Portugal · Module 1 · about 5 minutes

P1 Portugal's residence tests

Portugal makes you tax resident with more than 183 days in any 12-month period, or with a home kept as your habitual residence, whatever the days. Residence starts on the day you arrive, so the year splits.

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Concept

Portuguese law (article 16 of the income tax code) makes you a Portuguese tax resident if, in any 12-month period that starts or ends in the tax year:

You spend more than 183 days in Portugal, consecutive or not; or
You have a home in Portugal, on any day of that period, in conditions that suggest you mean to keep and live in it as your habitual residence, even with fewer days.

The 12-month window rolls. It isn't the calendar year: a season from September to December and another from February to April are counted together.

The home test needs no day count. A furnished flat you keep all year, treat as your base and come back to can make you resident with fewer than 183 days. It's a question of facts: how the home is used, what's in it, where your life is.

A split year. Residence starts on the first day you meet a test and ends on your last day in Portugal when you leave. Your first Portuguese return covers income from that day.

When both countries claim you, the US-Portugal treaty tie-breaker decides: permanent home, centre of vital interests, habitual abode, nationality. As a US citizen you file US returns either way.

What people miss

A residence permit isn't tax residence. A Golden Visa holder who spends a few weeks a year in Portugal isn't resident; a D7 holder who lives there is.
Two seasons can make 183. Count across the turn of the year, not just January to December.
The old NHR regime is closed to new residents. Retirees now pay the normal rates (lesson P4).

Worked example

Joan Mercer flies to Lisbon on 1 September with a D7 visa, a one-year lease and her furniture on the way. She's resident from 1 September: her 401(k) withdrawals from January to August are taxed only by the US, and her first Portuguese return covers September to December.

The Collinses spend February to April and October to November in Tavira: 150 days in the year, and at most 150 in any 12 months. They rent a different furnished house each season, so they keep no home there.

Your numbers

Log your planned trips. The Portugal line shows the most days in any 12 months against 183.

Your trips

One row per stay outside the US: where, the day you arrived and the day you left. Both days count. Days with no trip are counted as days in the US.

Where	Arrived	Left

To remove a trip, clear both its dates.

Year to check

Residence permit or long-stay visa

Days in the country that issued it don't count toward 90/180.

Planning date

See your Schengen days on this date, and how long you could stay from it.

Schengen 90/180 in 2026

Within the limit. Your busiest 180 days held 80 of 90 allowed days (on 28 Mar).

On 26 Oct 2026 you have used 36 days of the last 180, with 54 left. Arriving that day and staying in a country that counts, you could stay until 18 Dec 2026.

Tax-residence day tests

Country	Days counted	Line	Status
Spain	80	over 183	Under More than 183 days in Spain in the calendar year (sporadic absences can count as days in Spain).
Portugal	36	over 183	Under More than 183 days in Portugal in any 12-month period that starts or ends in the tax year. Busiest 12 months: 21 Oct 2025 to 20 Oct 2026 (36 days in 2026).
France	0	over 183	Under Your main place of stay is France. More than 183 days in France in the calendar year is the usual sign of that, but it is an indicator rather than a strict count.

241 of 365 days in the US, 8 outside Schengen.

Days in each place, month by month. A travel day between two places counts in both.

Days are only part of the test

Staying under 183 days does not on its own keep you out of a country's tax system. Each country also looks at where your life is centred:

Spain: Your main base of business or economic interests is in Spain. Presumed resident if your spouse (not legally separated) and dependent minor children live in Spain.
Portugal: Having a home in Portugal on any day of that period, in conditions suggesting you intend to keep it as your habitual residence.
France: Your household (foyer) lives in France, even if you spend less time there. Your main professional activity is in France. The centre of your economic interests is in France. Any one of these tests on its own makes you resident.

And the US taxes its citizens wherever they live, so US tax returns continue either way.

Create a free account to keep your trip log. Without one, nothing you type is saved.

Check with an adviser

How Portugal's tax office would view any home you keep there, if you won't live in Portugal most of the year.
Your arrival date, and the income you'll receive before and after it.

Sources

Worked examples use 1 EUR = 1.12 USD so the numbers stay fixed; the calculators use today's rate (1.1193).