IRS

How to file IRS on recibos verdes in 2027 (2026 income)

Q: Do I have to file if I invoiced very little?

If you have an open activity and issued recibos verdes, yes. The exemption in CIRS article 58 only covers people who had only income taxed at flat/special rates (article 71), employment income or pensions up to €8,500 without withholding, CAP subsidies (Common Agricultural Policy), or one-off transactions (atos isolados) with an annual value below four times the IAS and no other income (except article 71 income). Category B income from a regular activity is not on the list.

By Simples IRS teamPublished 11 November 2026Updated 11 November 20268 min read

In short

When: from 1 April to 30 June 2027, whether or not those are working days (CIRS, article 60).
Where: on the Portal das Finanças, through IRS automático (the pre-filled automatic return, if you have it) or through the Modelo 3 return with Anexo B.
IRS automático on recibos verdes: only if you are in the simplified regime, with activities in the article 151 table except code 1519, and you issue all your invoices and receipts on the Portal das Finanças (AT).
Before April: confirm your business expense invoices in e-Fatura by the end of February 2027 (CIRS, article 31(15)). As 28 February 2027 is a Sunday, the deadline moves to Monday 1 March 2027 (CPPT, article 20(1): a deadline that falls on a day when public services are closed moves to the next working day; the AT applied the same rule in 2026, see the AT leaflet).
Refund or payment: if you file on time, the law requires the assessment by 31 July and the refund or collection by 31 August (article 77, article 96, article 97).

IRS 2027 deadlines (2026 income)

What	Date	Source
Mark business expenses in e-Fatura («afetar à atividade», assign to the activity) and report your household (agregado familiar)	By the end of February; as 28/02/2027 is a Sunday, by 1 March 2027	CIRS article 31(15); article 58-A(6); CPPT article 20(1)
Check and complain about the general household expenses amount in e-Fatura (see how to complain)	The AT publishes the amounts by 15 March 2027; you can check and complain from 16 to 31 March 2027	CIRS article 78-B(6) and (7)
File the return (or confirm IRS automático)	1 April to 30 June 2027	CIRS article 60(1)
Assessment (liquidação) by the AT, that is, the official tax calculation (return filed on time)	By 31 July 2027	CIRS article 77
Tax refund or payment	By 31 August 2027	CIRS articles 96 and 97
Payments on account (if you are asked for them)	By the 20th of July, September and December 2027	CIRS article 102

Before April: what to prepare

Confirm your business expense invoices in e-Fatura. (Step by step in the guide e-Fatura: how to validate invoices.) In the simplified regime, expenses only count towards the “15% rule” (explained below) if you mark them on the Portal as business expenses by the end of February (CIRS article 31(15)). Expenses used partly in your personal life and partly in your activity count, as a rule, at 25% (paragraph 14).
Check your household details on the Portal (marriage, civil partnership, children) by the end of February: IRS automático is prepared with that data (article 58-A(6)).
Confirm your IBAN in Cidadãos > Serviços > Dados Cadastrais > IBAN to receive the refund by bank transfer (AT leaflet “IRS automático”).
Gather your 2026 figures: total invoiced, withholding tax your clients deducted, Social Security contributions paid, and whether you were 35 or younger (for IRS Jovem, CIRS article 12-B).

Do I have IRS automático?

According to the Autoridade Tributária (AT, the Finanças), people on recibos verdes (category B) may have IRS automático if they meet all these conditions (AT IRS automático page; AT leaflet, April 2026):

you are in the simplified regime (article 31 of the CIRS);
you are registered only in activities in the article 151 table, except code 1519 — “Outros prestadores de serviços” (other service providers);
you issue your invoices, invoice-receipts and receipts only on the Portal das Finanças;
you were resident in Portugal all year, only had income in Portugal and are not a non-habitual resident (residente não habitual);
you have no tax benefits other than those allowed (PPR — retirement savings plans —, donations and IRS Jovem), among other conditions on the official list.

These are the conditions of the 2026 campaign, set by Decreto Regulamentar n.º 5-A/2026 (AT leaflet). In that campaign, people with IRS Jovem could use IRS automático, but had to select the IRS Jovem option before confirming (AT leaflet).

What if I do nothing?

If you neither confirm nor file the Modelo 3 by 30 June, the provisional return automatically becomes final: married people or civil partners are taxed separately, and the assessment is made without IRS Jovem and without the 1% donation (consignação). You can still file a replacement return within 30 days of the assessment, with no penalty (CIRS article 58-A(3); AT leaflet).

How to file, step by step

With IRS automático (AT leaflet)

Log in to the Portal das Finanças and open IRS automático.
Check your personal details, income, withholding, contributions and expenses.
Select the options that apply: IRS Jovem, the 1% IRS donation (giving 1% of the tax to a charity, at no cost to you, CIRS article 152), and Anexo SS if you are required to file it.
Accept the pre-assessment (the tax calculation shown to you), confirm your IBAN and confirm the return.

Without IRS automático (Modelo 3 + Anexo B)

On the Portal: Entregar Declaração > IRS > Preencher (file return, fill in). The return comes pre-filled with what the AT already knows.
Check Anexo B (see next section) and any other annexes that apply (for example, Anexo A if you also had a salary).
Click Validar (validate) and correct any errors; use Simular (simulate) to see the result; then Entregar (submit).
Keep the confirmation. If you make a mistake, you can file a replacement return (declaração de substituição): in table 10 of the cover page (Rosto), tick “Declaração de Substituição” (AT leaflet).

