Payroll taxes in Portugal: An employer’s guide

When you hire in Portugal, you — as the employer — are responsible for calculating, withholding, and submitting payroll taxes from your team members’ pay slips. For some taxes, you are also required to make employer contributions.

In this article, we’ll explain clearly which taxes you need to withhold, which taxes you need to contribute to, and how to remit and make payments. So let’s jump straight in.

What is payroll tax?

Payroll taxes are the contributions employees and businesses make to the government to fund public programs, such as retirement, healthcare, and unemployment insurance. They typically include income tax and social contributions, and are set at pre-determined rates.

These rates (and the rules governing them) vary by country, but it’s every employer’s responsibility to ensure they are compliant, and that they are withholding and submitting the correct amounts.

What is the difference between payroll taxes and corporate taxes?

Generally, payroll taxes are tied to your employees’ wages, while corporate taxes are based on your company’s profits. 

Which payroll taxes do you need to withhold from your employee in Portugal?

In Portugal, the main taxes you’ll need to withhold are:

Income tax (IRS)

Portuguese residents are taxed progressively on their income, with rates ranging from 13.25% to 48% based on their income brackets.

When to pay: You must withhold IRS from your employees' salaries and remit it to the tax authorities by the 20th of the following month.

Employee social security contributions

These contributions support the national social security system, providing benefits such as pensions, healthcare, and unemployment support. Employees must contribute 11% of their gross salary.

When to pay: You must deduct these contributions from your employees' salaries and pay them to the Social Security Institute (Instituto da Solidariedade e da Segurança Social) by the 20th of the following month.

Note that you may also be required to withhold additional taxes for certain employees, such as child support payments, student loan repayments, or any other court-ordered garnishments.

Which payroll taxes does your business need to contribute to?

As well as withholding the taxes and contributions listed above, you are also required to make your own contributions, as follows:

Employer social security contributions

As an employer, you must also contribute to the social security system. The current rate is 23.75% of your employees’ gross salary.

When to pay: Alongside your employee contributions (see previous section).

Labor accident insurance

This insurance covers employees in case of workplace accidents, ensuring compensation and medical care. You’ll need to contribute approximately 1.88% of your employees’ gross salary.

When to pay: Premiums are typically paid monthly or annually, depending on the insurance provider's terms.

Wage Guarantee Fund (FGS)

The FGS ensures that employees receive due wages and compensations in the event of their employer becoming insolvent. You will need to contribute 1% of your employees’ gross salary.

When to pay: Contributions are paid monthly alongside your social contributions.

To quickly see a full breakdown of payroll taxes and employment costs for your Portuguese hire(s) based on their salary, use our free Employee Cost Calculator tool.

How do you remit and pay payroll taxes in Portugal?

To make the payments, you will need to:

1. Ensure you are registered as an employer with the Portuguese tax authority (Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira) and the Social Security Institute (Instituto da Segurança Social).

2. Calculate the correct amounts for withholding, and then add your employer contributions. If you use Remote Payroll or Remote EOR, we will do this for you.

3. Ensure that you adhere to the payment deadlines detailed above.

4. Pay income tax through the Portuguese tax authority’s online portal, and pay social contributions through the Social Security Institute’s online portal.

How do you manage payroll taxes as an international employer?

When you hire a Portugal-based team member from abroad, there are several ways you can manage their payroll and payroll taxes.

If you already have your own legal entity in Portugal, you can:

• Handle it in-house. You can hire your own payroll tax specialists and manage everything internally. This can be costly, however.

• Use a local third party. You can hire a local firm to handle payroll, although this can be unreliable, costly, and pose data risks.

• Use a PEO. A professional employment organization (PEO) acts as an outsourced HR provider, and includes payroll.

• Use a global payroll provider. Global payroll providers — like Remote — have local specialists in multiple countries, ensuring that you are fully compliant with all tax requirements in each one. This is especially convenient if you have (or plan to have) employees in different countries, as you can manage all of them through one platform.

If you don’t have your own entity in Portugal and you still want to hire there, you can:

• Set up your own entity. This can be extremely costly and time-consuming, but if you plan on establishing your business long-term in Portugal, it might be a viable approach. To pay your employees, you would then need to choose one of the options above.

• Use an EOR. Employer of record (EOR) providers — like Remote — enable you to quickly and easily hire anywhere in the world, and also handle all the core HR functions (such as compliance and payroll). As well as being generally more cost-effective than opening your own entity, this option is highly scalable and, again, enables you to streamline all your global HR tasks in one place. How does an EOR work?

Global HR —

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What about independent contractors?

In Portugal, independent contractors are classified differently to employees. As a result, they (in most cases) are responsible for calculating, managing, and paying their own taxes.

However, it’s crucial to understand the difference between contractors and employees, as you may inadvertently create misclassification risk. This can result in severe fines and penalties for your business. Learn more about hiring contractors in Portugal.

How can Remote help?

Knowing which payroll taxes you need to calculate, withhold, and contribute to requires local expertise, especially as these rules can — and do — change. And if you make a mistake or fail to comply, the financial consequences can be significant.

Whether you have your own entity in Portugal or not, Remote ensures that you are withholding and contributing the correct amounts, and that you are fully compliant at all times with local tax and employment laws. We also provide 24/7 support for any guidance you may need.

To see how we can help — and to learn which approach is the most suitable for your business — speak to one of our friendly payroll experts today.

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