Where to keep your savings in Portugal: a bank deposit or government savings certificates
The money has landed in your account and is just sitting there: the bank pays almost nothing for it, and prices keep rising. The figures first, as of September 2026. The average bank rate on new household term deposits is 1.59% a year before tax; on current accounts it is 0.03%. Series F certificados de aforro (government savings certificates) pay 2.5% — that is the series cap, and it will not go higher. The new Treasury certificates, “series 5”, pay from 2.35% in the first year to 3.35% in the tenth. In every case 28% tax is withheld from the interest. Inflation in August 2026 was 3.3%. So the question is not how to earn, but how to lose less: right now none of these options can beat rising prices. Below: what these products are, how they differ, what a newcomer needs to open them, and how much you actually end up with.
Four shelves, and all of them below inflation
Newcomers rarely get this explained, so let’s take it in order. For someone whose money is simply sitting there, Portugal has four usual places to keep it.
A current account (conta à ordem) — the one you already have. The average rate on such accounts in Portugal in July 2026 was 0.03% a year. That is zero: on ten thousand euros it comes to three euros a year before tax.
A term deposit (depósito a prazo) — the same money, but promised to the bank for a fixed period. The average rate on new household deposits in July 2026 was 1.59%. Some banks, and offers for new customers, go higher — up to 3% — but usually for a short term and on a limited amount.
Certificados de aforro (government savings certificates) — you lend money to the Portuguese state. Only series F is on sale now: 2.5% a year, and that is the cap.
Certificados do tesouro (Treasury certificates) — the same state, but on different terms: since 6 July 2026 “series 5” has been on sale, with a fixed rate that rises from 2.35% to 3.35% over ten years.
Everything else — shares, funds, insurance savings plans, cryptocurrency — is no longer “where to keep it” but “what to invest in”: there you can lose money too, and this guide does not cover any of it. We have a separate guide on tax on cryptocurrency — Tax on cryptocurrency in Portugal.
And the key figure for comparison: inflation. In July 2026 prices were 3.04% higher than a year earlier; INE’s flash estimate for August is 3.3%. None of the four rates covers that, and after tax even less so.
“banks only let you keep your money without it losing value, not earn anything by keeping it there”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkbanksdeportugal17.07.2026
“A deposit isn’t a way to get rich, it’s a way to protect your money from inflation at least somehow”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkrefugecard05.08.2026
Term deposits: look at the exit terms, not the interest rate
Deposits in Portugal are governed by a separate law — Decreto-Lei n.º 430/91. Its article 1 lists five types, and two neighbouring points matter to a newcomer: a depósito a prazo — the money can be returned early, but only “on the terms agreed” (point 4), and a depósito a prazo não mobilizável antecipadamente — a deposit that cannot be withdrawn before the end of the term at all (point 5). The second is not a bank trick but a lawful type of deposit: if you have signed one, there is nothing you can do until the term ends.
So what you need to check is not the advertised rate but the paperwork. Under article 3, on the day the deposit is opened the bank must give you a document in your name, and it must state six things: the amount in figures and in words; the term and the end date; the conditions for early repayment, if it is possible at all; the rate — and, separately, the rate that will apply if you withdraw early; how and when interest is paid; and on what terms the deposit renews itself if you say nothing. If the document has no line on early repayment, there is none.
One more detail from the same article (point 4): interest is calculated on an actual/360 basis — the actual number of days divided by a 360-day year. Because of this, the paperwork shows two rates: TANB (taxa anual nominal bruta) — the annual rate before tax, and TANL (taxa anual nominal líquida) — the same rate after the 28% is withheld. Compare banks using the same one. TAEG, which many people look for out of habit, has nothing to do with deposits: it is the rate on a loan, that is, about how much you pay, not how much you are paid.
What this can lead to is clear from a conversation in the bank accounts chat: a person with a “Caixa Tecnologia outubro 2027” deposit found that the bank was closing their account, while under its terms the deposit would not be paid out until the end of the term.
“asking for advice Caixa is going to close my account soon (the bank refused to accept the rescheduled aima appointment) I have a Caixa Tecnologia outubro 2027 deposit with the bank, and under its terms you can’t take the money out before the deposit ends I’m at a loss… When I opened the deposit I was a bank customer without a residence permit Very soon I’ll stop being a customer of the bank (like I wrote above: the bank refused to take the paper from aima into account) How do I get my money out of the deposit now?”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkbanksdeportugal03.08.2026
“Awful. Totally pointless. Any deposit here is just a way of not keeping money on your card (because the system is idiotic and there’s no split between a current account and a card account). No other benefit at all. Well, OK, put a hundred in, maybe in a year it’ll stretch to a bottle of port ). And don’t forget the 28 percent tax taken automatically.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkbanksdeportugal17.07.2026
Series F certificados de aforro: the rate has hit its cap
This is a debt the state owes to an individual, not a bank product. They can only be held by private individuals and cannot be transferred to anyone else (except by inheritance), and the state guarantees the capital in full. Only one series is on sale now — F; series D and E are closed to new subscriptions.
