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Buying Savings Certificates (Certificados de Aforro) in Portugal

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

Who can buy Portuguese state savings certificates, how to open an account, the rate, the tax, cashing out early, and how heirs claim them.

Buying Savings Certificates (Certificados de Aforro) in Portugal

Last verified: September 2026.

Who this is for

  • You live in Portugal, have a tax number (NIF), and want a safe place for savings.
  • You are an EU citizen living abroad with a Portuguese NIF and a SEPA bank account.
  • A relative who held savings certificates has died, and you need to claim them.

Not for you if: you want a tax break for retirement saving. Read "Saving for Retirement with a PPR in Portugal".

Savings certificates (certificados de aforro) are loans you make to the Portuguese state. The Treasury and Debt Management Agency (IGCP) sells them. The series on sale now is Series F. New purchases in September 2026 earn a gross rate of 2.5% a year, which is the maximum the rules allow. The state guarantees all your capital. You need at least €100 to start, and you can open the account at a post office.

Who can buy them

Only individuals can hold savings certificates, not companies. Each person may have only one savings account (conta aforro), linked to one bank account.

To open one, you need:

  • a Portuguese tax number (NIF);
  • a bank account with an IBAN from a country in the SEPA payments area.

If you are an EU citizen, you can use an ID card or passport issued in the EU. If you are not an EU citizen, the rules accept your passport or residence permit when you are resident in Portugal. The rules name no other route for non-EU citizens living abroad.

What to bring to open an account

  • Your ID: EU identity card or passport, or, for non-EU citizens, your passport or residence permit.
  • Proof of your NIF: citizen card, a certificate from the Finance Portal (Portal das Finanças), or your tax card.
  • A bank document showing your name and IBAN.
  • Proof of address: a certificate from the Finance Portal. If you live abroad, bring proof from your country's tax authority or a Portuguese consulate.
  • Proof of your job: a payslip, an employer's letter, or your self-employment start declaration.

No job? Retired people bring a pension statement. Unemployed people bring a letter from the employment service (IEFP). Adult students bring an enrolment certificate. Anyone else brings last year's IRS assessment or a certificate that they do not have to file.

How to buy

  1. Open your savings account at a CTT post office shop or at one of the citizen service desks (Espaço Cidadão) on IGCP's list. If you already bank with Banco BiG, you can open it there.
  2. Buy your first certificates at the same places. Each certificate costs €1. You must hold at least 100 in the series, so your first purchase is €100 or more.
  3. Later, buy more in lots of at least €10.
  4. From the next day, you can join AforroNet, IGCP's online service. Choose "Adesão" and enter your details.
  5. Your password arrives by email, or by post if you gave no email. Activate it under "Ativação".

After that, you can buy and cash in online. You can also use CTT's Aforro Digital app, a CTT counter, an Espaço Cidadão, or Banco BiG's app and website.

You can pay in cash, up to €3,000 a day per account. Series F has a ceiling of €250,000 per person. Series F and the older Series E together may not exceed €500,000.

What interest you earn

The rate follows the three-month Euribor. On the third-to-last working day of each month, IGCP averages the last ten working days of Euribor. That figure becomes the base rate for the next month. It cannot go above 2.5% or below 0%.

Your rate for each three-month period is the base rate on the day it starts, plus a loyalty bonus:

  • years 2 to 5: 0.25 points;
  • years 6 to 9: 0.5 points;
  • years 10 and 11: 1 point;
  • years 12 and 13: 1.5 points;
  • years 14 and 15: 1.75 points.

Interest is added every three months, after tax, and then earns interest too. The certificates mature after 15 years. You then get your capital and all added interest.

How the interest is taxed

Tax is taken before the interest is added to your account. The tax code sets a final withholding rate of 28% on this kind of interest. If you are resident in Portugal, you may choose to add the interest to your annual IRS return instead. IGCP's rate tool lets you pick a different withholding rate for the Azores and Madeira.

Getting your money out early

You can cash in all or part of a purchase once three months have passed. Do it through AforroNet, a CTT shop, an Espaço Cidadão, or Banco BiG.

You get back your capital plus the interest already added. You lose any interest since the last three-month date, so time a withdrawal just after one. The money reaches your linked bank account within seven days. It can only go to that account.

If you want a fixed rate instead

IGCP also sells Treasury Certificates Series 5 (certificados do tesouro), on sale since 6 July 2026. They pay a fixed rate for each year: 2.35% in year 1, rising to 3.35% in year 10.

The minimum is €1,000. Interest is paid into your bank account once a year, not added to the balance. You cannot cash in during the first year. After that, you lose the interest since the last yearly payment, and you must keep at least €1,000 if you cash in part.

When a holder dies

The certificates pass only to the holder's heirs. They keep earning interest until the transfer. Heirs can cash them in or move them into their own savings account on the same terms. Act promptly: the law sets a time limit, after which the value goes to the state's public debt fund.

  1. At a CTT shop, ask for a statement of the holdings at the date of death (form Modelo 710). Bring copies of the dead person's ID and NIF, your own ID, the death certificate, and proof that you are an heir.
  2. Declare the estate to the tax authority (AT) on the stamp duty form (Modelo 1). Take the statement with you so the value is recorded.
  3. Back at CTT, hand in the transfer request (Modelo 706), signed by every heir.

For step 3, bring:

  • the notarial deed of heirs (escritura de habilitação de herdeiros), or the simplified heirship record from a registry office;
  • the will, if there is one;
  • copies of the ID and NIF of the dead person and of every heir;
  • proof of the stamp duty declaration;
  • proof of stamp duty paid, if any heir is not a spouse, parent, child, grandchild, or grandparent;
  • an IBAN document, if you want the money paid out.

All heirs sign in person at CTT, or have signatures certified by a notary, lawyer, or solicitor. IGCP suggests paying out to one bank account agreed by all heirs. Documents from abroad need an apostille or consular legalisation, and a certified translation if not in Portuguese.

IGCP charges nothing if the holdings were worth €500 or less. Above that, it charges 0.5% of the value, up to €300. For help, CTT's free line is 800 201 800, on working days from 08:30 to 19:30.

Sources

This guide is written from official Portuguese and EU sources and, for prices and contact details, the providers' own websites.

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

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