Freelancer social security in 2026: the quarterly contribution

Independent workers pay social security under the Código dos Regimes Contributivos, approved by Lei n.º 110/2009. The independent-worker rules sit roughly in articles 132 to 173, together with Decreto Regulamentar n.º 1-A/2011. The word roughly is deliberate. This page does not restate every article in that stretch. When it names article 164 or article 165, that is the article the Ordem dos Contabilistas Certificados practical guide of August 2026 is applying. The numbers below follow that guide.

The contribution is not a line on the recibo verde. You declare income on Segurança Social Direta, on a quarterly calendar, and the amount and the due date appear there. This quarterly machine does not start on the day you open the activity. The first-year guide is the timeline. The IRS coefficients in the simplified regime are a different table from the percentages on this page.

Relevant income is 70 percent or 20 percent

Relevant income is the slice of revenue the contribution looks at. For services it is 70 percent. For production and sales of goods, and for the hotel, restaurant and beverage services the regime covers, it is 20 percent. Local lodging in a house or apartment, rents, investment subsidies, capital gains and intellectual property are generally outside relevant income, unless you opt to include some of those items. That opt-in is a specific choice. Do not apply 20 percent to alojamento local just because lodging sounds like hospitality.

A steady month of €2,000 in services has relevant income of €2,000 × 0.70 = €1,400. The same €2,000 of goods has relevant income of €2,000 × 0.20 = €400. The invoice total did not change. The category did. None of this is the 0.75 or 0.15 from article 31 of the IRS Code.

The declaration is quarterly, and the base lasts three months

You file on Segurança Social Direta by the last day of January, April, July and October. January declares October to December, April declares January to March, July declares April to June, and October declares July to September. The monthly base is one third of that quarter's relevant income, and it applies in the declaration month and the next two months. You can replace the values until the 15th day after the deadline. When the deadline stays on the last day of the month, that day is 15 February, 15 May, 15 August or 15 November. If a weekend or a holiday moves the date on screen, follow the screen. The amount and the due date are on the account. This page does not name a payment day.

Worked example: a steady quarter of €2,000

January, February and March are each €2,000 of services. The quarter's revenue is €6,000. You declare that quarter by the last day of April. The contribution this produces is the one for April, May and June, not a payment that leaves your account on the day you issue the January invoice.

1. Quarterly revenue: €2,000 × 3 = €6,000.
2. Relevant income, services: €6,000 × 0.70 = €4,200.
3. Monthly base: €4,200 / 3 = €1,400.
4. Contribution at the general rate: €1,400 × 0.214 = €299.60 in each of April, May and June.

€299.60 is 0.214 × 0.70 = 14.98 percent of the €2,000 invoice. It is not a rate you type on the fatura-recibo. An employee on €2,000 pays 11 percent, €220, under the employee social security guide. The employer's share is someone else's cost.

The same quarter with a zero month

Let January be €0, February €3,000 and March €3,000, still in services. The quarter is €0 + €3,000 + €3,000 = €6,000. Relevant income is still €4,200. The base is still €1,400. The contribution is still €299.60 in April, May and June. The empty January does not create a €0 contribution month. The quarter is the unit. What you pay in January itself comes from the previous declaration, October to December, if that declaration already applied to you.

The ceiling is 12 × IAS

The monthly contribution base cannot exceed 12 times the IAS. The IAS for 2026 is €537.13, set by Portaria n.º 480-A/2025/1 and confirmed by Tax Authority newsletter no. 39 and by Despacho n.º 4516/2026. Twelve times that index is 12 × €537.13 = €6,445.56. At the general rate, a month sitting on the ceiling contributes €6,445.56 × 0.214 = €1,379.34984, or €1,379.35 if you round to the cent. Use the cent on Segurança Social Direta if it differs.

For services the base is 70 percent of the revenue that feeds it. The ceiling binds at €6,445.56 / 0.70 = €9,207.94 of service revenue in the month of the base. On the quarterly path, 3 × €6,445.56 = €19,336.68 of relevant income in the quarter, which is €19,336.68 / 0.70 = €27,623.83 of service revenue. Sales at 20 percent reach the same monthly ceiling only at €6,445.56 / 0.20 = €32,227.80.

You can move the relevant income by steps of 5 points

Article 164 lets you adjust relevant income by up to 25 percent, in steps of 5 points, up or down. The steps are 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 percent. The adjustment is not available in organised accounting. On the steady quarter, relevant income is €4,200. Plus 25 percent is €4,200 × 1.25 = €5,250, the base is €5,250 / 3 = €1,750, and the contribution is €1,750 × 0.214 = €374.50. Minus 25 percent is €4,200 × 0.75 = €3,150, the base is €1,050, and the contribution is €1,050 × 0.214 = €224.70. The same multiplication works for the intermediate steps. The calculator does not offer this dial.

21.4 percent, and the narrow 25.2 percent case

The rate in the general case is 21.4 percent. 25.2 percent applies only to empresários em nome individual, to holders of an EIRL, and to their spouses, and only when they carry on an exclusively commercial or industrial activity. If they also provide professional services, the exclusivity ends and the rate is 21.4 percent. On the €1,400 base, 25.2 percent is €1,400 × 0.252 = €352.80, which is €53.20 more than €299.60. The calculator's label "25.2% ENI" means this narrow case. It does not mean any sole trader.

Organised accounting uses another base

In organised accounting, relevant income is the previous year's taxable profit when that profit is higher than the result of the quarterly method. The monthly base is that profit divided by 12. The OCC guide describes a minimum of 1.5 × IAS. With the 2026 IAS at €537.13, 1.5 × €537.13 = €805.695. This page is reporting the OCC's description and citing the PDF. It is not pretending to have re-derived the article, and it does not turn €805.695 into an official cent. The account shows the euro Segurança Social uses.

The division is profit / 12. A previous-year taxable profit of €18,000, used because it is the higher figure, gives a monthly base of €1,500 and a contribution of €1,500 × 0.214 = €321. That is arithmetic, not a typical profit. The minimum the OCC describes and the €6,445.56 ceiling still apply.

What you can trust the calculator to do

The independent calculator multiplies the month you type by 70 percent for services, or 20 percent for the 0.15 sales row, caps the base at €6,445.56, and applies 21.4 or 25.2 percent in that same month. €2,000 of services at 21.4 percent shows €299.60 immediately. It does not wait until April, and it does not average €0 with two months of €3,000. Typing €0 shows no contribution, which is not the lumpy quarter above. It has no article 164 dial and does not model the first-year deferral.