Chapter V · Charging and payment of the tax · Section II · Refunds

Article 21 Refund

Artigo 21.º · Reembolso

Regime do IVA nas Transações Intracomunitárias · annexed to Decree-Law No. 290/92 · consolidated text checked 26 October 2026

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1. The tax deductible under paragraphs 3 and 4 of the preceding Article shall be refunded to the taxable person upon an application addressed to the Director-General of the Tax and Customs Authority, which must be accompanied by all the information necessary for its examination.

1 - O imposto dedutível nos termos dos n.os 3 e 4 do artigo anterior é reembolsado ao sujeito passivo mediante requerimento, dirigido ao diretor-geral da Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira, que deve ser acompanhado de todos os elementos indispensáveis à respetiva apreciação.

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2. The tax paid on an importation of goods taxed under Article 5 of the VAT Code shall be refunded where the importer is a legal person from another Member State that is not a taxable person there and proves that the goods were dispatched or transported to that other Member State and subjected to tax there.

2 - O imposto pago numa importação de bens tributada nos termos do artigo 5.º do Código do IVA é reembolsado quando o importador seja uma pessoa colectiva de outro Estado membro que não seja aí sujeito passivo e prove que os bens foram expedidos ou transportados para esse outro Estado membro e aí sujeitos a imposto.

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3. The tax referred to in the preceding paragraph shall be refunded under the conditions laid down in the Regime for VAT refunds to taxable persons not established in the Member State of refund.

3 - O reembolso do imposto a que se refere o número anterior é efectuado nas condições previstas no Regime de reembolso do IVA a sujeitos passivos não estabelecidos no Estado membro de reembolso.

What we checked in this article

The refund on application to the Director-General for Taxation for tax deductible under Article 20(3) and (4), and the refund of import VAT to a non-taxable legal person from another Member State that proves dispatch and taxation there, under the non-established refund regime, are retained.

Selling to EU customers? Article 21 may decide whether you charge VAT.

We register Portuguese companies for intra-EU trade, check VIES numbers and transport evidence for exempt supplies, file recapitulative statements and set up OSS for distance sales, in English. A written answer and a fixed quote within one working day.

Unofficial English translation prepared by BCA Portugal for reference. Only the Portuguese text published in the Diário da República has legal force. Editorial notes are ours and are not part of the statute.

Applying the law

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An exempt intra-EU supply only holds if the VAT number, the transport evidence and the recapitulative statement line up. Tell us how your goods move; we set up the registration, the invoices and the filings.

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