How the rate is worked out. The base part is the average three-month Euribor over the last ten working days; it is announced once a month, on the second-to-last working day, for the month ahead. This base part has a hard cap — 2.50% — and a floor at zero. In August 2026 three-month Euribor averaged 2.513%, so it is already above the cap: the September rate was announced as 2.500%, and any further rise in Euribor will no longer affect it.
On top of the base rate there is a bonus for keeping your money in for a long time (prémio de permanência): 0.25% from the second year to the fifth, 0.50% from the sixth to the ninth, 1% in the tenth and eleventh, 1.5% in the twelfth and thirteenth, 1.75% in the fourteenth and fifteenth. The full term is 15 years, but nobody has to hold them all that time.
What matters in practice. Interest is credited every three months and immediately added to what you put in — already net of tax — and then earns interest itself. You can take your money out, in full or in part, from the first such credit, that is, three months after subscribing; the money reaches your IBAN no later than the seventh day after you ask. But you lose the interest for an incomplete quarter — it pays to withdraw straight after the latest capitalisation.
Limits: one unit costs €1, the first purchase is from 100 units, and after that you can top up from 10; you cannot hold more than 250,000 units in the account, or more than 500,000 together with the old series E.
“I don’t get the comment: for an emergency fund, certificados de aforro are a really good place to keep your money.”
Translated from Portuguese; the original is at the linkr/portugal02.09.2026
“I was also chasing promotional deposits and found I was going to a lot of trouble opening accounts at banks for very little return, and since it was a hassle, when the promotion ended the money would sit idle for months before I moved it again... So I put it in certificados de aforro and chilled.”
Translated from Portuguese; the original is at the linkr/portugal01.09.2026
Treasury certificates “series 5”: a higher rate, but your money is locked in for a year
This is a new product: subscriptions opened on 6 July 2026, and it replaced the earlier Certificados do Tesouro Poupança Valor, which stopped being sold that same day (Resolução do Conselho de Ministros n.º 141-A/2026); the even older Poupança Crescimento have been closed since September 2021. If someone advises you to “get CTPV”, that advice is out of date.
The terms are simple, and that is the point. The rate is fixed and known in advance for all ten years: 2.35% in the first year, higher after that, 3.35% in the tenth. The average over the whole term is 2.710% before tax and 1.951% after the 28% is withheld; the Treasury gives these two figures itself. The rate in force on the day you buy is guaranteed until the end of the term, even if it is later changed for new buyers.
The price for this is that you cannot get at the money. You can only take it out a year after subscribing, and if the redemption does not fall on the anniversary, you lose all the interest for the year under way. On a partial redemption at least 1,000 units must stay in the account. Interest is not capitalised here: once a year it is paid to your IBAN, already net of tax.
Limits: one unit is €1, the minimum purchase is 1,000 units, and the cap per person is a million. There are no GDP-growth bonuses like the earlier series had: the whole incentive to hold longer is built into the rising rate.
In short, how this differs from series F: there you get a floating rate with a cap, capitalisation every three months and an exit after three months; here — a fixed rising rate, a payment once a year and an exit no sooner than a year. It makes more sense to keep a rainy-day cushion in the first, and money you definitely will not need in the second.
A caveat about our archive: Treasury certificates are not discussed at all in the Russian-speaking chats — in all the years of conversations there is not a single message about them. So we have no one else’s experience with them, and everything written here comes from Treasury documents.
What you need to open one: a conta aforro
Both certificados de aforro and Treasury certificates are held not at a bank but in a separate account with the Treasury — a conta aforro. There are two requirements: a Portuguese NIF and a bank account in the SEPA area to which this account is linked. A Portuguese bank is not required: any SEPA IBAN will do, but the NIF has to be Portuguese. One person — one aforro account.
What you are asked to show when opening it:
— proof of identity: a citizen card or an EU passport, and for non-EU citizens a passport or a residence permit if the person lives in Portugal; — your Portuguese tax number: a citizen card, a cartão de contribuinte or a certificate from the tax portal; — proof of the bank account: a document showing your name and an IBAN in the SEPA area; — proof of address: a reading of the citizen card or a certificate from the tax portal, and for those living abroad a document from the tax authority of the country of residence or one certified by a Portuguese consulate; — proof of occupation and employer: a payslip or a letter from work, and for the self-employed the declaration of start of activity.
If you have no job, there is a separate list: students over 18 just need proof of enrolment, the unemployed a certificate from IEFP, pensioners a statement or receipt from whoever pays the pension, and everyone else the IRS assessment for the previous year or a certificate from the tax office exempting them from filing; those who do not file IRS in Portugal bring an equivalent document from their own country.
