Claiming an Early Retirement Pension in Portugal

Last verified: October 2026.

Who this is for

• You are 60 or over with a long contribution record in Portugal and want to stop work early.
• You lost your job in your fifties and your unemployment benefit has run out.
• You work in a job with its own early retirement rules, or have a serious disability.

Not for you if: you will retire at the normal pension age. Read Applying for the State Old-Age Pension in Portugal instead.

You can take Portugal's state old-age pension before the normal pension age (66 years and 9 months in 2026) in a few cases. The main route needs you to be at least 60 with 40 years of contributions. Your pension is cut by 0.5% for each month you retire early, and the cut is permanent.

People with very long careers, from 46 or 48 years, can retire from 60 with no cut. There are also routes for long-term unemployment, disability, and some professions. You apply to Segurança Social up to three months before you want to start.

The routes at a glance

Years in other social protection systems, including foreign ones, count towards the flexible and unemployment routes if they do not overlap with Portuguese years.

Flexible early retirement

This is the main route (flexibilização). You need to be at least 60 and have at least 40 years of contributions.

Your personal pension age. For each full year of contributions above 40, the pension age falls by four months. This is your personal pension age (idade pessoal de reforma). From that age you get a full pension with no cut.

The cut. If you retire before your personal pension age, your pension is cut by 0.5% for each month early. The cut stays for life. It does not end when you reach the normal pension age.

The sustainability factor. This extra cut is linked to life expectancy. In 2026 it removes 17.63%. Under the current rules it does not apply to you if you reached 40 years of contributions before your 61st birthday. If you reached 40 years later than that, the older rules apply, and the sustainability factor is added on top.

Examples from Segurança Social, for 2026:

• You are 63 with 44 years. Your personal pension age is 65 years and 5 months. You are 29 months early, so the cut is 14.5%. No sustainability factor.
• You are 64 with 45 years. Your personal pension age is 65 years and 1 month. You are 13 months early, so the cut is 6.5%.
• You are 61 with 40 years, which you completed while you were 60. You are 69 months early, so the cut is 34.5%. No sustainability factor.

In some cases the rules in force at the end of 2018 give a higher pension, even with the sustainability factor. If so, Segurança Social pays the higher amount.

No minimum pension. If you retire early on this route, the minimum pension top-up does not apply.

Very long careers

If you have a very long career, you can retire from age 60 with no cut and no sustainability factor. You qualify if you are 60 or over and have:

• at least 48 calendar years of contributions; or
• at least 46 calendar years, and you started paying into Portuguese social security or the civil service scheme before you turned 17.

The minimum pension does apply on this route, for pensions starting from 15 June 2019.

Example. You are 60 years and 3 months old, started work at 14, and have 47 years of contributions. You can retire now with a full pension.

Long-term unemployment

If you lost your job involuntarily and have used up your unemployment benefit, you may be able to retire early. You must still be unemployed when the pension starts. Two cases apply to people who claimed unemployment benefit from 1 January 2007:

1. Unemployed at 57 or over. You can get the pension from age 62 with no age cut. You need at least 15 years of contributions.

2. Unemployed at 52 or over, with at least 22 years of contributions. You can get the pension from age 57. It is cut by 0.5% for each month before 62.

In both cases the sustainability factor applies, so your pension is also cut by 17.63% in 2026.

If your job ended by agreement. If you agreed to end your contract, an extra temporary cut applies: 0.25% for each month between age 62 and the normal pension age. This extra cut ends when you reach the normal or personal pension age.

Examples from Segurança Social:

• You became unemployed at 59, without agreement, and retire at 61 years and 1 month with 35 years. You are 11 months before 62, so the cut is 5.5%, plus the sustainability factor.
• You became unemployed at 61 and retire at 62 years and 10 months with 29 years. There is no age cut, only the sustainability factor.

This route is for employees only. It does not cover self-employed workers or company board members. For unemployment benefit itself, see Claiming Unemployment Benefit in Portugal.

Disability

If you have a certified incapacity of 80% or more, you can retire from 60 with no cut and no sustainability factor. You need 15 years of contributions with that level of disability, counting only your last 15 years of actual work. You cannot work while receiving this pension.

You prove the disability with a multi-purpose medical disability certificate (atestado médico de incapacidade multiuso). If you cannot work at all before 60, see Claiming a Disability Pension in Portugal.

Special professions

Some jobs have their own early pension age. Segurança Social lists these, among others:

• Miners, ore washers, and quarry workers: one year off the pension age for each two years of qualifying work, down to age 50.
• Classical or contemporary dancers: from 55 with 10 years full time, or from 45 with 20 years, of which 10 full time.
• Air traffic controllers: from 60 with 22 years in operational roles.
• Merchant seafarers: from 55 years and 4 months with 15 years at sea.
• Fishers: from 55 years and 4 months with 15 years in the general scheme and 30 years of fishing.
• Airline captains and co-pilots: from 65, or from 60 with 40 years.
• Madeira home embroiderers: from 60 years and 4 months with 15 years in the trade.
• Professional firefighters (sapadores and municipal): six years below the normal pension age.

Each scheme has its own conditions. You must send a declaration of your work (form RP 5023) with your claim.

