons.

Certified companies must communicate to IAPMEI any changes to their situation relating to identification and characterization elements; to holdings, acquisitions or disposals of social participations; to situations of division, merger, cessation of activity or dissolution; such data of the company itself or any of the entities with which it has direct relationships, or even entities with which it has non-autonomous indirect relationships.

Certified companies must communicate to IAPMEI any changes to their situation relating to identification and characterization elements; to holdings, acquisitions or disposals of social participations; to situations of division, merger, cessation of activity or dissolution; such data of the company itself or any of the entities with which it has direct relationships, or even entities with which it has non-autonomous indirect relationships, within 30 working days of their occurrence.

Certified companies must communicate to IAPMEI any changes to their situation relating to identification and characterization elements; to holdings, acquisitions or disposals of social participations; to situations of division, merger, cessation of activity or dissolution; such data of the company itself or any of the entities with which it has direct relationships, or even entities with which it has non-autonomous indirect relationships, through performing a “Certification Element Alteration” operation.

Yes. Certified companies must communicate to IAPMEI changes in their situation, which includes changes in the company’s relevant relationships with other companies, generated either through companies or individual persons, which can happen, for example, through acquisitions/disposals between related companies, or through division, merger or dissolution of that company(ies) with which it has relevant relationships. In any case, whether directly in the company or in companies with which it has relevant relationships, the communication of changes must be made within 30 working days of their occurrence, through a “Certification Element Alteration” operation.

Yes. Companies have 30 working days to correct certification operations. Within that period, they can make more than one correction, if necessary.

The “Certification Element Alteration” operation should be used for communicating alterations, changes, to the company’s situation after performing the last certification operation, and not for correcting data incorrectly provided in that certification operation.

If a company detects that it made an error filling any field in the last operation performed, it should use the corresponding correction operation (for example, if it made an error indicating turnover in a renewal operation, it should perform a correction operation (“Data Correction (Certification Renewal)”); if it made an error filling a partner’s data in the first certification operation, it should perform a correction operation (“Data Correction (First Certification)”); but if what it wants is to inform the certification service that, for example, it recently changed the company’s headquarters or its shareholding structure compared to what had been communicated in previous operations, the operation to be performed is the “Certification Element Alteration” operation.

Certified companies must communicate workforce and financial data of a new year, at most, until 30 working days after the legally established deadline for submitting the annual declaration of the year in question, namely the annual accounting and tax information declaration to the Tax Authority. This communication, if it is exclusively presenting workforce and financial data of a new year, must be made through a “Certification Renewal” operation.

Note that the renewal operation can only be made after effective submission of the annual accounting and tax information declaration to the Tax Authority; if it is not submitted to the Tax Authority within the deadline, the company will not meet conditions to renew its certification.

Certified companies that want to communicate only workforce and financial data of a new year must do so through a “Certification Renewal” operation. This operation must be submitted, at most, until 30 working days after the legally established deadline for submitting the annual declaration of the year, namely the annual accounting and tax information declaration to the Tax Authority.

Note that the renewal operation can only be made after effective submission of the annual accounting and tax information declaration to the Tax Authority; if it is not submitted to the Tax Authority within the deadline, the company will not meet conditions to renew its certification.

Certified companies must communicate workforce and financial data of a new year, at most, until 30 working days after the legally established deadline for submitting the annual declaration of the year in question, namely the annual accounting and tax information declaration to the Tax Authority. After this deadline, the certification will expire.

Note that the renewal operation can only be made after effective submission of the annual accounting and tax information declaration to the Tax Authority; if it is not submitted to the Tax Authority within the deadline, the company will not meet conditions to renew its certification.

No. The certification renewal operation can only be made after effective submission of the company’s annual accounting and tax information declaration to the Tax Authority, and until 30 working days after the legally established deadline for its submission; if this is not submitted to the Tax Authority within this deadline, the company will not meet conditions to renew its certification.

A certification applicant company can proceed with renewing its certification as long as it is still within the legal deadline for submitting the respective certification form (until 30 working days after the legally established deadline for submitting its annual accounting and tax information declaration to the Tax Authority) and as long as it has already submitted the annual accounting and tax information declaration to the Tax Authority. However, if it has relevant relationships (partner or associated) with other companies, and these have the same deadline for submitting the declaration to the Tax Authority or an earlier date, and at least one of them has not submitted the declaration in question by that deadline, then it will not fully meet conditions to renew its certification.

Yes. Certification renewal operations must be performed whenever certified companies have to communicate workforce and financial data of the most recent completed year. In cases where the company had already certified itself based on data from the year in question or where they were not considered relevant for its certification, then the company will not have to proceed with renewing its certification. Under these circumstances, the operation will not even be available in the menu of available operations.

