IFICI deadline: what 2026 arrivals must do before 15 January 2027

If you became a Portuguese tax resident in 2026, your IFICI request is due on Portal das Finanças by 15 January 2027.^[1] File later and you don’t get the 20% for 2026.^[2]

That’s the date everyone quotes. The date to plan around is two weeks earlier: 31 December 2026. The 20% for 2026 only applies to what you earned in 2026 from the work that qualifies you, so that job or company needs to be in place, and paying you, before the year ends.^[2]

And 2026 counts as the first of your ten years either way, even if you only arrived in December.

So here’s every date between now and 31 March 2027, who has to act on each one, what to do in the weeks you have left, and what happens if you file late.

IFICI is the tax regime that replaced NHR for people moving to Portugal: 20% on your qualifying work income for ten years, with most foreign income exempt, if your work in Portugal fits one of seven routes.^[2][3][4] This post only covers the dates. If you plan to qualify through your own company, our guide to IFICI with your own company walks you through that route.

In this guide9 sections

1. When is the IFICI deadline if you became resident in 2026?
2. Why is 31 December 2026 the IFICI date to plan around?
3. If you arrive in late November or December, is 2026 your first IFICI year?
4. What should you do in the eight weeks before the IFICI deadline?
5. What happens after you file your IFICI request?
6. What happens if you miss the 15 January 2027 IFICI deadline?
7. What are your IFICI dates if you become resident in 2027?
8. Is IFICI worth filing for on your salary?
9. How do you find out if you qualify for IFICI before 15 January?

When is the IFICI deadline if you became resident in 2026?

15 January 2027. You file your request on Portal das Finanças, the tax authority’s website, by 15 January of the year after you become resident.^[1]

One date comes before it and three come after:

• 31 December 2026, the date to plan around. By then, your qualifying job or company is in place and has paid you in 2026.
• 15 January 2027, your filing date. Your request and your documents go in on Portal das Finanças.^[1]
• 15 February 2027, the agency in charge of your route reports to the tax authority. On the route most employees and founders use, that’s IAPMEI, the state’s small-business agency, or AICEP, its trade and investment agency. Other routes have their own, such as Startup Portugal for certified startups.^[1][5]
• 15 March 2027, on the exporter route only. That’s the stricter route for highly qualified jobs at exporting companies, and the tax authority checks it itself. By the end of February it publishes what your employer has to confirm, and your employer then has until 15 March.^[1]
• 31 March 2027, your answer. Your status shows in your area of Portal das Finanças, with the proof.^[1]

“Does my employer apply for me?”

No. The request goes in under your own name, in your own area of Portal das Finanças.^[1] On most routes, your employer gives you a signed declaration that the activity requirements are met. On the exporter route, it also confirms your role by 15 March.^[1]

Moved as a couple? IFICI is individual, so each of you files your own request.

Why is 31 December 2026 the IFICI date to plan around?

Because the 20% for 2026 only applies to qualifying income you earned in 2026.^[2] To get the 20% in any year, two things have to be true that year:

• You’re a tax resident at some point in the year.
• You earn income from your qualifying work that year.^[2]

So your job and your pay both need to be running before the year ends. What that looks like depends on your route:

2026 is also the first of your ten years, whatever you earn in it. The ten years run in a row from the year you become resident, so yours end in 2035 whether or not you get the 20% in every one of them.^[2][5]

“I became resident in 2026 and nothing is set up yet. Is there still time?”

That depends on how quickly your job or your company can be in place and paying you. For a company of your own, that means it’s registered with the right main activity code, and you’re appointed as its manager (gerente) and on its payroll.^[6] How fast a company gets formed depends on how ready your documents and share capital are.

The company also has to be a real business. It needs clients and activity, but it doesn’t need a profit on day one. So the first thing to find out is whether all of that is realistic for you before the year ends.

If you arrive in late November or December, is 2026 your first IFICI year?

Yes, if you become a tax resident before the year ends. The year you become resident is year one of your ten, even with only a few weeks of it left, and your request is due the next 15 January.^[1][2]

You become a tax resident in one of two ways:

• Living here. You’re resident for a year if you spend more than 183 days in Portugal in any 12 months that start or end in that year, or if you have a home here that you intend to keep and live in. Either way, your residence starts on your first day here.^[7]
• Your NIF address. Updating your NIF, your Portuguese tax number, to a Portuguese address makes you a tax resident. Our post on whether a NIF makes you a tax resident shows where to check yours.

