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IRS Refund Simulator with Deductions

IRS Refund Simulator · Portugal

Filed your 2026 IRS declaration (the one for 2025 income) and want to know how much you will get back (or owe)? This simulator redoes the settlement maths: the dedução específica (specific deduction), the 2025 brackets, the mínimo de existência (existence minimum), IRS Jovem, dependants, the health, education, rent, e-fatura IVA (VAT) and PPR deductions, with the article-78 global cap, and compares joint versus separate filing. All in your browser, no sign-up.

By Elijah·UPDATED JULY 2026·6 MIN·OFFICIAL SOURCES
KEY FACTS
Refund deadline
By law, up to 31 August 2026 (art. 102-B CIRS)
Mínimo de existência 2025
Reference value €12,180 · automatic abatement
IRS Jovem 2025
Up to 100% exempt, capped at €28,737.50 (55 × IAS)
Deduction caps
Health €1,000 · Education €800 · Rent €700–€1,000 · IVA €250
Tudo antes dos descontos: os 14 salários mais subsídios tributados, o total que aparece no anexo A.
Solteiro/aCasalMonoparental
Conte os anos desde o primeiro em que teve rendimentos de trabalho fora do agregado dos pais. Quem teve NHR/IFICI está excluído.
Some as linhas de IRS dos recibos de vencimento de 2025, ou copie do anexo A pré-preenchido.
0
0
0
Valores anuais do e-fatura. Saúde/educação/rendas: o que gastou. IVA: copie a dedução «IVA» acumulada no e-fatura (máx. €250). As despesas gerais familiares entram automaticamente no teto.
ACERTO ESTIMADO
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Preencha o bruto de 2025 e a retenção para ver o resultado.
  • Rendimento coletável (após dedução específica)-
  • Coleta (escalões de 2025)-
  • − Dependentes-
  • − Despesas gerais familiares (automático)-
  • − Saúde (15%, máx. €1.000)-
  • − Educação (30%, máx. €800)-
  • − Rendas (15%)-
  • − IVA e-fatura (máx. €250)-
  • − PPR (20%)-
  • IRS apurado de 2025-
  • IRS retido na fonte em 2025-

How this works

The IRS settlement is a subtraction: the tax due for 2025 minus what you already handed over during the year through retenção na fonte (withholding). Withheld too much? You get a refund. Too little? You get a bill. This simulator redoes that calculation for category A (employment income), step by step, including the two mechanisms simple simulators ignore: the mínimo de existência and IRS Jovem.

  1. 1
    From gross pay to taxable income
    Each income holder subtracts the dedução específica: €4,462.15 in 2025 (8.54 × the €522.50 IAS, Ordinance 6-B/2025/1) or, if higher, their Segurança Social contributions (11% of gross, which kicks in above roughly €40,565). What remains is the taxable income.
  2. 2
    The mínimo de existência protects low salaries
    Since 2023, article 70 of the CIRS works as an extra abatement to taxable income, computed per income holder. With the 2025 reference value (€12,180), anyone earning up to €12,180 gross abates €5,717.85; the abatement then tapers in two ramps and runs out at roughly €14,857 gross. In practice, a salary near the salário mínimo (minimum wage) ends up with zero tax, and gets all its retenção back.
  3. 3
    The gross tax: 2025 brackets, couple quotient and IRS Jovem
    We apply the nine brackets in force for 2025 (Law 55-A/2025): 12.5% up to €8,059, rising to 48% above €83,696. For jointly-taxed couples, income is halved and the result doubled. With IRS Jovem, the exempt part (100% in year 1, 75% in years 2–4, 50% in years 5–7, 25% in years 8–10, capped at €28,737.50) escapes the tax, but still counts when setting the rate applied to the rest (exemption with progression, art. 12-B).
  4. 4
    The 2025 tax credits
    Each dependant deducts €600 (€726 if aged up to 3, €900 from the second dependant onwards when aged up to 6). General family expenses give 35% up to €250 per taxpayer (45% up to €335 for single-parent households); the simulator assumes the cap, reached with ~€715 of faturas. Health: 15% up to €1,000. Education: 30% up to €800. Rent on your permanent home: 15% up to €700, or up to €1,000 for low taxable incomes (art. 78-E(4)). The e-fatura IVA credit: the amount accumulated in e-fatura, up to €250. It is 15% of the IVA at restaurants, hairdressers, garages and vets (30% at gyms, 100% on transport passes), not a share of the bill. PPR: 20% of what you invested, up to €400/€350/€300 depending on age.
  5. 5
    The brake: the article-78 global cap
    The sum of the health, education, rent, invoice-IVA and tax-benefit deductions (PPR included) has a ceiling that depends on taxable income: no limit up to €8,059; a flat €1,000 above €80,000; in between, a formula sliding from €2,500 down to €1,000. For couples the halved income counts; with three or more dependants the ceiling rises 5% per dependant. Dependants and general family expenses sit outside this cap.
  6. 6
    Refund or a bill
    From the assessed tax (plus the solidarity surcharge, 2.5% on taxable income above €80,000 and 5% above €250,000) the 2025 retenção na fonte is subtracted. If you withheld more than you owe, the AT (the tax office) refunds the difference, by law up to 31 August 2026 (in 2026, in practice, about 2 to 4 weeks after filing). If you withheld less, you get a bill, also payable by 31 August. Note that deductions never make the tax negative: your maximum refund is the retenção you paid.
IRS JOVEM EM DETALHE
Este simulador aplica a isenção para jovens com progressividade, como faz a AT. Para explorar só a isenção (que anos contam, o que o teto faz ao seu salário) use a ferramenta própria:
Simulador de IRS Jovem →