How to apply

1. Check your record. Log in to Segurança Social Direta at seg-social.pt and open your contribution record (carreira contributiva). Count your years carefully.
2. Run the pension simulator. On the portal, go to Simuladores. Compare an early start with waiting until your personal or normal pension age. The cut is for life, so look at the long term.
3. Choose your start date. You can apply up to three months before it.
4. Apply online under Trabalho, then Reforma e invalidez, then Pensão de Velhice. Or go to any Segurança Social office. The paper form is RP 5068.
5. Add the extra forms that apply: RP 5023 for a special profession, RP 5080 if you already get another pension, and RP 5071 and RP 5081 for work abroad.

Documents to have ready:

• A valid identity document, such as your citizen card, passport, or residence permit.
• Your tax number (NIF), if you have no citizen card.
• A bank document showing your IBAN in your name.
• Proof of your address in Portugal, if you are a foreign national.
• A disability certificate of 80% or more, for the disability route.

How long it takes. There is no fixed legal deadline. Simple cases take about 50 days on average.

Working after early retirement

Employees. For three years after you retire early, you cannot work for the same company or group you retired from, paid or unpaid. If you do, you lose the pension while you work there. You must repay it and may be fined.

Company board members on the flexible route have the same three-year ban for their own company or group.

Self-employed. If you retired early as an employee, you cannot provide services to your old employer for three years.

Work elsewhere is allowed. Tell Segurança Social within 30 days if you stop work when the pension starts, or go back to your old employer.

Fines for breaking these rules run from €50 to €350, and can double if you were overpaid.

If you worked abroad

Years in the EU, the UK, or agreement countries count towards the 40 years for the flexible route and the years needed for the unemployment route. Ask Segurança Social how they count for very long careers. Each country pays its own share from its own pension age. Taking the Portuguese pension early does not make another country pay early. See How Your Years Working Abroad Count toward a Pension in Portugal.

Tax

An early pension is taxed as pension income, like any old-age pension. Segurança Social withholds tax each month. In 2026, each pensioner first deducts a fixed allowance of €4,587.09. The rest is taxed at rates from 12.5% to 48%. See Retiring in Portugal for the full rate table.

Before you decide

• The cut is permanent. A 14.5% cut at 63 is still 14.5% at 80.
• Check which route fits. Someone with 46 years who started before 17 should use the very long career route, not the flexible one.
• Short of 40 years? Missing periods can sometimes be covered. Ask Segurança Social. You may also be able to pay into the voluntary scheme. See Joining Voluntary Social Insurance in Portugal.
• Civil servants in the Caixa Geral de Aposentações have their own early retirement rules. Ask that scheme.
• The 2027 figures. The normal pension age rises to 66 years and 11 months in 2027. The 2027 sustainability factor had not been published when we checked.

Contacts

• Segurança Social line: 210 545 400 or 300 502 502, working days, 09:00 to 18:00.
• Appointments line: 210 548 888 or 300 088 888.

This guide is general information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change often; check the official source before you act.

Sources

This guide is written from official sources and, where relevant, organisations' own websites.

• Instituto da Segurança Social, practical guide to the old-age pension (version 4.78, published 21 May 2026): https://www.seg-social.pt/ptss/pssd/documento/cmc1zt9ae00lskl2ye2zwphdb (early routes and conditions, personal pension age table, 0.5% cut, 2018 rule, examples, very long careers at 48 and 46 years before 17, long-term unemployment table and examples, 0.25% extra cut, employees only, disability route at 80%, special professions, sustainability factor 17.63% and where it applies, minimum pension rules, forms RP 5068, RP 5023, RP 5080, RP 5071, RP 5081, documents, three months, about 50 days, three-year work ban, 30-day reporting, €50 to €350 fines, cut kept after normal pension age, other systems counting, contact lines), checked 2 October 2026
• gov.pt, Pedir a pensão de velhice (updated 22 September 2026): https://www.gov.pt/servicos/requerer-a-pensao-de-velhice (66 years and 9 months in 2026, early routes listed, up to three months before), checked 2 October 2026
• Diário da República, Portaria n.º 476/2025/1 (pension age in 2027): https://diariodarepublica.pt/dr/detalhe/portaria/476-2025-992879815 (66 years and 11 months in 2027), carried from verified guide W24
• Portal das Finanças, Código do IRS, article 53: https://info.portaldasfinancas.gov.pt/pt/informacao_fiscal/codigos_tributarios/cirs_rep/Pages/irs53.aspx (pension deduction), carried from verified guide W2A-08
• Portal das Finanças, Código do IRS, article 25: https://info.portaldasfinancas.gov.pt/pt/informacao_fiscal/codigos_tributarios/cirs_rep/Pages/irs25.aspx (8.54 times the IAS, so €4,587.09 in 2026), carried from verified guide W2A-08
• Portal das Finanças, Código do IRS, article 68: https://info.portaldasfinancas.gov.pt/pt/informacao_fiscal/codigos_tributarios/cirs_rep/Pages/irs68.aspx (2026 rates from 12.5% to 48%), carried from verified guide W2A-08
• Your Europe, State pensions abroad: https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/work/retire-abroad/state-pensions-abroad/index_en.htm (each country pays from its own pension age), carried from verified guide W24
• Diário da República, Decreto-Lei n.º 187/2007, of 10 May (disability and old-age protection in the general scheme), as linked from gov.pt: http://dre.pt/pdf1sdip/2007/05/09000/31003116.pdf
• Diário da República, Decreto-Lei n.º 119/2018, of 27 December (flexible early retirement): https://diariodarepublica.pt/dr/detalhe/decreto-lei/119-2018-117239713 (legal basis of the current flexible route)

Last verified October 2026. Rules and fees change; check the official source before acting.