Each year, many Portuguese are expecting to reimburse in IRS, a value that can be used to pay expenses, increase savings or even plan a vacation. However, not all taxpayers are entitled to receive this amount, depending on the tax withheld over the previous year.
To be entitled to reimbursement, retention is required at the source on the income received in the previous year. By 2025, for example, the statement relating to 2024 is submitted. If you have retained a higher amount than the tax you should actually pay, the difference will be returned in the form of reimbursement. Otherwise, you may have to pay the missing amount.
The state consultation can be made on the Finance Portal, where it will be indicated if there is a reimbursement to receive or a tax payable. If you have pending tax debts, the reimbursement amount may be used automatically to settle them. It should be noted that only reimbursements exceeding 10 euros are issued.
If you want to confirm if you are entitled to a refund, you can follow the situation on the Finance Portal. To do this, you must access the IRS section, enter your access data and select “See Declaration.” Then choose the corresponding fiscal year and check the condition of your statement.
The statement may pass through different states, the main ones: “right statement”, when there are no errors; “Processed settlement” when calculations are completed; “Reimbursement issued”, meaning that the transfer will be done soon; and “confirmed payment”, which indicates that the reimbursement has already been deposited.
In addition to these messages, it may also emerge “Received – awaits validation” while data is being analyzed; “Settled”, when the amount of tax payable or receivable is defined; or “settled with a collection grade issued”, if it has an additional tax to pay. If the situation is “settled with null balance issued”, it means that there is no reimbursement or amount to pay.
If you have a tax payable, you will receive a billing note, which should be regularized by August 31. For more details about your statement, you can access the “See Detail” option on the Finance Portal, where you will find information such as the amount of reimbursement or tax payable.
IRS reimbursement can be issued in two ways: by bank transfer or by check. Bank transfer is the most common method and the amount is deposited in the IBAN registered with the Tax Authority. If IBAN is not up to date, you should correct this information on the Finance Portal. Otherwise, the reimbursement will be sent by check to the taxpayer’s tax address, with this 60 days to deposit it.
According to the waiting time for refund may vary. In previous years, the average term was about 12 days for automatic statements and 17 days for manually filled statements. However, these deadlines are not guaranteed, and there may be delays according to the tax situation of each taxpayer.
The maximum period for the payment of the IRS refund is August 31, provided that the statement was submitted within the legal period, which ends on June 30. Thus, the sooner the statement is delivered, the more likely to receive the reimbursement quickly.
Also read:
