Simplified Regime Coefficients, IRS & IRC (Portugal 2026)

What coefficients do

Under the simplified regime (regime simplificado), you don't deduct individual business expenses. Instead, the tax authority applies a coefficient to your gross revenue. The result is your taxable income.

A coefficient of 0.75 means 75% of your revenue is taxable, and the remaining 25% is assumed to be business costs.

IRS coefficients (sole proprietors)

For trabalhadores independentes under the IRS simplified regime. Legal basis: Article 31 CIRS.

Activity type	Coefficient	Taxable %
Services, Art. 151 listed professions	0.75	75%
Services not specifically listed in the Art. 151 table (including catch-all code 1519)	0.35	35%
Sales of goods, restaurants and bars, hotel-type services, crypto-asset operations other than mining	0.15	15%
Local accommodation (alojamento local), hotel-type establishment	0.15	15%
Local accommodation, house or apartment (moradia ou apartamento)	0.35	35%
Local accommodation, house or apartment in a containment area (zona de contenção)	0.50	50%
IP licensing, crypto-asset mining, Category B capital and rental income, capital gains	0.95	95%
Operating subsidies (subsídios à exploração) and other Category B income	0.10	10%
Other subsidies (não destinados à exploração)	0.30	30%

One more line in Art. 31 catches people out: services you bill to a company you are closely tied to (a fiscally transparent company you are a partner in, or a company you or your family hold a qualifying stake in for more than 183 days) are taxed in full, with no deemed costs at all.

Art. 151 professions are a fixed list of activity codes. It includes computer programmers (programadores informáticos, code 1332), systems analysts (analistas de sistemas, 1313), consultants (consultores, 1320), designers (1336), translators (1334), architects, engineers, lawyers, doctors and accountants. If your activity is specifically listed, the coefficient is 0.75. Code 1519 (outros prestadores de serviços) is in the table too, but it is the catch-all for activities the table does not list, so it takes 0.35. AT looks at the work you actually do, not just the code on file.

First-year discount

In the tax year you start, three of the coefficients are cut by 50%, and in the following tax year by 25% (Art. 31 n.º 10 CIRS):

Year	Art. 151 services	Other services, and house or apartment local accommodation	Operating subsidies and other Category B income
Year 1	0.375	0.175	0.05
Year 2	0.5625	0.2625	0.075
Year 3+	0.75	0.35	0.10

Every other coefficient gets no reduction. Goods sales, hotel-type local accommodation, local accommodation in a containment area, IP and crypto stay at their standard coefficient from day one.

Two conditions apply. Each year is tested on its own: employment or pension income (Category A or H) in year 1 loses the year-1 reduction, and the same income in year 2 loses the year-2 reduction, whatever happened in year 1. And if you closed any activity (cessação de atividade) in the five years before, you get no reduction at all, even if the old activity was completely different (Art. 31 n.º 11). The years are tax years from January 1, not 12 months from your registration date: start in March and year 1 ends that December 31.

Worked examples

The examples below use the 0.75 coefficient for Art. 151 services (software developers, consultants, architects, accountants, engineers). Actual IRS owed depends on your full Modelo 3, including deductions, other income sources, and any 15% expense adjustments.

€20,000 gross (first year of activity)

Year-one coefficient: 0.375 (the standard 0.75 halved). This assumes no employment or pension income that year and no activity closed in the previous five years.

Item	Value
Gross revenue	€20,000
Coefficient	0.375 (year-1 discount)
Taxable income	€7,500

In your first calendar year, you pay IRS on €7,500 of €20,000 gross. The 15% expense rule applies at €3,000 (15% of €20,000). The automatic specific deduction alone is larger than that, so no documented expenses are needed at this income.

€40,000 gross (2026 income, year 3+, standard coefficient)

Standard coefficient: 0.75.

Item	Value
Gross revenue	€40,000
Coefficient	0.75
Taxable income (before expense adjustment)	€30,000
15% expense threshold	€6,000

The threshold is €6,000. The automatic legs cannot reach it at this income: Social Security counts only up to 10% of gross (€4,000 here), which is below the specific deduction, so coverage is the 2026 deduction alone and roughly €1,413 must be documented. That shortfall does not depend on your SS contribution level - no level closes it. The 15% expense rule shows the exact calculation and what counts toward the threshold.

