You have clients in Spain, Germany, or France? Great — the European market is open to your talent. But there’s a declaration that most Portuguese freelancers are completely unaware of: the recapitulative declaration (declaração recapitulativa).
Never heard of it? You’re not alone. And FIZ handles it automatically.
What is the recapitulative declaration?
If you’re in the standard VAT regime, whenever you issue an invoice to a company in another EU country (intra-community B2B transactions) you must report that transaction to the tax authority through the recapitulative declaration.
It’s a periodic list — at the rhythm of your VAT filing, quarterly for most freelancers — of all invoices you’ve issued to EU companies: who the client was, their European VAT number, and how much you invoiced.
This declaration exists because the EU wants to track transactions between companies in different countries. In your case, you applied reverse charge: you didn’t charge VAT on the invoice, and the client declared the VAT in their own country.
Who needs to submit it
If you issue invoices to companies (not private individuals) in other EU countries and you’re in the standard VAT regime, you must submit the recapitulative declaration. Regardless of volume — even if it’s just one invoice per year. If you’re exempt under art. 53.º of the VAT Code, you’ve been excused from this declaration since March 2025 — see the details in the recapitulative statement guide.
If your European clients are private individuals (not companies), you don’t need to. But make sure they really are private individuals — a foreign freelancer or self-employed professional is typically treated as a company for this purpose.
The deadline
On quarterly VAT (the case for most freelancers), the recapitulative declaration is due by the 20th of the month following the end of the quarter — note that this is earlier than the periodic VAT declaration, which is only due in the 2nd month after. On monthly VAT, it’s monthly too — the rhythm and exceptions are in the guide.
- April, July, October, January
If you had no intra-community transactions in a quarter, you don’t need to submit anything.
The most common mistake
Ana, a marketing consultant, landed a client in Berlin. She issued the invoice correctly with reverse charge, no VAT. But she never submitted the recapitulative declaration — she didn’t know it existed.
Two years later, during a routine inspection, the tax authority detected the intra-community transactions in her VAT declaration without the corresponding recapitulative entry. A fine for omitted declaration.
The problem wasn’t the invoice — it was the failure to report.
How FIZ solves this
When you issue an invoice in FIZ to a client with a European VAT number (with country prefix: DE, ES, FR, IT, etc.), the system automatically recognises it as an intra-community transaction.
FIZ:
- Applies reverse charge automatically on the invoice — no VAT, with the mandatory legal notice
- Records the transaction for inclusion in the recapitulative declaration
- Submits the declaration by the 20th of the month following the period (quarter or month, matching your VAT filing)
- Only submits if there were transactions — if you had no EU clients that period, it does nothing
With the Auto plan, all of this happens without you needing to confirm. You receive a notification once it’s been submitted.
The client’s European VAT number
For the system to work, you need the client’s European VAT number — not a Portuguese NIF, but their tax identification number from their own country, with the two-letter country prefix.
Examples:
- Germany: DE + 9 digits (e.g. DE123456789)
- Spain: ES + letter + 7 digits + letter (e.g. ESA1234567B)
- France: FR + 2 characters + 9 digits (e.g. FR12123456789)
Ask for this number before issuing the first invoice. Without it, you can’t apply reverse charge correctly — and neither FIZ nor any other system can submit the recapitulative declaration.
✅ In summary
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If you’ve invoiced EU companies under the standard VAT regime, you must submit the recapitulative declaration — at the rhythm of your VAT filing, in most cases quarterly, by the 20th of the month after the quarter. Many freelancers don’t know this and accumulate fines. (Exempt under art. 53.º? You’re excused.)
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The manual process involves identifying all intra-community transactions, recording clients’ European VAT numbers, and filling in the form on the tax authority’s portal.
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With FIZ it’s automatic — the system detects invoices to EU companies, applies reverse charge, and submits the recapitulative declaration on time. No effort required on your part.