Where it is done: at CTT post offices (which also have the Aforro Digital app), at Espaços Cidadão, at Banco de Investimento Global and on the Treasury’s own website via AforroNet — but AforroNet is for those who already have an account. Ordinary Portuguese banks do not offer it: in the bank accounts chat someone described exactly this search — they did not find it at Millennium or Caixa, but did at CTT.
About children. An account can be opened in a child’s name and is managed by the legal representative, but the child cannot take the money out themselves before 18 — the only exception is for those who have turned 16 and are emancipated under civil law.
“Haven’t found it at millennium or caixa so far, I can see banco ctt has it [link]”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkbanksdeportugal24.04.2023
The 28% tax: it is withheld for you, but not always
Interest on deposits and certificates is investment income, category E (article 5, point 2 b) of the IRS code). It is taxed at 28% by withholding at source, and that withholding is final: the bank or the Treasury deducts the tax itself and sends you the money already net (article 71, point 1). You do not need to declare this interest — it simply does not go on your tax return.
There are three important exceptions.
You can ask for it to be taxed on the general scale. Point 6 of the same article 71 allows a Portuguese resident to add this income to their total income (englobamento) — it is then taxed together with your salary on the progressive scale. This only pays off for people whose total income is small and whose first band on the scale is below 28%. The catch is in article 22, point 5: if you choose englobamento, you must include all income in this category, not just the convenient bits. How the tax return itself works is covered in the guide How to file your IRS tax return, and the scale rates in the guide IRS tax rates.
The rate is lower in the Azores. A regional law cuts the national IRS rates by 30% for those who are tax resident in the Azores — so 19.6% is withheld rather than 28% (Decreto Legislativo Regional n.º 2/99/A, article 4). The Treasury’s calculator takes this into account: “Açores/Madeira” is a separate option there.
Nobody will withhold tax for you on interest from abroad. If the deposit is with a bank in another country, there is no Portuguese retenção na fonte (withholding at source), and you put that income on your return yourself — it is still taxed at 28% unless you have chosen englobamento. A neobank with a Portuguese IBAN, though, behaves like a local one: people in the chat say outright that Revolut with a Portuguese IBAN withholds the 28% itself.
And a separate note on 35%: under point 12 of article 71, this rate applies to income in accounts opened in the name of someone else who is not identified, and to income from countries and territories with a “clearly more favourable tax regime” on the Ministry of Finance list. It does not affect an ordinary deposit at a European bank.
“In response to the question asked, please be advised that income from current account deposits and certificados de aforro is considered investment income (category E) and is subject to withholding at source at a rate of 28%. Accordingly, you will only have to declare this income if you choose to aggregate it, having found it advantageous to do so.”
Translated from Portuguese; the original is at the linkreciboverde30.03.2024
“Of course not. Besides, Revolut with a Portuguese IBAN kindly withholds 28% from deposits.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkbanksdeportugal28.08.2026
What happens if the bank goes bust
Deposits and accounts at a Portuguese bank are insured — by the Fundo de Garantia de Depósitos (the deposit guarantee fund). The limit is €100,000, and it applies per person per bank, not per account: two accounts at the same bank are added together. In a joint account the shares are treated as equal, and the limit applies to each holder separately. The money is paid back within the time limits set in law: up to €10,000 within seven working days, the rest up to a hundred thousand within fifteen.
Certificates are a different kind of thing: they are a direct debt of the state, and the fund has nothing to do with them — the Treasury itself guarantees repayment of the full amount invested. The simple consequence: if you have more than a hundred thousand, there is no point keeping it all in one bank — either spread it across different banks or put part of it into certificates, where the cap is different.
A separate word on the neobanks everyone here uses. If a bank operates in Portugal as a branch of a bank from another EU country, the fund of its home country pays out, not the Portuguese one: for Revolut that is Lithuania. The amount is the same — a hundred thousand euros — but if things go wrong you will have to deal with them, not with anyone here. How Portuguese banks work and how they differ from neobanks is covered in the guide How banks work in Portugal.
“Dear De Stijl, what I wrote was: spare money to keep safe. What have index funds got to do with it, government bonds — I agree to some extent. I was talking about deposits up to 100K. Obviously it won’t beat inflation, but the aim is to preserve the money.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkbanksdeportugal18.07.2026
How much you end up with: working it out on ten thousand
Take €10,000 for a year. We use September 2026 rates and 28% tax.
— On your card, that is, in a current account: €3 before tax, about €2 after. — A term deposit at the average rate of 1.59%: €159 before tax, about €114 after. — Series F certificados de aforro at 2.5%: €250 before tax, about €180 after (plus capitalisation, but over a year it adds pennies). — Treasury certificates “series 5” in the first year, 2.35%: €235 before tax, about €169 after.
