Can you get IFICI working remotely for a company abroad?

“I’m a W-2 employee and my company has no ties to Portugal. Can I get IFICI?” Not through that job on its own.

NHR, the old regime, was open to almost anyone who moved to Portugal. It closed to newcomers on 1 January 2024, and IFICI, the 20% tax regime that replaced it, is much narrower.^[12] Your work has to fit one of seven routes, and the ones most people use all need an employer or a company of your own in Portugal.^[1]

There’s a second thing that catches people out. Your salary may be paid from the US or the UK, but once you live and work here, it counts as Portuguese income. So IFICI’s exemption for foreign income doesn’t cover it either, and you pay Portugal’s normal scale on it.^[3]

There are two realistic ways in, though: an employer in Portugal, or a company of your own. Below, we go through what qualifies, what it costs, and when the 20% is worth having. If you became resident in 2026, your IFICI request is due by 15 January 2027.^[7]

This post is for you if you work remotely for a company or clients abroad. For every route and how to apply, start with our guide to IFICI.

In this guide10 sections

1. Why can't a remote job for a foreign employer get you IFICI?
2. How is your foreign salary taxed once you live in Portugal?
3. Can you get IFICI if your employer has an entity in Portugal?
4. Can you get IFICI through your own Portuguese company?
5. Can freelancers on recibos verdes get IFICI?
6. What does it cost to get IFICI through your own company?
7. Is IFICI worth it on your salary?
8. Does a D7 or D8 visa change your IFICI options?
9. In what order should you set things up for IFICI, and by when?
10. How do you find out whether you qualify for IFICI?

Why can’t a remote job for a foreign employer get you IFICI?

Because the four main routes all run through an entity in Portugal. IFICI has seven routes, and these are the four:^[1]

• A qualified job with an employer in Portugal, where the job and the employer both fit.
• Your own Portuguese company, with you as its paid manager (gerente) and its main activity on the official list.
• A certified startup, where you have a job or a management role.
• Scientific research, or teaching in higher education.

The other three are for narrower cases: investment contracts, a company’s research and development staff, and the Azores and Madeira, where the regions set their own rules.^[1]

A job for an employer with no presence in Portugal doesn’t fit any of the four, however senior or well paid it is.

If you’re an employee, your way in is a contract with an employer in Portugal. If you’re a contractor or a freelancer, it’s a company of your own.

How is your foreign salary taxed once you live in Portugal?

On Portugal’s normal scale, which runs from 12.5% to 48% in 2026.^[10] Salary for work you do while living in Portugal counts as Portuguese income, whoever pays it.^[3]

The top rate starts at €86,634 of taxable income, and there’s a 2.5% solidarity surcharge above €80,000.^[10][11]

“My employer and my payroll are abroad. How is that Portuguese income?”

Because what counts is where you do the work. IFICI exempts most foreign income, and a salary for work you do from Portugal isn’t foreign income, even if your employer and your payroll are both abroad.^[3][4]

So that salary gets nothing from IFICI. It isn’t taxed at 20%, and it isn’t exempt.

That’s true even if you get into IFICI another way, say through a company of your own. Only the pay from the work that qualifies you gets the 20%.^[1][2]

“What about my foreign dividends, interest and capital gains?”

They’re exempt in Portugal only if you’re in IFICI, and to be in IFICI you need a route first.^[4] With no route, you don’t have IFICI at all, so nothing is taxed at 20% and nothing is exempt.

If you do get in, you still declare that income every year, and the country it comes from may still tax it.

Can you get IFICI if your employer has an entity in Portugal?

Yes, if that entity employs you, and the entity and your job both qualify. The same goes for a job with any other employer in Portugal.

You need an employment contract. A services contract doesn’t count.^[2] Then, on the route most employees use, three things have to be true:

• Your employer’s main activity is on the official list. Two state agencies publish it: IAPMEI, for small businesses, and AICEP, for trade and investment.^[5][6]
• Your job is on their list of qualified jobs. Managers and directors, engineers, IT specialists and finance specialists are among them.^[5]
• You have at least a level 5 qualification, which is a post-school qualification one step below a degree.^[5]

There’s also a stricter route through exporting companies, with conditions of its own.^[7]

You can’t change your employer’s activity code. So before you sign, ask what it is, and have it checked against the list by someone outside HR.

If it all fits, you file the IFICI request yourself, and your employer signs a declaration for it.^[7]

Can you get IFICI through your own Portuguese company?

Yes. You can qualify as the paid manager (gerente) of your own Portuguese company, if its main activity is on the official list.^[2][6] If you’re a contractor or a freelancer with clients abroad, this is usually the realistic route.

