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Filing Your Annual Income Tax Return (IRS) in Portugal

Researched and written with AI tools from official sources. How we make our guides

Who must file the IRS return, the 1 April to 30 June window, IRS Automático, which annexes you need, the main deductions, refunds, and late filing.

The Portugal Brief 13 min read

Filing Your Annual Income Tax Return (IRS) in Portugal

Last verified: October 2026.

Who this is for

  • You were tax resident in Portugal for some or all of last year, from the EU or elsewhere.
  • You are employed, self-employed, retired, a landlord, or have savings or income from abroad.
  • You are not resident but had Portuguese rent, a property sale, or other Portuguese income.

Not for you if: you want a map of every Portuguese tax rather than the return itself. Read How Taxes Work in Portugal instead.

The IRS return (the Modelo 3 declaration) reports what you earned last year. You file it online on the Portal das Finanças between 1 April and 30 June. If you were resident, you declare your income from every country. Filing is free, and the portal pre-fills much of it. The 2026 window, for 2025 income, closed on 30 June 2026. The next one runs from 1 April to 30 June 2027, for 2026 income. If tax is due, you pay by 31 August. Refunds are due by the same date.

Do you have to file?

If you were tax resident in Portugal at any point last year, you usually have to file. You are resident if you spent more than 183 days here in any 12-month period that starts or ends in that year. Any day you sleep here counts. You are also resident if you had a home here that you seemed to intend to keep as your usual home. In the year you arrive, you are normally resident from your first day here.

You do not have to file if, for the whole year, your only income was one or both of these:

  • salary or pensions of €8,500 or less in total, with no tax withheld;
  • income taxed at a flat rate at source, such as Portuguese bank interest, that you do not choose to add to your other income.

Even then, you must file if you choose joint filing as a couple. You must also file if you hold certain assets in a country on Portugal's list of tax havens, such as property or bank accounts there.

You can always file by choice. That is often worth doing if tax was withheld, because filing is how you get a refund.

If you are not resident, you usually file only if you had Portuguese income that was not fully taxed at source. Typical cases are Portuguese rent and a gain on selling Portuguese property.

Key dates in the tax year

The dates below are for the return covering 2026 income, filed in 2027.

WhenWhat you do
By the end of February 2027Update your household (spouse, partner, children) on the portal, and check your invoices on e-Fatura, the invoice system.
By 15 March 2027Finanças shows the deduction totals it has worked out.
By 31 March 2027Complain about those totals if they are wrong.
1 April to 30 June 2027File the return, or confirm IRS Automático.
By 31 July 2027Finanças issues the assessment for returns filed on time.
By 31 August 2027Pay any tax due. Refunds are due by then too.

Foreign tax not yet known. If you have foreign income and the foreign tax is not settled by 30 June, you can file later. Tell Finanças before 30 June what the income is and where it came from. You then have until 31 December.

Before you start

Gather these before you log in:

  • your NIF (tax number) and Portal das Finanças password, or your Chave Móvel Digital (digital mobile key);
  • your spouse's or partner's NIF and password, if you might file jointly;
  • your children's NIFs and passwords, if they are your dependants;
  • pay slips or the annual statement from each Portuguese employer or pension payer;
  • for foreign income: pension statements, payslips, bank interest and dividend statements, and proof of foreign tax paid;
  • for a sale of property or shares: purchase and sale deeds or contract notes, and receipts for costs;
  • for rent you received: your leases and the rent receipts you issued;
  • your IBAN, registered on the portal, so a refund can reach you.

Step 1: Check whether IRS Automático applies to you

IRS Automático (automatic IRS) is a provisional return that Finanças prepares for you. The tax office says it covers residents who meet all of these conditions:

  • your income was salary, pensions, or self-employed income under the simplified regime from listed activities, with all receipts issued on the portal;
  • any other income was taxed at a flat rate at source, and you do not add it to your other income;
  • all your income came from Portugal;
  • you were resident all year;
  • you do not hold the old non-habitual resident (NHR) status.