€80,000 gross (year 3+, higher earner)

Standard coefficient: 0.75.

Item	Value
Gross revenue	€80,000
Coefficient	0.75
Taxable income (before expense adjustment)	€60,000
15% expense threshold	€12,000

At €80,000 gross, the automatic legs reach €8,000 at most (the same Social Security cap as above), so at least €4,000 of the €12,000 threshold has to come from documented business expenses. Software subscriptions, professional development, hardware purchases, and professional services all qualify. A Portuguese supplier's invoice counts when it carries your NIF, shows up in e-Fatura (AT's invoice system) and is classified there as a business expense. Invoices from foreign suppliers follow different rules.

The revenue ceiling

The simplified regime is for freelancers whose gross Category B income in the previous year did not exceed €200,000. Going over once does not end it. You move to organized accounting (contabilidade organizada), where expenses are deducted individually rather than by coefficient, only after two consecutive years over the limit, or one year over it by more than 25%, and then from the following year (Art. 28 n.º 6 CIRS). The tax calculator lets you compare the two regimes at different revenue levels.

The 15% expense rule

Services freelancers (0.75 and 0.35 coefficients) need deductible items worth at least 15% of their gross services revenue. The automatic legs below count, and documented business expenses make up the rest. If the total falls short of that floor, AT adds the gap back to your taxable income.

Social Security contributions and the automatic specific deduction cover the floor automatically up to a point. Above that income level, most services freelancers need real documented expenses. Goods sellers (0.15 coefficient) are not subject to this rule.

The 15% expense rule covers what counts, what the automatic legs provide, and who is most likely to need to document extra.

IRC coefficients (companies)

For companies (Lda, Unipessoal Lda) on the IRC simplified regime. Legal basis: Article 86-B CIRC.

Alínea	Revenue type	Coefficient
a)	Sales of goods and products, restaurant and hotel services	0.04
b)	Professional services specifically listed in the Art. 151 CIRS table	0.75
c)	All other services, and operating subsidies	0.10
d)	Non-operating subsidies	0.30
e)	IP licensing, capital gains, real-estate rents, crypto-asset mining	0.95
f)	Gratuitous increases in assets	1.00
g)	Local accommodation, house or apartment in a containment area	0.50
h)	Local accommodation, house or apartment outside a containment area	0.35
i)	Crypto-asset income other than mining, capital income or capital gains	0.15

The coefficient gives the taxable profit. IRC is then charged on that profit, at 15% on the first €50,000 for a small or medium company (PME).

IRC startup bonus

In the company's first tax period, the alínea a) and c) coefficients are cut by 50%, and in the second by 25% (Art. 86-B n.º 5 CIRC). The alínea b) coefficient for Art. 151 activities gets no reduction.

Year	Goods (a)	Other services (c)
Year 1	0.02	0.05
Year 2	0.03	0.075
Year 3+	0.04	0.10

IRS vs IRC simplified: the key difference

The same activity can have very different coefficients depending on whether you operate as a sole proprietor or a company. The gap is smaller than it first looks, and for a software consultant it may not exist at all. Art. 86-B nº1 b) CIRC puts activities specifically listed in the Art. 151 CIRS table at 0.75 under IRC as well, the same coefficient as IRS, and code 1332 (programadores informáticos) is in that list. The 0.10 coefficient is alínea c), restantes prestações de serviços. Which one applies is a substance question and AT looks at the activity actually performed rather than the CAE on file, so confirm it with a certified accountant before opting in.

The comparison is not straightforward, though. IRC applies at 15% to taxable income on the first €50,000 (PME rate), which keeps the tax low relative to revenue at the lower coefficients above. But an Lda carries costs a sole proprietor on the simplified regime does not: a certified accountant, Social Security contributions for the manager (gerente), and the tax on getting the money out of the company as salary or dividends. The tax calculator shows the take-home comparison for both structures at your revenue level.

See also: IRS filing for sole proprietors in Portugal and Social Security for freelancers in Portugal.