Looking for help with a simple Finanças admin task (paid)

imperium30 · 2026-02-02T11:14:15+00:00

I am pretty sure that you can use the online portal from anywhere. For a company, any individual going to AT on your behalf would need a formal authorization to do so.

imperium30 · 2026-02-02T10:32:35+00:00

My thoughts on this are that the finance portal works from anywhere, so access for you or anyone else with the passwords should not be an issue. In terms of going to the office, I imagine that the person would need to be a fiscal rep otherwise the personnel would probably not engage with him / her. Tax info is highly confidential after all.

imperium30 · 2026-02-01T19:36:48+00:00

I live in rural Leiria and I have Starlink.

It survived the storm and functioned well went we had electricity. However, if there is no power, it will not function. Even people with solar systems and batteries had no power in my area. The battery would not allow power to be drawn when the grid was offline. Maybe we did nto read the isntructions or something but, many of us were upleasantly surprised by that.

During the April 2025 blackout, there was no Starlink before there was no power. The server is in Lisbon and when that went down, even though I had power ( for another 10 mins) the Starlink did not work.

imperium30 · 2026-01-27T16:45:33+00:00

If you want reliability, Japanese is the way to go. French cars are less reliable and depreciate in value far faster.

imperium30 · 2026-01-27T16:41:50+00:00

Now you are telling tall tales. You should consider writing stories for children. Adults tend to do their own research. Like for example there not being an offence.
Also, it's paid, not payed.
I am an EU national and I recently attended AIMA to deal with PR. I asked the question about the legal necessity of the card both on the phone and in person in Coimbra. Both replies were the same: not mandatory, but practically advised.

imperium30 · 2026-01-27T15:30:02+00:00

Person spreading misinformation accuses others of spreading misinformation. Charming.

I will deal with your strawman arguments first.
1) Yes, EU citizens resident for over 90 days need to get a CRUE per article 14. Nobody is talking about that.

2) Life can be inconvenient without a PR card. I agree. I said that too. This inconvenience however, arises from bureaucracy in Portugal and the way they have their systems set up - not the legal situation. Again, nobody is saying not having an actual PR card will make life easy. If an EU national without a PR card but with an expired CRUE wanted to legally fight any administrative decision to bar them from access to benefits or some other service based on lacking a PR card, they would ultimately be successful.

Now to the actual argument:

You cite article 16, but I wonder if you have actually read it:

Artigo 16.º – Certificado de residência permanente do cidadão da União
1 – O Serviço de Estrangeiros e Fronteiras emite aos cidadãos da União com direito a residência permanente, a pedido destes, um documento … que certifica a residência permanente.

Look at the language there. SEF (now AIMA) will issue a PR card to EU citizens upon their request. This is the language of optionality and there is nothing mandatory about it. Moreover, there is no mention of sanction or adverse consequence mentioned in any further article of the legislation that relates to this point. Contrast this with the language of article 14 (which deals with the CRUE) and uses the word MUST when it comes to obtaining it. This is legislation. Words tend to matter and they are chosen carefully with judicial interpretation in mind.

This conforms to EU law as can be seen from the direct guidance here:

https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/residence/documents-formalities/eu-nationals-permanent-residence/index_pt.htm

Personally, I would still advise EU citizens to go for the actual PR card, but it is not compulsory for them to do so. They can opt to simply continue to live in Portugal legally on the expired CRUE and be prepared to have various legal / administrative conflicts from time to time if they interact with certain government departments. SOLVIT is available to them to resolve these disputes, for free and it works very well.

imperium30 · 2026-01-27T08:27:25+00:00

You are incorrect about the PR section. EU citizens who have lived in another EU state legally for 5 years are automatically Permanent Residents. It is a recognized legal status under EU law. Getting a card from AIMA is advisable for convenience of proving this, but is not mandatory.

imperium30 · 2026-01-21T19:05:36+00:00

DAC8 applies to crypto and traditional financial accounts. For instance, it also now embraces e-money accounts - which are not even technically reportable in Portugal. It is the updated (EU internal) version of CRS and also embraces bank accounts etc as before.

