I’ve received conflicting information about two requirements.
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Do I need to translate documents if they’re in English, Spanish, or French?
-
Do we need a fiscal representative (this one seems to have gone from yes to no to yes (Covid?))?
Thank you
Olá, @sbaratto. I would recommend always double-checking these details with the services themselves. The current official guidance is available here: Applying for a taxpayer identification number (NIF) for a natural person | GOV.PT According to this source, the fiscal representative is required if you’re applying for a NIF as a non-EU citizen who also has non-resident status in Portugal.
Regarding translations, this article (in Portuguese) indicates that the Portuguese civil registry accepts original documents in the three languages you mentioned since at least 2018: Notícias | GOV.PT The tax authority most likely follows the same logic, but do confirm with them, especially if you’re handling things in person in a specific office (they may not have people qualified to interpret all of those languages).
2 Likes
Fortunately, you don’t need anymore any representative.
In December 2024,
my wife and I applied for a NIF
as NON-EU citizens (Switzerland)
who also have NON-resident status in Portugal.
Our procedure:
1
Get from the administration, where you live,
um comprovativo de residência,
that proves you live there.
2
As a second confirmation of our residence in Switzerland
we copied our latest electricity and phone bills.
but nobody asked for them.
3
With deepL we translated our comprovativos de residência,
which were written in German,
into an equal paper in Português.
4
In Portugal we asked a solicitadora, or advogada,
to transform our original plus our translated comprovativos de residência
into an official confirmation,
which contained our translation
plus a statement that the translation is correct
= that we translated it correctly.
She asked EUR25 for each of the 2 signed papers.
5
To make communication easier
a friend of us came with us to the local office of finanças.
He made an appointnent a couple days ahead, by phone.
He is an advogado in that town.
6
We, our friend and we two.
went to the local finanças 30min earlier.
There were already some people waiting in line.
7
We presented our translations of our comprovativos de residência
= the 2 papers made and signed by the solicitadora
8
We made a pretty instructive experience
of the burocracia portuguesa
during the next 2 hours.
The man behind o balcão typed the informations
from our comprovativos and translations
into the interface if his terminal.
9
We declared that we do not need any representative,
because we are doing all future exchange of informations
thru the portaldasfinancas.gov.pt
10
Finally we had to sign a printout of personal data + NIF
and received a copy of that.
Plus received a first code to sign into the portal.
11
Having left the finanças we created
our 2 personal accounts at the portal
= Novo Utilizador - registo.
There may be a time limit to do that.
.
.
12
A couple days later we received 2 cards
at our address of residence in Switzerland.
With a second code for the login into the portal.
13
With the 2 codes we returned A Minha Área of the portal
to our Pedidos de Adesão
and filled in the rest of informations needed.
14
Final feedback in A Minha Área:
Situação Fiscal Regularizada, with a smily.
15
This registo at the finanças is useful for any contact with them.
They can inform and contact you by mail.
.
Espero que isto ajude 
chris
.
Thank you, Joseph.
You’re advice to confirm with the particular office location is especially good (helpful).
Stefan
Thank you, Chris. This is very complete and helpful.
Re: Number 9
You were able to do this without a fiscal representative?
That’s what I mean about conflicting information.
@sbaratto
Yes, NO representative.
Even our friend who came with us to make sure the communication is ok,
he was not mandatory,
but helped to deal with the person behind the balcão.
And as soon as you have your NIF,
all communication goes thru the portalDasFinanças.
c
Thank you, again, Chris. We’ll try early in our trip to Lisboa in May, just in case we need to go to Plan B. Your info is helpful.
Stefan