Recibos verdes in 2026: the invoice, the VAT and the withholding
What a fatura-recibo is, how article 101 withholding works for category B, and why the money that hits your account is not your economic net.
A recibo verde is the ordinary name for the electronic invoice-receipt — the fatura-recibo — that an independent worker issues on Portal das Finanças for income in category B of the IRS Code. One document invoices the client and records that you were paid. It is not a payslip, and it is not a social-security payment. The figures on it split into three different jobs: revenue for income tax, VAT if you charge it, and withholding if the client has to keep some IRS back.
This page uses the resident rates in the Ordem dos Contabilistas Certificados practical guide of August 2026. That guide is the source for the withholding percentages below. The simplified regime then turns revenue into taxable income. Social security is a separate bill, and it does not start on day one. If you are still choosing between a contract and opening an activity, read employee or freelancer before you treat an invoice as a salary.
What you are issuing
Category B is business and professional income. The fatura-recibo is how most people in the simplified regime document a service or a sale. You create it in the invoicing area of Portal das Finanças after the activity is open. The client, the date, the amount, the VAT treatment and the withholding rate are fields on that document. A PDF in your email does not replace it. Keep the series the Portal assigns.
Open the activity before the first invoice
Início de actividade is the registration that lets you issue the document. You give a start date, identify the activity, estimate the income you expect, choose the simplified regime or organised accounting, and answer the VAT questions. The form on the Portal is the full list of boxes. The activity you register drives withholding, the article 31 coefficient, and the social-security category of the income.
Article 151 and the CAE are different lists
The CAE is the Portuguese classification of economic activities, the statistical code you attach when you open the activity. Article 151 of the IRS Code is a statutory list of professional activities. A service on that list is treated one way for withholding and, in the simplified regime, another way for the taxable coefficient. A CAE that merely sounds professional does not put you on the article 151 list. Use the article, or the list on the invoice screen.
| Article 151 of the IRS Code | CAE | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A closed list of professional activities inside the tax code | The classification of economic activities, a statistical code |
| Where it shows up | Withholding at 23 percent, and the 0.75 coefficient in the simplified regime | The activity you register on Portal das Finanças |
| What it does not do | It does not choose your CAE for you | It does not, by itself, set the article 101 withholding rate |
| Commercial or industrial income | Income under article 3(1)(a) of the IRS Code sits outside this professional list | The CAE can still describe a shop or a workshop |
VAT is not income
Take a mainland invoice for a €1,000 service with VAT at the standard 23 percent. The client is charged €1,000 + €230 = €1,230. Your category B revenue is €1,000. The €230 is VAT. If you are not in the VAT exemption, you generally collect that €230 and hand it to the state. It is not pay, and it does not go into the simplified-regime coefficients.
The same split decides the €200,000 revenue ceiling of the simplified regime. You test the €1,000, not the €1,230 that landed in the bank. An exemption from charging VAT exists for smaller turnovers under the VAT Code. The ceiling has moved, so this page does not print a threshold from memory. The activity file shows whether this document carries VAT. The €230 above is mainland VAT at 23 percent. The islands use their own rates.
Withholding, when it applies, is calculated on the service value — the revenue — rather than on the VAT line. On this invoice a 23 percent withholding is €1,000 × 0.23 = €230. That €230 of IRS and the €230 of VAT are equal numbers with different destinations. One is an advance on your income tax. The other is VAT. Adding them and calling the result your tax is how people double-count. The electronic invoice does the multiplication. If your hand figure ever differs from the Portal's figure, use the document.
