CIRS 1326: Tax Code for Tourist Guides and Interpreter-Guides in Portugal

The query "CIRS 1326 Portugal" or "tour guide freelancer Portugal" rarely lands you on a page that answers the actual question: what tax code do you use, and what does it mean for your invoicing and IRS filing?

Code 1326 belongs to the CIRS Art. 151 table (the Portuguese list of professional activities for sole-proprietor freelancers who issue Recibos Verdes). It is not a CAE code. The confusion between the two systems catches nearly everyone, and for tourist guides and interpreter-guides there is a second layer: a professional licensing requirement that most other freelancer codes do not carry.

Two classification systems with nothing in common

CAE (Classificacao Portuguesa de Atividades Economicas) is maintained by INE (Instituto Nacional de Estatistica), Portugal's national statistics office. It classifies economic entities: companies, branches, and associations. When a tour operator sets up a Lda, it registers under CAE 79120 (tour operator activities) or CAE 79110 (travel agency activities). CAE applies to legal entities.

CIRS Art. 151 is maintained by AT, the Portuguese tax authority. It classifies individual independent professionals who issue Recibos Verdes. When you open your freelance activity at the Portal das Financas as a sole proprietor, you choose a code from this table. CAE 79120 and CIRS 1326 are different universes.

The CAE glossary entry covers both systems side by side, and the CIRS glossary entry explains where Art. 151 fits within the Portuguese tax code.

What CIRS 1326 actually covers

Code 1326 in the Art. 151 table is "Guias-intérpretes e acompanhantes de turistas": tourist guide-interpreters and tourist chaperones. This covers:

• Licensed freelance tourist guides leading tours at monuments, museums, historic sites, and across regions
• Interpreter-guides who combine linguistic services with tourist accompaniment
• Tourist chaperones who accompany groups through destinations

Three codes come up in the same searches:

CIRS 1326: Tourist guide-interpreters and chaperones. For licensed professionals whose primary activity is guiding tourists, whether at a specific site, across a region, or nationally.

CIRS 1334: Translators ("Tradutores"). If your work is text translation or simultaneous interpretation in professional or legal settings rather than tourist accompaniment, see the CIRS 1334 guide.

CIRS 1519: The catch-all for activities not specifically named in the Art. 151 table. Its coefficient is 0.35, not 0.75. If you mistakenly register under 1519 when 1326 applies, you would under-report taxable income. Registering under 1519 when you should be under 1326 is a misclassification the AT can correct.

The licensing requirement that most other CIRS codes do not have

Tourist guides in Portugal are a regulated profession. To work as a paid freelance tourist guide, you must hold a professional card (cartão profissional de guia-intérprete) issued by Turismo de Portugal. The card requires passing a professional examination and is issued in different categories: national (valid across Portugal), regional (one region), or thematic (a specific subject area such as archaeology or heritage architecture).

This licensing requirement applies to the guiding activity. The CIRS 1326 registration at the AT is your tax classification; it does not substitute for the professional card. You register at the Portal das Financas under 1326 after you have your professional card, not instead of it.

For expats, the licensing process is the same: you apply to Turismo de Portugal, sit the exam in Portuguese, and meet the same category requirements as a Portuguese national. The exam language and qualification requirements are not waived.

If you are working as a freelance interpreter at conferences, legal proceedings, or business meetings (not as a tourist guide), a different CIRS code applies. Code 1326 is specific to tourist accompaniment and guide-interpretation in tourism contexts.

The tax mechanics for CIRS 1326 tourist guides

The 0.75 coefficient. Under the simplified regime, 75% of your gross revenue is taxable. The remaining 25% is treated as assumed business costs: you do not need receipts for it, and you cannot substitute actual expenses in its place even if your real costs were higher. Social Security contributions are separately deductible on top.

First-year discount. In your first calendar year of activity, only 37.5% of gross revenue is taxable (half the standard rate). In year two, 56.25%. This runs by calendar year, not 12 months from your start date. If you open your activity in April, you get eight months at the reduced rate instead of one and a half.

