How to prepare and submit the periodic VAT return

What is it for?

The periodic VAT return (DP IVA) for each month or quarter is prepared in fiscaldoo from the period's journal entries: the program fills in the fields of Table 06 (Quadro 06), gathers the credit note adjustments in the annex for fields 40 and 41, runs the checks and generates the file in the AT's format. You submit it yourself on the Portal das Finanças; fiscaldoo does not send the return.

After submitting, you record the submission and acceptance here. Payment, replacement and closing the period are the next tasks, summarised in “After submitting”.

When to use it?

• Every month (monthly scheme) or every quarter (quarterly scheme), once all the period's documents have been posted.
• To correct a return already submitted, see “Replace a submitted return”, under “After submitting”.

Where to find it?

Accounting › Declare › What is there to do with the VAT? › Prepare the VAT return

The returns already created are in VAT returns (DP IVA): on the same page, under Supporting lists, click VAT return records.

Two similar menus

Accounting › Declare › Periodic VAT return is the report for viewing the amounts in each field and opening the journal entries. The return you prepare, validate and record is opened through What is there to do with the VAT?, as in this article.

Before you start

• The company's VAT periodicity (monthly or quarterly) is set in Accounting › Configure › VAT and withholding › Tax configuration. Only the Certified accountant profile (and the administrator) can set it.
• All the period's documents are posted. A draft dated in the period (for example, an unconfirmed credit note) blocks validation (see “Common problems”).
• The company record has the tax number (NIF), the head-office region and the answer to Table 04 (recapitulative statement).
• If the company has organised accounting (company record, PT Localization tab, Organized accounting), the certified accountant who signs the return is recorded in Accounting › Configure › Security and data › Certified accountant, with the OCC number and the Responsible from date. If none is recorded, the Certified Accountant (Quadro 20) list only shows Create....
• Profiles: the Accountant prepares and calculates; the Certified accountant pre-fills the annexes, validates and records submission and acceptance. Recording the submission also requires the Certified accountant profile.

How to use it

1. Open What is there to do with the VAT? and click Prepare the VAT return. The return for the period shown on the VAT return card opens, which may not be the month in the list next to the button: with the list on the current month, it is the oldest period not yet submitted (in the example, “VAT return: October 2026”, with September already Submitted). Check From and Up to (in the example, 01/10/2026 and 31/10/2026), the submission deadline and the payment deadline.
2. Click Calculate. The fields on the Quadro 06 — fields tab are filled in from the period's journal entries and the return changes to Computed.
3. Open the Annexes 40 and 41 tab and click Pre-fill from the regularization notes. Each credit note of the period with a VAT adjustment reason becomes a line in the Field 40 annex (or 41), with the document, the reason, the legal basis, the origin date, the taxable amount and the adjusted VAT. Check that Annex 40 vs. regularization notes and Annex 41 vs. regularization notes show no difference.
4. Open the Checks tab and click Run checks. Each line comes out OK, Warning or Blocking. Fix what blocks, review the warnings and, if you changed anything, click Calculate again.
5. Confirm the Certified Accountant (Quadro 20), in the Tables 05 and 20 part. If it is empty, choose one: the list shows the registered certified accountants, with their tax number; with organised accounting, the one chosen must be registered in this company (see “Before you start”).
6. Click Validate. The return changes to Validated and can no longer be recalculated.
7. Click Export DP IVA file. fiscaldoo checks the file against the AT's format before downloading it. In the demo, the September 2026 return produced the file DPIVA_509999999_2026_M09.xml, with the company's tax number without the country prefix.
8. Submit the file on the Portal das Finanças and keep the receipt.
9. Go back to the return and click Record submission. The return changes to Submitted.
10. If you want to keep the Portal reference and receipt, click Register the delivery to the AT: in the window, enter the date, the Reference of the Tax Authority and attach the Proof, then click Register. Nothing is sent to the AT from here.
11. When the AT confirms receipt, click Record acceptance. The return changes to Accepted.

Expected result

• The return is Submitted or Accepted, with the submission date and the same amounts you submitted.
• If you submitted it after the deadline, the return shows the Out of time ribbon.

Demo video

The video shows the October 2026 return with the Certified accountant profile: Prepare the VAT return, check From and Up to, Calculate, Run checks, confirm the certified accountant, Validate and Record submission. It does not show annexes 40 and 41 (step 3), the file export (step 7) or the submission on the Portal das Finanças (step 8): fiscaldoo does not send the return.

No telemóvel, rode-o para a horizontal e veja o vídeo em ecrã inteiro: o texto do ecrã fica legível.

Prepare and submit the VAT return · 29 s · sem som, com legendas · legendas (WebVTT)

Transcrição

Important notes

Adjustments: fields 40 and 41

Credit notes with a VAT regularization reason (see How to issue a credit note) go into field 40 (in favour of the company) or field 41 (in favour of the State), depending on the reason, and are the basis of the annex for those fields. Pre-filling only gathers the notes of the period; if a note was issued after the art. 78 deadline, the warning stays in the note's message history, and it is the certified accountant who decides whether the adjustment goes in. Pending validation by a certified accountant: late adjustments and the annex for fields 40 and 41.

Amounts and deadlines

fiscaldoo calculates the fields from the accounts, but the person who signs and submits the return is the certified accountant: check the amounts with them before submitting. The screen shows the deadlines: submission by the 20th and payment by the 25th of the 2nd month after the end of the period (VAT Code (CIVA), art. 41 and art. 27), moving to the next working day when they fall on a weekend or public holiday; the June return and the 2nd-quarter return are due in September. For October 2026, the screen shows Return due by 20/12/2026, Return deadline (working day) 21/12/2026, Payment due by 25/12/2026 and Payment deadline (working day) 28/12/2026. Pending validation by a certified accountant: DP IVA deadlines.

