Declaring Rental Income as a Landlord in Portugal
Category F income, the new 10 percent flat rate on moderate rents, the electronic rent receipt, the annual declaration, and the expenses a landlord can deduct.
Last verified: September 2026.
Who this is for
- Owners who let a home in Portugal on a long-term lease, whether tax resident or not.
- Landlords with a moderate rent of €2,300 a month or less.
- Owners letting a shop, office, or garage on an ordinary lease.
Not for you if: you let to tourists for short stays. Read Registering a Holiday Let (Alojamento Local) in Portugal instead.
Updated September 2026. Rent from homes let for €2,300 a month or less is now taxed at 10%, backdated to 1 January 2026. A new tax-free affordable rent scheme started on 1 September 2026.
Rent from a long-term lease is taxed as property income (Category F) under IRS, Portugal's personal income tax. You pay tax on the rent minus allowed expenses. For a home let at €2,300 a month or less, the rate is now 10%. Above that, it is 25%, lower for long contracts. You must register the lease with Finanças, pay stamp duty once, issue an electronic receipt for each rent payment, and declare the rent in your annual IRS return between 1 April and 30 June.
What rate you pay
The rate depends on what you let, the rent, and the length of the contract. You get whichever rate is lowest.
Homes let for €2,300 a month or less. The rate is 10% on rent earned from 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2029. It covers new and existing contracts, as long as the home is let only as a home. The ceiling is two and a half times the 2026 minimum wage of €920. The government can update it each year.
Homes let for more than €2,300 a month. The standard rate is 25%. It falls for long contracts used as the tenant's permanent home:
| Contract length | Rate |
|---|---|
| Under 5 years | 25% |
| 5 to under 10 years | 15%, falling 2 points at each renewal of the same length, to a minimum of 5% |
| 10 to under 20 years | 10% |
| 20 years or more | 5% |
These long-contract rates also apply to moderate rents when they beat 10%. In practice, that means a contract of 20 years or more, or a 5 to 10 year contract after three renewals.
Shops, offices, and other non-housing leases. The rate is 28%.
If you end a long contract early for your own reasons, you lose the reduced rate from the start of the contract. You must declare this in your return for that year and pay the difference, with interest.
Adding the rent to your other income instead
If you are tax resident in Portugal, you can choose to add your rent to your other income and pay tax at the normal IRS scale. This is called aggregation (englobamento). It only helps if your total income is low. You make the choice each year in your IRS return.
The new tax-free affordable rent scheme
From 1 September 2026, the simplified affordable rent scheme (RSAA) makes rent completely free of IRS. It replaces the older Affordable Rent Programme. Contracts signed under the old programme keep their tax benefits.
To qualify, you must meet these conditions:
- The rent is at or below a maximum set by the government for each municipality and home size. The limit is based on 80% of the median rent in that municipality.
- The contract lasts at least three years if it is the tenant's permanent home.
- Or it lasts at least three months for a temporary stay, such as a student or worker whose tax home is in another municipality.
- You register the lease with Finanças as usual.
To claim the exemption:
- Sign the contract and register it on the Portal das Finanças.
- By 15 January of the following year, upload a copy of the contract and proof of registration to the platform run by the housing institute (IHRU).
- IHRU tells Finanças by the end of February. The exemption then applies from the date the contract was signed.
If you break the conditions later, you lose the exemption from that date and must pay back the tax, with interest. If you choose aggregation, the exempt rent still counts when your tax rate is worked out.
Step 1: Register the lease and pay stamp duty
You must tell Finanças about every lease on the Portal das Finanças. The deadline is the end of the month after the lease starts. You also report rent increases agreed by changing the contract, and the end of the lease, by the same deadline.
When you register the lease, you owe stamp duty (Imposto do Selo) of 10% of one month's rent. Pay it by the 20th of the month after the one in which you owe it. You also pay 10% of any agreed increase if you change the contract to raise the rent.
The stamp duty you pay counts as a deductible expense (see below). For the tenant's side of the process, see Renting a Home in Portugal.
Step 2: Issue an electronic rent receipt each month
For each rent payment, including deposits and advances, you issue an electronic rent receipt (recibo de renda eletrónico) on the Portal das Finanças. This feeds your rent into your tax record. Your tenant also uses it to claim their rent deduction.
You can authorise someone else, such as an accountant, to issue receipts for you. If you issue a receipt in error, you can cancel it until the end of the IRS filing period for that year.
Who does not have to issue electronic receipts. You are exempt in either of these cases:
- You were 65 or over on 31 December of the previous year.
- You do not have, and are not required to have, an electronic tax mailbox, and your rent in the previous year was no more than twice the IAS. For 2026, that is €1,074.26 a year. For what the IAS is, see What Is the IAS, Portugal's Social Support Index?
If you are exempt and choose not to issue receipts, you must file the annual rent declaration (Modelo 44) instead. It lists all rent received in the previous year. The deadline is the end of February.