To qualify: no employment income or pension in the same year, and no similar activity closed in the last five years.

The 15% documented expense requirement. You still need to prove 15% of gross income in documented expenses: invoices with your NIF registered in the e-fatura system. An automatic specific deduction of roughly €4,587.09 (2026) counts toward this, or your Social Security contributions up to a cap of 10% of your gross, whichever is larger. See the 15% expense rule fact page for the full mechanics.

Withholding from Portuguese clients. When a Portuguese business with organized accounting pays you for guiding services, they are required to withhold 23% from your invoice and send it directly to AT. This is a pre-payment toward your IRS liability, not an additional tax. You receive the net amount; AT receives the advance.

Withholding from foreign clients: nothing. When a UK travel agency, a German tour operator, or an American travel company pays you, the full invoice amount lands in your account. No withholding exists for foreign payers. Your IRS liability on that income is real; the mechanism that pre-pays it for Portuguese clients simply does not apply here. Budget separately for your year-end IRS settlement.

The Art. 53 VAT exemption. Below the annual turnover threshold of €15,000.00, you are exempt from VAT under Art. 53 CIVA. You do not charge VAT, file VAT returns, or submit the Declaracao Periodica (except for reverse-charge obligations on foreign SaaS subscriptions). If you exceed the threshold, you register for the normal VAT regime.

Working as an expat tourist guide in Portugal

Most freelancer guides covering CIRS codes are written for Portuguese professionals. If you moved from the UK, Germany, or the Netherlands and your tour bookings come from international operators, several points change.

Your old invoicing system is not legal here

Every platform used to issue legally valid Portuguese invoices must be certified by the AT under Portaria 363/2010. Certified software assigns ATCUD codes to each document, communicates with AT systems, and generates the SAF-T audit file.

FreshBooks, Wave, QuickBooks, Xero, and Stripe Invoicing are not AT-certified. If you arrived with an existing invoicing setup from abroad, those invoices are not valid in the Portuguese tax system. The free fallback is the AT portal itself (Portal das Financas, "Faturas e Recibos Verdes"), which is certified and free.

Invoicing foreign tour operators at 0% VAT

When you invoice a business client in another EU country (a German tour company, a French travel agency), you issue at 0% VAT under Art. 6 CIVA. The place of supply is the customer's country; they reverse-charge VAT in Germany or France. You use exemption code 115 on the invoice.

In the normal VAT regime, you also file the Declaracao Recapitulativa, a quarterly EU reporting document, from your first EU B2B invoice. Under the Art. 53 exemption, you no longer do for operations from 1 July 2025 onward: DL 35/2025 revoked the provision that extended that obligation to exempt taxpayers.

For UK clients, the same 0% applies post-Brexit under CIVA Art. 6 rules for services to non-EU business clients.

Social Security quarterly declarations

Social Security declarations (Declaracao Trimestral) are filed every quarter based on the gross income of the prior three months. The calculation uses 21.4% on 70% of your quarterly gross. In your first year of activity the first declaration is due at the end of the fourth quarter; thereafter quarterly.

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The compliance picture for a CIRS 1326 tourist guide with international clients: professional card from Turismo de Portugal, AT-certified invoicing with ATCUD codes, 0% VAT on EU B2B invoices (with Declaracao Recapitulativa if in the normal regime), no withholding from foreign payers so you are setting aside your own IRS provision, and quarterly Social Security declarations.

If you want invoicing that is compliant from the first document and covers the SAF-T requirements, Descodify is AT-certified and handles ATCUD codes, the e-fatura communication, and the VAT Declaracao Recapitulativa. The free tier covers invoicing.

Start your first invoice at descodify.pt.

Related: CIRS 1334: Tax code for translators and interpreters in Portugal

Related: CIRS 1327: Tax code for journalists and reporters in Portugal

Related: CIRS: what the Codigo do IRS governs and how Art. 151 classifies your activity