Portugal answers, taxes
How do I open activity (abrir atividade) as a freelancer in Portugal?
Opening activity is the step that turns you from a person with a NIF into a registered self-employed worker who can issue recibos verdes, the electronic invoice receipts Portuguese clients expect.
What you file
Log in to Portal das Financas, go to Servicos, Inicio de Atividade, and fill the declaration. You choose four things that matter later:
- Your activity code. Most remote workers use a CIRS code from the Article 151 list (consultant, programmer, designer, translator) or a CAE code if what you do is not on that list.
- Your start date. Pick the date you actually want to begin invoicing, not a past date, because contributions and obligations run from it.
- Your accounting regime. Below 200,000 euros of gross annual income you stay in the simplified regime, where a 0.75 coefficient applies to professional services, so 75 percent of what you invoice is taxable and 25 percent is presumed expenses.
- Your estimated turnover. Under 15,000 euros for the year and you can tick the Article 53 VAT exemption, which means no VAT on your invoices and no quarterly VAT returns. Above it, you charge 23 percent.
What happens next
Nothing arrives in the post. You issue recibos verdes from the same portal. Portuguese business clients with organised accounts withhold 23 percent IRS at source, down from 25 percent since the 2025 State Budget, and you reconcile it on your Modelo 3 return the following spring. Foreign clients withhold nothing.
Social security contributions do not start immediately: they begin on the first day of the twelfth month after your activity opens, so an activity opened in September 2026 means the first contribution covers September 2027. The quarterly income declaration in January, April, July and October is still mandatory during that exemption year.
Two reliefs help in the early years: taxable Category B income is cut by 50 percent in your first year of activity and 25 percent in your second, and under 35 you may also be eligible for IRS Jovem.
Run your own numbers with the Portugal tax estimator, then read the freelancer guide.
Sources
- Portal das Financas, taxpayer services portal where the inicio de atividade declaration is filed, accessed .
- Ordem dos Contabilistas Certificados, OE 2025: withholding rate cut to 23 percent for article 151 professions (Lei 45-A/2024), accessed .
- Portutax, self-employed tax guide for freelancers in Portugal 2026, Article 53 VAT exemption, accessed .
- Taxclara, freelancer tax in Portugal 2026, simplified regime coefficient and first and second year reductions, accessed .
Facts in this answer last verified .
Read the full guide
- Freelancer tax in Portugal in 2026: recibos verdes, IRS, VAT and social security
Freelancers in Portugal pay IRS on 75 percent of receipts, 21.4 percent social security on 70 percent, and VAT above 15,000 euros. The 2026 rules, worked.