Taxes and IRS for immigrants

This guide explains the general rules of IRS (Imposto sobre o Rendimento das Pessoas Singulares, personal income tax) that matter most to someone who has just arrived. Limits and percentages change from year to year, so each one is given with the income year the Tax and Customs Authority (AT) ties it to. It is no substitute for a certified accountant (contabilista certificado), especially if you have income in more than one country.

Tax resident or non-resident

Tax residence does not depend on your residence permit but on article 16 of the IRS Code. According to the text published on the Portal das Finanças, residents are people who, in the year the income relates to:

• stay in Portugal more than 183 days, consecutive or not, in any 12-month period beginning or ending in that year; or
• having stayed less time, have a home in conditions suggesting a current intention to keep and occupy it as a habitual residence, on any day of that period.

Any day, whole or partial, that includes a night’s sleep counts as a day of presence. Residence is assessed for each person in the household. Someone who meets one of these conditions becomes resident from the first day of the stay, unless they were already resident on any day of the previous year.

Why it matters: the AT explains that IRS applies to all income, including income from outside Portugal, for residents, and only to income earned in Portugal, for non-residents. If you have just requested your NIF, that guide covers reporting your address when you become resident.

Who files the return

To work out the annual tax you file the Modelo 3 return, from 1 April to 30 June of the following year, covering income from employment, self-employment, capital, property, capital gains and pensions. Non-residents only file if they have income in Portugal with no tax withheld. gov.pt adds that resident migrants have obligations similar to those of Portuguese people.

Married couples and unmarried partners are taxed, as a rule, each on their own return; they may opt for joint taxation and file one.

Exemption from filing. Article 58 of the IRS Code, in the text published on the Portal das Finanças, exempts anyone who in the year only had, singly or together: income taxed at the special rates of article 71, without opting to combine it with other income; or employment income or pensions of €8,500 or less with no tax withheld. There are similar exemptions for certain CAP farm subsidies and one-off acts, and exclusions that include, among others, anyone opting for joint taxation or receiving income in kind. Someone who is exempt may file anyway, and may ask the AT, free of charge, for a certificate of the income reported to it. Read the full article before deciding not to file.

To file you need your Portal das Finanças password: once you have a NIF, gov.pt says to request it under Registar-se. The return is filed under IRS › Entregar Declaração. The AT provides a pre-filled return, which you should check: income, deductions, annexes. Also check whether you are covered by IRS Automático.

The 2026 calendar (2025 income)

The AT leaflet on 2026 deadlines gives:

When	What
by 16 February	landlords report the duration or end of long-term rental contracts
by 2 March	confirm invoices on e-Fatura and report your household as at 31 December 2025
16 to 31 March	check deductible expenses and claim omissions
April to June	confirm IRS Automático or file the Modelo 3
by 31 August	receive the refund or pay the tax, for returns filed on time

The AT says the end of February moved to 2 March because it fell on a non-working day in 2026. For later years, check the AT’s deadlines page. The general rule for paying or receiving a refund is by 31 August, if the assessment is made by 31 July.

Invoices and deductions

The AT calculates several deductions from the invoices reported to it with your NIF, which show up on e-Fatura. Article 78-B of the IRS Code tells you to ask the seller to put your NIF on the invoice, or to report it to the AT using its QR code or unique document code. The AT asks you to check on e-Fatura that all invoices are registered under the right sector, and to supply any missing information. If you spot omissions in health, training and education, property and care-home costs, the deadlines leaflet lets you declare the amounts in box 6C1 of annex H of the Modelo 3, but requires you to be able to prove them.

The AT leaflet for 2025 income gives, for someone who is not married and outside special situations:

Expense	Deduction	Overall limit
general household expenses	35%	€250
health (with a medical prescription, in the cases the leaflet lists)	15%	€1,000
training and education	30%	€800
rent for a permanent home	15%	€700

There are separate rules for married couples, single-parent families, students living away and other cases, and the percentages and limits may differ for 2026 income. Check the AT leaflet for the year.

Special regimes

IRS Jovem

For 2025 income, article 12-B of the IRS Code provides, according to the AT leaflet, a partial exemption on employment income (categories A and B) for people aged up to 35 on 31 December of that year who are not dependants in a household. The exemption is 100% in the 1st year of income, 75% in years 2 to 4, 50% in years 5 to 7 and 25% in years 8 to 10, capped at 55 times the IAS, which in 2025 is €28,737.50. You claim it by opting in on the return, every year. It does not apply to anyone who benefits or has benefited from the NHR or IFICI.

From NHR to IFICI

The IRS Code as shown on the Portal das Finanças lists paragraphs 8 to 12 of article 16 (where the non-habitual resident regime was) as repealed by Law 82/2023. Situations that predate the repeal may have transitional rules this guide does not detail: speak to an accountant or the AT.

IFICI is set out in article 58-A of the Tax Benefits Statute (Estatuto dos Benefícios Fiscais). According to the AT, it provides a special rate of 20% on categories A and B employment income earned in Portugal in eligible activities, for 10 consecutive years from the year you register as resident; foreign-source income is, as a rule, exempt. Among the conditions:

• becoming tax resident and not having been so in the previous five years;
• working in an eligible activity, profession or post, such as teaching and scientific research, qualified posts or highly qualified professions (with the qualification levels and entities set in Portaria 352/2024/1);
• never having benefited from the NHR or from IFICI.

The application is made on the Portal das Finanças, by 15 January of the year after the one in which you become resident. If you register later, IFICI only takes effect from the year you register, for whatever part of the legal period remains. The AT says that anyone benefiting from IFICI cannot benefit from IRS Jovem. Eligibility is assessed by bodies such as the FCT or AICEP, depending on the activity.

Brazil and other countries

Portugal and Brazil have a double taxation convention, signed in Brasília on 16 May 2000 and promulgated in Brazil by Decree No. 4,012/2001; on the Portuguese side it covers IRS and corporate income tax (IRC), and on the Brazilian side the federal income tax. The Portal das Finanças has a summary table of the conventions Portugal has signed with other countries, and forms to invoke them, including a tax residence certificate.

On the Brazilian side, the Receita Federal requires the Communication of Definitive Exit from the Country (Comunicação de Saída Definitiva do País), from the date of leaving until the last day of February of the following year. It does not replace the Declaration of Definitive Exit (Declaração de Saída Definitiva do País), filed the following year within the regular income tax return period. See Loose ends in Brazil.

Where to get help

The AT has a telephone service, 217 206 707, on working days from 9am to 7pm, the e-balcão on the Portal das Finanças, and appointments at tax offices. For desks near you, see Service points.