“Should we wait until January?”

That’s your decision, and it changes all your dates.

• You become resident in December 2026: 2026 is year one, and your ten years are 2026 to 2035. Your filing date is 15 January 2027, whether or not your job or company is ready by then.
• You become resident in January 2027: 2027 is year one, and your ten years are 2027 to 2036. You have the whole year to set up, and your filing date is 15 January 2028.

Your visa dates and your family come into it too.

“Which date counts: my lease, my NIF or my residence certificate?”

For IFICI, the year matters more than the day. Say you rented in August, got your NIF in September and your residence certificate in October. If you’ve lived here since August, all three dates are in 2026, so 2026 is year one and you file by 15 January 2027.

“Can I keep my old address on my NIF until I’m ready?”

No. You have 60 days to report a change of residence.^[8] You can become resident from your first day here whatever your NIF says, and you can only file for IFICI once the tax authority has you down as resident.^[1][7] So the planning has to happen before you move.

What should you do in the eight weeks before the IFICI deadline?

Check that you qualify, get your job or company in place and paying you by 31 December, collect your documents, and file in the first half of January.

Start with the four basics. You need all of them.^[2]

• You became a Portuguese tax resident in 2026.
• You weren’t resident here in any of the five years before. An old Portuguese address on your tax record can count against you.
• You’ve never had NHR or Programa Regressar, the scheme for returning former residents.
• You haven’t used IFICI before.

Not sure what your tax record shows? A Portugal tax consultation with a certified accountant is the quick way to find out.

Then check these six things while there’s still time to fix them:

Have these ready before you file:

• Proof of your role: your employment contract, or for your own company an up-to-date certidão permanente, the company’s online registry certificate, showing your appointment.^[1]
• Proof of your qualifications: your diploma or certificate.^[1]
• Your employer’s or company’s declaration that the activity requirements are met, on most routes.^[1]

You only get your answer by 31 March, so it’s better to find anything wrong with the job, the activity code or the diploma before you file.

What happens after you file your IFICI request?

The agency in charge of your route checks your work, the tax authority checks everything else, and your status shows by 31 March 2027.^[1][5]

• Your payroll can withhold at 20% as soon as you show proof that you’ve applied. Until your status comes through, that’s an advance. If your request is refused, you’re taxed at the normal rates when your annual return is assessed.^[5]
• If something’s missing, you won’t be refused straight away. You’ll be asked for it, so reply quickly.^[5]
• Every later 15 January counts too. If your job, employer or company changed during the year, you report it by 15 January of the next one. A new employer means a new request.^[1][5]

After that, you keep IFICI one year at a time, by staying resident and keeping your qualifying work.^[2]

What happens if you miss the 15 January 2027 IFICI deadline?

You can still register later, but the 20% only runs from the year you file.^[2] The ten years still count from the year you became resident, so the years before you file don’t come back.^[2][5]

The tax authority’s own example: you become resident in 2025 and register on 10 January 2029. You get IFICI from 2029 to 2034, which is six of the ten years.^[5]

If you arrived in 2026, your ten years are 2026 to 2035. To get the 20% for 2026 as well, your request has to be in by 15 January 2027.^[2]

“I became resident in 2025 and never filed. Is it too late?”

No. You can still register. The 20% then runs from the year you file, and your ten years still end in 2034, so each year you wait is a year you lose.^[2] Check that you qualify before you file.

What are your IFICI dates if you become resident in 2027?

The same, one year on: your first filing date is 15 January 2028.^[1] You’re also in a better position than someone who arrived in 2026, because nothing is fixed yet and you can set things up in the right order.

You can have your eligibility checked before you move, and you can form the company before you move too, with the NIF you already have. Its activity codes are hard to change once it’s registered. So if you use our company formation service, tell us at the start that IFICI matters to you, and the codes get checked against the official list before anything is filed.^[6]

Is IFICI worth filing for on your salary?

It depends on what you earn: for an employee on 2026 rates, the 20% starts to beat Portugal’s normal scale at about €32,500 a year.

• Below that, the normal scale already costs you less than 20%. It starts at 12.5% and goes up to 48%.^[9]
• Above it, the more you earn, the more you save.
• In any year the normal scale works out cheaper, you can choose it instead.^[2]
• If you invest abroad, the foreign-income exemption can be worth more to you than the 20%. Under IFICI, your foreign dividends, interest and capital gains are exempt in Portugal, though you still declare them every year.^[4]
• On the company route, IFICI has running costs: Social Security on your salary, a monthly accountant, the company itself and corporate tax on its profit.

Run your own figures in our Portugal income tax calculator. It’s free, and it shows the normal scale and IFICI side by side.

How do you find out if you qualify for IFICI before 15 January?

Have your case checked by a certified accountant before you form a company, sign a contract or file anything. The report can come back no. We’d rather you heard that before you file than found out on 31 March.

Frequently asked questions

When is the IFICI deadline if I moved to Portugal in 2026?

15 January 2027. It’s always 15 January of the year after you become a tax resident, and you file on Portal das Finanças.

How do I apply for IFICI in 2027?

You file a request on Portal das Finanças by 15 January 2027, if you became resident in 2026. You attach proof of your role and of your qualifications, and on most routes your employer’s or company’s declaration.

What has to be in place by 31 December 2026?

Your qualifying job or company, and pay from it in 2026. The 20% for each year only applies to qualifying income you earned in that year, so both should be running before the year ends.

I arrive in December 2026. Is 2026 my first IFICI year?

Yes, if you become a tax resident in December. The year you become resident is year one of your ten, and you file by 15 January 2027. Become resident in January 2027 instead and 2027 is year one, with 15 January 2028 as your filing date.

Can I file my IFICI request before I’m registered as a tax resident?

No. You can only file once the tax authority has you down as resident. So check that your NIF shows your Portuguese address.

Does my employer file the IFICI request for me?

No. The request goes in under your own name on Portal das Finanças. On most routes your employer gives you a signed declaration, and on the exporter route it confirms your role by 15 March.

My partner and I both moved in 2026. Do we file one request?

No. IFICI is individual, so each of you files your own request by 15 January 2027. Each of you also needs your own qualifying work.

When will I know whether my IFICI request was accepted?

By 31 March 2027. Your status shows in your area of Portal das Finanças by then, after the agency in charge of your route has reported to the tax authority.

What happens if I miss the 15 January 2027 deadline?

You can still register later. The 20% then runs from the year you file, and the ten years still count from the year you became resident. In the tax authority’s own example, someone resident in 2025 registers in January 2029 and gets IFICI from 2029 to 2034.

I’m moving to Portugal in 2027. When do I file?

By 15 January 2028. Your dates are the same as a 2026 arrival’s, one year on. You can have your eligibility checked and form your company before you move.

What do I have to do each year to keep IFICI?

Stay tax resident and keep earning income from your qualifying work. If something changed during the year, you report it on Portal das Finanças by 15 January of the next year. A new employer means a new request.

Sources and how we checked

We checked every date in this post against the laws and guidance below, read in Portuguese on the official sites. The €32,500 figure comes from our own income tax calculator, for an employee on 2026 rates. This post isn’t tax advice: whether IFICI works for you depends on your facts and on what the tax authority decides after you file.

1. The 15 January filing date, the 15 February, 15 March and 31 March dates, what you attach, your employer’s declaration and change reports: Portaria 352/2024/1, the IFICI procedure order, as amended by Portaria 52-A/2025/1, which made Portal das Finanças the place every request is filed.
2. The IFICI law: the 20% rate, ten years from your residence year, the two conditions you meet each year, the four basics, late registration and the option for the normal scale: Tax Benefits Statute, article 58-A, Portal das Finanças consolidated text.
3. NHR closed to new applicants and IFICI created: Portugal’s 2024 State Budget law (Lei 82/2023, 29 December 2023), Portal das Finanças copy.
4. The foreign-income exemption: Portuguese income tax code (CIRS), article 81, paragraph 4.
5. The tax authority’s IFICI guide and questions, including who checks each route, the late-registration example, missing documents, withholding at 20% and changes: Ofício Circulado 20276/2025, 26 February 2025.
6. The activity list for the route most employees and founders use, and the rule that the listed code has to be the company’s main activity: IAPMEI, Aviso 4812/2025/2, 20 February 2025 and IAPMEI, Aviso 9709/2025/2, 10 April 2025.
7. When you become a tax resident: Portuguese income tax code (CIRS), article 16.
8. The 60 days to report a change of residence: General Tax Law, article 19.
9. The 2026 normal scale, 12.5% to 48%: Portuguese income tax code (CIRS), article 68, as worded by the 2026 State Budget law.