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Recovering an Unpaid Invoice in Portugal

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

How to recover an unpaid invoice in Portugal with an injunção, from €51, the 15 days the debtor gets, the deadlines that kill claims, and what comes next.

The Portugal Brief 11 min read

Recovering an Unpaid Invoice in Portugal

Last verified: October 2026.

Who this is for

  • You are self-employed or run a business, and a client has not paid your invoice.
  • The debt comes from a contract, such as goods sold or work done.
  • You want a cheap way to get a document you can enforce, without a full court case.

Not for you if: someone is chasing you for money and has frozen your pay or bank account. Read When a Creditor Seizes Your Pay or Bank Account in Portugal instead.

If a client owes you money under a contract, Portugal has a cheap fast-track called the injunção (payment order). You file one request and pay a court fee from €51. The debtor gets 15 days to pay or object. If they do neither, you receive an enforcement title (título executivo). That lets you go straight to seizing their assets. No judge looks at the case unless the debtor objects. The route covers contract debts up to €15,000, or any amount between businesses. You do not need a lawyer for claims up to €5,000.

What an injunção is

An injunção is not a lawsuit. It is a procedure that gives your payment request the force of a court order if the debtor stays silent. A court clerk checks the form, notifies the debtor, and waits. Then the clerk either stamps the request as enforceable or sends it to a judge because the debtor objected.

It only works for money owed under a contract. If you want something else, such as damages or a ruling that a contract has ended, you need a normal court case.

All injunções go through the National Injunctions Desk (Balcão Nacional de Injunções, BNI) in Porto, which handles them for the whole country.

Which debts qualify

There are two routes.

Contract debts up to €15,000. Any money owed under a contract, including by a private person, up to €15,000.

Late payment between businesses, any amount. If the debt comes from a commercial transaction, there is no upper limit. A commercial transaction is a supply of goods or services for payment between businesses, or between a business and a public body. A sole trader counts as a business.

Contracts with consumers are not commercial transactions. So a private client's debt must fit under the €15,000 limit. If your claim is over €15,000, you must tick the commercial transaction box on the form, or the clerk can refuse it.

Before you file: three checks

1. Ask for payment in writing

The law does not require a formal demand first. It is still good practice. Send it by registered post with proof of receipt (carta registada com aviso de receção). That gives you proof of sending and delivery.

List the invoices, the total, a deadline, and your bank details. If the debtor is a company, send it to its registered office, which you can check on its commercial registry record.

2. Check the debt has not timed out

Some debts have short time limits in the Civil Code. Check yours before you spend money.

  • Six months: bills from hotels, restaurants, and bars for the rooms, food, and drink they supply.
  • Two years: among others, goods sold by a trader to a non-trader, and services by schools and care or treatment providers. It also covers fees for work in a liberal profession (such as a consultant, architect, or translator), plus related expenses.
  • Twenty years: the general limit, which applies to most debts between businesses.

The six-month and two-year limits are a presumption that the debt was paid. Once the time has passed, the law assumes the debtor paid. You can only overcome that if the debtor admits the debt, and outside court that admission must be in writing. In practice, a freelancer chasing a private client after two years is in a very weak position.

There is good news on the other side. Notifying the debtor of the injunção interrupts the time limit. Once you hold an enforcement title, the general 20-year limit applies to it. The When a Debt Expires in Portugal guide covers time limits in more detail.

3. Pay the court fee first

Pay the court fee (taxa de justiça) before or when you file. If you file without proof of payment, the request is removed from the file. For electronic filing, the filing date is the date the payment is confirmed. For paper filing, it is the date you hand it in, or the payment date if you had not yet paid. Against a short time limit, those days matter.

What it costs

Court fees are counted in units of account (unidade de conta, UC). One UC is €102.

Amount claimedCourt fee
Up to €5,000€51 (0.5 UC)
€5,000.01 to €15,000€102 (1 UC)
Over €15,000€153 (1.5 UC)

A higher rate applies to some heavy users. The European payment order, a separate procedure for cross-border claims, costs twice as much in each band (€102, €204, and €306).

The value of the claim is the amount you ask for, counting only interest already due on the filing date.

If the debtor pays after notification, they must pay the debt plus the court fee you paid. So your €51 comes back with the debt.

Where and how to file

You can file in two ways.

  • Online through Citius, the courts' electronic system. Lawyers and solicitors (solicitadores) must file this way.
  • On paper, using the official form, at the court office (secretaria judicial) you choose. You can choose either the court for the place where the debt should have been paid, or the court for the debtor's home or registered office. You cannot hand a paper form in at the BNI itself.

If you are acting for yourself, the paper form is your route. You download it from the courts' digital services site, tribunais.org.pt.

Do you need a lawyer?

Not for claims up to €5,000. Above that amount, a lawyer becomes compulsory if the case moves to court and an appeal is possible. If you expect the debtor to object, plan for a lawyer from the start.

Contact details

Balcão Nacional de Injunções, Rua de Camões, 155, 1st floor, Porto. Phone 22 094 9310 to 22 094 9320. Email [email protected].

