There’s a question that pops up from time to time in every entrepreneurs’ group: “how much does it cost to keep an Lda with minimal activity? Is the accountant really mandatory?” And the answer tends to surprise whoever asks.
It sounds fair: you only pay taxes when there’s profit. But the bill for an Lda arrives every month, whether there’s profit, invoicing or nothing at all. Opening the company costs from 220 €, once; keeping it costs money forever - and that’s the sum this article does.
The accountant: the cost that never switches off
An Lda has organised accounting by legal obligation (article 123 of the CIRC) - and that means a certified accountant, every month, typically between 100 and 250 €.
It’s not a formality you can skip in slow months. It’s the accountant who files the company’s declarations - and the law doesn’t recognise “months without movement”: the obligation to declare stays exactly the same.
The director’s Social Security
If you take a salary as gerente (director), contributions are 34.75% (23.75% paid by the company, 11% from your salary), with a minimum base of 537.13 € (the 2026 IAS) - around 187 € per month, even in a month when the company invoiced nothing.
There is a way out for companies without activity: an unpaid director can be exempt if they’re already covered by another mandatory regime - for instance, an employment contract paying above 1 IAS. But it doesn’t happen by itself: you need to formalise the waiver of remuneration and sort out the classification with Social Security. The rules have nuances - validate your specific situation with the accountant before counting on the exemption. The director’s full rulebook - salary, exemptions, liability - is here.
The calendar that never stops (even with the company dormant)
Here’s what catches out anyone who thinks a company without movement is a company without obligations:
And there’s no exemption for inactivity: until the company is formally dissolved and liquidated, the declarations remain mandatory. “Letting the company die on its own” isn’t an option - it’s a collection of fines waiting to happen.
Warning: the classic mistake is opening an Lda for a project, the project never taking off, and the company staying “in the drawer”. The drawer costs money: the accountant, Modelo 22, IES and RCBE keep running. If the project is dead, close the company formally - it costs once, instead of costing every year.
The numbers: Inês’s dormant Lda
Inês opened a single-member company for an e-commerce project that never took off. She has a regular job, waived her director’s remuneration and secured the Social Security exemption. In other words: the cheapest scenario possible. Even so:
Over 100 € a month for a company that does nothing. In three years in the drawer, Inês pays the equivalent of a top-of-the-range laptop - for nothing.
The numbers: Rui’s active Lda
Rui is a consultant with an active Lda: he invoices 5,000 € a month and pays himself a director’s salary of 1,500 €/month. His structure costs:
Nearly 9,000 € a year just for the company to exist and function - before IRC, the derrama or any tax on what Rui earns. That’s the number the Lda has to “pay back” in advantages (reinvested profit, a team, asset protection) to beat recibos verdes.
What about taxes on profit?
They come on top of the structure: IRC at 15% on the first 50,000 € of profit (19% above that), municipal derrama up to 1.5%, and 28% on any dividends you take out. And watch out for autonomous taxation (article 88 of the CIRC): expenses on passenger cars, meals and entertainment pay their own tax - even if the company makes a loss.
For professionals on the art. 151 list (programmers, consultants, designers) who are sole shareholders, there’s also the fiscal transparency regime, which changes the sums completely - we’ve explained it in detail here.
In summary
-
An Lda never costs zero. Even dormant and in the cheapest scenario (director exempt from Social Security), the mandatory accountant and annual declarations cost ~1,500 €/year. Active, the structure runs around 9,000 €/year before taxes.
-
Inactivity doesn’t suspend the obligations: Modelo 22 by 31 May, IES by 15 July and the RCBE confirmation keep running until you formally dissolve the company. A company in the drawer = fines under construction.
-
Do the maths before, not after. If the ~9,000 €/year structure doesn’t pay for itself in clear advantages, recibos verdes remain your regime - and there, FIZ handles certified invoicing and the quarterly VAT and Social Security declarations for you, with no mandatory accountant.
