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Paying Road Tax (IUC) and Passing Vehicle Inspection in Portugal

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

How annual road tax (IUC) is worked out, when and how to pay it, the new payment dates from 2027, and when your car needs its inspection.

The Portugal Brief 11 min read

Paying Road Tax (IUC) and Passing Vehicle Inspection in Portugal

Last verified: October 2026.

Who this is for

  • You own a car, van, or motorcycle registered in Portugal.
  • You have just put a foreign car on Portuguese plates, or plan to.
  • You keep a foreign-plated car in Portugal for more than 183 days a year.

Not for you if: you are still bringing a car into the country and need the import tax. Read Importing a Car to Portugal instead.

Updated October 2026. A new law published on 4 August 2026 changes when you pay IUC. In 2027 most owners pay in October. From 2028 everyone pays from April, with instalments for larger bills.

Every vehicle registered in Portugal pays a yearly road tax, the Imposto Único de Circulação (IUC). The tax office (Finanças) does not post you a bill. You issue the payment document yourself on the Portal das Finanças. For example, a 2020 petrol car with a 1.0 litre engine pays €111.46 a year. In 2026, IUC is due by the end of the month in which your car was first registered. Cars over four years old also need a roadworthiness inspection (inspeção periódica obrigatória, IPO). For a car it costs €37.47.

Who pays IUC

You pay IUC if a vehicle is registered in your name in Portugal. It does not matter whether you drive it. You keep paying until the registration is cancelled after the car is scrapped.

These people also count as the owner for IUC:

  • someone leasing the car with an option to buy
  • someone buying with the seller keeping title until the last payment
  • the estate of a person who has died, through the person managing it (cabeça de casal)

If you keep a foreign-plated car here. IUC also applies to a car not registered in Portugal that stays here for more than 183 days in a calendar year, in one stretch or several. There is an exception for a car on normal plates from another EU country that qualifies for temporary admission, for example for cross-border work, study, a training placement, or a mission.

If you sell your car. You stay liable until the car is no longer registered in your name. Make sure the change of ownership is registered straight away, not just signed. From 2027 the yearly bill covers every vehicle registered in your name on 1 January.

How much IUC you pay

Your bill depends on the vehicle's category, engine size, fuel, age, and, for newer cars, carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. The car rates have not changed since 1 January 2024.

The categories.

  • Category A: cars first registered in Portugal or elsewhere in the EU or EEA from 1981 to 30 June 2007. Tax depends on engine size, fuel, and year. Bills are usually low.
  • Category B: cars first registered in the EU or EEA from 1 July 2007. Most cars on the road are in this group.
  • Categories C and D: goods and passenger vehicles, taxed by weight.
  • Category E: motorcycles, mopeds, tricycles, and quadricycles, taxed by engine size.
  • Categories F and G: private boats and private aircraft.

How a Category B bill is worked out. You add an engine size amount to a CO2 amount, then multiply by an age factor.

Engine size (cubic centimetres):

  • up to 1,250: €31.77
  • 1,251 to 1,750: €63.74
  • 1,751 to 2,500: €127.35
  • over 2,500: €435.84

CO2 (grams per kilometre). Older cars use the NEDC figure; newer cars use the higher WLTP figure. Your registration certificate (certificado de matrícula) shows which.

  • NEDC up to 120, or WLTP up to 140: €65.15
  • NEDC 121 to 180, or WLTP 141 to 205: €97.63
  • NEDC 181 to 250, or WLTP 206 to 260: €212.04
  • NEDC over 250, or WLTP over 260: €363.25

If your car was first registered after 1 January 2017, add €31.77 in the third CO2 band, or €63.74 in the top band.

Age factor, by year of first registration: 1.00 for 2007, 1.05 for 2008, 1.10 for 2009, and 1.15 for 2010 onwards.

Diesel cars pay an extra amount on top, which rises with engine size. The portal adds it for you.

Examples for petrol cars in 2026:

  • 2020 petrol, 999 cc, WLTP 125 g/km: (€31.77 + €65.15) × 1.15 = €111.46.
  • 2019 petrol, 1,498 cc, WLTP 150 g/km: (€63.74 + €97.63) × 1.15 = €185.58.

The portal shows your exact amount when you issue the payment document, so you do not need to work it out yourself.

Who does not pay IUC

These are the exemptions most readers will meet:

  • Fully electric cars. Exempt. Hybrids and plug-in hybrids pay.
  • Classic cars. Vehicles in Categories A, C, D, and E are exempt if they are more than 30 years old, recognised as of historic interest, used only now and then, and driven no more than 500 kilometres a year.
  • People with a disability of 60% or more. Exempt for one vehicle a year: a Category A or E vehicle, or a Category B car with CO2 up to 180 g/km (NEDC) or 205 g/km (WLTP). For a car bought on or after 2 August 2016, the exemption is capped at €240 a year. From 2027 the €240 cap applies to every vehicle.
  • Taxis and licensed hire cars with driver, within the same CO2 limits.
  • Ambulances, and vehicles of fire brigades, the State, and diplomatic missions.

How to claim the disability exemption:

  1. Have your multipurpose disability certificate (atestado médico de incapacidade multiuso) ready.
  2. On the Portal das Finanças, go to Cidadãos, Serviços, Dados Cadastrais, Situação de Incapacidade, Entregar Pedido. Enter the type, degree, and start date, and submit.
  3. Do this well before the IUC deadline. Finanças must validate it before the payment deadline.
  4. You only apply once. You do not need to apply again in later years.

You can also ask at any tax office (Serviço de Finanças), by appointment. If you change car, you can move the exemption to the new one. Choose before the new car's IUC deadline, and pay the tax on the old car.

