Ecommerce VAT for non-EU sellers shipping into Portugal.

You do not ship to Portugal. You ship into the EU, and Portugal is the customs door. Three taxes wait for the parcel today, a fourth from 1 July 2026, and a fifth from November 2026. Get the routing right at checkout, and almost all of it stays invisible to the buyer.

For a non-EU seller (US, UK, Asia, anywhere outside the 27 Member States) every shipment into Portugal is an EU import. Since 1 July 2021 the old 22 EUR low-value VAT relief is gone (Council Directive (EU) 2017/2455). Every parcel is in scope for VAT from the first cent, and from 1 July 2026 every parcel will also be in scope for customs duty.

The Portuguese VAT rates that apply.

VAT is collected at the rate of the buyer's location, not the seller's. Portugal has three rate regimes inside one country, depending on the buyer's address. Most ecommerce platforms default to a country-level rate and miss this, which is the single most common configuration error I see in non-EU stores shipping into Portugal.

For most ecommerce goods, the standard rate applies. The reduced and intermediate rates cover specific lists in the IVA Code (food staples, books, certain cultural goods, some hospitality). Configure your store by postal code, not by country, so a parcel to Funchal or Ponta Delgada carries the correct rate.

IOSS: the optimal path for parcels under 150 EUR.

The Import One-Stop Shop (IOSS) is a single EU-wide VAT registration created on 1 July 2021 for the import of low-value goods (intrinsic value up to 150 EUR per consignment). It does two things for a non-EU seller.

• Collects Portuguese VAT at checkout, at the rate of the buyer's location (23% / 22% / 16%), in the seller's currency, like any EU-established store would do.
• Gives the parcel a 12-digit IOSS number that EU customs scans and lets through without charging VAT at the border. The buyer receives the parcel without a courier handling fee or a customs invoice at the door.

Non-EU sellers cannot register for IOSS directly: an EU-established intermediary must be appointed (typically 300 to 600 EUR setup, 100 to 250 EUR monthly) and is jointly and severally liable for the VAT. The one exception is sellers established in Norway, under the EU-Norway mutual assistance agreement. The registration sits in one Member State (usually the intermediary's home country) and the same IOSS number covers parcels into all 27, with one monthly return in euros due by the end of the next month. Full procedure on the European Commission's IOSS portal.

When IOSS does not fit.

Three situations sit outside IOSS scope and use standard import procedures.

An alternative for parcels under 150 EUR when the seller does not want to set up IOSS is the "Special Arrangements" route. The postal operator or courier collects the VAT from the buyer at delivery and files a monthly aggregate return with the tax authority of the country of import. Cheaper to set up but the buyer experience is poor: surprise bill at the door, sometimes a refusal to accept the parcel.

Worked example: two parcels into Portugal.

What changes from 1 July 2026.

The Council gave the final green light on 11 February 2026 (Regulation (EU) 2026/382), abolishing the 150 EUR customs duty exemption from 1 July 2026, two years ahead of the originally planned 2028 schedule. The decision sits alongside the VAT in the Digital Age (ViDA) package, formally adopted on 11 March 2025.

The 150 EUR IOSS threshold itself has been proposed for abolition, but as of May 2026 has not been adopted. Sellers should expect IOSS to expand to all-value imports at some point during the ViDA rollout, which runs progressively until January 2035.

The decision table.

Six common scenarios. The first column is the parcel shape. The second is the recommended VAT route. The third is what happens to customs duty from 1 July 2026. The fourth is the buyer experience.

More questions answered in the dedicated FAQ section: Topic 05 - Ecommerce VAT and IOSS.