Freelancing as a teacher

Your Guide to Portugal Moving to Portugal
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Olà a todos! I thought I’d start a new thread on a particular topic as there doesn’t seem to be much recent info or activity on this topic.

I’ll explain my situation and hopefully I can get some information from the community!

I’m an EU member state citizen but have been living in Japan for most of the past 15 years. I’ll be moving to Portugal this July. I am self-employed/freelancing as an EFL/ESL teacher online. Most of my students are private individuals who pay me directly through bank transfer while others pay me through a couple of student-teacher matching sites.

What I’ve read so far is that I can “formally invoice clients” via recibos verdes. My students just pay me without any kind of invoicing or formal documentation. It’s all basically verbal agreements, as in, “I’ll do this for you and you pay me, yeah?” “Yeah, it’s a deal.”

I’d like to know how I would be able to work like this in Portugal and what I would have to do to register as a freelancer under this format?

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Olá, @siriusumare! We have a quick guide on how to register as a freelancer under the ‘recibos verdes’ system: Recibos Verdes - Becoming a Freelancer in Portugal | Practice Portuguese

However, there are many details to consider on an individual basis, and I highly recommend seeking qualified tax/accounting advice for your particular case. For example, whether your clients are in Portugal, within the EU or from non-EU countries; the yearly volume of business; criteria for exemptions on VAT and retention tax, and so on. Any decent accountant should be able to give you thorough clarifications upon consultation :slight_smile:

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