When to pay IUC

In 2026. Pay by the last day of the month in which the car was first registered. A car first registered on 14 May 2018 pays its 2026 IUC by 31 May 2026.

In the year a car gets Portuguese plates. The registration must be filed within 60 days of the plate being issued. You then have 30 days after that to pay IUC.

In 2027 (transition year). The new law moves everyone to fixed dates. For 2027 only, based on the total for all your vehicles:

  • €500 or less: one payment in October 2027.
  • More than €500: two instalments, in July and October, or the whole amount in July.

If a car's registration is cancelled in 2027 before its usual anniversary date, you can ask Finanças to cancel that year's IUC for it.

From 2028. The yearly bill covers all vehicles registered in your name on 1 January. You get it on the Portal das Finanças by the end of April.

  • €100 or less: one payment in April.
  • More than €100, up to €500: two instalments, April and October.
  • More than €500: three instalments, April, July, and October.

You can always pay the whole amount in April. If you miss an instalment, the rest falls due at once.

For a car registered part way through the year from 2027, IUC for that first year is reduced for the full months already gone since 1 January.

How to pay IUC

  1. Log in to the Portal das Finanças with your tax number (NIF) and password, or with the Digital Mobile Key (Chave Móvel Digital).
  2. Open IUC, then choose Entregar ano corrente, then Entregar IUC.
  3. Pick the category and click Pesquisar. You can filter by registration month.
  4. Select the plate and click Emitir. Check the details, then click Emitir para pagamento.
  5. Print or save the payment document.
  6. Pay with the reference on the document, for example by Multibanco or home banking, or at a tax office.

Keep the payment document and the receipt.

Direct debit. You can pay IUC by direct debit if you own the vehicle and it is not leased. It must be in Category A, B, C, D, or E, with a gross weight of 12 tonnes or less. It does not work for bills Finanças has raised itself. For cars and motorcycles, it also does not work if the previous year's IUC had the disability exemption.

Get the alerts. Finanças does not have to remind you. Turn on email alerts under A Minha Área, Notificações e Citações, Ver/Gerir Canais. Check that your email address is confirmed in your contact details and that your tax address is current.

If you pay IUC late

  • Interest. Late-payment interest runs on the unpaid tax, at the yearly rate set for debts to the State.
  • A fine. For a missed payment through carelessness, the fine is 15% to 50% of the unpaid tax. The minimum fine is €50.
  • A smaller fine if you act first. If you pay before Finanças starts proceedings, you can ask for a reduced fine. The minimum reduced fine is €25. You must pay it within 30 days of being told the amount.
  • Enforcement. Unpaid IUC becomes a tax debt, and Finanças can start debt recovery.

If you get a bill you think is wrong, for example for a car you sold, reply before the deadline. Use Divergências on the portal, send documents through the e-balcão message service, or go to a tax office. The tax office phone line is 217 206 707, working days from 09:00 to 19:00.

Vehicle inspection: when you need it

If you own a vehicle registered in Portugal, it needs regular safety checks at an inspection centre (Centro de Inspeção Técnica de Veículos, CITV). The inspection is separate from IUC and is overseen by IMT, the transport authority.

Cars (light passenger vehicles):

  • first inspection four years after first registration
  • then every two years until the car is eight years old
  • then every year

Other vehicles:

  • Light vans (goods): two years after first registration, then every year.
  • Taxis, ambulances, school transport, and driving-school cars: one year after first registration, then yearly until seven years old, then every six months from the eighth year.
  • Heavy goods vehicles: one year after first registration, then every year.

Motorcycles are not yet inspected. The law allows it, but the rules that switch it on have not been published.

The date. The inspection is due by the day and month of the car's first registration. You can go in the three months before that date. For a car first registered on 8 May 2018, that means any day from 8 February to 8 May in an inspection year. Going early does not change your due date.

If you miss it. You still have to take the car as soon as you can, and it does not cost more. But if police stop you while the inspection is overdue, or after the car failed, you can be fined.

Vehicle inspection: what it costs and how it works

Fees, VAT included:

  • Periodic inspection, car, light van, or trailer: €37.47
  • Periodic inspection, heavy vehicle: €56.08
  • Re-inspection after a failed periodic inspection: €9.40
  • Inspection to register an imported vehicle or restore a plate: €93.52

The fees are set nationally, so you can choose any licensed inspection centre. IMT's website has a search for centres. Most centres take bookings online or by phone.

What to bring: the vehicle registration certificate (certificado de matrícula, or the older DUA) and your last inspection report, if you have it.

What they check. Brakes, steering, suspension, lights, tyres, seat belts, emissions, and the body and chassis. Electric and hybrid cars have their own checks. Since November 2020, inspectors also check the odometer against earlier inspections and look for open safety recalls. If your car has an outstanding recall, have it done before the inspection.

If your car fails. EU rules sort faults into three levels:

  • Minor: noted on the report. The car passes.
  • Major: the car fails. Repair it and go back for a re-inspection within the time shown on your report. EU rules cap that period at two months.
  • Dangerous: the car fails, and it can be barred from public roads until it is repaired and passes.

If you are new to Portugal

  • Imported cars. Your IUC starts in the year the car gets Portuguese plates. The car also needs a registration inspection (€93.52) before it gets plates.
  • Foreign plates for a long stay. After 183 days in a year, IUC applies unless you qualify for temporary admission. Registering the car in Portugal is usually the cleaner route. See Driving in Portugal for licences and tolls.
  • Special tax regimes do not change IUC. Your income tax status has no effect on it.
  • Selling before you leave. Register the change of ownership, or you can be billed for the next year.

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