This situation can occur in cases where:

• – the company certified itself when it started activity – the company certifies itself in year N, having as reference year the first complete year (N+1), so, with no mandatory communication change before that date, only in N+3 will it have to proceed with renewing its certification (in N+1 it has no obligation to perform this or any other certification maintenance operation; in N+2 it only has to perform an “Estimate Confirmation” operation);
• – the company certified itself after being involved in a division or merger process as an incorporating entity (the situation is exactly the same as described above);
• – the company certified itself in N based on estimated data from N, so, in N+1, after submitting the accounting and tax declaration relating to year N, it will only have to perform an “Estimate Confirmation” operation (that is, it has an obligation to perform a certification maintenance operation – estimate confirmation – but does not have to perform a “Certification Renewal” operation, because it is already certified based on data from the last completed year);
• – the company certified itself in N based on estimated data from N-1, so, in that same year N, after submitting the accounting and tax declaration relating to year N-1, it will have to perform an “Estimate Confirmation” operation (that is, despite having already performed an operation in N, it has an obligation to perform a certification maintenance operation – estimate confirmation – but does not have to perform a “Certification Renewal” operation, because it is already certified based on data from the last completed year).

Yes. For example, a company that certified itself in N with definitive data from N-1 of the certification applicant company and with estimated data from N of a company with which it has a relevant relationship (partner or associated company), both with years coincident with the calendar year, will have to, until the maximum deadline of 30 working days after July 15 of N+1, perform the “Estimate Confirmation” operation to present definitive data from N relating to the company with relevant relationship with the certification applicant company and perform the “Certification Renewal” operation to communicate definitive data from year N relating to the certification applicant company. Companies in these circumstances will see both operations listed in their “Available Certification Operations” menu. In these cases, there is no mandatory order for performing the two operations, but if one wants to follow a chronological criterion, the “Estimate Confirmation” should be performed first (which will have retroactive effects) and only then the “Certification Renewal”.

Yes. It is possible that two companies with relationships between themselves that are certified may have to perform, in the same period, different certification operations, namely in one case having to perform a “Certification Renewal” operation and in another an “Estimate Confirmation” operation, for example. It can also happen that only one of the companies has to perform a certification operation in that period, with the other not having to do so (e.g.: if one of the companies has very recent start of activity).

On each company’s electronic platform, in the “Alerts” area, the legal deadlines for renewal and estimate confirmation of the company in question are indicated, in case any of these operations has to be performed. Through consultation of this area, the company can confirm if it has to perform any of these operations or eventually, in certain cases, if it has to perform both. In addition to this, each company will receive renewal or confirmation alert emails whenever the obligation is applicable. These emails are sent with a minimum advance of 10 working days relative to the final deadline for submitting the operations in question.

Yes. For example, a company that, in the same period, has to perform a “Certification Renewal” operation and an “Estimate Confirmation” operation, if it performs the renewal operation but does not perform the estimate confirmation operation, will see its certification expire, since the certification decision underlying the certification renewal will itself be based still on estimates (that were not confirmed within the deadline).

That is, a company that certified itself in N with definitive data from N-1 of the certification applicant company and with estimated data from N of a company with which it has a relevant relationship, both with years coincident with the calendar year, will have to, until the maximum deadline of 30 working days after July 15 of N+1, perform the “Estimate Confirmation” operation to present definitive data from N relating to the company with relevant relationship with the certification applicant company and perform the renewal operation to communicate definitive data from year N relating to the certification applicant company. If it does not present definitive data from N of the company with relevant relationship with the certification applicant through the “Estimate Confirmation” operation, and only performs the certification renewal, presenting definitive data from N of the applicant, the decision relating to this operation will be taken entirely based on data relating to year N, but this data is definitive for the applicant, but remains estimated regarding the company with which it has a relevant relationship. That is, after the deadline for performing the “Estimate Confirmation” operation, the certification will expire, due to the expiration of operations performed based, even if partially, on estimated data (in the example, certification made in N and renewal made in N+1).

Yes, any operation initiated by companies must be completed within a maximum period of 60 days, under penalty of expiring. When starting the operation, a window is shown with this information, and a new alert is automatically generated on the companies’ certification platform to remind of this deadline and the consequences of not complying (loss of data entered in the form up to that moment).

Note that legal deadlines override this administrative deadline. That is, if, for example, a company is 10 days away from the deadline to perform certification renewal (legal deadline), it will have to submit the form within that deadline, and not within the 60-day period (administrative deadline).

