As a tax resident of Portugal, the tax return season is a very important time but if you don’t have a password to Portal das Finanças, you’ll have a few issues!
Some individual set up their own accounts, but most expats ask a lawyer or service provider to obtain their NIF. If someone does help you, they should provide you with a password, alongside your NIF, to access the Portal das Finanças. But of course if you didn’t know this, perhaps you have a NIF and no password!
First things first, ask the individual who helped you if they have a password, and if not then you need to go about obtaining one.
Why you need access to Portal das Finanças
Well firstly, the Portal das Finanças allows you (or an accountant) to prepare and file your yearly tax return – to declare worldwide income. Overall the platform acts as a fiscal compliance portal, during your time as a tax resident of Portugal; or even if you’re not a tax resident of Portugal but have a property here it helps you to stay on top of those type of obligations.
In general the Portal das Finanças allows you to:
- File annual tax returns: between 1 April to 30 June window.
- Validate invoices (through e-fatura): to associate your NIF to associated expenses.
- Issue recibos verdes; if you’re a freelancer this is an official requirement.
- Pay taxes online: whether property tax, vehicle tax or any other tax-related bills.
- Check your fiscal status: to understand if you have any outstanding debts or refunds.
- Obtain official documents: download certificates, like tax residency, and other proof of tax compliance.
Typical reasons you can’t get in
As explained before, one of the most typical reasons you cannot access the platform is because the individual who helped obtain your NIF then forgot to share the platform password; or perhaps when applying for a NIF yourself you didn’t think about the Portal das Finanças platform at all!
Should you need to obtain a new password, for whatever reason, there’s a few things to consider:
Address isn’t up to date
If you have absolutely no access to the portal, and have reason to believe that your address isn’t up to date then this update needs to occur first. Otherwise you’ll continue to receive tax-related letters at the wrong address, and the Tax Authorities will of course have out-dated records.
Requesting a new password by post
First of all, you need to cancel the original password (you would have had one, when applying for the NIF) since it’s no longer relevant. This would involve emailing the Tax Authorities directly, not necessarily to explain the situation, so they’re alerted to the fact that you need to cancel the old and apply for a new one.
Upon reply, they should then inform you that a new registration to the Portal das Finanças can be made, and a new password shall be posted out to you. Now, unfortunately this letter will go to your old address – such an old fashioned system – since it’s the record that you originally gave the Tax Authorities. This letter could take up to 3-weeks to arrive, and of course it depends where it’s being sent to (since all countries have different mailing timeframes).
Only once you receive the new password, and a successful login is made to the Portal das Finanças account, can the address be updated. So at this point, make sure to keep a record of the password so you don’t have to go through this whole process again!
Of course, our team are on hand to help with this whole process – so you don’t have to.
Requesting a new password in-person
As you might have learnt (or come to learn), Portugal is quite an old-fashioned country and so most requests can be dealt with in-person; at your local tax office. However, it’s best if you speak Portuguese, or take a Portuguese-speaker with you, otherwise things might get lost in translation.
If you can manage things on your own, visit your local tax office – making sure to take a proof of address for the update to occur – and they should be able to make the change there and then, with you. After which, they’ll auto-generate that a letter is posted to your new address with the new password; to successfully login to the Portal das Finanças.
Should you not have a proof of address, for the tax office to deal with your request, then it’s of course important to figure out where you could possibly obtain a proof document. Similarly to most countries, proof of address documents include: bank statements, utility bill statements, rental agreements or official ID documents.
Address is up to date
If you’re in the lucky position of having the correct address linked to your Portal das Finanças, requesting a new password will be much easier! Similarly to the above, you can either request it online or in-person; so just ignore the parts in relation to changing your address and hopefully you’ll successfully receive a new password.
Of course, if you feel as though you don’t have the time or understanding to deal with obtaining a new password (no matter your address situation) just speak with our team for help.
Avoiding login issues in the future
The obvious answer to this would be, once you have the right details make sure to keep a record somewhere – whether on a computer, phone, notebook or even a sticky note on your fridge! As long as you keep your address up to date on the Portal das Finanças, and should you need a new password again it’s of course easier since there’s no need to update the address.
Another way to keep your password secure is by working with our team. No matter if you only need help with yearly tax returns, or maybe you need monthly support (as a freelancer, or general tax resident) our team will keep a secure record on our systems; so you don’t need to remember the login details. As long as you don’t change anything, we can send the details through upon request.
How RHJ Accountants can help
Our team have dealt with many, many Portal das Finanças password issues so if for whatever reason we cannot solve your request via the usual methods; we’ll definitely find some unique way to assist.
And if you need help with your tax returns, we’re always accepting new clients so just make sure to get in touch ahead of 30 June deadline – we’d be happy to assist.
Cover image obtained from On Centro: https://www.on-centro.pt/index.php/pt/news/item/17911-17911