You cannot use it if any of these apply:

  • you claim deductions for disability, double taxation, or the extra property tax (AIMI);
  • you claim a deduction for parents or grandparents who live with you;
  • you paid maintenance (alimony);
  • you had unpaid tax debts on 31 December;
  • you claim most other tax benefits, or must repay one.

If you qualify, the draft return and the tax it produces appear under IRS, then IRS Automático. Couples see a joint version and a separate version; both partners must log in. If you qualify for the young worker relief (IRS Jovem), the draft lets you choose it.

Check every figure, then confirm the version you want.

If you do nothing, it becomes final. A draft you have not confirmed becomes your filed return at the end of 30 June. Couples are then taxed separately, even if joint filing would have cost less. If you spot an error, you can file a corrected return within 30 days of the assessment without a penalty.

Do not confirm a draft that misses something, such as income, a rent deduction, or a household change. File the full return instead.

Step 2: File the full return (Modelo 3)

Everyone else files the full return. It can still be pre-filled with the data Finanças holds.

  1. Log in to the Portal das Finanças.
  2. Go to IRS, then Entregar Declaração (submit return).
  3. Choose the year and accept the pre-filled data if offered.
  4. Check the cover sheet: your address, marital status, household, and IBAN.
  5. Add or check each annex that applies to you (see the next section).
  6. Press Simular (simulate) to see the tax due or the refund. If you are a couple, simulate joint and separate filing.
  7. Press Validar (validate) and fix any errors the portal lists.
  8. Press Submeter (submit). Save the proof of submission.

The law says the return is filed electronically. If you cannot do it yourself, a certified accountant (contabilista certificado) can file for you.

Which annexes you need

The return is a cover sheet plus one annex (anexo) for each type of income or relief. You add only the ones that apply.

AnnexUse it if you had
APortuguese salary or pension
BSelf-employed income under the simplified regime (recibos verdes)
CSelf-employed income with full accounts
DIncome from certain tax-transparent companies
EPortuguese interest or dividends you choose to add to your other income
FRent from property in Portugal
GGains from selling property, shares, crypto, or other assets
G1Gains that are not taxed but must still be reported
HTax benefits, deductions you add yourself, and donations
IIncome from an undivided inheritance
JAny income from outside Portugal, and foreign bank accounts
LIncome under the NHR or IFICI regimes

Employees and pensioners usually need only the cover sheet and Anexo A, plus Anexo H for extra deductions.

Self-employed people need Anexo B, plus the social security annex the portal asks for. Under the simplified regime, tax is charged on a fixed share of what you bill: 75% for the listed professions, 35% for other services, and 15% for sales. See Registering as Self-Employed (Recibos Verdes) in Portugal.

Landlords use Anexo F. Read Declaring Rental Income as a Landlord in Portugal before you file.

Anyone with foreign income uses Anexo J. You list each item by country, gross, in euros, with any foreign tax paid. Portugal then gives a credit for the foreign tax, up to the Portuguese tax on the same income. See Declaring Foreign Income in Portugal and Avoiding Double Taxation in Portugal.

Deductions you can claim

Most deductions come from invoices issued with your NIF. That is why shops ask "Contribuinte?" at the till. These deductions come off your tax bill, not your income.

DeductionWhat you getLimit
General family expenses35% of spending€250 per adult (€335 for single-parent families, at 45%)
Health15% of costs€1,000 per household
Education and training30% of costs€800 per household
Rent on your permanent home15% of rent€700 for 2025 income, €900 for 2026, €1,000 from 2027
Mortgage interest, loans from 2011 or earlier only15% of interest€296
Care homes and home care25% of costs€403.75
VAT on certain services15% of the VAT€250 per household

The VAT deduction covers restaurants and hotels, hairdressers, car and motorbike repairs, and vets. From 2026 income it also covers bookshops, theatre and music, museums, libraries, and monuments. The VAT on public transport passes counts in full, within the same €250.

The rent limit is higher if your taxable income is low. Each dependant also brings a fixed deduction, from €600.