Frequently asked

When do I get my IRS refund in 2026?
Filed within the deadline (1 April to 30 June 2026)? By law, the AT has until 31 August 2026 to pay (art. 102-B CIRS). Past that, late interest accrues in your favour. In practice, in 2026 automatic returns were paid in under 2 weeks and normal ones in 3 to 4 weeks. The portal journey: "Em tratamento" → "Declaração certa" → "Liquidação" → "Reembolso emitido" → money in the bank about 3 working days later.
My refund has not arrived: what usually blocks it?
Blocker number one is the IBAN: without an IBAN registered and confirmed on the Portal das Finanças ("Dados Pessoais Relevantes"), the AT mails a cheque, which many foreigners cannot cash. Confirm your IBAN before assessment. Other blockers: flagged inconsistencies (reviews can take months), pending faturas not validated by 2 March, and late filings, which go to the back of the queue.
Why is my refund smaller than last year?
A refund is not a bonus: it is the return of what you over-withheld. In 2025 the IRS rates were cut (Law 55-A/2025) and the withholding tables were adjusted, so many people already paid less tax month by month… and have less to get back now. A bigger net salary during the year means a smaller refund the following summer.
My rent deduction did not show up in my return. Now what?
Very common. For rent to count, the lease must be registered with Finanças by the landlord and the electronic recibos de renda (rent receipts) issued to your Portuguese NIF: receipts with a wrong NIF, a passport number or the wrong country are worth zero. Even when everything is right, rent sometimes is not pulled in automatically: you can (and should) declare it manually in table 6-C of Anexo H. Keep the receipts.
The e-fatura IVA credit: why is it so small?
Because it is not a share of the bill: it is 15% of the IVA inside it (restaurants, accommodation, hairdressers, garages, vets; 30% at gyms; 35% on veterinary medicines; 100% on transport passes and newspaper subscriptions), capped at €250 per household. A €100 dinner yields about €3.45 of credit. The accumulated amount is shown in e-fatura: copy it into the simulator field.
Married: joint or separate?
It depends on the numbers, which is why the simulator shows both. Joint filing usually wins when the two incomes are uneven (the couple quotient lowers the average rate). Under separate filing, each spouse files their own return and the per-household deduction caps halve (health €500, education €400, rent €350, IVA €125, and the article-78 global cap too). The filing flow on the Portal simulates both scenarios before you submit. Use it to confirm.
I qualify for IRS Jovem. Can I use it? And what if I forgot to tick it?
IRS Jovem (art. 12-B) applies up to age 35, counting years since the first one in which you earned work income outside your parents' household: 100% exempt in year 1, 75% in years 2–4, 50% in years 5–7, 25% in years 8–10, always capped at €28,737.50. You claim it on the declaration itself: there is no application. If you forgot, you can file a declaração de substituição (substitute return) and receive the difference. Note: anyone who ever had NHR or IFICI status is excluded from the regime.
I earn little. Why does the simulator say I pay zero?
That is the mínimo de existência (article 70) at work: an automatic abatement which, in 2025, keeps salaries up to roughly €14,857 gross per holder paying little or no IRS. If the assessed tax is zero, your refund is all the retenção you paid. The simulator applies the formula per income holder; cases with non-aggregated income can escape the rule. The AT's nota de liquidação (assessment note) has the final word.
I am an NHR holder or on IFICI. Does this simulator work for me?
No, and deliberately so. Those regimes swap the brackets, the mínimo de existência and IRS Jovem for a flat 20% on eligible net income, with their own withholding and deduction rules. We built dedicated simulators: one for NHR and one for IFICI, both with the aggregation comparison. Use this one only if you are taxed under the general regime.
I moved to Portugal mid-2025. Do I declare the whole year?
No. Portugal has split-year tax residency (art. 15(3) CIRS): you file as a resident only from the day you became one, normally the day you had a home here. Foreign income earned before that date does not go into the Portuguese return. Declaring the full year by mistake is an expensive and common newcomer error; in this simulator, use only the income from your residency period.
OFFICIAL SOURCES
DISCLAIMER
An estimate for orientation, not tax advice. It simulates the category A (employment) IRS settlement on 2025 income, mainland Portugal. The mínimo de existência and IRS Jovem are applied per holder as approximations; the joint/separate comparison assumes expenses split down the middle. It excludes other income categories (self-employment, rental income, foreign income), donations, nursing homes, alimony, disability deductions, split-year residency, NHR/IFICI and the Madeira/Azores rates. The real number is the one on the AT's nota de liquidação. Confirm on the Portal das Finanças.