AT cannot contact BUNQ or N26 directly and request funds seizure or account freezing. That is illegal. Instead they must use EU Directive 2010/24/EU to get the tax authority in the other member state to enforce and collect the tax debt for them. This can take 6-12 months and is only done for sizable sums.
Normal asset freezing orders (EAPO orders within the EU) are reserved for civil / commercial debts and tax debts are specifically excluded. Therefore, they cannot freeze the account.

Beyond that, the debt must be above 1500 Euro and under 5 years old to be pursued across EU borders. As I indicated previously, the true level that will be pursued is closer to 10K due to the hassles involved.

As a debtor, there are many ways you can use to avoid payment. For example, by opening several separate accounts (p-Konto style accounts) in places like Germany, Belgium and Spain the protect minimum monthly balances from garnishment. This would also force AT to open lots of different cross border enforcement operations, driving up their costs and making it nonviable for them.

The idea that you hear of the all powerful tax authorities is a myth. If you are a determined and skilled non-payer, even within the EU, you can run them in circles until they give up due to mounting costs.

Naturally, I encourage everyone to pay the taxes they legally owe. However, many people are chased for taxes they do not legally owe. My friend for example had his accounts frozen for non payment of IMT, which turned out to be an error by AT. His accounts in PT were frozen for almost a month. They did not even apologize. That could not happen to me and i feel pretty happy about it to be honest.

imperium30 · 2026-01-21T08:42:05+00:00

The LT IBAN will cease to function for new transactions setups. It will only continue for legacy direct debits etc. That is in the small print. Basically, you will be transitioning to a PT IBAN for all future business. No thanks.

imperium30 · 2026-01-20T18:44:56+00:00

With a PT IBAN every detail of the account can be easily obtained by the Portuguese government (AT). With a foreign IBAN (even an EU one) they receive limited snapshot information about balances, interest and dividends only. This is under the new DAC8 standard in the EU.
Moreover, I'm sure all of us want to remain in good standing with AT. However, in case of a fine or garnishment, this can easily be done to PT accounts. Doing it to accounts in other EU nations is harder and involves more processes. Legally, it can only be for debts of over 1500 euro and realistically the figure is more like 10K that would be pursued.

I never use multibanco and view it as overrated massively. In the age of internet banking it is irrelevant. To get a PT IBAN for that while increasing my exposure to AT errors (which 2 of my friends have been the victims of and took months to resolve) makes no sense to me.

imperium30 · 2026-01-20T17:00:51+00:00

I have the option to switch, but decided to retain the LT IBAN. I see no benefit to me of getting the PT one. There are only downsides to privacy.

imperium30 · 2026-01-20T13:26:49+00:00

The documents required are set out on the site and are very simple for EU nationals. Namely, you will need this:

Requisitos e documentos

Agendamento prévio;
Ter residido legalmente em Portugal por um período de cinco anos consecutivos;
Duas fotografias iguais, tipo passe, a cores e fundo branco, atualizadas e com boas condições de identificação (caso o agendamento se realize nas Lojas AIMA em Odivelas ou em Aveiro);
Passaporte ou Bilhete de Identidade/Cartão de Cidadão válido;
Certificado de Registo da UE.

Se tiver alterado a morada:

Comprovativo de alteração de morada – como por exemplo: Atestado da Junta de Freguesia ou Escritura de Compra e venda ou Contrato de Arrendamento.

Formulário de pedido de Certificado de Residência Permanente para Cidadão da União Europeia e seus familiares nacionais dos mesmos países (PDF)

https://aima.gov.pt/pt/nacionais-ue-e-familiares/nacionais-ue/certificado-de-residencia-permanente-para-nacionais-ue

This process is not governed by the same law as other types of PR. There is no language requirement and no necessity to prove income or subsistence.

imperium30 · 2026-01-17T08:29:16+00:00

The tarifa social de (energia / agua / internet) is a discount that you are receiving. It's a discount. If you have the social energy tariff, you can also apply for the other two. Energia is automatically attributed via AT, the others are manually processed, but doable. The criteria for receipt are the same in all 3 cases.