The tax authority’s own guidance says this works even for a one-person company (a unipessoal Lda). Just owning the shares isn’t enough, though: you have to be its manager.^[2]

• The company’s main activity code (CAE) has to be on the list. A listed code that’s only secondary doesn’t count.^[6]
• You’re paid a salary through payroll, with Social Security. Your pay as manager counts as employment income, and only that pay gets the 20%.^[8]
• The company invoices your clients, wherever they are. This route has no export test.^[1][2]
• Your company can be brand new. IAPMEI checks new companies that have no accounts yet.^[2]

If you’re an employee today, a company doesn’t change how your salary from that job is taxed. Only what the company pays you gets the 20%. So this route means changing how you work with your employer, and you both have to want that.

“I’m a consultant. Is my activity on the list?”

It depends on the kind of consulting. Software and IT services are on the list, and so are architecture, engineering and research. Management consultancy isn’t, and neither is training.^[5]

In one of the recent files we analysed, a US founder on a D2 visa had registered the company in 2026 as management consultancy and training. Neither is on the list, so IFICI was out of reach as planned.

So check the code before you register the company, because it’s hard to change later. It has to describe the business you actually run, or it won’t stand up when IAPMEI checks. If you use our company formation service, tell us at the start that IFICI matters to you.

If your activity isn’t on the list, there’s one other way in: the certified startup route, which doesn’t use the activity list. Startup Portugal has to certify your company first.^[1][9]

“Can my Portuguese company just invoice my own US LLC or UK Ltd?”

Be careful with that set-up, for three reasons:

• Your Portuguese company needs real clients and real activity. It doesn’t need a profit on day one.
• A foreign company you run from Portugal can itself be treated as tax resident in Portugal.
• Pay you take from the foreign company while you live here is Portuguese income on the normal scale, with no IFICI.

So decide what happens to the LLC or the Ltd before you move, with your accountant in that country.

Can freelancers on recibos verdes get IFICI?

There’s no clear route if you invoice clients in your own name, as a sole trader on recibos verdes (green receipts). Three things stand in your way:

• On the main routes, a job means an employment contract. A services contract with a qualifying company doesn’t count.^[2]
• The other way onto those routes is a seat on a company’s board, like a gerente’s, and as a sole trader you don’t have one.^[1]
• You can’t be certified as a startup as a sole trader. The startup law only covers companies.^[9]

The tax authority settled the first point in its guidance, in answer to someone on a services contract:^[2]

O conceito de “posto de trabalho”, mencionado nas alíneas a), b), d), f) e g) do n.º 1 do artigo 58.º-A do EBF implica necessariamente a existência de um contrato de trabalho.

Portugal’s tax authority, IFICI guidance of 26 February 2025

Our translation: a “job”, as the law uses the word on five of its seven routes, necessarily means there’s an employment contract. The same guidance accepts a services contract in one case, for a university teacher in Portugal, on the teaching and research route.^[2]

So if you freelance, the realistic way in is the company route above. Whether a company suits you beyond the tax rate is a separate decision, and our comparison of freelancing and a single-member company goes through it.

What does it cost to get IFICI through your own company?

Social Security at 34.75% of your salary, a monthly accountant, and corporate tax on the company’s profit. The 20% only applies to your salary, so weigh it against all of these:

• Social Security: 34.75% of your salary. Your company pays 23.75% on top, and 11% comes out of your pay. IFICI only changes your income tax, so you pay this with or without it.
• A monthly accountant for the company.
• Corporate tax on the company’s profit. The 20% applies to your salary. The company’s profit is taxed separately.
• A tax return every year, with all your income on it, including the foreign income that’s exempt.

“Can I skip the salary and take dividends?”

No. Only your gerente salary gets the 20%. Dividends from your own Portuguese company get neither the 20% nor the exemption: they’re Portuguese income, taxed under the normal rules for dividends.^[1][4]

And in a year when you pay yourself no salary, you get no 20%, because the rate needs qualifying pay in that year.^[1] Our salary vs dividends calculator puts the two side by side.

Is IFICI worth it on your salary?

The 20% only beats the normal scale above about €32,500 a year. Below that, the normal scale already takes less than 20% of your salary, so the flat rate saves you nothing.

These figures are for an employee on 2026 rates, from our own calculator. Run your own salary through our Portugal income tax calculator.

Then set the saving against the costs above. At €50,000, the 20% saves you about €2,500 a year in income tax, and at €80,000 about €9,000.

If the company exists only to get you the rate, its running costs come out of that.

Two more things to weigh:

• In a year when the normal scale would cost you less, you can choose it instead.^[1]
• If you invest abroad, the exemption on foreign income can be worth more to you than the 20%.^[4]

Does a D7 or D8 visa change your IFICI options?

The IFICI rules are the same on any visa, but a company of your own has to fit your visa too. Your visa and your tax regime are handled by different authorities, so check both before you set one up.

On either visa, talk to us before you form the company. There’s more on the visa itself on our D8 digital nomad visa page.

In what order should you set things up for IFICI, and by when?