Now the same again, adjusted for 3.3% inflation. A year from now your €10,000 will buy as much as €9,680 does today. With the deposit you will have roughly €9,790 in today’s money, with series F certificates about €9,855. So you lose out everywhere; the only question is by how much: keeping money “on your card” costs you the most, and the difference between the card and the certificates is roughly €175 a year for every ten thousand.
Hence the sober conclusion people in the chats reach on their own: this is a way to preserve money, not to earn it. Promises of “beating inflation” start where the risk of losing what you put in starts, and that is a whole different conversation.
One more sum people forget: chasing a promotional rate only makes sense if the gain outweighs the hassle. Opening an account at a new bank for an extra percentage point on €5,000 means €50 a year before tax, €36 after; for that money, a person gathers documents, waits for approval and six months later moves everything back.
“And they say putting big money in a bank just makes the managers laugh! Interest below inflation, the trendy bloggers have already bought all the shares!”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkreciboverde07.11.2025
“They don’t even keep up with inflation. Sure, we’ll all get rich on certificados de aforro.”
Translated from Portuguese; the original is at the linkr/portugal01.09.2026
“There are no miracles) returns come from taking on risk. With a deposit the risk is minimal, so that’s where the matching return comes from. If you need something above inflation, then it’s shares or property etc.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkchatporto21.03.2026
If you don’t have a NIF yet, have only just opened an account, or your money is in another country
For someone who has only recently arrived, the order is simple and strict.
NIF first. Without a Portuguese tax number neither an aforro account nor certificates are available — this is a direct requirement of the Treasury. Where and how to get one is explained in the guide The first weeks in Portugal.
Then the account. Any bank account in the SEPA area will do for a conta aforro, but it is easier to pay tax, rent and utility bills from a local one; how to open one and why banks refuse is in the guide How to open an account with a Portuguese bank. If an ordinary bank turns you down, people still have neobanks with a Portuguese IBAN — this comes up in the chat all the time.
Only then the money. Moving savings from Russia and other countries is a separate story, with its own bans and bank questions about where the money came from: How to transfer money from Russia to Portugal. Do not pay cash into the account: the bank will ask where it came from, and you will have to explain with documents, not words.
And one more thing newcomers often do not know. As soon as you become a tax resident of Portugal, the interest on your deposits in any country is Portuguese taxable income. Interest earned here reaches the tax office already withheld; interest earned abroad you show on your return yourself. This is no small matter: countries exchange account information, and sorting it out later costs more than filling in the annex straight away.
Finally, about the size of your cushion. There is no one-size-fits-all answer, but the rule for choosing where to keep it is simple: money you may need at any moment is kept where you can get it out quickly (an account, or certificados de aforro — three months), not where it is locked in for a year or until the deposit ends.
“Trade Republic has a Portuguese IBAN and they open accounts with a residence permit. And as I understand it you can just use the account like a normal bank and not invest in anything. Might be useful for people who have a residence permit and no Portuguese account.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkbanksdeportugal24.08.2026
“Well there’s not even anything to discuss here. Deposit at 1.75%. But really these are savings only in a manner of speaking. It’s more like keeping it level with inflation in real terms.”
Translated from Russian; the original is at the linkchatporto21.03.2026
What to bring
- A Portuguese NIF — without it you cannot open an aforro account
- The IBAN of a bank account in the SEPA area and a document showing your name next to that IBAN
- A passport or residence permit (for non-EU citizens)
- Proof of address: a reading of the citizen card or a certificate from the tax portal
- Proof of occupation: a payslip, a letter from work, the declaration of start of activity; for those not working — a certificate from IEFP, proof of university enrolment or the IRS assessment
- The deposit document from the bank — check the term, the early repayment conditions and the rate that applies then
Where people most often trip up
- The series F rate has hit its 2.50% cap: rising Euribor will no longer push it up
- “Depósito a prazo não mobilizável antecipadamente” is a lawful type of deposit from which money cannot be withdrawn early at all
- The deposit document must state the rate for early repayment; no line — no early repayment
- Redeeming certificates on any date other than an interest date wipes out the interest for the period under way
- Treasury certificates “series 5” cannot be touched for the first year; for aforro that period is three months
- CTPV have not been sold since 6 July 2026, CTPC since September 2021: advice to “get CTPV” is out of date
- The 28% tax is withheld for you; you only need to declare interest earned abroad
- Englobamento takes in the whole category of investment income at once, not selectively
- An aforro account needs a Portuguese NIF, but any bank account in the SEPA area will do
- The deposit guarantee is €100,000 per person per bank; for a neobank operating as a branch, its home country’s fund pays
- Certificates are not covered by the deposit guarantee: they are a direct debt of the state with the capital guaranteed
- A child who owns an aforro account cannot take the money out before 18