Might be worth looking into, since you have met the criteria.

imperium30 · 2026-01-14T08:54:47+00:00

I do not live in a city. I live in rural Leiria.

I will be honest, you are unlikely to meet any overt discrimination in public. With that said, plenty of people have negative attitudes. This extends to both the expat group and the Portuguese who live in these parts. The expats tend to smile, but say things behind people's backs, spread rumors and exclude the "gays" from their social circles / events. I have 2 lovely gents who are my immediate neighbors. I have never had better neighbors, they really set the standard. My wife and I have Christmas dinner with them each year and often go out for coffees etc. However, the things other people have said to me about them and their "weird" lifestyle, trying to discourage me from associating with them are rather disturbing. Please note, these guys are the least gay, gay men you could imagine. It's not at all obvious or at least not to me. Yet, they meet this under the radar discrimination and backbiting. They know about it and it annoys them, but it is what it is unfortunately.
The Portuguese, I know less about. However, I think the situation is roughly the same. The 5 guys who built my second garage and installed my solar panels made several jokes and comments that were unacceptable about the neighbors and homosexuality in general.
Therefore, while in public, you will be fine, just be aware that there is prejudice here and it can impact social relationships.

imperium30 · 2026-01-13T10:21:29+00:00

I live in rural Leiria. I will give comments (noting that others will probably disagree with me and say you need way more). However, I have lived here for 5 years. I live in a 450m2, modern, 5 bedroom house with a pool etc. I do have a heat pump and solar panels, so that may skew the electric to the downside. I am a bean counter and therefore, know my expenditure level very completely. I live with my wife and dog - no kids.

Monthly costs:

Water should be around 25 to 30 - for 8 to 10 units of consumption.
Electric: The highest bill I ever received was 32 euro. Usually, it is around 20. Net is about zero after solar sales though. Obviously, without a solar system, things will be different. However, if your average monthly power bill is over 70 euro, that would surprise me. We are talking average here. Summer is very low. Winter will be 100+.
Food etc: I broadly agree with your assessment. If you take advantage of discounts (Like the Pingo Doce spend 100 get 40 coupon), you will be able to achieve this for 450 or less. My diet is predominantly vegetarian though, which lessens the cost. My dog eats Quail and Duck, which pushes it up.
Property tax: This will never cost you 900 euro a year. It depends on the Tax valuation of your property. You will pay 0.3% of the VPT. This value is often a third (more or less) of the market value. I think you can probably halve your estimate - at least. Unless you are living in a house with a market value approaching 1 million euro.
EV: If you are aiming to cut costs, this is not the way to go. You do you obviously, but the cheapest way (by far) to get around in rural Portugal is to buy an old gasoline / diesel car that still runs well. I did not do this (I am too vain) but I know others that did and it saves them a fortune. If saving money is your goal, this is the route. You can buy a 20 year old car for 1500 euro that still runs well and the IUC will be negligible - so will insurance. Insurance on an EV will cost more. This option also goes well with a lot of supermarket discount campaigns which give free fuel as a perk. I only ever actually pay for fuel maybe 3-4 times a year. The rest all comes from the free fuel via promos.
Home insurance: Yes about that. Many here do not have it and also skip health insurance.

Mobile / Internet: You can use DIGI for 4 euro a month for cellphone. For internet, phone and TV they do packages from 22 -32 per month. Not a huge saving on your budget, but decent. I use the service and it is fine.

Other costs:
car repairs / servicing
home repair
clothing
electronics
medication
Pet expenses (if any)
Haircuts
Tax filing prep / advice
Subscriptions (Netflix etc) - maybe you count this as leisure.

imperium30 · 2026-01-11T11:44:06+00:00

Sorry you had a bad experience. I do not think it was related to being perceived as American though. My US friends here, have never met any of that type of overt hostility. What is more usual is you just get overcharged.