What goes on the form

The form must include:

  • the court office you are filing with
  • your details and the debtor's
  • the address for notification, and whether it is an address agreed in the contract
  • a short account of the facts
  • the amount, split into capital, interest due, and other sums
  • the court fee paid
  • whether it is a commercial transaction, where it applies
  • your own address, and an email address if you want messages that way
  • whether the case should go to court if the debtor cannot be notified, and which court
  • whether you want an enforcement agent or lawyer to deliver the notice
  • for a consumer contract, whether it uses standard terms (cláusulas contratuais gerais)

You do not attach the invoices. You describe the facts: what you supplied, when, the invoice numbers, dates, and amounts, and the demand you sent.

Two warnings. First, if the contract is with a consumer and you do not say whether it has standard terms, you can be treated as acting in bad faith. Second, you cannot change anything after filing, including the amount. Get it right first time.

The box most people miss

The form asks whether the case should go to court if the debtor cannot be notified. If you answer no and notification fails, the papers come back to you and the procedure ends. If you answer yes, you must name the competent court, and the case continues as a court action.

What happens next

  1. Notification. Within five days, the clerk sends the debtor a registered letter with proof of receipt.
  2. 15 days for the debtor. The debtor has 15 days to pay the amount plus your court fee, or to object.
  3. If the post fails. The office looks up the debtor's address in the civil identification, social security, tax, and driving licence records. It then writes to the address or addresses it finds.

If the written contract has an agreed address for notices, the clerk sends a plain letter there instead. Putting an agreed notice address in your contracts is one of the cheapest ways to make a future claim work.

If the debtor does nothing

This is what the procedure is built for. The clerk writes on your request "Este documento tem força executiva" (this document is enforceable), and dates and seals it. That is your enforcement title.

You can then start enforcement proceedings (execução). An enforcement agent (agente de execução) runs them and can seize pay, bank accounts, and other assets. Enforcement agents are solicitadores; see What a Solicitador Does in Portugal.

If the debtor was notified in person and warned, staying silent also costs them most of their defences later. They can still raise a few, such as misuse of the procedure or unfair standard terms.

The clerk can only refuse to stamp the request if the claim does not fit the amount or purpose of the procedure. You can complain to a judge about a refusal.

Interest

If the debtor does not pay, interest runs from the date you filed. Once the request is stamped, a further 5% a year is added. The law splits that extra 5% equally between you and the justice system's finance institute.

Late payment interest and the €40 fee between businesses

If your client is a business, the late payment law gives you extra rights.

  • Interest runs automatically from the day after the due date. You do not need to send a demand first.
  • If the contract sets no due date, interest starts 30 days after the debtor received the invoice, or the goods or services if that date is unclear.
  • Payment terms between businesses cannot exceed 60 days unless the contract says so expressly and it is not grossly unfair.
  • €40 minimum compensation for recovery costs, again without a demand. You can claim more if you prove reasonable costs, such as a lawyer or enforcement agent.

A contract clause that excludes interest or the €40 is void.

The interest rate for business debts is the European Central Bank's main rate plus eight percentage points. The Treasury (Entidade do Tesouro e Finanças) publishes it each January and July. For the first half of 2026 it was 10.15%. The general rate for other debts owed to commercial businesses was 9.15%. Check the Treasury's notice for the current half year.

If the debtor objects

The objection does not need any special format, but it must be filed in two copies. The case then goes to court. If you asked for it, the same happens when notification fails.

  • Up to €15,000: a special simplified court action for money claims.
  • Over €15,000 (commercial transactions): the ordinary court procedure.

Both sides must pay the full court fee for a court action within 10 days. You only pay the difference between that fee and what you already paid for the injunção.

In the simplified action, the judge first tries to bring you to an agreement. Each side can call up to three witnesses for claims up to €5,000, and up to five above that. The judge gives a short ruling at the end of the hearing.

If the debtor objected when they should have known they had no case, the judge fines them twice the court fee.

You can withdraw at any time until the debtor objects, or until the objection period ends.

Injunção, peace court, or European payment order

  • Injunção. No judge unless the debtor objects. You get an enforcement title, not a judgment. From €51. Best when you expect silence.
  • Peace courts (julgados de paz). Small claims courts for civil cases up to €15,000. They offer mediation and a ruling, and cost €70, paid by the losing side. They do not hear money claims from standard-form (adhesion) contracts. Better when the facts are disputed. See Resolving a Dispute through the Peace Courts.
  • European payment order. For cross-border claims where at least one party lives in another EU country. Twice the price of an injunção in each band.

The injunção is only for the ordinary courts. A money claim that belongs in the administrative courts must take the normal court route instead.

Common mistakes

  • Waiting too long on a professional fee owed by a private client (two-year presumption of payment).
  • Filing before paying the court fee.
  • Answering no to sending the case to court if notification fails.
  • Not naming the competent court, which is a ground for refusal.
  • Not ticking the commercial transaction box on a claim over €15,000.
  • Leaving the standard terms question blank on a consumer contract.
  • Getting the amount wrong, because you cannot change it later.

The injunção works best against a debtor who has simply stopped paying and has no real defence. Against a debtor with a genuine dispute, it may lead to a court case anyway, with more fees to pay. Think about which one you face before you file.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Debt claims depend on the facts and the contract. For larger claims, or if you expect the debtor to object, talk to a lawyer or solicitador.

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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