Portugal has a reputation for treating investors gently. Some of that is deserved, and some of it is a hangover from the NHR years that no longer matches what the tax code actually says.
The headline number is 28%. That’s the right starting point, and it’s wrong often enough to matter. Whether you actually pay 28% depends on what you traded, how long you held it, how much you earned in total, and whether you remembered to tick a box on your return.
This article walks through how each of the main investment types is treated, with worked numbers. If you want the wider picture on residency and the regimes themselves, that’s in my Portugal tax guide for expats.
The default: 28% on investment gains
Capital gains on securities fall under Category G of the Portuguese personal income tax code, and the default treatment is a flat 28% autonomous rate on the annual net balance of gains and losses.
Net balance matters. You don’t pay tax trade by trade. You add up your gains and losses across the year for the relevant asset class, and tax applies to what’s left if it’s positive.
Investment income rather than gains, meaning interest and dividends, falls under Category E and is also taxed at 28%. Income from a jurisdiction on Portugal’s non-cooperative list is taxed at 35% instead.
The 365-day rule that catches active traders
This provision turns a predictable 28% into something closer to 53%, and it’s buried deep enough in the code to be easy to miss.
Under Article 72.º of the personal income tax code, the net balance of gains and losses on shares and other securities must be added to your other income and taxed at progressive rates when two conditions are true at the same time:
- The assets were held for less than 365 days, and
- Your taxable income, including that balance, reaches €86,634 for 2026, which is the top bracket under Article 68.º
Hit both and the balance leaves the flat rate and enters the progressive table, where the top marginal rate is 48%. Because it now sits inside your taxable income, it also pulls in the solidarity surcharge under Article 68.º-A: an extra 2.5% on the slice between €80,000 and €250,000, and 5% above €250,000.
So an active trader with a good year can be looking at roughly 53% on the top portion of their gains, not 28%.
What the 365-day rule covers, and what it doesn’t
The rule cross-references a specific provision covering the disposal of shares and other securities. Several things investors think of as trading sit outside it and stay at the flat rate.
| Instrument | Held under 365 days, income above the threshold |
|---|---|
| Shares | Progressive rates, up to 48% plus surcharge |
| ETFs and fund units | Progressive rates, up to 48% plus surcharge |
| Bonds | Progressive rates, up to 48% plus surcharge |
| Options and futures | Flat 28% |
| CFDs | Flat 28% |
| Autonomous warrants and certificates | Flat 28% |
| Crypto | Flat 28% under a year, exempt over a year |
The practical effect is odd. An options trader turning over positions weekly can end up paying a lower rate than someone who bought shares in March and sold them in November. It splits by instrument rather than by how actively you trade.
Article 72.º n.º 14 of the code applies mandatory englobamento only to gains from operations under alínea b) of Article 10.º n.º 1, which covers the disposal of shares and other securities. Derivatives sit in alínea e), autonomous warrants in f), certificates in g), and crypto in k). None of those are referenced, so none of them are caught.
Worth noting that the 28% autonomous rate in Article 72.º n.º 1 alínea c) covers alíneas b), c), e), f), g), h) and k) together. Everything is at 28% by default, and only alínea b) securities get pulled out of it by the 365-day provision.
That’s the provision itself, from the tax authority’s published version of the code. The scope is set by that single cross-reference to alínea b).
Holding longer reduces the taxable gain
Since 2024 there’s a partial exclusion for listed securities and open-ended UCITS funds, scaled by how long you held them:
- 10% of the gain excluded at 2 to 5 years
- 20% at 5 to 8 years
- 30% beyond 8 years
It’s modest, but it stacks with escaping the 365-day rule entirely, so the gap between a nine-month hold and a nine-year hold is wider than the headline rate suggests.
Worked examples
Stock trading, short-term, high income
You realize €80,000 of net gains on shares, all held under a year, and you have €60,000 of other income. Total taxable income is €140,000, comfortably past the threshold, so englobamento is mandatory. The gains go into the progressive table at your top marginal rate, and the portion above €80,000 also attracts the 2.5% solidarity surcharge. Effective tax on those gains lands in the high forties rather than at 28%.
Same €80,000 of gains, but every position held over 365 days: flat 28%, or €22,400. The holding period is worth roughly €16,000 here.