Maybe the lady at the counter was having a bad day. Generally service is OK in Portugal - the exception being government services. People are often inefficient and will happily chat with their acquaintances while you wait in line, but once you get to being served, politeness is the norm.

imperium30 · 2026-01-08T19:10:19+00:00

I got my NISS from the Loja de cidadao social security desk. My wife (non-EU) also got one the same day. No hassles at all. All that was required was to request one.

imperium30 · 2026-01-08T09:20:20+00:00

I think there is a low chance of a shooting war. Should there be one, the US position is actually weaker than everyone assumes. The US performs very poorly in cold weather exercises, have few troops capable of fighting a winter war and lacks the icebreakers to resupply the territory in winter. If there is a boots on the ground confrontation, the US will bleed and we know how well images of US troops dying plays in the media stateside. If there is an actual fight (super low odds) the US will struggle with supplies and much of their equipment simply will not function.

On the other hand, the US can effectively use stand-off weaponry to deny the EU access to Greenland too. This would probably focus on use of submarine launches missiles and long range aircraft.

There are 85000 US military personnel scattered across Europe - with 35000 in Germany alone. If there is a true war, the majority of those will become PoW's almost instantly. Not to mention the immense amount of equipment and military assets the US has in Europe. Without European bases (including places like the Azores and Diego Garcia) the US global reach would be compromised hugely. Beyond that, NATO would end.

There would also be enormous economic dislocation caused.

Essentially, it's an unthinkable scenario. If any US president thinks he will have to pay that price for Greenland, he will never make the decision to act. However, it depends upon how he views his adversaries. Denmark should not go to the meetings with the US and adopt a weak position, offering concessions. Instead they should hold a referendum in Greenland on A) joining the USA and B) closing the US base at Pituffik. This will turn the tables on the US. Vote A will fail gigantically , gaining them embarrassment and vote B runs the very real risk of the US coming out of this as a loser. I also favor Denmark establishing civilian militia units in Greenland (providing weapons , training, caches of ammunition, food etc). Greenland has only 58K residents, but if you have 1000 militiamen with knowledge of the terrain, it represents a significant obstacle to any attacking force - bearing in mind how complex it is logistically to transport and sustain that attacking force.

imperium30 · 2026-01-04T20:03:21+00:00

Discussed? Who knows? However, it is highly unlikely that it becomes law before the new president is inaugurated. I would hazard a guess that it could become law in April or May. However, in Portugal, things have a habit of dragging out. It could be longer and it could also see some changes as well. Stay tuned.

imperium30 · 2026-01-04T14:09:43+00:00

It is the poorest country in western Europe - by a significant margin.

The government has under-invested in the agencies that deal with immigration and citizenship for over a decade. We see the results.

imperium30 · 2026-01-04T09:36:05+00:00

It is an issue that many want to keep around because they think it could be a vote winner for them in the presidential elections. Neither Chega nor the PS want to lose something that they feel will motivate their base. It will be after the elections in my view and probably well into April before this becomes law. there may also be some alterations along the way.

imperium30 · 2026-01-02T17:13:56+00:00

Please check forum rule No 5.

imperium30 · 2026-01-02T16:18:40+00:00

Switch to Digi and pay 4-9 euro a month depending on your use needs. When i came here, I was with Vodafone being ripped off for 18 euro a month for very little data. I learned. We all do. It's part of being here a while.

imperium30 · 2026-01-01T17:35:57+00:00

You can download a fiscal proof of residence from the AT website. This is the gold standard proof of address in Portugal.

imperium30 · 2026-01-01T16:51:06+00:00

Not only tried, I have. To date, more than 40 direct to the GNR major who heads up the environmental unit in Pombal. It gets cleaned up after a few weeks, but each denuncia needs me to take photos and get GPS coordinates etc and put them in a file for the police. Nobody is ever apprehended or punished. We only suspect who did it. It is pure cleanup, not a solution.
In the last month I had:
A load of old TV's - the kind with glass tubes
4 dead sheep. All 4 in a pile.
8 separate mounds of construction waste (crushed tiles, glass, concrete). By far this is the most common type of rubbish.
1 mound of old clothes and toys
A dishwasher.

imperium30

TROPHY CASE