Fixed allowance on salary and pensions. Before the rates apply, each person deducts a fixed amount from salary or pension income. For 2025 income it is €4,462.15. For 2026 income it is €4,587.09. If your social security contributions are higher, you deduct those instead.

Giving 1% of your tax. You can direct 1% of your tax to a charity or other approved body, at no cost to you. You choose it on the cover sheet.

Fixing invoices. If an invoice is missing or in the wrong category on e-Fatura, fix it before the end of February. After the March complaint window, you can only claim a different amount by entering it yourself on the return. Keep the receipts.

Couples: joint or separate

If you are married, or in a de facto union (união de facto), you choose each year whether to file jointly or separately. Jointly, your incomes are added, halved, taxed, and the tax doubled. That usually helps when one partner earns much more than the other. For two similar incomes it makes little difference. Simulate both before you submit.

If you are unmarried partners, sharing a tax address for the period the law requires supports your claim to a de facto union.

Tax rates and special regimes

Most income is taxed on a sliding scale. Each rate applies only to the slice of income in its band.

  • 2025 income: 12.5% on the first €8,059, rising to 48% above €83,696.
  • 2026 income: 12.5% on the first €8,342, rising to 48% above €86,634.

A solidarity surcharge adds 2.5% on taxable income from €80,000 to €250,000, and 5% above that. The full 2026 table is in How Taxes Work in Portugal.

Some income is taxed at a flat rate instead, unless you choose to add it to your other income:

  • interest, dividends, and gains on shares: 28%;
  • crypto held for less than 365 days: 28% (crypto held for 365 days or more is generally exempt, but you still report it);
  • rent from housing: 25%, lower for long leases;
  • rent from housing at or below €2,300 a month, received from 2026 to 2029: 10%, unless a lower rate applies.

Special regimes have their own rules on the return:

  • IRS Jovem. If you are 35 or under and not someone's dependant, part of your salary or self-employed income is tax free for up to 10 years. You choose it on the return. You cannot combine it with NHR or IFICI. See Claiming the Young Worker Tax Relief (IRS Jovem) in Portugal.
  • NHR. If you are in the old regime, you keep it until your 10 years end. You report Portuguese income under it on Anexo L, and foreign income on Anexo J.
  • IFICI. If you are registered for the regime that replaced NHR, you report it on Anexo L. See Qualifying for the IFICI Tax Regime That Replaced NHR.

Refunds and payment

After you file, Finanças works out your tax and shows the result on the portal as the assessment (liquidação). If too much tax was withheld, you get a refund by bank transfer to the IBAN on your record. By law, refunds are due by 31 August. If you filed on time, a late refund earns compensatory interest. No official average refund time is published on the tax pages.

Refunds under €10 are not paid. Bills under €25 are not collected.

To follow your return, go to IRS, then Consultar Declaração, on the portal. If Finanças needs documents, it tells you through the portal.

If you owe tax, pay by 31 August using the payment reference in the assessment. You can pay at a Multibanco cash machine or through your bank.

If you file late or make a mistake

If you missed 30 June, file as soon as you can. The fine for a late return is €150 to €3,750. If it is your first slip in five years and no tax was lost, the law may waive the fine once you put it right. If you file before Finanças contacts you, the fine is cut to a fraction of the legal minimum. If you owe tax, interest runs from the due date.

If you spot a mistake after filing, submit a replacement return (declaração de substituição) on the portal. Doing it before Finanças contacts you keeps any fine low.

If you disagree with the assessment, you can challenge it. You usually have 120 days for a formal complaint. See Contesting a Tax Assessment in Portugal.

When to get help

You can file a simple return yourself. Consider a certified accountant if you have income from several countries, a property sale, self-employed income with full accounts, or NHR or IFICI status. Fees are not set by law, so ask for a written quote. Your accountant needs your authorisation to file for you.

This guide is general information, not tax advice. Rules change; check the official source, or ask a certified accountant (contabilista certificado), before you act.

Sources

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

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

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