Books, Concert Tickets and Museum Visits Bought in 2026 Count Towards an IRS Deduction: 15 Percent of the VAT, Within a Shared 250 Euro Household Cap

Books, theatre tickets and museum entries bought in 2026 can lower your income tax bill next spring, but only if the invoice carries your NIF (número de identificação fiscal, the tax number) and lands in the right category on e-Fatura, the tax authority's invoice portal.

The change comes from the 2026 State Budget, Lei n.º 73-A/2025 (Law 73-A/2025), whose Article 71 added six cultural sectors to Article 78.º-F of the Código do IRS (the personal income tax code). The law came into force on 1 January 2026, and the government announced on 28 April that taxpayers could now register and validate these invoices on e-Fatura. The deduction is back in the news this week after an ECO column on it.

What counts

The test is the seller's registered economic activity (its CAE code), not what you buy. According to the consolidated article on the Portal das Finanças, invoices qualify when issued by:

• specialised bookshops (CAE 47610);
• theatre, music, dance and other artistic and literary activities (CAE 90);
• operators of performance venues (CAE 9004);
• libraries and archives (CAE 9101);
• museums (CAE 9102);
• historic sites and monuments (CAE 9103).

A novel bought at a supermarket is therefore unlikely to count, because the shop is not registered as a specialised bookseller. The same book bought in a bookshop should.

How much it is worth

The benefit is modest. You deduct 15 percent of the VAT on qualifying invoices, not 15 percent of the price. The cap is 250 euros a year per household, and it is shared with the older sectors in the same article: car and motorbike repairs, restaurants and hotels, hairdressers, vets, public transport passes and newspaper subscriptions. On our arithmetic, a household would need about 1,667 euros of VAT on the 15 percent sectors to hit the cap from those alone; 100 euros of VAT on books and tickets is worth 15 euros.

Under Article 78.º, this deduction also counts towards a wider ceiling on several deductions, which is 1,000 euros per household for higher earners. Deductions of this kind apply only to Portuguese tax residents.

What this means for you

• Ask for your NIF on the invoice at the till or when buying tickets online. Article 78.º-B says buyers must request it. If you forget, the e-Fatura app can register an invoice from its QR code.
• Check e-Fatura for invoices marked as pending. A seller with several activities may leave an invoice unclassified; you assign it to the right sector yourself, as the tax authority's e-Fatura leaflet explains. Freelancers must also mark whether each purchase was for their business, which would rule it out.
• Mind the deadline. The leaflet says invoices for a year must be validated by the end of February of the following year. The tax authority computes the deductions from invoices received by then, shows them on the Portal from 15 March, and accepts complaints until 31 March.

Spending from 1 January to 31 December 2026 feeds the IRS return you file in 2027 on this year's income. Spending in 2025 does not qualify.