There is also another administrative deadline, which also overrides the previous one, and which relates to the change of calendar year, being applicable only to “Late Certification Renewal” operations. “Late Certification Renewal” operations initiated in a given calendar year must be completed (form submitted) by the end of that same year. If they are not, they will be automatically cancelled by the computer application, with loss of data entered up to that moment.

Legal deadlines always override administrative deadlines. The complete texts of alerts indicate exactly this situation. That is, if the company has an alert indicating that its certification renewal (or estimate confirmation) must be performed by day x, under penalty of expiration (legal deadline), and has another alert indicating that the renewal (or estimate confirmation) operation it has in progress must be completed by day x+y, under penalty of it expiring, with consequent loss of data entered up to that moment (administrative deadline), the deadline for submitting the renewal (or estimate confirmation) operation will be day x.

To clarify this possible doubt, the complete text of the expired operation alert expressly states, in the last paragraph: “This deadline may be shorter if you have as deadline to proceed with renewal or estimate confirmation a date earlier than this. In that case, this operation will have to be completed by that date.”

So if, for example, a company is 10 days away from the deadline to perform certification renewal (legal deadline) when it starts filling the renewal form, it will have to submit the form within that deadline, and not within the 60-day period (administrative deadline).

No. The “First Certification” operation always takes effect on the date of submission of the respective form by the company.

The only exception to this happens in cases where the company is already incorporated but has not yet started activity when it is certifying itself, in which case the first certification will not have immediate effect with submission, but rather future effect, namely on the date of future start of activity.

No. “Certification Update” or “Late Certification Renewal” operations – the operations that can be performed by companies to certify themselves again following periods of certification expiration or nullity – always take effect on the date of submission of the respective form by the company.

An operation is in progress between the moment it is initiated – that is, when the respective form is opened for the first time – and the moment it is completed, through electronic submission of the form. So, if in the “Process History”, in “Consult Process”, there is an operation with the status “in progress”, this means the company must finish filling the form and proceed with its submission. Until then, the operation will have no effect on the certification process.

Note that an operation “in progress” is never awaiting any type of decision by IAPMEI; it depends only on the submission action by the company.

An operation is in pending status in cases where its submission did not produce immediate effects, not having generated a new certificate. These are situations that require verification of supporting documents before producing effects.

A company with a pending operation should await contact from IAPMEI services, for verification purposes. Although this contact is usually made in a very short time, if it urgently needs the operation in question to produce effects, it can always contact IAPMEI services by phone or email to signal this urgency.

An operation gets expired status when the 60-day deadline after its start is exceeded, without its submission. This occurrence entails the loss of any data entered in the form that expired.

Note that when starting the operation, a window is shown with information about the maximum admissible deadline for submission, and a new alert is automatically generated on the companies’ certification platform to remind of this deadline and the consequences of non-compliance (loss of data entered up to that moment). In addition, an alert email is issued 10 working days before the end of the deadline, reminding of the same.

Yes. Companies that were certified at a given point in time, but meanwhile saw their certification expire or be declared void, can certify again at any time.

No, registration is done only once, and remains valid even if the certification is expired or has been declared void. If a company with expired or void certification wants to certify again, it should normally access its certification process, using its password for this purpose, and performing the corresponding certification operation (“Late Certification Renewal” or “Certification Update”, depending on the case; only one of the operations, namely the one appropriate to the company’s concrete situation, will be available in the “Available Certification Operations” menu). If the company tries to register again, an error message will be issued, indicating that the registration already exists.

If a company with expired or declared void certification wants to certify again, it should normally access its certification process, using its password for this purpose, and performing the corresponding certification operation. It does not need to perform (nor can it perform) new registration. Already in its certification platform, it should perform the operation corresponding to its concrete situation, which can be one of two: “Late Certification Renewal” or “Certification Update”. The “Available Certification Operations” menu is personalized, so it will only make available the operation appropriate to the company’s concrete situation.

Whenever a company has forgotten its password for accessing the electronic certification service, it should use the “Forgot password” functionality, available in the access window to its electronic platform (accessible through the IAPMEI website (www.iapmei.pt), in SME Certification > Companies > Access to your online process).

And it has two ways to immediately obtain a new password.

Using the registration email for authentication. In this case, for authentication purposes, the company’s NIF and the email used in its registration must be indicated. With the indication of this data, followed by the “Send” action, a new password will be automatically generated, which will also be automatically sent to the electronic address in question. Simultaneously, a message is generated that the password was sent.

