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Selling Your House in Portugal

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

The steps to sell a home in Portugal, the papers you need, what the seller pays, and how capital gains tax and its reliefs work, wherever you live.

The Portugal Brief 13 min read

Selling Your House in Portugal

Last verified: October 2026.

Who this is for

  • You own a home in Portugal and plan to sell it, whether you live here or abroad.
  • You want to know the steps, the costs, and how much capital gains tax you will owe.
  • You sold a home this year and must declare the gain on next year's tax return.

Not for you if: you are buying, not selling. Read Buying Property in Portugal as a Foreigner instead.

Updated October 2026. Since August 2026, every deed that sells a building must say whether it has a planning title, such as a use licence.

Selling a home in Portugal has four stages. You gather documents, sign a promissory contract, sign the deed, and declare the gain on next year's tax return. You usually pay the estate agent. Capital gains tax (mais-valias) is paid the year after the sale. Residents and non-residents are both taxed on half the gain, at income tax rates from 12.5% to 48%. Reinvesting in a new main home, or in homes let at moderate rents, can remove the tax.

The steps, in order

  1. Collect your documents. Do this before you list. The buyer's lawyer will check them before paying a deposit.
  2. Get an energy certificate. You need one before you advertise the home.
  3. List the home and accept an offer. If you use an estate agent, check that the firm holds a licence on the IMPIC register.
  4. Sign the promissory contract. The buyer pays a deposit, and you both commit to a deed date.
  5. Settle your mortgage, if you have one. Your bank gives you the payoff figure and releases the mortgage at the deed.
  6. Sign the deed. Ownership passes, the buyer pays, and the sale is registered.
  7. Declare the sale on your income tax return between 1 April and 30 June of the following year, even if no tax is due.

Documents to gather before you list

  • Property tax record (caderneta predial). Free to download from the Portal das Finanças. It shows the tax value and description of the property.
  • Land registry certificate (certidão permanente). It shows the owner, any mortgage, and any other charge. Order it online through Predial Online. It costs €15 and is valid for six months.
  • Energy certificate (certificado energético). Issued by an expert registered with ADENE, the energy agency. See Getting an Energy Certificate (Certificado Energético).
  • Use licence (autorização de utilização), if the home has one. It confirms the home can legally be lived in. See the section on the deed for the new rule.
  • Condominium debt statement. For a flat, ask the building administrator for a written statement of the charges on your flat and any debts. The administrator must issue it within 10 days.
  • Mortgage payoff letter. If you have a mortgage, ask your bank for the balance due on the deed date.
  • Your purchase papers. Your deed, proof of the transfer tax (IMT) and stamp duty you paid, and every invoice for improvements. You need these for the tax calculation, not for the buyer.

Check that the description on the tax record matches the land registry. Areas, floors, or annexes that differ must be put right before the deed, and that can take weeks.

The promissory contract and the deposit

Once you accept an offer, you and the buyer usually sign a promissory contract (contrato promessa de compra e venda, or CPCV). It is a private contract, but it binds you both.

The buyer pays a deposit (sinal). The law sets what happens if the deal fails:

  • If the buyer walks away through their own fault, you keep the deposit.
  • If you walk away through your own fault, you must pay back double the deposit.

Agree these points in the contract:

  • The latest date for the deed.
  • What happens if the buyer's mortgage is refused.
  • Who pays for which certificates and searches.
  • Whether that year's IMI is shared, and which furniture stays.

Do not sign until your bank has confirmed the mortgage payoff figure. A fixed deed date with an unknown payoff can leave you short.

Signing the deed

The deed transfers ownership. You can sign it in three ways:

  • At a notary (notário). The traditional route, by public deed.
  • At a Casa Pronta counter. A one-stop service at registry offices that does the deed and the registration together. It costs €375 with one registration and €700 with more than one, for example when the buyer also takes a mortgage. Each extra property adds €50. The buyer usually pays.
  • By an authenticated private document. A lawyer or solicitor (solicitador) prepares and certifies the contract and deposits it online before registration.