Options trading
You clear €80,000 trading index options over the year. Derivatives sit outside the mandatory englobamento rule, so this is taxed at the flat 28% regardless of holding period or how large your total income is. Tax is €22,400.
Worth noting that if the activity becomes habitual and organized enough to look like a business rather than management of your own capital, it can be reclassified as self-employment income under Category B, taxed at progressive rates and carrying social security contributions. There’s no bright-line trade count, and someone trading their own portfolio a handful of times a year is nowhere near it, but high-frequency operations run as an occupation are a different conversation.
P2P lending
Interest from peer-to-peer lending platforms is Category E investment income, taxed at 28%. It’s interest, not a capital gain, so the 365-day rule has nothing to do with it.
Two things trip people up. Foreign platforms don’t withhold Portuguese tax, so nothing is deducted at source and the full liability lands on your annual return. And where the platform withheld tax abroad, you can generally credit it against the Portuguese liability up to the amount of Portuguese tax due on that income, provided a treaty applies.
Defaults are the sore point. Portugal taxes the interest you received; recovering relief for principal you lost is considerably harder than investors expect. I’ve written more on this in my guide to how P2P lending is taxed across Europe.
Crowdfunding
The treatment follows the structure, not the label on the website.
Lending-based and property crowdlending platforms pay you interest, so it’s Category E at 28%, same as P2P.
Equity crowdfunding gives you shares. Dividends are Category E at 28%. When you eventually exit, the gain is Category G, which means it’s inside the 365-day rule, though in practice equity crowdfunding exits are rarely quick enough for that to bite.
Revenue-sharing and profit-participation arrangements are the awkward middle. Characterization depends on the contract, and it’s worth getting a view before you invest rather than in April.
Spain handles the same products quite differently, with crowdlending interest sitting in the savings base at rates that start lower and climb higher. I’ve covered that in how P2P lending and property crowdlending is taxed in Spain, which is a useful comparison if you’re weighing the two countries.
Crypto
Held over 365 days, gains are exempt. Under 365 days, 28%. Staking and lending income is taxed at 28%. Everything has to be reported whether or not it’s taxable, which is where a tracking tool earns its keep if you’ve traded across several exchanges. I compare the options in the best crypto tax software, and I cover the Portuguese rules in detail in Is trading crypto in Portugal tax-free?
Property
Real estate works on a different basis entirely. For residents, half the gain is taxable under Article 43.º and that half is added to your other income at progressive rates. Since the 2023 budget, non-residents are treated broadly the same way rather than at a flat 28%. Reinvestment relief is available where you’re selling a main home and buying another.
Losses, and the box people forget to tick
Capital losses on securities can be carried forward for five years under Article 55.º, but only where you opt into englobamento in the year you claim them, or are required to use it.
That creates a genuine trade-off. Opting in means your investment income gets taxed at progressive rates instead of the flat 28%, which for a high earner is worse. So the losses are only worth carrying if the relief exceeds what englobamento costs you that year. Run the numbers rather than assuming carried-forward losses are free money.
Reporting
Portuguese-source investment income is usually withheld at source by the intermediary. Foreign income isn’t, and that’s where the compliance burden sits.
- Domestic gains and investment income go in Anexo G and Anexo E
- Anything earned abroad goes in Anexo J, including gains on a foreign broker account
- Every foreign deposit and securities account has to be identified in Anexo J, under Article 63.º-A of the Lei Geral Tributária. There’s no minimum balance, and the obligation applies even to an account that produced no income at all
If you trade through Interactive Brokers, Degiro, or any other non-Portuguese broker, all of it is foreign income and none of it is prefilled for you.
Does NHR or IFICI change any of this?
Less than expected, and the gap between what the regimes cover and what investors think they cover is worth being precise about.
Both regimes work primarily through an exemption on foreign-source income, and that exemption is conditional on Portugal’s treaty with the source country permitting the source country to tax it. That condition is usually satisfied for dividends, interest, rental income, and royalties, which is why those are the categories where the regimes deliver.
Capital gains on securities are the exception. Tax treaties following the OECD model typically assign taxing rights on share disposals to the country where the seller lives, and nowhere else. Since the source country can’t tax them, the exemption doesn’t engage, and Portugal taxes the gain under the ordinary rules described above.