Using Tax Authority credentials. In this case, the company defines its new password. The company indicates the new password, according to the complexity rules indicated in the form, namely, the new password must have between 9 and 20 characters, and must contain at least one uppercase letter, one lowercase letter and one digit and, optionally, can contain any other special characters, except space. It selects “Confirm after Tax Authority validation”, which makes automatic forwarding to the authentication area of the Tax Authority website. It uses the company’s authentication credentials at the Tax Authority and selects “I authorize”, when requested that the NIF and company name be provided to IAPMEI. This authorization allows IAPMEI to authenticate the origin of the request, and validate the change of registration password at IAPMEI, for purposes of accessing SME Certification. It is emphasized that this procedure does not change the company’s credentials at AT, only the registration password at IAPMEI.

Yes. To change the password for accessing the electronic certification service, one should access the electronic certification platform, through the “Access to your online process” option, still using the password to be changed. Already in the electronic platform, one should access the “Update Registration” tab, which is available at the top right of the page, and enter the new password in the “New Password” field, repeating it in the “Repeat Password” field, for validation purposes. For security reasons, one will also have to enter the password to be changed in the “Current Password” field to effect the change to the new password.

Yes, it is very important to keep the company’s representative identification file always updated, so any change to the same or to contact means with the same should be made as soon as possible after occurrence.

Note that alerts from the electronic service reminding of the approach of final annual deadlines for renewal or estimate confirmation, for example, are always issued to the email in the representative’s file, which means that maintaining outdated emails prevents companies from benefiting from this component of the alert service.

This email is also the only one used for communications within investigation procedures, so its non-updating can lead to non-compliance situations that determine certification nullity (absence of response from the interested party to document requests, additional information or questions posed by the certifying entity).

Yes, it is important to keep the registration file always updated, so any change to the company’s name or contact means should be made as soon as possible after occurrence.

Note that alerts from the electronic service reminding of the approach of final annual deadlines for renewal or estimate confirmation, for example, are also issued to the email in the registration, which means that maintaining outdated emails prevents companies from benefiting from this component of the alert service.

This email is also mandatorily used as authentication in the “Forgot password” functionality, so its outdating conditions or can even prevent autonomous access to the electronic certification service.

Yes. If a company made an error filling any field of the registration file, it should correct it. For this purpose, it should access the electronic certification platform, in the normal way, through the “Access to your online process” option, indicating NIF and access password. Already in the electronic platform, it should access the “Update Registration” area, which is available at the top right of the page, and correct the field(s) with errors. To save corrections, and for security/user authentication reasons, the access password must be entered in the respective field – “Current Password”.

In the very specific case of wanting to change, in that registration file, the password that is active at the moment, then the new password should be entered in the “New Password” field, repeating it in the “Repeat Password” field, for validation purposes. For security reasons, one will also have to enter the password to be changed in the “Current Password” field to effect the change to the new password.

In the concrete case of the intended correction relating to the company’s region – registration of a Mainland company incorrectly made in the Madeira Autonomous Region companies registration area or registration of an Azores Autonomous Region company incorrectly made in the Mainland registration area, for example –, then, as this is an error in the registration itself, and not simply an error in a registration file field, access to the registration area should be made, not through the SME Certification platform, but through the IAPMEI Client Console (accessible through the IAPMEI website (www.iapmei.pt) > Home Page > IAPMEI+ Incentives Console). After entering the NIF and access password (password common to the IAPMEI+ Incentives Console and the electronic certification service), one should access the “Update Registration” area, which is available at the top right of the page, and correct the field(s) relating to the region. To save corrections, and for security/user authentication reasons, the access password must be entered in the respective field – “Current Password”.

Note that this region correction will not have direct effects at the level of the certification process itself. So, if any certification operation has already been completed before the region correction, it will continue to be associated with the incorrect region. Under these circumstances, if only the first certification has been done, it will suffice to perform the corresponding correction operation to correct the process. If other operations have already been performed after the first certification, the company should contact IAPMEI and request this adjustment.

In case a company changes its headquarters to a different region (from Mainland to one of the autonomous regions, from one autonomous region to another or from any of them to Mainland) after having proceeded with its registration in the electronic SME certification service – this is, therefore, a headquarters change – it should, first of all, proceed with an update of its registration data.

For this purpose, it should access its registration area, and this access should be made, not through the SME Certification platform, but through the IAPMEI Client Console (accessible through the IAPMEI website (www.iapmei.pt) > Home Page > IAPMEI+ Incentives Console). After entering the NIF and access password (password common to the IAPMEI+ Incentives Console and the electronic certification service), it should access the “Update Registration” area, which is available at the top right of the page, and correct the field(s) relating to the region. To save corrections, and for security/user authentication reasons, the access password must be entered in the respective field – “Current Password”.

