Recibo Verde vs Fatura-Recibo: What's the Difference?

Ask any Portuguese freelancer what they do for work and there's a decent chance they'll tell you they "pass recibos verdes." Ask them what a recibo verde actually is, and you might get a confident answer that turns out to be slightly wrong.

The confusion is understandable. The Recibo Verde is simultaneously a cultural shorthand, a historical artifact, and an actual document that behaves differently from what the name implies.

Here's what it actually is, and why the distinction between a Recibo Verde, a Fatura-Recibo, and a plain Fatura matters for how you work with clients.

The name is older than the document

The "green receipt" name comes from the physical booklets freelancers used from 1978 onward, actual green paper, filled out by hand, torn off in carbon copies, and eventually submitted to the tax office each year. Doctors, lawyers, architects, and other independent professionals used them to record every payment received for services.

In 2003, the physical booklets disappeared. Everything moved to the Portal das Finanças. But the name "recibo verde" didn't go anywhere, it's now synonymous with freelancing in Portugal the way "dialing a number" survives in the smartphone era.

When Portuguese people say passar recibos verdes (passing green receipts), they mean working as a freelancer. The document itself is now technically a Fatura-Recibo: an invoice-receipt that does two things at once.

One document, two jobs

The Fatura-Recibo is what you issue on the AT portal when a client pays you for services.

It's unusual because it combines two steps that are separate in most European countries. In the UK, Sweden, France, or Germany, you'd typically send an invoice when the work is done, then record income when the payment arrives. Two events, two documents, two dates.

Portugal merged them. A Fatura-Recibo simultaneously:

• Documents that you provided the service (the invoice function)
• Confirms that payment was received (the receipt function)

You issue it at the moment of payment. That's when the income is recorded for IRS and Social Security purposes. The simplified regime works on a cash basis, income counts when money arrives, not when the work is done.

For most freelancing with Portuguese clients, this is clean and efficient. One click on the Portal das Finanças and the whole transaction is registered.

What about foreign clients?

Here's where it gets more interesting.

Foreign companies (a Swedish startup, a Dutch agency, a UK consultancy) typically have internal systems that require an invoice before they can authorize payment. They need to log the purchase, get internal approval, then pay on their own timeline. Sometimes that's 30 days, sometimes 60.

You can't issue a Fatura-Recibo in that situation. The document confirms payment received, and if you issue it before you've been paid, you've just told the AT portal you received income you haven't received yet. Your IRS and Social Security calculations would be based on money that might arrive months later, or in the next tax year.

The solution is a Fatura first, then a Recibo (receipt) once the money arrives.

A Fatura on its own is just an invoice, it records what you did and what you're owed, but it does not confirm payment. It doesn't trigger income in your tax calculations. Then when the payment lands, you issue the Recibo, which completes the transaction and records the income on the correct date.

This two-step process is how any invoicing to foreign clients in Portugal actually works in practice.

The document types in the AT portal

When you open the AT portal and go to issue a document, you'll see a dropdown with several options. Here's what the main ones are:

Fatura-Recibo (FR): The standard "green receipt." One document, issued at the moment of payment. Use this for domestic clients paying immediately or for clients who send payment upfront.

Fatura (FT): An invoice without a payment confirmation. Use this when your client needs an invoice before they can pay. You'll follow up with a Recibo once payment arrives.

Recibo (RG): A standalone receipt. Used to close out a Fatura by confirming payment was received.

Nota de Crédito (NC): A credit note. Used to partially or fully cancel a previous document. If you issued a Fatura-Recibo and need to correct it, this is how.

Fatura Simplificada (FS): A simplified invoice for lower-value transactions. Less common for service freelancers, more relevant for retail.

Most service freelancers using the simplified regime end up using Fatura-Recibo for everything Portuguese and the Fatura/Recibo pair for everything foreign. The other document types come up occasionally, a Nota de Crédito when there's a correction, a Fatura Simplificada if you're selling something inexpensive.

The practical question: which one should you use?

It depends on your client's payment workflow.

Client pays you directly, same day or immediately after the work? Issue a Fatura-Recibo. One step.

Client needs an invoice to process through their accounting system before they pay? Issue a Fatura. Issue the Recibo when the payment arrives.

Client overpaid, or you need to cancel a previous document? Issue a Nota de Crédito referencing the original.

The AT portal connects all of these. A Fatura and its closing Recibo are linked in the system, so the tax authority sees the complete transaction. The income date (which is what matters for IRS and Social Security) is always the date of the Recibo, not the Fatura.

Why this matters for your taxes

The simplified regime calculates your IRS taxable base and your Social Security contributions based on the income recorded in each quarter. The income date is set by the document that confirms payment.

If you're managing cash flow across calendar years, say, a large project that finishes in November but you know the client pays in January, the document date is what determines which tax year that income falls into. A Fatura issued in November, paid in January, records income in January.

This is one of those places where the paperwork structure has real financial consequences. Not complicated once you understand it, but easy to get wrong if you assume income is recorded when you do the work rather than when you get paid.

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The tools Descodify provides handle all of these document types, Fatura-Recibo for immediate payment, Fatura + Recibo for deferred payment, Nota de Crédito for corrections. All AT-certified, all automatically communicated to the AT portal. The document type decision is yours; the mechanics are automatic.