CIRS 2010 and 2013: Tax Codes for Performing Artists and Musicians in Portugal

If you work as a performing artist, musician, actor, or dancer in Portugal and you're registered as a sole-proprietor freelancer (trabalhador independente), your activity falls under the CIRS Art. 151 classification table. The codes that apply to performing arts and music (specifically codes 2010 and 2013) determine your IRS coefficient, and that coefficient drives a significant part of your tax calculation.

This post explains what those codes cover, how the simplified regime (regime simplificado) applies to artists and musicians, and what the compliance picture looks like when your clients are festivals, theaters, labels, or event organizers across Portugal and Europe.

The CIRS Art. 151 table and why it matters

CIRS Art. 151 is the AT's classification system for independent professionals. The table is Portaria n.o 1011/2001 Anexo I, amended most recently by Portaria n.o 23/2022. When you open your activity at the Portal das Financas as a freelancer, you choose a code from this list.

The code you choose determines your simplified regime coefficient: the fraction of your gross revenue that is actually taxable. For all Art. 151 listed professions, the coefficient is 0.75. That means 75% of your invoiced income is taxable; the remaining 25% is treated as assumed business expenses, with no receipts required.

For a musician earning €30,000 from gigs, sessions, and teaching: €22,500 is taxable income. €7,500 is assumed expenses, taken without documentation.

This compares favorably to the 0.35 coefficient for generic "other services" (CIRS 1519, for professions not specifically named in the Art. 151 table). A lower coefficient means less taxable income, which sounds counterintuitive but is correct. If you qualify for an Art. 151 code, you should use it: registering under 1519 when your profession is specifically listed is a misclassification.

Codes 2010 and 2013: performing artists and musicians

Code 2010 covers performing artists in theater, dance, cinema, radio, and television. This includes stage actors, ballet and contemporary dancers, and performers working in live and broadcast performance disciplines.

Code 2013 covers musicians and musical performers. This applies to professional musicians working as soloists, ensemble players, session musicians, and performers in any musical genre.

Both codes sit in the same section of the Portaria table and share the 0.75 coefficient. The practical tax mechanics are identical for both.

There are adjacent codes in the same group: 2011 (circus artists and acrobats) and 2012 (sculptors and plastic artists). If your primary discipline is visual art rather than performance, code 2012 may apply. If you do both (perform and create), you register under the code that best describes your primary activity.

How the simplified regime works in practice

The coefficient is not a deduction. It is a taxable income fraction. You cannot exceed it with real expenses. A musician who spent €40,000 on instruments, travel, and production in a €50,000 income year cannot deduct more than the 25% assumed; the remaining €10,000 in actual costs above 25% of gross provides no additional benefit under the simplified regime. If your actual documented expenses reliably exceed 25% of gross, organized accounting (contabilidade organizada) may produce a lower tax bill, but it requires a certified accountant (contabilista certificado) and costs more to maintain.

The 15% documented expense requirement. Under the simplified regime, you must demonstrate at least 15% of gross professional income in documented expenses registered in e-fatura. The automatic specific deduction of €4,587.09 (2026) (2026 value) counts toward this, as do Social Security contributions up to 10% of your gross income. For most artists and musicians with modest documented costs, the Social Security leg alone often clears the 15% bar. See the 15% expense rule for the full mechanics.

First-year discount. In your first calendar year as a registered independent professional, only 37.5% of gross revenue is taxable (half the standard 75%). In year two, 56.25%. This applies regardless of whether you open your activity in January or November: the discount is calendar-year-based, not 12-month-based. Open your activity late in the year and you get only a few months at the discounted rate before year two begins.

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

Social Security contributions. As a trabalhador independente, you contribute to Social Security based on a quarterly income assessment. SS contributions are deducted from your IRS taxable base in two ways: up to 10% of gross under Art. 31 n.o 1 (the 15% expense rule leg), and the excess above that cap under Art. 31 n.o 2. The net effect is that nearly all SS paid is eventually deductible from taxable IRS income, but the mechanism has two steps and two declaration fields.

Invoicing and the AT certification requirement

Every invoice you issue as a Portuguese freelancer must be legally valid: issued by AT-certified software that assigns an ATCUD code, communicates with AT, and generates the SAF-T audit file. This applies whether you are invoicing a theater, a festival, a recording label, or an individual student.

The AT portal (Portal das Financas, "Faturas e Recibos Verdes") is free, certified, and requires no subscription. For artists with a straightforward Portuguese client base, it works. Its limitations show up when you need invoices in English, when you invoice EU clients and need to manage the Declaracao Recapitulativa, or when you want to track deductible expenses.

Foreign invoicing tools (Stripe Invoicing, Wave, QuickBooks) are not AT-certified. Using them as your primary invoicing system is not valid.

Invoicing foreign clients: the EU picture for performing artists

Many professional musicians and performers work internationally: EU festival circuits, international residencies, recording work across borders. Several pieces of the compliance picture change when your clients are not Portuguese.

VAT on EU services. When you invoice a business client in another EU country for artistic services, the place of supply is generally the customer's country (Art. 6 CIVA), and you invoice at 0% with exemption code 115. The client reverse-charges in their own country.

If you are in the normal VAT regime, you file the Declaracao Recapitulativa quarterly from your first EU B2B invoice. Under the Art. 53 VAT exemption regime, this quarterly reporting requirement does not apply.

No withholding from foreign clients. Portuguese entities paying Art. 151 professionals are required to withhold 23% at source. Foreign clients do not withhold. When a German festival pays you €4,000 for a performance, the full €4,000 reaches your account. Your Portuguese IRS liability is still real; there is simply no advance mechanism for it. Budget accordingly: a quarterly estimate and a dedicated savings buffer are standard practice.

Tax treaties may affect double taxation. If you perform regularly in the same country (France, Germany, the Netherlands), and that country taxes your performance income at source, Portugal's double-taxation treaty with that country governs whether you credit or exempt that income in Portugal. This is treaty-specific and often complex; a contabilista certificado familiar with international activity is worth consulting if you regularly earn in multiple countries.

The compliance picture

For a Portuguese-based performing artist or musician on the simplified regime:

• AT-certified invoicing for every document issued in Portugal
• CIRS code 2010 or 2013 depending on your primary discipline
• 0.75 coefficient: 75% of gross invoiced income is taxable IRS income
• Social Security quarterly declarations (contributions deductible in IRS)
• If VAT-registered: Declaracao Periodica and potentially Declaracao Recapitulativa for EU invoices
• No withholding from foreign clients; budget your own IRS provision

Nothing here is uniquely complex for performing artists. The mechanics are the same as for any other Art. 151 professional. What catches artists off guard is the combination: foreign clients, multiple income streams (performances, teaching, sessions, royalties), and the gap between what Portuguese guides typically describe and what actually applies when half your work is abroad.

If you want certified invoicing that handles ATCUD and the international compliance pieces, Descodify is built for exactly this use case. Free for invoicing; Completo (19 euros/month) covers VAT declarations and IRS preparation.

Start at descodify.pt.

Related: CIRS 1332: activity code and tax mechanics for software developers in Portugal

Related: Simplified regime coefficients: how Portugal taxes freelancer income

Related: CIRS glossary entry: what the Art. 151 table is and why it matters