After this procedure, if it is a certified company, it should access the SME Certification platform and fill and submit the “Certification Element Alteration” form that is available in the “Available Certification Operations” menu, selecting the reason of “company identification elements” (and eventually others also applicable, in case, together with the headquarters change, alterations of another nature have occurred in the company) and changing the corresponding fields in the respective certification form.

If it is a company with expired or void certification, then it should, after changing the registration, fill and submit the form available in the “Available Certification Operations” menu (which may be, depending on the company’s concrete situation, the “Certification Update” form or the “Late Certification Renewal” form).

SME certification is registered in an electronic registry, and proof of certification is provided, through the Internet, on the IAPMEI website, to data holders (companies with registration in the electronic certification service), as well as to entities involved in procedures that require SME status, namely services/bodies of direct and indirect state administration, state business sector, independent administrative entities and autonomous state administration and private law entities that have entered into contracts or protocols with state services and bodies in this context (paragraph 3 of article 3 of Decree-Law no. 372/2007, of November 6, amended by Decree-Law no. 13/2020, of April 7).

With express authorization from the certification applicant company, provided through the electronic certification service, any entity outside the above scope can also consult its SME certification, exclusively for purposes of verifying its situation regarding certification (certified company or company with expired, void or suspended certification) and its status.

SME certification is registered in an electronic registry, and proof of certification is provided, through the Internet, on the IAPMEI website, to data holders (companies with registration in the electronic certification service), as well as to entities involved in procedures that require SME status, namely services/bodies of direct and indirect state administration, state business sector, independent administrative entities and autonomous state administration and private law entities that have entered into contracts or protocols with state services and bodies in this context (paragraph 3 of article 3 of Decree-Law no. 372/2007, of November 6, amended by Decree-Law no. 13/2020, of April 7).

With express authorization from the certification applicant company, provided through the electronic certification service, any entity outside the above scope can also consult its SME certification, exclusively for purposes of verifying its situation regarding certification (certified company or company with expired, void or suspended certification) and its status.

Yes. Any entity not covered by paragraph 3 of article 3 of Decree-Law no. 372/2007, of November 6, amended by Decree-Law no. 13/2020, of April 7 (e.g.: company suppliers or clients) can consult a company’s certification process, if that company so understands, and with its express authorization, provided on its electronic certification platform (in Third Party Process Consultations > Add Consultation Consent). This consultation modality serves exclusively for purposes of verifying the consulted company’s situation regarding certification (certified company or company with expired, void or suspended certification) and its status.

A company that wants to consult another company’s certification process must, first, proceed with its registration in the electronic certification service.

Within this registration, it creates an access password to the electronic service, which allows it to access the simple consultation entity platform, through which it can consult certification processes. This consultation is only possible, however, with express authorization from the company(ies) whose certification process will be consulted.

After registering, to consult another company’s certification process, the company should access SME Certification > Consultation Entities > Simple Consultation > Access to your online consultation area and enter its NIF and password. Already in its SME Certification consultation entity platform, it should use the “Consult” option to indicate the NIF of the company whose certification process it wants to consult. If the company in question has not granted its express authorization, on its own electronic certification service platform, to consultation of its process by the company, or if it once granted this authorization, but meanwhile has revoked it, the consultation is denied.

It should be noted that this consultation modality serves exclusively for purposes of verifying the consulted company’s situation regarding certification (certified company or company with expired, void or suspended certification) and its status.

No. The possibility of verifying the certification and the status granted to each company is made available electronically, via the Internet, by IAPMEI to the entities that are required to request proof of micro, small, or medium-sized enterprise status for the purposes of administrative procedures (services/bodies of the direct and indirect state administration, the state business sector, independent administrative entities and autonomous state administration, and private law entities that have entered into contracts or protocols with state services and bodies for this purpose, under paragraph 3 of article 3 of Decree-Law No. 372/2007 of 6 November, as amended by Decree-Law No. 13/2020 of 7 April).

In addition to not having to authorize these entities, companies with SME certification are exempt from having to prove their SME status to each of them individually.

For the purposes of SME certification, a company is considered autonomous when it does not maintain, directly or indirectly, partner or associated relationships as defined in paragraphs 2 and 3 of article 3 of the annex to Decree-Law No. 372/2007 of 6 November, as amended by Decree-Law No. 13/2020 of 7 April, or when it is not controlled, directly or indirectly, by public bodies or public entities (paragraph 4 of article 3 of the annex to the same decree-law).

