IRS Automático: When AT Files Your Tax Return For You
For part of Portugal, the tax return is already written. The question is not how to file it — it is whether you are in the universe, and what happens if you do nothing.
- Eligibility is not in the tax code. Article 58.º-A sends you to a decreto regulamentar, currently DR 3/2024 as amended in 2025 and again on 31 March 2026.
- Freelancers CAN qualify. Simplified regime, an activity from the article 151.º table other than code 1519, and invoices issued only on Portal das Finanças.
- Since 31 March 2026, being on IRS Jovem no longer disqualifies you.
- Doing nothing still files a return — but for a couple it files the SEPARATE one, and the joint option is gone.
- Your household has to be recorded by the end of February, two months before the window opens. Miss it and AT uses last year's household data, and failing that treats you as unmarried with no dependants (art. 58.º-A n.º 7).
IRS Automático is not a faster way to file. It is AT doing the return itself: article 58.º-A of the CIRS has the tax authority publish a provisional return, a provisional assessment to go with it, and the figures behind every deduction. For a married couple it publishes one of each per regime, separate and joint. You confirm one, and it becomes a return you filed.
That makes the interesting question a different one from the usual. Not how to fill it in, but whether you are in the universe at all, and what happens if you never open it. If you turn out to be outside it, a side-by-side of what the AT's service covers and what Finkavo does is inFinkavo vs IRS Automático.
Where the rules actually live
Reading the Code will not tell you whether you qualify. Article 58.º-A n.º 8 says the universe "é fixado por decreto regulamentar" — the list of who is covered lives outside the CIRS, in a decree the government updates as AT acquires the data to pre-fill more situations.
The one in force is Decreto Regulamentar n.º 3/2024, of 21 February, amended by DR n.º 2/2025 of 6 March and DR n.º 5-A/2026 of 31 March. The last one applies to returns for 2025 and later. This matters practically: most published summaries describe an older decree, and two things changed recently in the taxpayer's favour.
The nine conditions, all of which must hold
Article 2.º n.º 1 of the decree is cumulative — one broken condition is enough to put you outside it.
- Your income is only of these kinds: employment or pensions (not maintenance pensions); qualifying services income (below); or income taxed at the article 71.º liberatory rates, where you do not elect to aggregate it.
- All of it is Portuguese-source, from a payer bound to report it under article 119.º. A foreign employer has no such duty, which is why foreign income takes you out.
- You receive no gratifications of the kind in article 2.º n.º 3 g) of the CIRS — tips and the like, not paid by your employer.
- You were resident in Portugal for the WHOLE of the year. Arriving in March does not count.
- You do not hold non-habitual resident status.
- You claim no tax benefits, except public capitalisation accounts, PPR, patronage (mecenato) — and, since DR 5-A/2026, the IRS Jovem exemption of article 12.º-B.
- You paid no maintenance.
- You are claiming no deduction for ascendants living with you.
- You have nothing to add back for having broken the conditions of a benefit.
One more, added to the Code itself by Decreto-Lei n.º 13/2025: article 58.º-A n.º 12 puts you outside IRS Automático entirely if you hold any of the assets listed in article 57.º n.º 7 — property, registered vehicles, boats or aircraft, deposit or securities accounts, shares, fund units, bonds, shareholder loans, insurance contracts or trust interests, in a jurisdiction on the clearly-more-favourable-regime list.
Freelancers: the condition everyone gets wrong
"Self-employed people are never in IRS Automático" is a sentence you will read a lot, and it stopped being true in 2021. Article 2.º n.º 1 a) ii) admits services income when three things hold together:
- you are on the simplified regime of CIRS article 31.º, not organised accounting;
- you are registered with AT for activities from the article 151.º table only — with code 1519, "Outros prestadores de serviços", expressly excepted;
- you issue your invoices, faturas-recibo and receipts exclusively on Portal das Finanças, through SIRE.
The third is the one that quietly disqualifies people. Invoicing through your own software or an accountant's platform, even correctly, puts you outside the universe — AT's pre-fill depends on having issued the documents itself.
What happens if you do nothing
This is the part worth knowing before April. Article 58.º-A n.º 3: if you neither confirm nor file anything of your own, then at the end of the article 60.º window the provisional return converts into a return filed by you. You do not escape having filed; you escape having chosen.
For a couple that choice is money. Article 58.º-A n.º 4 b) says the conversion is made under SEPARATE taxation. If joint would have suited you better, waiting has cost you the difference, and nothing warned you.
There is one consolation in the same number: after a conversion you may file a substitute return within 30 days of the assessment with no penalty. And n.º 11 says no prior hearing is held first — the assessment simply happens, with the underlying figures published in your reserved area.
The February deadline nobody mentions
The filing window is 1 April to 30 June, under article 60.º n.º 1, weekend or not. But article 58.º-A n.º 6 — as amended by Decreto-Lei n.º 49/2025, in force since 1 July 2025 — gives you until the END OF FEBRUARY to record your household composition as at 31 December on the Portal, with every household member authenticating.
