VAT (IVA) on cars imported to Portugal: when you pay it and when you do not

The rule in one line

A used car bought by a private person in another EU country and collected there pays no Portuguese VAT; a car that counts as a “new means of transport” pays Portuguese VAT, whoever buys it. For a used car, the VAT already in the foreign price is not refunded to a private buyer. Registration costs remain payable, together with ISV where it applies.

Used car or new means of transport?

For VAT, a car is a new means of transport if it is supplied:

• 6 months or less after its first entry into service, or
• with 6,000 km or less on the clock.

Either condition is enough. A car is “used” only when it is past both limits. The date of first entry into service comes from the registration document or, if there is none, the first owner’s purchase invoice (RITI art. 6.º).

Which case is yours

Nearly new cars: Portuguese VAT

When the car is a new means of transport:

• Tell the seller it is going to Portugal. The sale is then exempt from VAT in the seller’s country. The seller may ask for a deposit the size of its VAT until you prove the car is registered in Portugal, then refund it.
• You pay Portuguese VAT: 23% on the mainland, 22% in Madeira and 16% in the Azores.
• The taxable amount includes the ISV (RITI art. 17.º n.º 3), even though the two taxes are assessed separately. Our calculator also adds the transport cost to the base, a cautious assumption.
• Payment: for a car that pays ISV, customs collects the VAT together with the ISV on the DAV. For a fully electric car (no ISV), you pay the VAT before the car is registered.

Dealer delivery and distance sales

The table assumes you collect the car abroad or arrange the transport yourself. If a dealer that charges normal VAT delivers the car to you in Portugal, or arranges the transport, the sale can become a distance sale taxed in Portugal: the dealer then charges Portuguese VAT instead of its own. Margin-scheme sales are excluded from this rule. Ask the dealer how the invoice will be issued before you agree on delivery.

Buying as a company

For a taxable intra-Community acquisition under the normal VAT regime, a Portuguese VAT-registered business pays the net price and accounts for Portuguese VAT on the acquisition, with the ISV in the taxable amount. This does not apply to a used car bought under the margin scheme. For some purchases of new vehicles, the VAT is paid through customs, depending on the buyer’s ISV status. That VAT is usually not deductible: VAT on passenger cars is excluded from deduction (CIVA art. 21.º n.º 1 a)). The main exceptions are businesses whose activity is selling or renting cars, and acquisitions of:

• fully electric cars up to €62,500, and
• plug-in hybrids up to €50,000,

of acquisition cost excluding VAT (Portaria 467/2010). Above the limit the exception does not apply at all. Other conditions also apply; check them with your accountant.

Cars from outside the EU

A car bought in Great Britain, Switzerland or elsewhere outside the EU is an import, not an intra-EU purchase (Northern Ireland needs a separate check):

• Customs duty may apply; it depends on the vehicle’s classification and preferential origin (not the country of registration). Official customs guidance gives 10% for most ordinary passenger cars, and qualifying UK-origin cars can pay 0%.
• Import VAT (23% on the mainland), on a base that includes the customs value, the duty and the ISV.
• ISV without the age reduction: Tabela D applies only to cars registered in another EU Member State.

Check the duty for the exact car with customs before buying.

Where VAT fits in the total

VAT is one line of the landed cost. The cost guide lists all of them, and the calculator shows both outcomes if you do not know the seller’s VAT status.

Worked examples are calculated by the same engine as the calculator, for registration on 1 Dec 2026.