For the purposes of SME certification, a company is considered non-autonomous when it maintains, directly or indirectly, partner or associated relationships as defined in paragraphs 2 and 3 of article 3 of the annex to Decree-Law No. 372/2007 of 6 November, as amended by Decree-Law No. 13/2020 of 7 April, or when it is controlled, directly or indirectly, by public bodies or public entities (paragraph 4 of article 3 of the same annex).

For the purposes of SME certification, a company is considered non-autonomous when it maintains, directly or indirectly, partner or associated relationships as defined in paragraphs 2 and 3 of article 3 of the annex to Decree-Law No. 372/2007 of 6 November, as amended by Decree-Law No. 13/2020 of 7 April, or when it is controlled, directly or indirectly, by public bodies or public entities (paragraph 4 of article 3 of the same annex). Partner or associated companies of the applicant company for certification, or public bodies or public entities that may control it or its partners/associates, directly or indirectly, constitute the relevant relationships of the applicant company.

Companies may benefit from micro, small, or medium-sized enterprise status provided that, when the staffing and financial data used to determine their category are considered, the SME thresholds have not been exceeded by the company (together with companies with which it has relevant relationships, if any) for two consecutive years. In other words, a company (together with the companies with which it has relevant relationships, if any) that exceeds the employee or financial SME thresholds in one year only loses SME status if this occurs for two consecutive years.

It should be noted that the consideration of data from several years is only applicable where there are entities with a history (no recent start of activity or recent involvement in demerger or merger processes) and comparable entities, i.e., where the set of entities underlying the determination of status at each point in time (the set of partner and associated companies) is identical to that of the previous measurement moment.

Yes. If a company has ceased to be autonomous, has become autonomous for the first time, or has had its structure of partner and associated companies changed, it may lose micro, small, or medium-sized enterprise status if it exceeds the SME thresholds for the first time.

It should be noted that the use of data from two or more years for the purpose of determining status is only applicable when dealing with entities with a history (i.e., without a recent start of activity or without recent involvement in demerger or merger processes) and comparable entities, i.e., where the set of entities underlying the determination of status at each moment is identical to that of the previous measurement moment.

In the case of companies that are legally required to prepare consolidated accounts or to be included in the consolidation of other companies using the full consolidation method, the financial activity data (turnover and balance sheet) resulting from consolidation will be considered for certification purposes.

An exception to this rule applies to companies that, among the entities with which they have relevant relationships, have recent companies or companies involved in recent merger or demerger processes. In such cases, autonomous activity data are considered.

It should also be noted that, since the concept of AWU – annual work units – used for certification purposes to measure staff numbers is not the same as the one used for tax declarations – even though the final result may coincide in some cases – the number of AWUs/staff must always be reported individually by each company, even if accounts are consolidated.

Two fundamental pieces of information for determining SME status are the percentage of share capital and the control of voting rights. For this reason, most entities are required to identify their full share capital and voting rights. However, due to their specific nature, in certain legal forms – such as public limited companies – dispersed share capital is accepted.

Nevertheless, certification requests from these companies will be refused if they are not accompanied by information identifying who holds more than 50% of the capital and voting rights of the applicant company and of the companies with which it has direct or indirect relevant relationships.

It should also be noted that the indication of dispersed share capital in certification forms is only admissible when such capital does not omit relationships that may be or give rise, directly or indirectly, to relevant relationships of the applicant company, as defined in the annex to Decree-Law No. 372/2007 of 6 November, as amended by Decree-Law No. 13/2020 of 7 April.

A company may opt for early status recognition when, upon entering for the first time in a certification form the data from the most recent complete financial year (together with those of companies with which it has relevant relationships, if any), it is found, on an annual basis, that the micro, small, or medium-sized enterprise thresholds – depending on its previous status – have been exceeded or not reached for the first time (thus requiring consideration of staffing and financial data from previous years).

For example, a company that was classified as a microenterprise based on its staffing and financial data (together with those of companies with which it has relevant relationships, if any) and that, for the first time, has a complete financial year placing it within the thresholds of a small enterprise will, according to paragraph 2 of article 4 of the annex to Decree-Law No. 372/2007 of 6 November, as amended by Decree-Law No. 13/2020 of 7 April (applicable when dealing with comparable entities, i.e., when the set of entities used to determine status at each point in time is identical to that of the previous measurement moment), retain its microenterprise status. However, under paragraph 8 of article 6 of the same decree-law, it may opt to benefit from early recognition as a small enterprise.

The same would occur if, for example, a company with medium-sized enterprise status had, for the first time, a complete financial year placing it within the thresholds of a small enterprise. In this example, its assessed status would remain that of a medium-sized enterprise, but it could choose to anticipate its status to small enterprise at the time of reporting the staffing and financial data of the last complete year via the certification form.