So a grandfathered NHR holder trading a foreign brokerage account is generally paying the same 28%, or the same progressive rates, as anyone else. The regime shelters income arriving from a structure abroad while doing very little for gains you generate yourself.
The same logic applies to IFICI, with the added point that IFICI requires a qualifying professional activity in the first place, and managing your own portfolio isn’t one.
There are two things the regimes genuinely do change. Foreign dividends and interest can be exempt rather than taxed at 28%, which is significant if you’re drawing income from a company you own abroad, and it’s the reason the Malta corporate structure paired well with the old NHR. And the 20% flat rate on qualifying Portuguese-source professional income sits outside all of this.
If you’re comparing jurisdictions rather than just working out this year’s return, I keep a running view of the alternatives in my guide to European corporate and personal tax structures, and the Spanish side is covered in the tax guide for expats in Spain.
Does exempt income push you over the thresholds?
An NHR beneficiary drawing large exempt foreign dividends might reasonably worry that those dividends inflate their income for the 365-day threshold and the solidarity surcharge. They don’t, and the reasoning is worth following because it isn’t obvious.
NHR exemption operates with progression. Article 81.º n.º 4 provides that exempt foreign income is “obrigatoriamente englobado para efeitos de determinação da taxa a aplicar aos restantes rendimentos”, which reads at first as though it counts toward everything.
Article 22.º n.º 1 defines rendimento coletável as what results from the englobamento of the various categories after deductions. Article 22.º n.º 4 then provides that exempt income, “ainda que não englobados para efeito da sua tributação”, is included only to determine the rate applicable to the remaining income. The carve-out sits inside the article that defines the term, so exempt income never becomes rendimento coletável.
Article 72.º n.º 14 conditions mandatory englobamento on rendimento coletável reaching the top bracket. Article 68.º-A applies to the amount of rendimento coletável above €80,000. Both inherit the Article 22.º definition, so NHR-exempt dividends sit outside both tests.
Progression still does real work. It raises the rate applied to whatever income you have that’s taxed progressively. Someone with exempt foreign dividends on one side and flat-rate trading gains on the other has nothing progressive for it to act on.
One caveat worth stating plainly. There’s no CAAD arbitration decision and no binding guidance from the tax authority addressing this exact combination, so the above is a reading of the statute rather than a confirmed administrative position. Where the sums are large, a pedido de informação vinculativa produces a ruling that binds the tax authority to the answer, provided the facts you submit are accurate.
Frequently asked questions
Is capital gains tax in Portugal really 28%?
It’s the default rate on the annual net balance of gains and losses on securities. It rises to progressive rates topping out at 48%, plus a solidarity surcharge, if the assets were held under 365 days and your taxable income including the gains reaches €86,634 for 2026.
Do options and CFDs fall under the 365-day rule?
No. Article 72.º n.º 14 only reaches gains under alínea b) of Article 10.º n.º 1, meaning shares and other securities. Derivatives, autonomous warrants and certificates sit in separate alíneas that the provision doesn’t reference, so they stay at the flat 28% however briefly you held them.
How is P2P lending interest taxed in Portugal?
As Category E investment income at 28%. Foreign platforms don’t withhold Portuguese tax, so you declare it in Anexo J and settle it on your annual return. Foreign tax withheld can usually be credited where a treaty applies.
Can I carry forward investment losses?
For five years, but only if you opt for englobamento in the year you use them. Since englobamento moves your investment income to progressive rates, it isn’t automatically worth doing.
Does NHR exempt my capital gains?
Generally not for securities. The exemption depends on the source country having the right to tax the income, and treaties typically give exclusive taxing rights on share disposals to the country of residence. Dividends and interest are the categories where the exemption usually does apply.
Do NHR-exempt dividends count toward the €86,634 threshold?
No. Article 22.º n.º 4 provides that exempt income is included only to determine the rate on remaining income and is not englobado for taxation, so it never forms part of rendimento coletável. Since Article 72.º n.º 14 and Article 68.º-A both test rendimento coletável, exempt foreign dividends fall outside both. No binding authority confirms this specific combination, so consider a pedido de informação vinculativa where the amounts justify it.
What about gains on a foreign broker account?
They’re taxable in Portugal on the same basis as domestic gains, and they go in Anexo J. Nothing is withheld at source and nothing is prefilled, so the entire compliance burden is yours.
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