Lisbon, April 28, 2026 (Lusa) - Portugal's effective IRS (Personal Income Tax) rate has decreased annually and fell again in 2024, with average taxation reaching 11.65%, according to statistics from the Finance Portal (tax authority website).
The percentage stood at 13.05% in 2022 and 12.85% in 2023 before dropping to 11.65% in 2024, according to the Tax and Customs Authority (AT) website’s "2022-2024 IRS statistical dossier."
The effective tax rate represents the ratio between assessed tax, the amount paid to the state, and total income, which includes aggregate earnings and those subject to special rates.
The AT received income declarations from 6.2 million households (6,204,542) in 2024, but only 3.4 million families paid tax on their income, representing 55.3% of the total. Single taxpayers filed 3.77 million returns, while married couples or civil partners filed 2.43 million returns (legal unions of two people living together).
Among those couples, 2.2 million filed joint returns, and 213,100 chose separate filings.
Finance data shows the state collected €17.303 billion in assessed tax in 2024.
The effective IRS rate in 2024 was 11.04% for single taxpayers and 12.09% for married or civil partners.
Within this latter group, those choosing separate taxation faced a 14.1% rate, while joint filers averaged 11.98%.
Lisbon, Setubal, Porto, Coimbra and Faro recorded the highest effective rates, reflecting higher income levels in these five districts.
Employment income saw an effective rate of 8.93%, while pensions averaged 7.14%. Business and professional income reached 10.69%, and property income (earnings from rental properties) stood at 10.86%.
Of the 3,431,128 households paying IRS, 1,391,172 declared employment income, including those working for companies, public services or private social solidarity institutions (IPSS). Pensions accounted for 447,449 households, while 150,471 reported both employment and pension income. Business and professional income, which includes self-employed freelancers using the ‘green receipts’ (freelance tax invoices) system, came from 103,744 households, and 86,790 declared property income.
Employment income represented 26.67% of the total settled IRS, while pensions accounted for 8.18%. Mixed employment and pension income was 3.60%, business income 1.49%, and property income 1.04%.
PCT/LYT // ADB.
Lusa
