Automatic IRS rolled out for freelancers

The Portuguese government has decided to extend the number of tax payers whose income tax statements are now pre-completed by automatic assessment.

After the rollout was put on ice in 2020 because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the government will now include a further 250,000 tax payers, including some freelancers on the green receipts system, and other independent workers providing they fulfil a series of criteria.
“With the extension approved by the Council of Ministers, the Automatic IRS will be extended to around 250,000 tax payers,” states an official Minister of Finances source to the online news source ECO.
This measure will increase the total number of tax payers that will be able to benefit from this uncomplicated tax declaration system which was launched in 2017 (based on amounts from 2016), to 3.6 million tax payers.
However, although it will include many on ‘recibos verdes’ (green receipts), it will not cover everyone.
The Government has decided to only take into consideration those who exercise one of the activities that fall within article 151 of the IRS Code.
This article includes a vast range of professions that range from doctors, nurses and teachers, to economists, accountants, judges and professions in the arts in their widest forms.
It means that there are thousands more tax payers who will have one less thing to think about when the tax collecting campaign for 2020 begins, providing they fulfil some requirements.
In order to benefit from this automisation, in addition to being on a list that includes some 14 categories which can be consulted on the government’s tax authorities site at https://info.portaldasfinancas.gov.pt/pt/informacao_fiscal/codigos_tributarios/cirs_rep/Pages/irs155.aspx), they will have to guarantee that they are exercising the activity under a regime of exclusivity and must do so under the simplified regime and issue green receipts on the Electronics Receipts System on the Portal das Finanças (Tax authorities website).
Automatic IRS arose out of the government’s Simplex programme which seeks to simplify the way that the State’s administration works. The Automatic IRS system was rolled out in 2017 but in its initial version only covered tax payers without dependents and if they only had earnings in Categories A, in other words working for third parties, H or retired individuals.
This year, as in 2020, the period for handing in IRS declarations starts on 1 April and runs until 30 June.