Foreign Dividends and Interest in Portugal: How to Declare Them

• If you are tax resident in Portugal, dividends and interest from a foreign broker or bank are taxable here whatever the currency and wherever they are paid (AT FAQ 3803).
• They go in Anexo J, quadro 8A, at the gross amount before foreign tax, with the foreign tax you can prove from the source country's tax authority.
• If no Portuguese payer withheld, they are taxed at 28% (CIRS art. 72.º n.º 1 d)). You can instead opt to add all your category E income to your other income (quadro 8B).
• The foreign tax reduces the Portuguese bill through a credit that is capped at the lower of the foreign tax and the Portuguese tax on that income (art. 81.º).
• Selling shares or funds is a different income category and a different quadro. Quadro 8 is for what the investment pays you, not what you make by selling it.

If you live in Portugal and a foreign broker or bank pays you dividends or interest, you declare them on the Portuguese return even if tax was already taken abroad. They go on Anexo J, quadro 8A, at the gross amount before foreign tax, and the foreign tax becomes a credit against the Portuguese bill. Unless a Portuguese payer already withheld, the income is taxed at 28%, or you can opt to add it to your other income. This page walks through the codes, the arithmetic and the limits. Shares you sell are a separate matter, covered in the broker capital gains tool.

Does this apply to you?

The AT's answer to the plainest version of the question is yes. A person with a fiscal domicile in Portugal must declare all income obtained in Portugal or anywhere else, including financial income paid into accounts abroad, and IRS taxes it whatever the place, the currency and the form in which it is received (FAQ 3803, citing CIRS arts. 15.º and 1.º n.º 2). If you are not a resident, only Portuguese-source income is taxed, and this guide does not apply to you.

Two situations change the route. If you hold the IFICI regime, art. 81.º n.º 4 applies the exemption method to foreign income of categories A, B, E, F and G, with the income still counted to set the rate on your other income, so read the NHR and IFICI guide first. And if the payer is in a jurisdiction on Portugal's low-tax list, the special rates in art. 72.º n.º 18 apply and the income has its own code, E99.

Where it goes: Anexo J, quadro 8A

For crypto-asset disposals, use the separate crypto capital gains checker alongside its cited sources.

Foreign-source category E income is declared in quadro 8A of Anexo J, one line per item, using the codes of Tabela V. The codes you will meet most often are below. The full annex, with the other quadros, is in the Anexo J guide.

Each line has a column for the code, one for the source country (the annex's Tabela X), one for the gross amount and one for the tax paid abroad. The last two columns, the Portuguese withholding agent's NIF and the tax withheld, are filled in only if a Portuguese payer withheld. Confirm the exact code and line layout in the form you file, because the AT updates the annex each year.

Gross, not what reached your account

The instructions ask for the gross income, that is, before tax paid abroad. The foreign tax goes in its own column and must be supported by a document issued by the tax authority of the source country. AT FAQ 3802 also lists the social security contributions that fell on the income as something to declare. A broker's statement is the natural starting point, but check whether it shows the foreign tax that was actually charged on you, not only a headline rate.

The declaration is in euros. If the payment was in another currency, convert each payment, keep the rate you used and where it came from, and keep the working papers with your tax file. The AT also receives information on foreign accounts and income from other tax authorities under automatic exchange (FAQ 3809), so a figure that does not match what the foreign institution reported is likely to be noticed.

28%, or add it to your other income

Who paid the income decides what happens next. If a Portuguese bank or broker paid you foreign securities income, it withholds 28% as a definitive tax (art. 71.º n.º 1 b)), and that is normally the end of it unless you opt otherwise. If a foreign institution paid you directly, nothing was withheld in Portugal, so the income is assessed on your return at the autonomous rate of 28% (art. 72.º n.º 1 d)).

You can opt to add the income to your other income and have it taxed at the general IRS scale, which in 2026 runs from 12.5% to 48%. You do that in quadro 8B, ticking field 01. The option covers all your category E income, not only the foreign items (art. 22.º n.º 5). There is no picking the dividends and leaving the interest, or opting for one account and not another.

• When it can help: your total taxable income is low enough that the average rate on the extra income comes out under 28%.
• When it can hurt: the income lands on top of your salary and is taxed at your highest rate, and the Portuguese dividends that were already withheld at 28% come into the calculation too.
• Dividends from a company in another EU or EEA state that meets the conditions of the Parent-Subsidiary Directive count for only 50% of their value if you opt (art. 40.º-A n.º 4).

Work out both routes with your real numbers before you tick the box. A few euros either way is a good reason to leave it as it is. A large difference is worth an accountant's time.

The foreign tax credit

Art. 81.º gives you a credit for the tax paid abroad on income taxed here. The credit is the lower of two figures: the income tax you paid abroad, and the part of your Portuguese IRS that relates to that income. Where a double taxation treaty applies, the credit cannot exceed the tax the treaty allows the source country to charge (n.º 2). If the source country kept more than the treaty allows, the excess is for you to recover from that country's tax authority, not from Portugal.

What if €300 was withheld abroad on the same €1,000 dividend, but the applicable treaty allowed only €150? Assuming the same ordinary 28% Portuguese treatment, Portuguese tax is €280, the usable credit is €150 and €130 remains payable in Portugal. The other €150 withheld abroad is not an extra Portuguese credit. This is a hypothetical treaty ceiling, not a universal 15% rule: identify the source country and actual treaty before using it. Any recovery of excess withholding follows that country's procedure; it is not guaranteed by filing Anexo J. This distinction was checked on 17 October 2026 against CIRS Article 81(1)–(2).

If the credit is bigger than the Portuguese tax available to absorb it in the year, the unused part can be used against the tax of the next five years, within the same limit (art. 81.º n.º 3). Keep the foreign tax documents, because the annex asks for the tax to be proved by the source country's tax authority.

If the foreign tax is not settled before the Portuguese deadline, art. 60.º provides a route to file later, but it depends on a prior notification to the AT (the Modelo 49) within the prescribed period. It is not an automatic extension. The Anexo J guide explains the deadline.

Joint accounts and accounts abroad

For income from accounts or securities held jointly, each holder declares the share matching their quota, in their own Anexo J (FAQ 3804). Separately, and even if an account paid nothing, a resident who holds or can operate a foreign deposit or securities account must identify it in quadro 11 with its IBAN and BIC (LGT art. 63.º-A n.os 8 and 9; FAQ 3808). That duty is in the foreign bank account guide.

What does not belong in quadro 8

If the statement mixes income, sales and account details, use the Anexo J mapper to separate them before entering amounts. It explains where an account belongs without treating its balance as income.

• Gains from selling shares, ETFs or bonds. Those are capital gains, a different category, and follow their own rules.
• Income you never received. Art. 5.º n.º 2 j) taxes the income distributed by investment funds, so a fund that reinvests everything pays you nothing to enter here. How a gain on selling it is taxed is a separate question.
• Rent from a property abroad and pensions from abroad. They have their own lines on Anexo J.

Checklist

• List every payment from foreign brokers and banks for the year: date, payer, country, gross amount, foreign tax and currency.
• Pick the code for each line: dividends E10 or E11, interest E21, other E22.
• Enter gross amounts in euros and the foreign tax you can prove with a document from the source country's tax authority.
• Check whether a treaty caps the foreign tax and whether any excess should be reclaimed abroad.
• Compare the 28% route with the englobamento option using your actual figures, then tick field 01 or 02 of quadro 8B.
• Identify every foreign account in quadro 11.