What your tax obligations are
Independent Worker
On this page you will find information on the tax and social security obligations of a self-employed person. An individual who is a tax resident in Portugal and who pursues an activity as a self-employed person either in Portugal or in other countries is obliged to register his activity in Portugal and fulfil certain obligations. Failure to comply with these obligations will result in the payment of fines.
Registration process as self-employee in Portugal
A self-employed person who is resident in Portugal must comply with several tax and social security obligations. Below, we present the steps you should follow.
REQUEST PASSWORD OF PORTAL DAS FINANÇAS
In order to access your personal area you must obtain a password (necessary for step 02). This access password can be requested electronically, which will be sent within 5 working days to your tax domicile registered in the Tax Authority system (for example, if you are still registered as a non-tax resident, this password will be sent to your address abroad, or to the Portuguese address of your tax representative, if you have appointed one). Alternatively, this password may be personally requested at a Tax Office, in which case you will obtain the password on the same day.
Statement of beginning of activity
The declaration of beginning of the activity must be submitted before the beginning of the activity. This declaration must be submitted in your personal area of the Portuguese Tax Authorities’ website. The submission of this declaration at a date later than the commencement of the activity is subject to the payment of a fine.
#free(lancer)
REQUEST SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBER
If you are not a Portuguese national and do not have a social security identification number, you must apply for this number as soon as you start your activity.
REGISTER AT "SEGURANÇA SOCIAL DIRETA"
In order to comply with your obligations with Social Security (see step 07), you should request to register in “Segurança Social Direta”, your personal area in the Portuguese Social Security website.
ISSUE INVOICES
The self-employees are obliged to issue invoices for each service rendered or goods sold. As a general rule, these invoices must be issued within 5 days.
These invoices may be issued in the personal area of the self-employee Portuguese Tax Authorities’ website or through any certified invoicing programme. However, in the latter case, the worker is obliged to submit the said invoices on the Finance Portal by the 12th day of the month following that in which the invoice was issued.
If you choose to issue invoices from your personal area of the Portuguese Tax Authorities’ website. we are available to send you a document with instructions on how to fill in the respective fields and issue these invoices.
SUBMIT VAT RETURNS - QUARTERLY
As a general rule, self-employed workers without organised accounts and who do not carry out import or export operations are exempt from VAT if they did not achieve, in the previous calendar year, a turnover exceeding 12,500 Euros (or estimate that they do not have this turnover in the first year of activity).
When subject to VAT, workers are obliged to submit a periodic VAT declaration (to be submitted monthly or quarterly) and to submit a recapitulative statement if they provide services or carry out intra-Community transfers of goods. The VAT regimes vary from case to case, and it is important to check which regime applies in your particular case. We are available to send you a document with instructions explaining how to fill in the fields for the VAT return and the recapitulative statement.
#adventure
SUBMIT SOCIAL SECURITY RETURN
The self-employed are, as a general rule, subject to social security in Portugal. In certain situations, self-employees may be exempt or excluded from contributions (e.g. accumulation of activities, pensioners, etc.).
The first enrolment in the scheme for self-employed workers only takes effect on the first day of the 12th month after the start of activity, which means that the person is only subject to the payment of contributions from the 13th month onwards.
The contributions due will correspond to the application of the rate of 21.4% to the contribution base (determined according to the income received). When a person has not earned income in a given quarter, he or she will pay contributions amounting to 20 Euros per month in the following quarter.
In addition, self-employed workers, when subject to the payment of contributions, are required to submit a quarterly declaration by the last day of January, April, July and October. This quarterly declaration must be submitted in your personal area of Segurança Social Direta. We are available to send you a document with instructions explaining how to complete and submit this declaration.
Our Fees
Fees are subject to VAT at the rate of 23% (due on the top of the fee amount). For more information on how to contract our services – here.
01
For the assistance with steps 01 to 04
EUR 250
02
For sending instructions to explain how to issue Invoices through the Portal das Finanças in your specific case
EUR 50
03
For sending instructions to explain how to prepare and issue the (1) VAT Return; (2) Recapitulative Statement; and (3) Social Security Statement.
EUR 70 / per each type of return
Time of completion
As a general rule, all services referred to on this page are performed within one business day. The preparation of instructions may take a few days, depending on the workflow and complexity of the Client’s specific situation.
Este número será a sua identificação fiscal em Portugal. Para qualquer ato legal, é obrigatória a apresentação deste número.
As pessoas residentes em países que não pertençam à União Europeia ou ao Espaço Económico Europeu e, obtenham um número de identificação fiscal em Portugal, são obrigados a nomear um representante fiscal.
O regime dos residentes não habituais permite às pessoas singulares usufruírem de determinados benefícios fiscais durante um período de 10 anos.
As pessoas singulares residentes fiscais em Portugal, ou não residentes fiscais que aqui obtenham rendimentos, poderão estar obrigadas a entregar uma declaração anual de rendimentos.
As pessoas que não tenham a nacionalidade de um país da União Europeia encontram-se obrigadas a solicitar um visto e uma autorização de residência para poder permanecer e residir em Portugal.
A legislação portuguesa permite a aquisição da nacionalidade portuguesa em diversas situações, nomeadamente quando reside em Portugal há mais de 5 anos.
Em determinadas situações, não é permitida a utilização da sua carta de condução estrangeira em Portugal, estando obrigado a trocá-la por uma carta de condução Portuguesa. Adicionalmente, mesmo nas situações em que pode utilizar a carta de condução estrangeira, encontra-se obrigado a um dever de comunicação às autoridades competentes.
Não é permitida a circulação de veículos com matrícula estrangeira em Portugal, devendo ser iniciado o processo de importação assim que o veículo entre em território português e se pretenda circular com o mesmo neste território.
O regime do alojamento local aplica-se ao arrendamento temporário de imóveis localizados em Portugal. Este regime obriga ao cumprimento de várias obrigações legais e fiscais.
Os cidadãos de países da União Europeia que permaneçam em Portugal por um período superior a 3 meses encontram-se obrigados a efetuar o registo de Cidadão da União Europeia.
Este certificado serve para comprovar junto de autoridades e/ou entidades de outros países que a pessoa é residente fiscal em Portugal.
As pessoas que residam em Portugal têm direito ao acesso do sistema público de saúde. Para tal, deverão registar-se no Centro de Saúde e obter o respetivo número de utente.