Whenever a company can benefit from early status recognition, the certification form informs it of this fact, and the company must choose, before submitting the form, between maintaining the status determined under the “general rule” (paragraph 2 of article 4 of the annex to Decree-Law No. 372/2007, as amended) or using the “early status” (paragraph 8 of article 6 of the same decree-law).

It should be noted that, where the applicant company has recently started activity or has recently been involved in merger or demerger processes, or where the set of current relevant relationships differs from that of the previous period, early status recognition is never applicable (because there is no historical data in the first case, and the data are not comparable in the second). In these situations, the status assigned to the company necessarily corresponds to its size in that year.

Companies that, at a given moment, meet the conditions to use early status and choose to do so, instead of the status determined under the “general rule” (paragraph 2 of article 4 of the annex to Decree-Law No. 372/2007, as amended), are required to prove that, in the current financial year (being the one immediately after the last complete one), they have remained within the relevant thresholds.

This means they must complete a certification form with the definitive staffing and financial data for the current year (including definitive data from companies with which they have relevant relationships, if any), and such data must confirm compliance with those thresholds. Failure to meet either of these obligations will result in the loss of early status. In such cases, the company will be assigned, retroactively, the status determined under the “general rule”.

Companies that, at a given moment, meet the conditions to use early status and choose to do so, instead of the status determined under the “general rule”, are required to prove that, in the current financial year, they have remained within the relevant thresholds.

This means they must complete a certification form with the definitive staffing and financial data for the current year (including definitive data from companies with which they have relevant relationships, if any). If this form – which, in the absence of other mandatory changes in the meantime, will be the renewal form, but may also be the amendment or confirmation of estimates form in certain cases – is not completed and submitted by the deadline for reporting the definitive data for the current year, this requirement will not have been met.

On that same date, two decisions will be issued in the relevant certification process: the certification will expire, and the company’s early status will be retroactively revoked from the date it first benefited from it until the date the certification expired.

In the specific case where the loss of early status means that the company did not in fact meet the conditions to be considered an SME, the decisions will be: the certification expires; the early status is retroactively revoked from the date it first took effect until the date of certification expiry; the operation with expired status will also expire because the company no longer meets the conditions to be considered an SME on that date; and finally, the certification itself will be retroactively cancelled to the date of the expired operation.

The decision to benefit or not from early status can only be made by the company in the certification operation in which the right to such use first arises. Once made, the decision cannot be changed.

However, there may be room for correcting this decision within 30 working days.

No. Only companies that meet the conditions to obtain micro, small, or medium-sized enterprise status are eligible to obtain certification and the corresponding certificate.

A company that does not meet the conditions to be an SME, whether when trying to obtain certification for the first time or when trying to renew after its certification has expired or been declared null, will see an indication in the certification form that it does not meet the SME criteria, and will not be able to submit the form, as it cannot obtain SME certification or the corresponding certificate.

A certified company that performs a new operation resulting in it no longer meeting SME criteria may and should submit the corresponding certification form, as this submission will generate the interruption of the “Certification” status. As a result, an operation report will be issued stating that the company no longer qualifies as an SME. In such cases, no certificate will be issued, since the company does not meet SME criteria.

Yes. If a company once again meets the conditions to obtain micro, small, or medium-sized enterprise status, it may obtain certification. This applies both to first-time certification (via “First Certification” operation) and to a new certification after a period of interruption (via “Certification Update” operation or, if the interruption period is very short, via “Late Certification Renewal” operation).

No. Within the electronic SME certification service, only micro, small, or medium-sized enterprise certificates are issued, since this service is intended for companies required to prove SME status. Therefore, only companies that meet the SME criteria can obtain certification and the corresponding certificate.

Yes. Entities not required to keep organized accounts and opting for the simplified regime can be certified. In this case, in the activity data section, under the “Balance Sheet” field, they must enter the value “0”.

Yes. Any entity that carries out an economic activity and has legal personality in Portugal is considered a company under Decree-Law No. 372/2007 of 6 November, as amended by Decree-Law No. 13/2020 of 7 April, and can therefore request electronic certification. However, as with any other type of company, only associations that meet SME thresholds can actually obtain SME certification.

Yes. Any entity that carries out an economic activity and has legal personality in Portugal is considered a company under Decree-Law No. 372/2007 of 6 November, as amended by Decree-Law No. 13/2020 of 7 April, and can therefore request electronic certification. However, as with any other type of company, only branches that meet SME thresholds can actually obtain SME certification.

