e-Fatura Explained: How Portugal's Invoice System Feeds Your Tax Return

• e-Fatura is Portugal's system for reporting every invoice electronically to the AT, almost as soon as it's issued.
• An invoice only counts toward your deductions if your NIF is on it and it's classified under the right sector.
• You must confirm and correct your invoices in the e-Fatura portal or app by 25 February of the following year.
• If an invoice is wrong or you didn't buy what it says, you can reclassify it, remove it, or report a refusal — before the deadline closes the window.

e-Fatura is the electronic invoicing system run by the Autoridade Tributária (AT). Whenever a business in Portugal issues an invoice, it's legally required to report that invoice to the AT — by the 5th of the month following issuance at the latest. That means the tax authority already has a running record of your spending under your NIF long before you ever open your IRS return.

Why this matters for your deductions

• An invoice only feeds your deduction if it carries your NIF — a purchase you didn't give your NIF on doesn't automatically show up under your name at all.
• Each invoice also needs to be tied to the right sector (health, education, housing, or general expenses) — get this wrong, or leave it unresolved, and the AT treats it as a general household expense by default.
• Health invoices at the standard VAT rate need a prescription linked to them to count as a health expense rather than a general one.
• Invoices you forgot to give your NIF on when you paid can still be registered afterwards, by scanning the receipt's QR code in the e-Fatura app.

The validation process, step by step

1. 1
   Give your NIF on every purchase

   Ask for your NIF to be entered on the invoice every time you buy something, from groceries to a doctor's visit. The seller is legally required to issue an invoice and report it to the AT by the 5th of the following month — but without your NIF on it, that invoice is never linked to you, and it won't count toward any deduction.

2. 2
   Log into the e-Fatura portal or app

   Sign in at Portal das Finanças > e-Fatura, or the e-Fatura mobile app, with your Finanças credentials or Chave Móvel Digital. Invoices reported under your NIF normally appear within days of the purchase, under "As minhas faturas."

3. 3
   Check the sector/category each invoice was reported under

   An invoice shows up as pendente when its issuer is registered for more than one economic activity (CAE) — you then have to say which sector the expense belongs to (health, education, housing, or general). Leave it unresolved and it defaults to a general household expense once the deadline passes.

4. 4
   Confirm or dispute invoices, especially near the February deadline

   If the sector is wrong, reclassify the invoice directly in the app or portal. If an invoice's details don't match what you actually received, or a business refused to issue one at all, you can remove your own entry or report the refusal at any AT service point. Do this before 25 February of the following year — the deadline to confirm and correct the expenses that feed that year's deduction (health invoices needing a prescription linked to them have an earlier cut-off, 15 February).

5. 5
   Watch the running deduction total update

   As invoices get validated, the running totals under "Despesas Dedutíveis" update in real time. Those totals are what pre-fill your IRS return — you can still override them by hand in Anexo H when you file, if you disagree with what e-Fatura calculated for health, education, housing, or care-home expenses.

The deadline: 25 February

You must communicate and confirm that your expenses are correctly registered in the e-Fatura portal by 25 February of the year after the one they relate to — so expenses from 2026 need confirming by 25 February 2027. There's an earlier internal checkpoint, too: if a pharmacy invoice at the standard VAT rate is still waiting on a prescription by 15 February, it automatically converts to a general expense whether you act on it or not.

If you dispute an invoice

A few different things can go wrong, and the AT has a fix for each. If the amount or details a business reported don't match your receipt, and you see the invoice logged with mismatched "issuer" and "acquirer" communications, you remove your own entry under Faturação > Verificar Faturas. If a business simply refused to issue you an invoice at all, you can report that refusal at any AT service desk — give them the business's name, address, and any other identifying detail you have, and the AT can act on it. If you disagree with the running total e-Fatura calculated for health, education, housing, or care-home expenses, you're not stuck with it: you can override the figure by hand in Anexo H when you file your Modelo 3 return, as long as you fill in every field in that section rather than just the one you're changing. Keep your invoices for four years from the end of the year you made the purchase — the AT can ask for proof of any of this later.