Article 101 withholding is an advance
Article 101 of the IRS Code is the withholding rule for this income. The August 2026 OCC guide describes the ordinary resident rates as follows. Services in the article 151 table: 23 percent. Other services: 11.5 percent. Intellectual or industrial property: 16.5 percent. Commercial or industrial income in article 3(1)(a) of the IRS Code: no withholding. The OCC guide (PDF) is the practical write-up this page is following for those four treatments.
| What the invoice is | Rate the client keeps back |
|---|---|
| Services listed in the article 151 table | 23% |
| Other services | 11.5% |
| Intellectual or industrial property | 16.5% |
| Commercial or industrial income, article 3(1)(a) of the IRS Code | No withholding |
| SalarioBox optional higher withholding | 25%, for modelling only |
The duty to withhold sits, in the ordinary case, on a client with organised accounting. A private household often has none. The invoice screen shows the rate. A zero there means this client keeps nothing back. Your annual IRS can still be positive. Some people can be released from withholding. The conditions live on the activity file, and this page does not restate that checklist.
What was withheld is an advance. The annual return computes the tax and credits the advances. Over-withholding comes back. Under-withholding leaves a balance to pay. Non-resident rates can differ. Use the invoice screen for a non-resident tax status.
Worked example: €2,000 in the article 151 table
You issue a €2,000 invoice for a service on the article 151 list. This example leaves VAT out, so the revenue is the whole €2,000. The resident withholding rate from the OCC guide is 23 percent.
- Withholding: €2,000 × 0.23 = €460. The client keeps this and delivers it to the tax authority as an advance on your IRS.
- Cash you receive: €2,000 − €460 = €1,540.
- Social security is a separate payment, once the contribution rules apply. The steady-quarter illustration in the social security guide is €299.60 a month on €2,000 of services, and a single invoice is not always the base.
- €1,540 − €299.60 = €1,240.40 of cash after the advance and that contribution. The annual tax may still differ from the €460 already kept.
€1,540 is cash from the client before social security. The economic net is revenue, minus the contribution actually due, minus the IRS on your taxable income, with credit for the €460. Under the simplified regime an article 151 service starts from 75 percent of revenue, which is the simplified regime guide. The rate comes from the 2026 brackets.
The €200,000 line, and what the calculator is doing
The simplified regime runs up to €200,000 of category B revenue a year. Above that line, organised accounting is generally required. It taxes a real profit, not a coefficient. You can also choose it below the cap. If you open mid-year, confirm on the Portal whether the ceiling is a full-year or part-year test. This page does not invent a pro-rata fraction.
The independent calculator models withholding at 0 percent, 23 percent and 25 percent. The 25 percent option shows the cash effect of a higher advance. It is not the ordinary resident rate in the OCC August 2026 guide. There is no button for 11.5 percent or 16.5 percent. The tool also charges social security on the month you type. That sketch is not the quarterly declaration, and it does not know the first-year timeline.
Frequently asked questions
Is the €1,540 I receive the amount I pay tax on?
On a €2,000 article 151 invoice with 23 percent withholding, €1,540 is cash from the client. Revenue is €2,000. Taxable income in the simplified regime is a coefficient times that revenue. The €460 is an advance, credited later.
Does every client withhold 23 percent?
Only services on the article 151 list use 23 percent, and only when that client has a withholding duty. Other services are 11.5 percent in the OCC guide, intellectual or industrial property is 16.5 percent, and article 3(1)(a) commercial or industrial income has no withholding. The invoice screen shows the rate.
Why does SalarioBox offer 25 percent?
So you can model a higher advance and watch the cash change. The ordinary resident rates in the OCC August 2026 guide are 23 percent, 11.5 percent, 16.5 percent, or zero. The 25 percent button is not that table.
Does the VAT on the invoice count toward the €200,000 cap?
The cap is a revenue cap. On a €1,000 service plus €230 of VAT, the revenue is €1,000. The €230 is VAT you generally hand to the state if you are not exempt. Keep the VAT line out of the income figures.
Do I pay social security on the day I issue the recibo?
The contribution is a separate system, declared quarterly on Segurança Social Direta, and the first year of activity does not start that machine on day one. Read the social security guide and the first-year guide. The cash from the client is not net of that contribution.