Yes. Any entity that carries out an economic activity and has legal personality in Portugal may request electronic certification.

Only in the first year of the decree that created electronic SME certification was certification applicable solely to companies operating in an area under the Ministry of Economy. After that period, it became applicable to any interested company.

It should be noted, however, that regardless of the area of activity, only companies that meet SME thresholds can actually obtain SME certification.

Yes. Any entity that carries out an economic activity and has legal personality in Portugal must request electronic certification if it needs to prove its SME status in the context of administrative procedures for which such proof is legally or regulatorily required.

It should be noted, however, that only companies that meet SME thresholds can actually obtain SME certification.

Yes. A company applying for certification that has a venture capital fund as a shareholder must identify the holders of that fund in the relevant shareholder table. Given the nature of such shareholders – venture capital funds – where their relationship with the applicant company is “autonomous” (under article 3 of the annex to Decree-Law No. 372/2007, as amended), companies are, however, exempt from declaring the fund’s holdings in other companies. This rule does not apply when there is an “associated” relationship between the fund and the applicant company. In such cases, all other holdings of the fund in other companies that also constitute associated relationships must be declared.

A company with a venture capital fund as a shareholder must list the fund itself as the shareholder. In the relevant shareholder table for the fund, it must identify the fund’s holders, not the company that manages it.

Yes. A company applying for certification that has a venture capital company as a shareholder must identify the shareholders of that company in the relevant shareholder table. Given the nature of such shareholders – venture capital companies – where their relationship with the applicant company is “autonomous” (under article 3 of the annex to Decree-Law No. 372/2007, as amended), companies are, however, exempt from declaring the venture capital company’s holdings in other companies. This rule does not apply when there is an associated relationship between the venture capital company and the applicant company. In such cases, all other holdings of the venture capital company in other companies that also constitute associated relationships must be declared.

Yes. A company applying for certification that has a foreign company as a shareholder must identify the holders of its share capital in the relevant shareholder table. Given the nature of such shareholders – foreign companies – dispersed share capital is acceptable.

However, certification requests will be refused if they are not accompanied by information identifying who holds more than 50% of the capital and voting rights of the foreign company(ies) in question. The indication of dispersed share capital is only admissible if it does not omit relationships that may, directly or indirectly, constitute relevant relationships of the applicant company under the annex to Decree-Law No. 372/2007, as amended.

Yes. A company applying for certification that has a holding company as a shareholder must identify the holders of its share capital in the relevant shareholder table. Given the nature of such shareholders – holding companies – dispersed share capital is acceptable.

However, certification requests will be refused if they are not accompanied by information identifying who holds more than 50% of the capital and voting rights of the holding company(ies) in question. The indication of dispersed share capital is only admissible if it does not omit relationships that may, directly or indirectly, constitute relevant relationships of the applicant company under the annex to Decree-Law No. 372/2007, as amended.

The deadline for submitting the annual accounting and tax return to the Tax Authority – a field in the “Activity Data” section of the certification forms – is the legal deadline set by the Tax Authority for submitting the annual accounting and tax information return. In the case of the IES (Simplified Business Information), this corresponds to the 15th day of the 7th month after the end of the financial year. In other words, for companies whose financial year coincides with the calendar year – 1 January to 31 December – the date will be 15 July.

No. The “deadline for submitting the annual accounting and tax return to the Tax Authority” field must always contain the legal deadline defined by the Tax Authority. For the IES, this is always the 15th day of the 7th month after the end of the financial year. For companies whose financial year matches the calendar year, the date will always be 15 July. Even if, in a given year, an extension is granted, this should not be reflected in the field, as it is an exceptional, extraordinary deadline.

The electronic certification service is prepared to make extraordinary updates automatically without changing the field. Therefore, in years when the IES deadline is extended, the certification forms will show the normal date in the deadline field, but will apply the extended date (plus 30 working days) for renewal or confirmation of estimates purposes. The actual date applied in each year is visible in the “Alerts” area of each company’s electronic certification platform.

No. Decisions regarding certification operations must always be based on activity data – whether staff numbers, turnover, or balance sheet – from a complete financial year. Furthermore, status assessment is made, as legally stipulated, based on the last complete financial year, not the current one. Exceptions to this rule occur only for companies with a recent start of activity or recently involved in merger or demerger processes, in which case the reference year is still a complete year, but it becomes the first complete year after the event in question.

• – Applying for public tenders that require SME status;
• – Accessing EU or Portuguese funding/grant programs limited to SMEs;
• – Benefiting from reduced guarantee requirements in financing programs designed for SMEs.