What to check in Anexo B

Activity code and regime (simplified).
2026 income, separated by type: services in the article 151 table, other services, sales, because the coefficient changes.
Withholding tax your clients deducted (23% for activities in the table, 11.5% for other services, CIRS article 101): check it against your invoice-receipts.
Table 17 — Despesas e encargos (expenses and charges), if you need to justify expenses for the 15% rule.
The IRS Jovem option, if you are 35 or younger and meet the conditions (article 12-B; AT IRS Jovem leaflet). Tick it in table 3E.1 of Anexo B (“anos de 2025 e seguintes”, years 2025 onwards), answering “Sim” (yes); table 3E is only for 2022 to 2024 (Anexo B instructions; Ofício-Circulado n.º 20291/2026).
1st or 2nd year of activity: check whether you are entitled to the coefficient reduction (see below).

How it is calculated (simplified regime)

Coefficient: you do not pay IRS on everything you invoiced. For most professions in the article 151 table, 75% counts; for other services 35%; for sales 15% (CIRS article 31(1)).
1st and 2nd year: those coefficients drop by 50% in the first year and 25% in the second, if you do not also have a salary (category A) or pension (category H), and you have not closed an activity less than 5 years ago (article 31(10) and (11)).
15% rule: for activities with a 0.75 or 0.35 coefficient, you must “justify” expenses equal to 15% of what you invoiced. The specific deduction (dedução específica, an amount the law already counts as an expense for you: €4,587.09 in 2026, AT Newsletter no. 39) automatically counts towards that amount (article 31(13)). Worked out: 15% of €30,580.60 = €4,587.09, so below roughly €30,580 invoiced for services, the specific deduction alone covers the 15% rule. Above that, whatever is left to justify is added to your taxable income: this is where the invoices assigned in e-Fatura count. We explain the rule with figures in the simplified regime expenses guide. Work out your case.
Social Security: the contributions you paid reduce your income by the part above 10% of your gross category B income (article 31(2)).
Brackets: the 2026 brackets apply to the resulting income, from 12.2% (up to €8,342) to 48% (above €86,634), progressively (Decreto-Lei n.º 212/2026, which lowered the rates of the first six brackets; CIRS article 68; Lei n.º 73-A/2025).
Subtract what you have already paid: withholding tax and payments on account for 2026. If you paid too much → refund; too little → tax to pay.

Refund or payment

Legal deadline: for returns filed on time, the assessment is made by 31 July and the refund (or collection) by 31 August (article 77, 96, 97).
Why many people on recibos verdes have to pay: if your clients are private individuals or businesses without formal accounts, nobody withheld tax for you (article 101), so all the tax shows up at once on the return. Setting part aside every month avoids the shock.

Payments on account

After the assessment, the AT may ask you for three payments on account (pagamentos por conta) of the following year’s IRS, by the 20th of July, September and December. The total is 65% of an amount calculated from the year before last, and it is not required if each payment is below €50 (CIRS article 102). You can stop paying or pay less if your withholding already covers the tax, but if more than 20% is left unpaid, you pay interest (compensatory interest, paragraphs 4 to 7).

Common mistakes

Confirming IRS automático without looking at the figures: confirming makes the return final.
Thinking code 1519 gets IRS automático: it does not (AT).
Forgetting to mark business expenses in e-Fatura by February: anyone invoicing more than roughly €30,580 for services may pay more IRS because of it.
Forgetting the IRS Jovem option: it is not applied automatically if you let the return convert on its own.
Thinking withholding is the final tax: it is only an advance payment; the balance is settled here.

Estimate my IRS in the calculator

Frequently asked questions

When do I file IRS on my 2026 income?

Between 1 April and 30 June 2027, on the Portal das Finanças (CIRS article 60).

Do people on recibos verdes get IRS automático?

They may, if they are in the simplified regime, only have activities in the article 151 table (except 1519) and issue everything on the Portal, among other conditions (AT).

Can I use IRS automático if I have IRS Jovem?

In the 2026 campaign, yes, as long as you selected the IRS Jovem option before confirming (AT leaflet).

What happens if I do not confirm IRS automático?

At the end of the deadline it becomes final, without IRS Jovem and without the 1% donation; you have 30 days after the assessment to file a replacement return with no penalty (article 58-A).

When do I get my refund?

By law, by 31 August if you file on time (article 96; article 97).

Do I have to file if I invoiced very little?

If you have an open activity and issued recibos verdes, yes. The exemption in CIRS article 58 only covers people who had only income taxed at flat/special rates (article 71), employment income or pensions up to €8,500 without withholding, CAP subsidies (Common Agricultural Policy), or one-off transactions (atos isolados) with an annual value below four times the IAS and no other income (except article 71 income). Category B income from a regular activity is not on the list.

Which brackets apply to this IRS?

The 2026 ones, because it is 2026 income, already with the lower rates of Decreto-Lei n.º 212/2026 (Decreto-Lei n.º 212/2026; Lei n.º 73-A/2025).

Official sources

Every figure on this page comes from these sources (official documents, in Portuguese). Updated on 11 November 2026