The buyer pays by bank transfer or banker's cheque. If you have a mortgage, your bank is paid first from the proceeds. If you cannot attend, someone can sign for you with a power of attorney (procuração).

The planning title rule. Since August 2026, the person who prepares the deed must record one of three things. Either the planning title (título urbanístico, such as the use licence) was shown, or you say you have one, or you say you have none. If the deed leaves this out, the sale can be annulled. The use title passes automatically to the buyer with the home. Expect buyers and their banks to ask for it.

Selling a flat. You must hand over the administrator's debt statement at the deed. The buyer can do without it only by stating in the deed that they accept any debt you owe to the building. Charges that fall due after the sale belong to the buyer. See How a Condominium (Condomínio) Works in Portugal.

What selling costs you

As the seller, you usually pay:

  • The estate agent's commission. Each agency sets its own fee, so agree it in writing. VAT at 23% is added on the mainland.
  • The energy certificate. ADENE's registration fee plus the expert's own fee.
  • The land registry certificate, €15.
  • Your own lawyer or solicitor, if you use one.
  • Mortgage release costs charged by your bank, if any.
  • Capital gains tax, the following year.

The buyer pays the transfer tax (IMT), stamp duty of 0.8% of the price or tax value, and the deed and registration fees. A private deal to share these does not change who owes them to the tax office (Finanças).

IMI in the year of sale. The yearly property tax (IMI) is charged to whoever owns the home on 31 December. If you sell in July, you still pay that year's IMI, which is billed the following spring. Sharing it with the buyer is a private choice, so write it into the promissory contract. See Paying IMI Property Tax in Portugal.

How capital gains tax works

A gain on selling property is taxed as income under IRS, Portugal's personal income tax. The rule is the same for residents and non-residents:

  • Only 50% of the gain is taxed.
  • That half is added to your other income for the year.
  • It is taxed at the normal rates, which run from 12.5% to 48% in 2026.
  • On taxable income above €80,000, a solidarity surcharge of 2.5% applies, rising to 5% above €250,000.

Your real rate depends on how much else you earned that year. A sale in a year with little other income can cost less.

Homes bought before 1989. If you acquired the property before 1 January 1989, the gain is not taxed. You still declare the sale, on Anexo G1.

How the gain is calculated

The taxable gain is not simply the sale price minus the purchase price. The law allows these adjustments:

  • Inflation uplift. If you owned the property for more than 24 months, your purchase price is multiplied by an official coefficient. The government publishes a new table each year. The older the purchase, the bigger the uplift.
  • Buying costs. Add the IMT and stamp duty you paid when you bought, and other costs of buying.
  • Improvements. Add work that increased the property's value in the 12 years before the sale. Keep the invoices.
  • Selling costs. Deduct costs of selling, such as the agent's commission and the energy certificate.

Routine repairs and maintenance are not improvements. Work that adds value, such as an extension or a new kitchen, can be.

A worked example. You are resident. You bought a flat in 2014 for €200,000 and paid €13,000 in IMT, stamp duty, and fees. You sell it for €320,000 and pay €12,000 in commission.

  1. In the latest published table (for sales in 2025), the coefficient for a 2014 purchase is 1.20. Your adjusted purchase price is €240,000.
  2. Your gain is €320,000 minus €240,000, minus €13,000, minus €12,000. That is €55,000.
  3. Half of it, €27,500, is added to your income.
  4. If your top rate is 34.9%, the tax on it is roughly €9,600.

The table for sales in 2026 has not been published yet. Use the table for the year you actually sell. Reinvest as explained below, and the tax can fall to zero.

Reliefs that can remove the tax

1. Reinvesting in a new main home. If you sell your own permanent home (habitação própria e permanente), the gain is exempt when you buy another permanent home. The conditions are:

  • The home you sell was your main home, with your tax address there, for the 12 months before the sale.
  • You reinvest in a home in Portugal or elsewhere in the EU or EEA.
  • You reinvest between 24 months before and 36 months after the sale.
  • You reinvest the sale price minus any loan on the old home that you pay off.
  • You move into the new home within 12 months of buying it.
  • You state the amount you intend to reinvest on the tax return for the year of the sale.