Step 3: Report long contracts by the end of February
To get the long-contract rates, you must report the contract's length to Finanças on the Portal das Finanças. Do it by the end of February in the first year the contract qualifies. Do it again by the end of February after each renewal, so the new term is recorded. You do not need to repeat it every year.
What you can deduct
You can deduct any cost you actually paid to earn or protect the rent, for each property. Keep an invoice for each one. The main costs are:
- Conservation and maintenance works.
- IMI, the municipal property tax, for the year the property was let. See Paying IMI Property Tax in Portugal.
- The stamp duty on the lease.
- Condominium charges you are legally required to pay, for a flat in a shared building.
- Rent guarantee insurance.
- Conservation and maintenance works paid in the 24 months before the lease started, if the home was not used for anything else in between.
You cannot deduct:
- Mortgage interest or other financing costs.
- Depreciation.
- Furniture, appliances, and items for comfort or decoration.
- AIMI, the additional property tax on high-value property.
If you moved away and let your former home. You can deduct the rent you now pay for your new home from the rent you receive, up to the same amount. This applies if you lived in the let home for at least 12 months, moved more than 100 km away, and both leases are registered on the Portal das Finanças.
Step 4: Declare the rent in your IRS return
You declare rental income in Annex F (Anexo F) of your annual IRS return. You file between 1 April and 30 June of the following year. Rent earned in 2026 goes in the return you file from 1 April to 30 June 2027.
In Annex F you list, for each property:
- The gross rent received.
- Your deductible expenses, with dates and invoice details.
- Any tax withheld by a tenant.
- Whether you choose aggregation.
For the return itself, see Filing Your Annual Income Tax Return (IRS) in Portugal.
If your tenant is a company. Companies and businesses with formal accounts must withhold tax from the rent and pay it to Finanças. For homes let at a moderate rent, the withholding rate is now 10%. You claim the tax already withheld in Annex F.
Key dates
| When | What |
|---|---|
| End of the month after a lease starts | Register the lease on the Portal das Finanças |
| 20th of the month after stamp duty is due | Pay stamp duty on the lease |
| Each rent payment | Issue the electronic rent receipt |
| 15 January | Upload affordable rent contracts (RSAA) to IHRU |
| End of February | Modelo 44 if exempt from receipts; report long contracts |
| 1 April to 30 June | File your IRS return with Annex F |
Holiday lets are taxed differently
If you let to tourists for short stays under a holiday let licence (Alojamento Local), the income is business income (Category B), not Category F. None of the rules above apply. Keep the two separate in your records.
Sources
This guide is written from official Portuguese and EU sources and, for prices and contact details, the providers' own websites.
- Diário da República, Decree-Law 97/2026 of 20 May 2026: https://files.diariodarepublica.pt/1s/2026/05/09700/0001400040.pdf (10% rate, the €2,300 ceiling as 2.5 times the 2026 minimum wage, 2026 to 2029 period, effect from 1 January 2026, affordable rent scheme from 1 September 2026, IHRU filing, 10% withholding)
- Portal das Finanças, IRS Code Article 72: https://info.portaldasfinancas.gov.pt/pt/informacao_fiscal/codigos_tributarios/cirs_rep/Pages/irs72.aspx (25% and 28% rates, long-contract reductions, loss of reductions, aggregation)
- Portal das Finanças, IRS Code Article 41: https://info.portaldasfinancas.gov.pt/pt/informacao_fiscal/codigos_tributarios/cirs_rep/Pages/irs41.aspx (deductible and non-deductible expenses, 24-month rule, relocation rule)
- Portal das Finanças, IRS Code Article 115: https://info.portaldasfinancas.gov.pt/pt/informacao_fiscal/codigos_tributarios/cirs_rep/Pages/irs115.aspx (rent receipt or annual declaration by end of February)
- Portal das Finanças, Frequently asked questions on rent: https://info.portaldasfinancas.gov.pt/pt/apoio_contribuinte/questoes_frequentes/pages/faqs-00358.aspx (receipt exemptions, 65 and over rule, Modelo 44, reporting long contracts, cancelling receipts, authorising a third party)
- Portal das Finanças, Stamp Duty Code: https://info.portaldasfinancas.gov.pt/pt/informacao_fiscal/codigos_tributarios/Cod_download/Documents/CIS.pdf (10% stamp duty on leases, lease registration deadline, payment by the 20th)
- Diário da República, Portaria 480-A/2025/1 (IAS for 2026): https://diariodarepublica.pt/dr/detalhe/portaria/480-a-2025-993056222 (IAS of €537.13, used for the receipt exemption threshold)
- DGERT, Minimum monthly wage for 2026: https://www.dgert.gov.pt/retribuicao-minima-mensal-garantida-para-2026 (minimum wage of €920, basis of the €2,300 ceiling)
Last verified September 2026. Rules and fees change; check the official source before acting.