How to pay Segurança Social contributions as a self-employed worker

Check your NISS and the registration of your activity

For contributions you need a NISS — Número de Identificação da Segurança Social (social security number) — and access to Segurança Social Direta (the social security online account). Once you open an atividade (activity) with the Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira, or AT (the tax authority), the details are usually passed to Segurança Social automatically.

Check in your account that you are registered as a trabalhador independente (self-employed worker). If the declarations section is unavailable or the system does not see your activity, send a request through e-Clic: choose the topic for trabalhador independente and attach the comprovativo de início de atividade (proof of starting the activity) and your NIF. Older instructions about uploading through Perfil may not work since the portal was updated.

If you are employed, you do not pay the contributions yourself: 11% is deducted from your salary, and your employer pays 23.75% on top, out of its own pocket (Article 53 of the Contributions Code). You can check whether they are being paid in the same Segurança Social Direta account — it shows who paid for you and for which months. A month recorded as a ‘one-off transaction’ or not recorded at all will never appear in that history, and it is that history that maternity pay, unemployment benefit and your pension depend on. What to do if your employer refuses to give you a contract — Your employer won't give you an employment contract.

Find out whether you are exempt from contributions

When you first start working for yourself, compulsory contributions are usually not charged for the first 12 months. This has nothing to do with age and does not mean you are automatically exempt from IRS or IVA. In the quarterly declaration the portal may offer you the option to start paying voluntarily; if you want to keep the exemption, choose ‘Não, pretendo manter-me sem obrigação de contribuir’.

If you reopen an activity, you may not get a full new exempt year. Special rules also apply to pensioners and to people covered by foreign social security with an A1 form. Check the date your compulsory contributions start in Segurança Social Direta, and if it doesn't add up, ask for a written explanation through e-Clic.

Check the exemption if you are also employed

If you receive a salary under an employment contract and, at the same time, category B income as a trabalhador independente, you may not be charged contributions on your self-employed work. Usually this requires your salary to be at least one IAS — Indexante dos Apoios Sociais (the social benefits index) — your employer and your client must not belong to the same company or group, and the average monthly rendimento relevante (relevant income) from self-employment must not exceed 4 IAS.

The IAS changes every year: in 2025 it was €522.50, so the limit was €2,090; in 2026 the IAS is €537.13, and 4 IAS is €2,148.52. If you go over it, contributions are usually calculated on the part of the relevant income above this limit. Don't assume that having an employment contract is enough on its own — check all the conditions for the exemption.

File the Declaração Trimestral

The Declaração Trimestral (quarterly declaration) is filed in Segurança Social Direta by the end of January, April, July and October. In it you state the income you received in each of the three previous months. The January declaration covers October–December, the April one January–March, the July one April–June and the October one July–September.

For services, 70% of the declared income counts; for selling goods and production, usually 20%. The resulting amount is divided by three and becomes your average monthly base. The standard rate for a trabalhador independente is 21.4%; for some empresários em nome individual (sole traders) it is 25.2%. Before submitting, you can adjust the base down or up in steps of 5%, but by no more than 25%, within the set limits.

Enter amounts without IVA. Income from a foreign client does not drop out of the declaration just because the client is outside Portugal: use the line the portal provides for rendimentos obtidos no estrangeiro (income from abroad).

Check the amount charged after the declaration

After submitting, keep the comprovativo da declaração (proof of declaration) and check the amount in Conta-corrente (your statement with Segurança Social) or Posição Atual (current account position). The amount applies for three months, but you pay it every month.

If you are already required to contribute but had no income, or the calculated amount is too low, the minimum contribution applies — in 2026 that is €20 a month. During the initial 12-month exemption you don't have to pay these €20 automatically, unless you chose to start contributing voluntarily.

Pay your contribution every month

The contribution for each month is paid between the 10th and the 20th of the following month. For example, January's contribution is paid in February. You can pay through Segurança Social Direta; you can also use Multibanco (a cash machine or online banking), homebanking or débito direto (direct debit).

Don't rely on direct debit alone: after the 20th, check that the money has actually gone out and the payment shows up in Conta-corrente. If there is no bill, the declaration has disappeared or the debit failed, don't send money to an old referência Multibanco (payment reference) on the off chance — open a request in e-Clic and attach the declaration and screenshots.

If you have missed a contribution and the debt has built up, you ask social security itself for a payment plan: Segurança Social has its own procedure, its own online account and its own conditions. A payment plan on the tax authority's portal has nothing to do with contributions — they are different authorities and different debts, and the certificates of no debt they issue are different too.

Correct mistakes and do the annual reconciliation

If you spot a mistake before the filing deadline, try replacing or correcting the current Declaração Trimestral in your account. When the period is already closed and there is no button to correct it, contact them through e-Clic, stating the months and the correct amounts and attaching your recibos verdes (receipts). An overpayment can be offset against future contributions or refunded through a Pedido de Restituição (refund request).

In January Segurança Social reconciles the quarterly income for the year: check the details for the previous year and correct them if needed. Separately, when you file your annual IRS you may need Anexo SS (the annex on self-employment), in particular to work out economic dependence on your main client. Exempt categories, including some cases in the first 12 months of activity, may not have to file Anexo SS — go by the conditions of the form for the tax year in question.