Expense tracking
The 15% rule is simple. Tracking it shouldn't be your second job.
Under Portugal's simplified regime, your service income comes with a catch: you need to document business costs worth at least 15% of it. Fall short and that gap gets added back to your taxable income. Descodify tracks this for you all year.
Invoicing, coming soon
Get early access - free tier includes unlimited invoicing.
Read-only on Starter · Full tracking on Completo. See pricing
How the 15% rule actually works
The simplified regime taxes only a fixed share of your income and treats the rest as costs: for services, that share is 75% for the professions on the Art. 151.º list (most freelance developers, designers and consultants) and 35% for other services. For sales of goods it is 15%. You don't have to track every cent.
But on your service income you do need to document business costs worth at least 15% of that income, with invoices tied to your NIF. Two things count toward it without an expense invoice: your Social Security contributions, up to 10% of your income, or a fixed specific deduction of €4,587.09 (2026), whichever is larger. Whatever is still missing has to come from invoiced expenses, or it gets added to your taxable income. Most people don't find out until they file their annual return. Selling goods only? This proof does not apply to you.
Descodify shows your 15% proof status on your dashboard as a progress bar. Updated with every expense you add. Not at tax time - right now.
Three ways to get expenses in
Forward from your email
This is the one I use daily. Get an invoice from a German SaaS, your coworking space, or a Portuguese supplier - forward it to your Descodify inbox address. It shows up as a tracked expense, categorized and counted toward your 15%.
No logging in, no manual data entry. The email comes in, the expense appears.
Upload an expense document
Got a paper receipt or a PDF on your desktop? Upload it directly. Descodify stores the document alongside the expense record so everything is in one place if you need it later.
Enter manually
Quick form: date, amount, category, description. Then two questions, usually pre-filled from the category: how much of the VAT you can recover, and how much of the expense counts for your IRS. You can change either answer if your situation is different.
17 categories with smart defaults
Every expense is assigned a category that maps to Portugal's e-fatura system. Most categories pre-fill two answers so you don't have to research what counts. They come from two different laws: how much of the VAT you can recover (Art. 21.º CIVA), and how much of the expense counts for your IRS (Art. 31.º CIRS). They move independently - a business lunch counts in full for your IRS, and none of its VAT can be recovered.
Office Supplies
VAT you can recover: 100%
Counts for IRS: 100%
Equipment & Tools
VAT you can recover: 100%
Counts for IRS: 100%
Professional Services
VAT you can recover: 100%
Counts for IRS: 100%
Travel & Accommodation
VAT you can recover: 0%
Counts for IRS: 100%
Meals & Entertainment
VAT you can recover: 0%
Counts for IRS: 100%
Vehicle Costs
VAT you can recover: 0%
Counts for IRS: 100%
Telecommunications
VAT you can recover: 100%
Counts for IRS: 100%
Education & Training
VAT you can recover: 100%
Counts for IRS: 100%
Rent
No VAT to recover: renting property is normally VAT-exempt
Counts for IRS: 100%
The VAT answer applies if you are VAT-registered under the normal regime. If you are exempt under Art. 53.º CIVA (the small-business exemption), you recover no input VAT whatever the category, and only the IRS answer matters.
Plus 8 more: Transport & Fuel, Insurance, Utilities, Health, Bank Fees, Marketing & Advertising, Social Security, and Other.
Transport & Fuel and Utilities have no VAT default, because the answer depends on the fuel or on how you use the premises. For fuel, you choose. For a VAT-registered business with a car: diesel, LPG and natural gas recover 50%, petrol recovers 0%, and electricity for an electric or plug-in hybrid car recovers 100%. When a cost is only partly for your business, such as the rent of a home you also live in, the simplified regime counts 25% of it toward your proof (Art. 31.º n.º 14 CIRS).
Your EU supplier invoices count too
Most expat freelancers pay for software, tools, and services from suppliers in other EU countries - a German SaaS, a hosting company in Ireland. These invoices don't appear in e-fatura, but they are still business expenses that count toward your proof.
The problem most people don't know they have
Portugal's e-fatura system only holds invoices that Portuguese suppliers send to the Tax Authority with your NIF. A hosting bill from an Irish company? A subscription billed from Germany? Neither shows up in e-fatura. If you only look at e-fatura, you're undercounting your expenses - and potentially overpaying tax.
Descodify tracks them all
Forward your EU supplier invoices to Descodify the same way you forward Portuguese ones. They get categorized and tracked toward your 15% proof, next to the Portuguese ones that e-fatura already holds. No separate spreadsheet. Invoices from suppliers outside the EU, such as a US provider, can be recorded too, but how a service from outside the EU counts toward the proof is still being confirmed with an accountant, so don't rely on it yet.
VAT vs IRS - different rules, one tool
For your IRS, an EU supplier's invoice counts toward your proof even though e-fatura never sees it. For VAT, a service bought from a supplier abroad, inside the EU or outside it, is reverse-charged (autoliquidação): you self-assess the VAT on your VAT return, and if you are VAT-registered under the normal regime you can deduct it in the same return. If you are exempt under Art. 53.º CIVA, you owe that VAT and recover none of it. Descodify keeps both answers on every expense, so you don't have to remember which rule is which.
Know your 15% status. Not at tax time. Now.
Set up your profile and start tracking expenses. Forward your first expense document and see it counted toward your proof requirement in seconds.
Invoicing, coming soon
Get early access - free tier includes unlimited invoicing.