There is no such thing as a client abroad.
There are three, they behave differently on an invoice, and most Portuguese creators discover the difference after issuing the wrong one. The domestic market here is small, so working for clients in other countries is normal rather than exotic, which makes this the administrative skill that separates a creator who exports comfortably from one who dreads every foreign enquiry.
Everything below is the shape of the problem, not advice on your situation. Rules change and depend on your registration, so confirm your own case with the Portal das Finanças or an accountant before you invoice.
The three clients hiding behind one phrase
A business in another European Union country
This is the common case: an agency in Madrid, a brand in Paris, a company in Berlin. For services between businesses inside the Union, the usual mechanism is that the client accounts for the tax at their end rather than you charging it, and your invoice says so.
Two things follow, and creators routinely do the first and forget the second. You need the client's valid identification number for cross border transactions, and you need to declare the transaction yourself in a periodic statement. The declaration is not optional because the invoice showed no tax. It is the reason the mechanism works.
A business outside the European Union
A client in the United Kingdom, the United States, Brazil or Switzerland is a different case again. Broadly, services to a business established outside the Union fall outside Portuguese tax, and the invoice reflects that with different wording from the intra-Union one.
It is a simpler invoice and a more dangerous one, because the simplicity invites you to stop thinking. Keep proof that the client is a business and that they are established where they say they are, since that is what the treatment rests on.
A person, anywhere
If your client is a private individual rather than a business, none of the above applies in the same way, and the rules turn on where you are established rather than where they are. This is rare in UGC and it does happen, usually with a small personal brand that has no company behind it.
When someone cannot give you a company identifier, that is the signal to slow down and ask, not to assume they are a business with bad admin.
| Who is paying | What the invoice reflects | What creators forget |
|---|---|---|
| A business elsewhere in the EU | No tax charged, the client accounts for it, with the legal mention | The periodic declaration of the transaction |
| A business outside the EU | Outside the scope, with the corresponding wording | Keeping evidence that they are a business and where |
| A private individual | Treated by where you are established | Checking before invoicing, not after |
| A client who cannot give a number | Nothing yet | That an absent number is a question, not a formality |
The number they will ask you for
Sooner or later a foreign client writes back asking for your number for cross border transactions, and this is where the most common confusion lives.
Being registered is not the same as charging tax
Being identified for transactions inside the Union and being liable for tax on your domestic invoices are two different states. A creator can be in one and not the other, depending on their situation and registration, and finding out which applies to you is a fifteen minute question for an accountant rather than a forum.
Do it before the first foreign job, not during it. The client's finance department will not proceed without the number, and getting it while an invoice is already overdue turns a formality into a delay you are apologising for.
Currency is a decision, and it is not the price
Quoting in the client's currency looks generous and moves the exchange risk from them to you. Between the day you quote and the day you are paid, the rate moves in a direction nobody controls, and it moves against you exactly as often as it moves for you, which is a bad trade for a small business with no reserves.
Quote in euros unless there is a reason not to. It costs you nothing with clients inside the euro area and it costs you very little with the rest, because a company that buys services abroad is used to paying in another currency.
If you do accept another currency, agree who absorbs the conversion cost before the work, and remember that the number arriving in your account is the fee minus a spread you did not negotiate.
What to keep, and where
The article above asks you three times to keep proof of something, and those requests are easier to obey if they live in one place rather than scattered across an inbox.
Keep, per client rather than per invoice: their identification number and a note of the day you checked it was valid, something showing where they are established such as a contract or their own invoicing address, and a copy of the periodic declaration in which the transaction appeared.
Per client, because the question that arrives two years later is about a client and not about a document. How long to keep it is set by law and changes, so ask your accountant once and then apply the same answer to everything.
Keep reading
- Invoicing UGC Work in Portugal: IVA and Withholding
- Working as a UGC Creator in the Algarve
- What to Charge for UGC in Portugal
- UGC for Portuguese E-commerce Brands
- The complete UGC guide for Portugal
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Frequently asked questions
Do I charge Portuguese tax to a client in Spain?
For services to a business elsewhere in the Union, the usual mechanism is that the client accounts for it and your invoice carries the legal mention rather than the tax. Confirm your own position with an accountant, since it depends on your registration.
What is different about a client in the UK or Brazil?
They are outside the Union, so the treatment and the wording on the invoice differ from the intra-Union case. Keep proof that they are a business and where they are established.
Should I invoice in euros or in the client's currency?
In euros, unless you have a specific reason. Quoting in their currency transfers the exchange risk to you and the conversion cost is real, whatever the headline fee says.
A client is asking for a number I do not have. What now?
Ask an accountant which registration applies to you before you take the job. Being identified for cross border transactions and being liable for tax domestically are separate things, and their finance team cannot pay you without the right one.
Sources
Checked on 27 August 2026. Thresholds and rates change: where this guide and the official source disagree, the official source is right.