Miss it, and n.º 7 decides for you: AT uses the personal data you declared for the previous year, and failing that treats you as not married, not in a união de facto, and with no dependants. A couple who married in the year, or a first child, disappears from a return that was otherwise correct — two months before you had any reason to think about tax.
| What | When | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Record your household as at 31 December | End of February | CIRS art. 58.º-A n.º 6 |
| IRS Automático and the Modelo 3 window open | 1 April | CIRS art. 60.º n.º 1 |
| Confirm, or file your own return | 30 June | CIRS art. 60.º n.º 1 |
| Substitute return after a silent conversion | 30 days from the assessment, no penalty | CIRS art. 58.º-A n.º 3 |
Which deductions the automatic assessment applies
Not all of them, and the list is in article 2.º n.º 2 of the decree rather than anywhere obvious. The automatic assessment does not apply the deductions in article 78.º n.º 1 a), f), i), j), k) and l) — with dependants carved back in, and the public-capitalisation, PPR and patronage benefits carved back in.
| Deduction | Applied in IRS Automático? | CIRS art. 78.º n.º 1 |
|---|---|---|
| Dependants | Yes | a), carved back in |
| Ascendants living with you | No — and claiming one puts you outside the universe | a) |
| General family expenses | Yes | b) |
| Health | Yes | c) |
| Education and training | Yes | d) |
| Property charges | Yes | e) |
| Maintenance paid | No — and paying it puts you outside | f) |
| Invoice requirement (the VAT-back deduction) | Yes | g) |
| Care homes | Yes | h) |
| Domestic work pay | Yes, since DR 2/2025 | m) |
| Disability | No | i) |
| International double taxation | No | j) |
| Tax benefits | Only PPR, public capitalisation and mecenato | k) |
| AIMI | No | l) |
The domestic-work line is recent and worth noticing. DR n.º 2/2025 removed it from the excluded list because Social Security now sends AT the data, so from returns for 2024 onward it is applied. Advice written before March 2025 says the opposite.
Answer 9 questions about your income and get a checklist of the annexes you would fill and the documents to gather if you have to file by hand.
Check which annexes I needIf the provisional return is wrong
Then it is not yours to confirm. Article 58.º-A n.º 9 is explicit: taxpayers outside the universe, and taxpayers whose provisional return does not match their actual situation, must file the article 57.º return within the normal deadline. Confirming a return you know to be wrong is filing a wrong return.
And note article 58.º-A n.º 10: the automatic return does not release you from article 128.º, the duty to keep the documents behind it. Deductions AT computed from third-party data are still yours to justify.
Filing by hand closes the door
In AT's own words on the service page: once you have filed a Modelo 3, it is no longer possible to reach IRS Automático. There is no undo, and it lasts for that tax year. So the order matters: check whether AT is going to file for you BEFORE you start preparing a return of your own — not after.
Frequently asked questions
I am a freelancer. Am I really excluded?
Not necessarily, and the blanket claim is out of date. Since Decreto Regulamentar n.º 1/2021 — carried into DR 3/2024 art. 2.º n.º 1 a) ii) — services income qualifies when you are on the simplified regime, registered only for article 151.º table activities other than code 1519, and issuing invoices exclusively on Portal das Finanças.
Does IRS Jovem disqualify me?
Not any more. Decreto Regulamentar n.º 5-A/2026, of 31 March 2026, added the article 12.º-B exemption to the permitted benefits, for returns from 2025 onward. Before that decree it did disqualify you, which is why older advice says otherwise.
What happens if I just ignore it?
The provisional return converts into a return filed by you at the end of the window. For a married or de-facto couple the conversion applies SEPARATE taxation — so if joint would have been better, doing nothing costs you the difference. You can file a substitute return within 30 days of the assessment without penalty.
I have rental income. Do I qualify?
No. Article 2.º n.º 1 a) of the decree lists the income that keeps you in, and Category F is not on it. The same goes for capital gains.
I hold NHR status.
Condition e) excludes non-habitual residents by name. Note that it names NHR specifically — it is not written to cover IFICI, which is a different regime under a different article.
I moved to Portugal in March. Does that matter?
Yes. Condition d) requires residence for the whole of the year the tax relates to. Your first, partial year is a normal Modelo 3.
Can I still deduct health and education?
Yes. The automatic assessment excludes only article 78.º n.º 1 a), f), i), j), k) and l), with dependants and the PPR, public-capitalisation and mecenato benefits carved back in. Health, education, general family expenses, property charges, care homes, the invoice deduction and domestic work are all applied.
Do I still have to keep receipts?
Yes. Article 58.º-A n.º 10 says the automatic return does not release you from the article 128.º duty to keep the supporting documents.
Should I prepare a Modelo 3 first, just in case?
No — do it the other way round. Filing a Modelo 3 by hand closes IRS Automático for that tax year, and there is no undo. Check whether AT is going to file for you first.
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