Your First Portuguese Tax Return: What New Residents Actually Need to File

• You become Portuguese tax resident from the first day of a stay that meets art. 16.º CIRS: more than 183 days in a 12-month period, or a home you intend as your habitual residence. Not from 1 January, and not from the date of your NIF or visa.
• From that day Portugal taxes your worldwide income. Before it, Portugal taxes only income obtained in Portugal (art. 15.º).
• If you had both residence statuses in one year, the law asks for one declaration per status (art. 57.º n.º 6), unless a general dispensation applies.
• Foreign income and foreign bank or securities accounts go in Anexo J. The accounts table asks for accounts even if they earned nothing.
• Income of 2026 is filed from 1 April to 30 June 2027. If foreign tax is not final by then, the AT's Modelo 49, filed inside that window, moves the filing deadline to 31 December.

You file a Portuguese Modelo 3 for the year you became tax resident, and that year is split in two. From your first day of residence Portugal taxes your worldwide income. Before it, only income obtained in Portugal. If you held both statuses, the law asks for one declaration per status unless a dispensation applies. Next: fix the date residence began, build an income ledger for each period, then map each item to an annex. Income of 2026 is filed from 1 April to 30 June 2027, and the residency guide explains the tests.

Fix the date you became resident

Art. 16.º n.º 1 CIRS makes you resident for a year if you stayed in Portugal more than 183 days, consecutive or not, in any 12-month period that begins or ends in that year, or if you had a home here, on any day of that period, in conditions that suggest you intend to keep and occupy it as your habitual residence. A day counts if it includes an overnight stay, whether the day is complete or partial (n.º 2). The AT's FAQ on partial residence puts the consequence plainly: if you meet the conditions, you are resident from the first day of your stay, and the residence ends on the last day you are in Portugal.

Two common beliefs are wrong. Portugal does not tax the whole arrival year just because you moved during it. And you are not automatically non-resident until next year because you were absent on 1 January. There is one exception the other way: if you were resident in Portugal at any point in the previous year and you meet the conditions again, you are resident from 1 January of the year you return (art. 16.º n.º 3). Your residence permit, NIF and visa type do not replace these tests.

The arrival year: two statuses, two declarations

Art. 57.º n.º 6 CIRS says that when a taxpayer has two residence statuses in Portugal in the same year, they file one declaration for each, without prejudice to dispensation under the general rules. The AT repeats it in the Modelo 3 instructions, under quadro 8C, where you enter the period each declaration covers.

The AT's Modelo 3 page adds that non-residents only need to file if they had income in Portugal that was not subject to withholding. So an arrival who worked abroad until June and had no Portuguese income before that usually has no second declaration to file. Check it against the dispensation rules in art. 58.º before assuming.

What goes into the resident period

For the resident period, the AT says you declare everything you earned in Portugal and everything you earned abroad that is subject to aggregation under art. 22.º CIRS (FAQ 3285). The source of the income still matters, because it decides the annex and any foreign tax credit. Under art. 18.º n.º 1 a), employment income is obtained in Portugal when it comes from work done in Portugal, or when it is paid by an entity resident or established here. So a foreign employer does not by itself make your salary foreign-source. Where you physically work is part of the test, and a remote worker in Lisbon paid by a foreign company can have Portuguese-source income. If you would rather have another service submit it for you, see what one such service says it does and costs, next to Finkavo, inFinkavo vs FIZ.

Build an income ledger before you open the form

Start with dates, not annexes. A simple table for the year saves the most time:

Which annexes could apply

The AT's instructions say the declaration goes with annexes A to G and J for income, annex H for tax benefits and deductions when relevant, and annexes G1, I and L for other information. The forms name them as follows:

• Anexo A: categories A and H, employment and pension income.
• Anexo B: category B under the simplified regime, or an isolated act. Anexo C is category B under organised accounting.
• Anexo E: category E, capital income. Anexo F: category F, property income.
• Anexo G: category G, capital gains. Anexo G1: gains not taxed.
• Anexo H: tax benefits and deductions.
• Anexo J: income obtained abroad by residents, and foreign deposit and securities accounts.
• Anexo L: non-habitual resident and the scientific research incentive.

Foreign income and foreign accounts

Once the income ledger is ready, use the Anexo J income mapper to distinguish the income section from account identification. A foreign payer alone does not decide the annex; keep work location and income type in the ledger.

Residents declare foreign income in Anexo J. For each item the AT asks for the gross income before foreign tax, the mandatory social security contributions, and the tax paid in the source country, which is taken into account as a credit so you are not taxed twice on the same income (AT FAQ 3802, which cites art. 81.º CIRS). Foreign deposit and securities accounts go in the same annex whether or not they earned anything: see the guide to foreign bank accounts and Anexo J table 11, and the Anexo J guide for the income tables.

Deadline, and what if foreign tax is not final

The general deadline for the Modelo 3 is 1 April to 30 June of the following year, whether or not 30 June is a working day. Income of 2026 is therefore filed between 1 April and 30 June 2027. If you are entitled to a foreign tax credit and the foreign tax is not determined by the end of that window, the AT's instructions allow the return to be filed until 31 December, provided you file the AT's Modelo 49 within the normal window, stating that you meet the conditions and naming the nature of the income and the source state (art. 60.º n.os 3 and 4). The AT's FAQ names the form as the Modelo 49 and stresses that the foreign tax you enter later must be the tax actually borne, not merely the amount withheld. The general timetable is in our IRS filing guide.

First-year checklist

• Write down the date residence began and the date any other residence ended, with the evidence for both.
• List income by period, country, category, and where the work was done.
• List every foreign bank or securities account you held, with IBAN or account number.
• Collect foreign tax statements and payslips for the resident period.
• Check the household: residence is assessed for each taxpayer in it (art. 16.º n.º 5), and a spouse may have a different date.
• Decide which annexes apply, then check whether a second declaration for the non-resident period is needed.
• File between 1 April and 30 June, or use the extension route if foreign tax is not final.