A report by Sapo news explains how to do this, firstly, in order to access the Portal das Finanças and e-Fatura, request an individual password (if you don't already have one) for yourself, your children or other family members. The password will be sent to your tax address within 5 days. If the password has already expired, the change is made automatically and immediately on the portal.

On the e-Fatura homepage, go to the "IRS deductible expenses" menu. Then click on the green button labelled "Consumer" and enter the password sent to you by the tax office.

On the screen, you'll find the amount you've already accumulated with the expenses associated with your tax number, by sector. If you've already accumulated €250 in General Family Expenses, this means you've reached the maximum deduction in this category and there's no need to worry anymore during the year about supermarket bills, telecoms or any other expense that doesn't fit into the health, education, household and housing categories.

If the portal indicates that you have outstanding invoices, click on the "Complement Invoice Information" button. You will find expenses inserted by traders who have multiple activities, which leads the tax authorities to ask which sector each expense relates to. If you don't recognise the name of the establishment or remember the expenses made on the date indicated, look for the receipt invoice.

Alternatively, try searching for the company's business name or address on google. If you make a mistake with the sector, or if you spot an invoice associated with the wrong sector, you can select it and click on "Change".

If the portal alerts you to invoices that include health expenses subject to the standard rate of VAT without a prescription, click on "Associate prescription" and check the expenses listed. If you have a prescription that justifies any of these charges, say "Yes" in the answer to the question "Do I have a prescription". As it is possible that the expense includes other purchases in addition to the prescribed medicines, then indicate the amount covered by the prescription.

Health

The tax authorities consider 15 percent of all healthcare expenses, regardless of whether they are exempt from VAT, up to a limit of 1,000 euros.

Apart from user charges and health insurance premiums, which are only entered into e-Fatura between 26 February and 15 March, you can expect some of your health expenses to be entered into the correct category on the portal. However, if you recognise any of them among your outstanding invoices, simply click on the symbol relating to the health expense to validate it.

If you have bought products with a VAT rate of 23 percent, such as a cream, it is likely that the invoice will appear on the portal as "pending". In this case, you should go to e-Fatura, and indicate whether you have a prescription and the amount of the expense. Health expenses for products taxed at 23 percent are only deductible in the IRS if prescribed by a doctor.

Education

In the personal income tax return, the tax authorities take 30 percent of education expenses into account, up to a maximum of 800 euros. To make the most of these deductions, keep all your receipts and make e-Fatura your best friend. Don't forget that the IRS will automatically consider that married couples file their personal income tax returns separately. If you have children with education expenses, you should simulate, before submitting your tax return and on time, whether it would be more advantageous for them to do so jointly or separately.

School books bought in shops are not automatically recognised by the tax authorities as educational expenses. Sapo news’ advice is to ask for the invoice for school books separately from other purchases. This will make it easier to identify this expense in e-Fatura and classify it correctly.

School meals are classified as education expenses. School materials, particularly those specific to certain courses, such as musical instruments, do not fall into this category, as they are taxed at 23 percent. They can only be included in general family expenses.

Tuition fees paid at Portuguese universities will not be visible on e-Fatura until 26 February. They will appear on that date, along with other charges such as mortgage interest and user charges.

How to find out if education expenses will be deducted?

The simplest way is to access e-Fatura with the student's tax number and password. Consult and validate the expenses entered on behalf of your children, such as the payment of nurseries, kindergartens, schools and other educational services, as well as the cost of school books.

  • Education and training expenses for services exempt from VAT or for goods taxed at 6 percent are taken into account. You can deduct as education expenses.
  • Enrolment fees, tuition fees and monthly fees for kindergartens or similar establishments and schools (even if for master's degrees), whether public or private, provided they are part of the National Education System.
  • Nannies who issue a green receipt or are employed by nurseries or similar institutions;
  • School books;
  • Costs of teaching languages, music, singing or theatre, even when outside the scope of the normal school programme in an establishment recognised and integrated into the National Education System and provided that the sector of activity (CAE) is in the education sector;
  • Tutoring at any level of education with a receipt from the tutor;
  • Accommodation for students who live more than 50 kilometres from the educational establishment they are attending.
  • Educational organisations that do not issue invoices because they are exempt from this obligation (such as public schools) must communicate the amount paid by the consumer to the Tax Authority.

Housing and VAT

Only interest paid up to 2023 on credit agreements for own and permanent housing can be classified as housing costs. However, this benefit can only be enjoyed by those who took out the loan before 31 December 2011. In these cases, you can deduct 15 percent of the interest, with a limit of 296 euros.

This category also applies to rents. Tenants can deduct 15 percent of the amount, up to 600 euros. However, the contract must be notified to the tax office and the landlord must fulfil certain obligations. If they are under 65, they must issue receipts electronically and, by 31 January each year, they must submit (also electronically) a declaration stating all the rent paid in the previous year. With this data, the deduction is allocated automatically.

If no communication has been made by the landlord, the tenant can include all the rent manually in the tax return, in Annex H. However, it is likely that both of you will be called upon by the Tax Authority to prove what you have declared.

You can only deduct the expenses you incur during the year with the common services corresponding to the condominium, such as electricity and water, if the house is rented.

Nursing homes

For IRS purposes, expenses incurred by the taxpayer and their spouse, regardless of the amount of their income, relating to home care, nursing homes and institutions for the elderly are accepted.

The tax authorities also accept expenses, but only for homes, institutions for the elderly and residences for people with disabilities, for parents, grandparents, uncles, siblings or dependents, as long as they do not earn more than the minimum wage in force in the year to which the tax relates (760 euros in 2023).

Each taxpayer can only use this deduction once each year. For example, if there are several children, only one of them can declare the expenses incurred with their father or mother. You can deduct 25 percent of the amounts paid, with a limit of 403.75 euros.

Costs of remuneration for domestic labour

Five percent of the annual costs of remuneration paid in exchange for domestic work can now be deducted from the tax bill, up to a limit of 200 euros, and this amount will now be included in the general limit for deductions from the tax bill.

Changes to Annex H

Expenses that don't appear in e-Fatura by the end of March can be entered manually in box 6C of annex H when filling in the personal income tax return. However, by changing the expenses in one of the categories (health, education/training, housing or homes) in Annex H, the system can ignore the values in all the other categories, including those that didn't need correcting. In other words, everything you have validated in the system may no longer be considered for IRS purposes if you don't pay attention to this detail. Therefore, once the manual correction has been activated, make sure that all the values have been entered.

Author

Paula Martins is a fully qualified journalist, who finds writing a means of self-expression. She studied Journalism and Communication at University of Coimbra and recently Law in the Algarve. Press card: 8252

Paula Martins