In Portugal, the use of offshore companies for the ownership of property is very popular amongst expatriate owners. This page gives you a brief introduction:
This is where a company is used to purchase a property. Generally speaking the company would be based in a tax-favourable jurisdiction such as Delaware USA, or Malta.
The basic principle is fairly straightforward. The property in Portugal is owned by the company. The person(s) owning the shares of the company therefore indirectly owns the property. They can easily transfer the ownership of the property by transferring the shares.
The most popular jurisdictions have low costs and low taxes. These include: Delaware and Oklahoma in the USA, Malta and Cyprus. However, there are also advantages to using a Portuguese Nominee company, and, for non-residents, the UK and Ireland are sometimes chosen.
To give a basic idea of the total costs of operating a Delaware company owning a property without any complications the ongoing fees should be around £750 p.a. but this would increase with additional accounting work due to rentals etc.
A major benefit for most property owners is when they come to sell their property. By selling the company shares instead of the property itself gives the purchaser a major saving in stamp duty, SISA tax. This tax can be upto 10% in Portugal. The stamp duty payable therefore when purchasing a property valued at say £500,000 can be as much as £50,000. By transferring the company this huge bill can be legally avoided.
In addition, as already mentioned, there can be substantial benefits from the use of companies in avoiding capital gains and inheritance taxes. These of course are more difficult to quantify and advisors must take into account such things as the age and health of the beneficial owner and the intended time of ownership of the asset.
To set against the above benefits, there are additional annual running costs which must be taken into account (see above).
In conclusion, it is difficult to generalise whether corporate ownership will save money over the entire period of ownership as each case is different. However, there is little doubt that it is the higher valued properties (say over £250,000) which have the greatest potential for savings - especially if they are resold within say 5 years.
Speak to your lawyer.