Electronic Invoicing in Portugal
Is e-invoicing mandatory in Portugal ?
In Portugal, electronic invoicing for Business-to-Business (B2B) is being progressively rolled-out under a voluntary basis.
Regarding Business-to-Government (B2G), since April 2019 electronic invoicing is mandatory for the Portuguese public bodies that must be able to receive and process electronic invoices.
As of January 2021, all suppliers of large companies are obliged to issue only electronic invoices to public contractors. However, the mandate in B2G for small and medium companies’ suppliers has been postponed again, by the Council or Ministers, timeline is yet to be published.
The Portuguese government has had to postpone new e-invoice regulations multiple times. According to the latest update, a PDF invoice will continue to be considered an e-invoice until the end of December 2023.
The responsible Tax Authority in Portugal is the Fatura Eletrónica (FE-AP), and the electronic invoicing format in Portugal is UBL 2.1.
The 2025 Draft State Budget proposes delaying the implementation of the qualified electronic signature requirement as a method to establish the presumption of integrity and authenticity for e-invoices to January 1, 2026. As per Article 88, No. 3 of the proposed budget, it has been indicated that PDF documents will continue to be accepted as electronic invoices until December 31st, 2025. This extends the original deadline from December 31st, 2024, to December 31st, 2025:
Until 31 December 2025, invoices in PDF format are accepted and considered as electronic invoices for all purposes provided for in tax legislation.
The proposal also extends the deadline for submitting the accounting SAF-T file to 2027 for the financial year of 2026.
Please note that since this is still under discussion by the Government, it should not be regarded as a final decision, although the likelihood of postponement is high.
The Draft 2025 budget law is available on: https://app.parlamento.pt/webutils/docs/doc.pdf?path=6148523063484d364c793968636d356c6443397a6158526c63793959566b6c4d5a5763765247396a6457316c626e527663306c7561574e7059585270646d45764e3245334e6a466b4e6d5174596a4979597930304e7a45304c574668595755744e6a466d4e3259324e7a63324d44426a4c6d52765933673d&fich=7a761d6d-b22c-4714-aaae-61f7f677600c.docx&Inline=true
Want to learn more about e-Invoicing compliance?
Download our Global e-invoicing and Tax Compliance fact sheet here for more information.
Archiving
Digital invoice archiving is allowed in Portugal either inside Portugal or inside the EU, and the default retention period is 10 years.
The readability, integrity and authenticity need to be guaranteed for stored invoices. Basware provides compliant invoice archiving in Portugal through the Basware Vault service.
Want to know more about Basware’s archiving services?
Download our Basware Vault fact sheet here to learn more about our flexible and scalable solution.
Basware Services
Basware provides an e-invoicing-compliant setup in Portugal. Our solution ensures a smooth and efficient implementation for our customers.
The local tax regulation Standard Audit File for Tax purposes (SAF-T) has defined a specific data structure format fully supported by Basware Solution.
The invoice documents will be sent to the Portuguese Tax Authority ( Fatura Eletrónica (FE-AP) to obtain the validation code (ATCUD) before delivery. Basware supports sending and receiving invoices . The Basware platform integrates with ESPAP (Entidade de Serviços Partilhados da Administração Pública)
Invoices are exchanged in the format UBL 2.1 XML.
Want to find out how we can help in your specific case?
Speak to a member of our team to learn more.
Interoperability
Basware has a local partnership with Saphety (local invoicing network, operator) and Generix Group.
Our advice
Many southern European countries, including Portugal have adopted an invoice clearance model.
For buyers with a significant volume, we advise automating the invoice receiving and sending process by connecting to the governmental platform through the Basware Network and our local partner.
Want to understand how we can help in your case?
Get in touch with our experts.