If you reinvest only part of the money, only that share of the gain is exempt. If you do not complete the reinvestment, the gain is taxed with compensatory interest. If a purchase falls through and you go to court over it, the deadline can pause until the case ends.

The tax return asks for the amount reinvested without borrowing. If you plan to pay for the new home with a new mortgage, ask an adviser how that affects the relief.

2. Reinvesting in homes let at moderate rents. This relief covers sales from 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2029. It applies to your main home and to other homes. The gain is exempt if:

  • You reinvest the money in homes in Portugal, between 24 months before and 36 months after the sale.
  • You let the new home within six months, at a monthly rent no higher than the moderate rent limit. For 2026 that is 2.5 times the minimum wage, which is €2,300.
  • It is let for at least 36 months in its first five years.
  • You state the amount you intend to reinvest on the return for the year of sale.

Break a condition and the gain is taxed.

3. If you or your spouse are retired or 65 or over. You can exempt the gain on your main home another way. Within six months of the sale, put the money into a life insurance savings contract, an open pension fund, the public capitalisation scheme, or a Pan-European Personal Pension Product. The product must pay you a regular income for at least ten years.

If you live outside Portugal

If you are not tax resident in Portugal, you still pay tax here on a gain from Portuguese property.

  • The 50% rule applies to you. Since 2023, non-residents are taxed on half the gain at the same progressive rates as residents.
  • Your worldwide income sets the rate. You declare your income from all countries so Finanças can set your rate. Only the Portuguese gain is taxed.
  • The main-home relief needs the home to be your permanent home in the 12 months before the sale. If you moved abroad more than a year before selling, assume it does not apply and take advice.
  • The moderate-rent relief does not mention residence in the law. Check with an adviser before you rely on it.
  • Your home country may tax the gain too. A tax treaty usually lets you offset the Portuguese tax. See Avoiding Double Taxation in Portugal.

If you live outside the EU or EEA, you may need a tax representative. See Appointing a Fiscal Representative in Portugal.

Declaring the sale on your tax return

You declare the sale on your IRS return (Modelo 3) for the year of the sale. You file between 1 April and 30 June of the following year. A sale in 2026 goes on the return you file in 2027.

  1. Use Anexo G, the capital gains annex, for a taxable sale or a reinvestment claim.
  2. Enter the sale and purchase values and dates, your costs, and the property's tax register details.
  3. If you plan to reinvest, fill in the reinvestment section with the amount.
  4. For a home bought before 1989, use Anexo G1 instead.
  5. Check any figures the tax office has pre-filled against your own papers.

If you file on time, any tax due is usually payable by 31 August. Keep every deed, invoice, and receipt. See Filing Your Annual Income Tax Return (IRS) in Portugal.

Special cases

  • Inherited property. Your purchase value is the value used for the inheritance stamp duty. If the property is not yet in your name, read Getting a Declaration of Heirs (Habilitação de Herdeiros) first.
  • Married couples. If the home belongs to both of you, you both sign the contract and the deed.
  • Property in a company. The company pays corporate tax on the gain, not you. Get advice before accepting an offer.
  • Short-term lets. If the home has a short-term rental registration (alojamento local), ask the town hall whether it can pass to the buyer. Councils can limit this. See Registering a Holiday Let (Alojamento Local) in Portugal.
  • Golden Visa homes. If your residence permit depends on the property, ask AIMA before you sell.

Mistakes to avoid

  • Losing improvement invoices. Without them, the work does not count.
  • Forgetting to state the reinvestment. The exemption is not automatic. You must enter the amount on the return.
  • Missing the reinvestment window. A purchase outside 24 months before or 36 months after the sale does not count.
  • Moving abroad long before you sell your main home. You may lose the main-home relief.
  • Signing the promissory contract before the mortgage payoff is known.
  • Not declaring an exempt sale. Every sale goes on the return.

This guide is general information, not tax or legal advice. Property gains can be large, so check your own figures with a certified accountant (contabilista certificado), a solicitor, or a lawyer 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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