The Caderneta Predial in Portugal in 2026 — A Practical Guide to Your Property's Tax Record, the VPT That Sets Your IMI, Downloading It Free From the Portal das Finanças, and How It Differs From the Certidão Permanente

Buy, sell, rent out or simply own a home in Portugal and sooner or later someone — a notary, a bank, the water company, the tax office — will ask you for the caderneta predial. It is one of the most-requested documents in Portuguese property life, and one of the least understood by newcomers, not least because it is routinely confused with a second, quite different certificate. This guide explains what the caderneta predial is in 2026, exactly what it tells you, how to pull your own copy for free in a couple of minutes, how the fiscal value on it drives your property taxes, and how it differs from the certidão permanente do registo predial.

What the caderneta predial actually is

The caderneta predial (property tax record) is a property's fiscal identity card, issued by the Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira (AT — the Tax and Customs Authority) from the matriz predial, the register in which every property in the country is inscribed for tax purposes. The Código do Imposto Municipal sobre Imóveis (CIMI — the Municipal Property Tax Code) requires that one caderneta be drawn up and made available for every property registered in the matriz.

There are two basic kinds. A caderneta predial urbana covers an urban, built property — an apartment, a house, a shop, an office. A caderneta predial rústica covers rural or agricultural land. A single property can also be misto (mixed), part urban and part rural. Most foreign residents will be dealing with the urban version for their home.

What the document shows

The caderneta reproduces the property's registered data. Read one and you will find:

• The artigo matricial — the matrix article number that uniquely identifies the property within its parish. This is the reference everyone else will ask you to quote.
• The freguesia and concelho — the parish and municipality where the property sits.
• The tipo — urbano, rústico or misto.
• The VPT (Valor Patrimonial Tributário) — the taxable value the AT has assigned to the property, and the year of the last valuation (avaliação). This single number is the one that matters most for tax; more on it below.
• The afetação — the property's designated use: habitação (housing), comércio (commerce), serviços (services), indústria, garage or storage.
• For an apartment, the fração and andar — under propriedade horizontal (horizontal property, the regime for multi-unit buildings), your flat is identified by a fraction letter (for example "Fração A") and a floor.
• The titulares — the owners, each with their NIF (número de identificação fiscal, tax number) and their share (quota-parte, for example one-half), together with the nature of the right held: full ownership (propriedade plena), usufruct (usufruto) or bare ownership (raiz).
• The areas — the private gross area (área bruta privativa), the dependent gross areas (áreas brutas dependentes, such as garages and storage), and, for a house, the plot area.
• The coefficients used to build the VPT (see below).

How to get your own copy — free, online

If you are the owner, you never need to pay for a caderneta or queue at a tax office. Log in to the Portal das Finanças (www.portaldasfinancas.gov.pt) with your NIF and password, or with your Chave Móvel Digital or Cartão de Cidadão. From the menu, follow Serviços → Consultar → the property/património section (Consultar Património Predial). The portal lists every property attached to your NIF; click through to generate and download the caderneta as a PDF.

The online copy is free and carries the same legal value as one issued over the counter, so there is rarely any reason to request the paper version. If you do need it done in person — for instance a non-owner acting under a power of attorney — a Serviço de Finanças desk will issue one for a small fee (commonly cited at around €7). Notaries, lawyers (advogados) and solicitors (solicitadores) can also pull it electronically on your behalf.

One practical point: the portal only shows properties registered to your NIF. You cannot use it to look up a stranger's property. A buyer who wants to check a property before making an offer relies instead on the certidão permanente from the land registry, which anyone can obtain (see the comparison at the end).

Cadernetas are generally expected to be recent — many notaries, banks and utilities will want one issued within roughly the last twelve months — so if yours is old, simply download a fresh PDF before you need it. Because the online version is free and instant, keeping a current copy costs nothing.

The VPT: the number that sets your tax bill

The VPT is the base on which three property taxes are charged: annual IMI (Imposto Municipal sobre Imóveis, municipal property tax), IMT (Imposto Municipal sobre as Transmissões Onerosas de Imóveis, the transfer tax charged on the higher of the price or the VPT when a property changes hands), and Imposto do Selo (stamp duty). If you have looked at the IMT and stamp-duty rules for buyers, the VPT is the figure sitting underneath them.

For urban built property, the CIMI computes the VPT with a formula that multiplies a base value per square metre by the property's area and a series of coefficients:

• Vc — the base value per square metre. For 2026 this is set at €712.50/m²: an average construction cost of €570/m² (fixed by Portaria n.º 471/2025/1 of 26 December 2025, up from €532) plus a 25% uplift for the land component. A higher Vc lifts the VPT on newly built, reconstructed, altered or re-evaluated properties.
• A — the area, combining the private gross area with dependent areas (garages and storage counted at a reduced weight) and any surplus land.
• Ca — the use coefficient, which reflects what the property is for. Housing is set at 1.00; commerce carries a higher figure (up to 1.20), garages and storage a lower one.
• Cl — the location coefficient, which varies by zone and is the single biggest reason two identical flats in different towns can carry very different values.
• Cq — the quality-and-comfort coefficient, nudged up by features such as a lift, parking, a pool or a good view, and down by the absence of basic comforts.
• Cv — the age coefficient (coeficiente de vetustez), which falls as a property gets older, reducing the VPT of an older building relative to a new one.

If you think your VPT is too high — and therefore your IMI too — you can request a fresh valuation free of charge once every three years. Where you disagree with the result of a valuation you have just been notified of, you have 30 days to ask for a second valuation (segunda avaliação) by an expert commission, though that route can carry a cost if the value is upheld.

Why a foreign resident keeps needing it

The caderneta turns up again and again:

• Buying or selling. It is a mandatory document for the deed (escritura) and is checked alongside the contrato-promessa de compra e venda.
• Setting up utilities. Water, electricity and gas suppliers frequently ask for the caderneta, or at least the artigo matricial, to open an account at an address.
• Mortgages. Banks require it for the valuation and financing file.
• Inheritance. It identifies the property and its VPT for the stamp-duty declaration and the division of an estate.
• Proving your fiscal domicile and keeping the property's record straight for IMI.

Whenever you build, extend, improve or change the use of a property, you must update the matriz by filing the Modelo 1 do IMI — the same declaration used to correct errors in the caderneta, such as a wrong area, use or owner name. Filing it for a physical change triggers a new valuation and an updated VPT.

Caderneta predial versus certidão permanente

The confusion worth clearing up: the caderneta predial is not the same as the certidão permanente do registo predial, and a property purchase needs both.

• The caderneta predial comes from the tax authority and is a fiscal document. It tells you the property's tax identity — artigo matricial, VPT, areas, use, and the owners as recorded for tax. It is what the State uses to charge you.
• The certidão permanente do registo predial comes from the land registry (Conservatória do Registo Predial) and is a legal document. It tells you who legally owns the property and whether it carries charges — mortgages (hipotecas), seizures (penhoras) or easements. It is what protects a buyer.

A useful rule of thumb: the caderneta shows the tax data, the certidão shows the legal ownership and any debts secured on the property. Before any purchase, cross-check that the areas and description match between the two — divergences are a common conveyancing snag that has to be reconciled before the deed. Our separate guide to the certidão permanente covers that document in detail.

This guide is general information, not legal or tax advice. Rules, coefficients and base values change; confirm the current position on the Portal das Finanças or with a lawyer or accountant before acting on anything with tax consequences.