Check your route first, set up the company or the contract second, and move third. The IFICI request comes last: it’s due on Portal das Finanças, the tax authority’s website, by 15 January of the year after you become resident.^[7]

The order matters for two reasons:

• You can only file once the tax authority has you down as resident. The year you become resident is year one of your ten.^[1][7]
• Each year’s 20% applies to qualifying pay you earn in that year. So plan to have your role and your first pay in place in the year you become resident.^[1]

You can form the company before you move, with the NIF (tax number) you already have. If you’ve already moved and nothing is set up yet, our post on the 15 January IFICI deadline covers the dates in detail.

Miss the date and you can still apply, but you lose the years before the one you file in.^[1]

How do you find out whether you qualify for IFICI?

Have your case checked before you sign a contract or register a company, while you can still change the details. It’s an opinion on whether you’re likely to qualify. The tax authority makes the decision.

Frequently asked questions

Can I get IFICI working remotely for a US or UK employer?

Not through that job on its own. The routes most people use need an employer or a company of your own in Portugal. A contract with an employer in Portugal, or your own Portuguese company, can change that.

Is my foreign salary exempt under IFICI?

No. Salary for work you do while living in Portugal counts as Portuguese income, whoever pays it. It’s taxed on the normal scale, from 12.5% to 48% in 2026.

Can I get IFICI as a digital nomad on a D8 visa?

Not through your remote job, but your own Portuguese company can qualify. Keep your clients abroad, with their contracts and invoices, and make sure your gerente salary plus your other income still meets the D8 income test.

Can freelancers get IFICI?

There’s no clear route on green receipts. The main routes need an employment contract or a seat on a company’s board. Forming a company and becoming its paid gerente is the realistic way in.

Does my own company have to export to qualify?

No. The route most founders use has no export test. The 50% export rule belongs to a separate, stricter route.

Can I use the company I already have abroad?

Not as your way in. On the company route it has to be a Portuguese company, with you as its paid gerente. Pay from a foreign company for work you do while living here is Portuguese income on the normal scale.

Is there a minimum salary for IFICI?

The IFICI rules don’t set one. But it has to be real pay, through payroll, with Social Security. An unpaid manager’s seat doesn’t get you in.

My partner qualifies for IFICI. Does that cover me?

No. IFICI is individual, so each of you needs your own qualifying work. Your partner’s job doesn’t make your remote job eligible.

I’m American. How is my income taxed in Portugal under IFICI?

In three groups. Pay from your qualifying work here is taxed at 20%, and most foreign income is exempt in Portugal, though you still declare it. Pensions, your other Portuguese income and income from blacklisted jurisdictions aren’t covered. What the US still taxes is one for a US adviser.

Is IFICI the same as NHR for remote workers?

No. NHR was open to almost anyone who moved to Portugal, and it closed to newcomers on 1 January 2024. For IFICI you need qualifying work on one of seven routes.

Sources and how we checked

We read the IFICI law, its procedure order and the tax authority’s guidance in Portuguese, on the official sites. The €32,500 switch point and the salary figures come from our own income tax calculator, for an employee on 2026 rates. “Recent files we analysed” means anonymised client work. This post isn’t tax advice: whether IFICI works for you depends on your facts and on the checks the tax authority and your route’s checking body make after you file.

1. The IFICI law: the seven routes, the 20% rate, the ten years, the yearly conditions, late registration and the option to use the normal scale: Tax Benefits Statute, article 58-A, Portal das Finanças consolidated text.
2. The tax authority’s IFICI guide and questions, including how income is taxed (question 2), university teachers on a services contract (question 8), other services contracts (question 9), single-member companies (question 10) and new companies (question 32): Ofício Circulado 20276/2025, 26 February 2025.
3. Work done in Portugal counts as Portuguese income: Portuguese income tax code (CIRS), article 18.
4. The foreign-income exemption: Portuguese income tax code (CIRS), article 81, paragraphs 4 and 5.
5. The qualified jobs, the level 5 qualification and the activity list: IAPMEI, Aviso 4812/2025/2, 20 February 2025.
6. The listed code has to be the company’s main activity: IAPMEI, Aviso 9709/2025/2, 10 April 2025.
7. The 15 January filing date, the employer’s declaration and the exporter route: Portaria 352/2024/1, the IFICI procedure order, as amended by Portaria 52-A/2025/1.
8. A manager’s pay is employment income: Portuguese income tax code (CIRS), article 2.
9. What counts as a startup, and why a sole trader can’t be one: Startup law (Lei 21/2023), article 2, Portal das Finanças consolidated text.
10. The 2026 normal scale, 12.5% to 48%: Portuguese income tax code (CIRS), article 68, as worded by the 2026 State Budget law.
11. The solidarity surcharge: Portuguese income tax code (CIRS), article 68-A.
12. NHR closed to new applicants, and IFICI created: Portugal’s 2024 State Budget law (Lei 82/2023, 29 December 2023), Portal das Finanças copy.