Portuguese tax and invoicing glossary

Plain-language definitions of the terms that come up every month in Portuguese invoicing and accounting, with links to the guides and tools that go deeper.

ATCUD: The unique code of a tax document. It combines the validation code AT assigns to each document series with the document's sequential number, and must appear on every invoice and in its QR code. Learn more →
Reverse charge (autoliquidação): A VAT mechanism where the buyer, not the supplier, accounts for the VAT. It applies, for example, to many services bought from suppliers in other EU countries and to some construction services in Portugal.
Invoice communication: The monthly obligation to send the data of the invoices you issue to AT, by the 5th of the following month (DL 198/2012). It can be done by webservice, by uploading the SAF-T (PT) billing file or by entering the invoices on the Portal das Finanças. Learn more →
Contabilista Certificado: A certified accountant registered with the Ordem dos Contabilistas Certificados (OCC). Companies with organised accounting must have one, and the CC is responsible for the accounting records and for submitting returns such as Modelo 22 and IES. Learn more →
e-Fatura: AT's portal where the invoices communicated by suppliers appear for each NIF. Consumers use it to confirm expenses for IRS deductions; accountants use it to cross-check the invoices a client should have in the books. Learn more →
Invoice (fatura): The main tax document issued for a sale of goods or a service in Portugal. It must be issued by certified software or on the Portal das Finanças and include, among other elements, both NIFs, the VAT breakdown, the ATCUD and the QR code.
Invoice-receipt (fatura-recibo): A single document that works as both invoice and receipt, used when the payment happens at the moment the invoice is issued. It saves issuing a separate receipt for the same operation.
Simplified invoice (fatura simplificada): A shorter version of the invoice, with fewer mandatory elements, allowed only in the cases set out in article 40 of the VAT Code, typically small sales to final consumers.
IES: The annual return (Informação Empresarial Simplificada) in which companies report their accounting and tax information for the year, due by 15 July (CIRC art. 121). The accounting SAF-T is planned to be filed alongside it. Learn more →
VAT (IVA): The Portuguese value added tax. In mainland Portugal the rates are 23% (normal), 13% (intermediate) and 6% (reduced); the Azores and Madeira have their own lower rates. Companies declare it in periodic returns, monthly or quarterly. Learn more →
Modelo 22: The annual corporate income tax (IRC) return, due by the last day of May (CIRC art. 120) for companies whose tax year is the calendar year. It reconciles the accounting result with taxable profit. Learn more →
NIF: The Portuguese tax identification number: nine digits, the last of which is a check digit. The first digits show the type of taxpayer, for example 1 to 3 for individuals and 5 for companies. Learn more →
Credit note (nota de crédito): A document that corrects or cancels all or part of an invoice already issued, for example after a return or a discount. It must reference the original invoice.
PEPPOL: A European network for exchanging electronic documents such as invoices between businesses and public bodies. In Portugal it is one of the channels for electronic invoicing to the public administration.
Invoice QR code: The QR code printed on Portuguese invoices with the document's key data: issuer and customer NIF, date, number, ATCUD, VAT and totals. Its fields are defined by Portaria n.º 195/2020. Learn more →
Recibos verdes: The electronic invoices-receipts that independent workers (Category B) issue on the Portal das Finanças. Because they are issued on the portal, AT already has them and they don't need to be communicated separately. Learn more →
Withholding tax (retenção na fonte): The part of a payment the payer keeps and delivers to the State as an advance on the recipient's tax. For Category B services by residents the rates are 23%, 11.5%, 16.5% or 20% (CIRS art. 101), with exemptions in art. 101-B. Learn more →
SAF-T (PT): The Standard Audit File for Tax: a standardised XML file with a company's tax data. The billing version is one of the ways to communicate invoices to AT every month; the accounting version is planned as an annual filing linked to the IES. Learn more →
VIES: The European Commission's system for checking whether a VAT number from an EU country is valid and active, used for example before applying the reverse charge to an intra-EU purchase.
ViDA: VAT in the Digital Age, the EU package adopted as Council Directive (EU) 2025/516. It lets Member States require e-invoicing and makes structured e-invoicing with digital reporting mandatory for cross-border B2B transactions from 1 July 2030. Learn more →