• Field 61 (excess carried forward from the previous period): the screen itself describes it as “Campo 96 da declaração anterior - n.º 4 do artigo 22.º” (field 96 of the previous return, art. 22(4)). Check it against field 96 of the last return submitted before validating. Pending validation by a certified accountant: source of the field 61 amount.

• Send back to draft (only the administrator, or someone with the extra Fiscal administration access, with a reason) is available while the return is Validated or Submitted. In Validated, it goes back to draft so it can be calculated and validated again. In Submitted, it depends on the Portal das Finanças:

  • not yet submitted on the Portal (for example, you clicked Record submission before submitting it, or the Portal did not accept the file): you can send it back to draft, correct it and go back to step 2;
  • already submitted on the Portal: do not send it back. Sending it back clears the submission date, and the fiscaldoo return is no longer the one the AT received. The correction is made with a replacement return (see “Replace a submitted return”); the Replace button is already on the submitted return.

  In Draft and Computed it is not needed (Calculate is still there); in Accepted, Partly paid and Paid the button no longer exists, and the correction is made with a replacement return. Pending validation by a certified accountant: a return already submitted on the Portal can only be corrected with a replacement return.

After submitting

Pay the VAT

The payment is recorded on the return, but only after the VAT settlement for the period, which leaves the VAT payable in the State account; without it, Record payment is refused with “… não tem um apuramento com IVA a pagar. …” (has no settlement with VAT payable). With the settlement posted, click Record payment and, in the Record the payment window, confirm the Date of the payment, the Payment reference, the Bank journal and the Amount to pay (Still to pay shows what is owed); click Record payment. A partial payment leaves the return Partly paid; the last one changes it to Paid. A payment recorded by mistake is cancelled with Reverse payment.

Replace a submitted return

Click Replace, write the Reason for replacement and click Create replacement. A new version of the same period is created, in draft (for example 2026/9 (v4)), which you calculate, validate and submit as in this article; the submitted return stays as it was. If the replacement changes the amounts, the period's settlement is also out of date: reverse it and settle again.

Replacing a period already paid

In this version, replacing a period already paid shows the full amount of the new version in Still to pay, without deducting what you have already paid: in the demo, 2026/9 (v4) shows €417.68 unpaid, with €440.68 already paid on v1, and Record payment proposes €417.68. Do not record again what you have already paid: only record a payment you actually make because of the replacement. Decide with the certified accountant what to do with the difference. Pending validation by a certified accountant: payment and difference on a replacement return.

Close the VAT period

When the period is finished, Close VAT period moves the company's tax lock date forward to the last day of the period: the return then shows VAT period: Closed and Locked up to, and no journal entry dated up to that day is accepted, including in earlier periods. That is why fiscaldoo only closes a period after the previous one is closed (“O período de IVA “… — 2026/8 (v1)” ainda não está fechado. …” — the VAT period … is not closed yet): close the periods in order, starting with the oldest. Settle the VAT before closing: in a closed period the settlement is refused.

Common problems

On the first calculation, “Preparing the values of the previous periods” appears

• Cause: the amounts carried over from previous periods are being prepared in the background (this only happens the first time or after an update).
• What to do: wait about a minute and click Calculate again.

Validate is refused because there are unposted entries

• Symptom: “VAT return “… — 2026/10 (v1)” cannot go on: 1 blocking check(s). - The period has 3 unposted entry(ies), e.g. … Draft Credit Note (…). What happened: when they are posted they change the declaration, so the submission is blocked while they exist. How to fix it: post or cancel them, then compute again. …”
• Cause: there are drafts dated in the period.
• What to do: open the documents listed in Documents to fix, on the Checks tab; post or cancel them; click Calculate and validate again.

Validate is refused because the certified accountant is missing

• Symptom: “VAT return “… — 2026/9 (v2)” cannot go on: 1 blocking check(s). - O Contabilista Certificado do Quadro 20 não está preenchido. O que aconteceu: a empresa tem contabilidade organizada, por isso a declaração tem de identificar o Contabilista Certificado, senão a AT recusa-a. Como resolver: na secção “Quadros 05 e 20” escolha um Contabilista Certificado registado na empresa (com NIF válido). …” (the Quadro 20 certified accountant is not filled in; the company has organised accounting, so the return must identify the certified accountant or the AT will refuse it; choose one registered in the company, with a valid tax number, in the Quadros 05 and 20 section)
• Cause: the company is marked as having organised accounting and the Table 20 blocking rule is on, and the return has no Certified Accountant (Quadro 20). Without that rule, the omission only appears as a Warning on the Checks tab.
• What to do: choose the Certified Accountant (Quadro 20) in the “Quadros 05 and 20” section and click Validate again.

Record submission is refused because the data changed

• Symptom: “VAT return “…” cannot go on: 1 blocking check(s). - The accounting data changed since the declaration was calculated (fields 24, 91, 93). How to fix it: use “Calculate” again. …”
• Cause: a document of the period was posted or changed after the return was validated (in the demo, a supplier invoice with €23.00 of VAT). The fields listed are those that changed.
• What to do: a validated return no longer has Calculate: ask the administrator to click Send back to draft and write the reason. Then click Calculate, check the fields listed, Validate and Record submission. If the period already had a settlement, it is also out of date: reverse it and settle again.