Sovos sets up European hub in Lisbon

Sovos, a multinational advisory specialised in tex compliance, e-invoicing and tax reporting, has chosen Lisbon as its main European hub.

The company’s Managing Director Europe, Rui Fontoura says that Lisbon is now the only regional office for Sovos in Europe. It has another in Turkey.

Sovos did have its European offices in the UK, Sweden and the Netherlands, but has now concentrated its operations in Lisbon.

“Our presence in Portugal arose out of two acquisitions in 2021 – Petapilot and Saphety, and from there Lisbon became the company’s strategic hub in the region.

The company essentially works in two areas: tax reporting and e-billing, both are transversal across all sectors and mandatory for all companies.

However, Rui Fontoura points out that the obligation of electronic invoicing in Portugal is still limited to relations with the State.

Unlike countries such as France, Italy or Poland, where there are already defined timetables for mandatory B2B transactions, in Portugal the process stopped a few years ago.

“The real leap will only happen when there is a legal requirement. Only with this critical mass will the market transform and the advantages of digitization become obvious to everyone”, he says.

The Secretary of State for Tax Affairs, Claudia Reis Duarte has said that Portugal has already begun work on adapting the e-invoice to the new European rules for communicating real-time invoicing in international transactions, to be implemented by 2030.