Portugal Invoicing and SAF-T Deadlines for 2026

In 2026, invoice data must be reported on the dates published by the Portuguese Tax Authority, usually between the fifth and ninth day of the month, with an extension to 31 August for July documents. VAT returns and payments follow separate monthly or quarterly calendars and must not be confused with accounting SAF-T.

The dates on this page were read from the Portuguese Tax Authority tax calendar on 28 August 2026. The calendar covers VAT taxable persons whose tax period matches the calendar year. Check it again before each filing because the Tax Authority may publish changes or further extensions.

Which obligations does this calendar include?

There are four separate obligations: reporting invoice data, filing the periodic VAT return, paying the VAT due, and filing the IES/Annual Declaration. Similar dates do not turn them into one submission. A business in the monthly regime may, for example, report its January invoices by 5 February and file its December VAT return by 20 February.

When must invoices be reported in Portugal in 2026?

Reporting covers documents issued in the previous month, or a statement that no documents were issued. The table links each reporting period to its specific 2026 deadline. The March row, for example, means that documents issued in March must be reported by 8 April.

The data may be reported through a file extracted from billing SAF-T, a web service transmission, or another method accepted by the Tax Authority. The common obligation is to report document data, not to submit the full accounting records every month. A real-time integration does not change the legal deadline, but it reduces the number of documents left until the final day.

Why do some deadlines fall after the fifth day?

The fifth day is the general reference for reporting the previous month, but the usable date for each month must be read from the official calendar. In 2026, the Tax Authority published 6 July for June documents, 7 September for August documents, 6 October for September documents, and 7 December for November documents. These dates accommodate weekends or public holidays.

Other dates result from broader extensions already reflected in the annual table. Documents issued in July, for example, may be reported by 31 August. The calendar also shows 9 January, 8 April, and 8 May. A spreadsheet that always applies “day 5” will therefore produce false alerts. The published date must take precedence over the approximate rule.

What are the VAT deadlines under the monthly regime?

Under the normal monthly regime, Article 41 of the Portuguese VAT Code requires the return to be filed by the twentieth day of the second month after the transactions. Payment has its own later deadline. The 2026 calendar applies that rule and includes the summer extensions.

The first two rows cover November and December 2025 because the related obligations fall due in 2026. For the same reason, transactions from November and December 2026 only appear in the 2027 calendar. The transaction period and the filing month should be separate columns in an internal tracker.

Why is there no monthly VAT filing in August?

The official calendar gives 21 September as the deadline for both the June and July monthly returns. The corresponding payments fall due on 25 September. These are two returns and two payment obligations that share a deadline, not one combined return. June amounts, for example, must not be added to July amounts in a single return.

The summer extension also affects the quarterly regime: the second quarter return is due on 21 September, with payment due on 25 September. This departure from the usual cadence is a good reason to record both the reporting period and due date in the calendar.

What are the VAT deadlines under the quarterly regime?

Under Article 41 of the Portuguese VAT Code, the quarterly regime generally applies to taxable persons whose turnover in the previous calendar year was below 650,000 euros. A taxable person in this group may opt into the monthly regime under the conditions in the same article. Turnover equal to or above 650,000 euros places the taxable person in the monthly regime.

The fourth quarter of 2025 appears because its return and payment fall due in February 2026. The fourth quarter of 2026, in turn, is filed and paid in 2027. A business that opted for monthly filing should use the monthly table even if its turnover remains below the threshold.

Are invoice reporting and SAF-T the same thing?

No. Billing SAF-T can be one of the methods used to report data from issued documents. The monthly obligation is the reporting of that data. Accounting SAF-T contains accounting records and is associated with the IES process, not the monthly invoice-reporting deadline.

For taxpayers required to file the IES/Annual Declaration whose tax period matches the calendar year, the official table sets 15 July 2026 as the IES/DA deadline for 2025. That date does not, by itself, prove that every business must upload an accounting SAF-T file on that day. The applicable scope and process should be confirmed with the accountant and in the IES instructions.

How can the calendar be used without mixing up periods?

1. Confirm whether the business uses the monthly or quarterly VAT regime and record any election for monthly filing.
2. Separate the month in which the transaction occurred from the month when its return or payment is due.
3. Record invoice reporting as a separate task, even when a billing SAF-T file is used to complete it.
4. Treat filing the return and paying VAT as two controls because their deadlines are not the same.
5. Check each deadline in the Tax Authority calendar before filing and retain the receipt produced by the channel used.

For a January close, for example, the task list should include reporting January documents by 5 February, filing the December monthly return by 20 February, and paying that VAT by 25 February. Naming each task after its source period prevents “February VAT” from meaning different things to different people.

What should be checked before each deadline?

Check the period, the filing regime, any replacement returns, and any change published by the Tax Authority. A date saved in January may no longer be the operational date in September. This page is a reference read on 28 August 2026, not a substitute for the authenticated Finance Portal area or an accountant's instructions.

How does this calendar relate to Stripe payments?

A tax calendar does not turn a payment into a fiscal document. After receiving a payment, a business still needs to issue the applicable document and ensure that its data enters the chosen reporting flow. The guide answering whether a Stripe invoice is valid in Portugal explains this distinction.

For the complete process, see the guide to automating Stripe invoicing in Portugal. For the operational distinction between files and submission channels, the guide to SAF-T (PT) requirements and deadlines develops the subject without mixing monthly reporting with accounting.