“Only the Fiscal Officer can…” appears
Symptom
An operation that files or fixes data with the Tax and Customs Authority (AT) is refused with a message that names the Fiscal officer.
Message
Three examples, copied from the demonstration database in Portuguese:
- With the Accountant profile, when recording the submission of a periodic VAT return:
“Only the Fiscal Officer can submit a VAT return. What happened: submitting is separate from preparing. How to fix it: ask someone with the “Fiscal Officer” profile.”
- With the Accountant profile, when closing a VAT period:
“Only the Fiscal Officer and the Fiscal Administration can close a VAT period. What happened: closing locks the accounting of the period. How to fix it: ask someone with one of those profiles.”
- With the Administrative profile, when requesting the communication of a series:
“You are not allowed to communicate with the Tax Authority. This needs the Fiscal Officer, Fiscal Submissions or Fiscal Administration group; ask an administrator to assign it to you.”
On screen, these buttons (Record submission, Close VAT period) appear for the Certified accountant profile and do not appear for Accountant. The messages were triggered through the integration, which is where they appear to anyone without the access. The messages say “Fiscal Officer”, which is the name of the access, not a value of the Profile field: in the Profile field, whoever has it is the Certified accountant. When changing the name or the tax number (NIF) of a customer with issued documents, the refusal tells you to ask the Fiscal officer, that is, the Certified accountant, for the audited correction: I cannot change an invoice that has already been issued.
Verified causes
The Fiscal officer is the access of whoever answers to the AT. It is not a value of the Profile field: it comes with the Certified accountant profile (and the administrator also has it). Only whoever has it (and the administrator, in several of these operations) does what files or fixes tax data:
- recording the submission of the periodic VAT return and closing the VAT period;
- communicating with the AT, for example to create and communicate a series;
- setting the company's VAT periodicity and correcting the name or the NIF of a customer already used in documents (audited correction).
In Advanced settings, the Certified Accountant / Fiscal Manager level prepares the returns, but that level alone does not submit (the Certified accountant profile gives both): the screen says that, for this, the “Fiscal Officer” or “Fiscal Submissions” profile is needed (How to give each user the right profile).
What to check
- The operation the message names.
- Who in the company has the Certified accountant profile (or the extra Fiscal officer access). The administrator sees it on each user's form, in Advanced settings, group PT LOCALIZATION, field PT Localization — Fiscal Officer.
How to fix it
- Ask the Certified accountant to do the operation. This is the normal path: preparing and filing are done by different people. For example, the Accountant calculates and validates the return; the Certified accountant files it and clicks Record submission (How to prepare and file the periodic VAT return).
- If you become the one who files with the AT: the administrator chooses the Certified accountant (signs, closes periods) profile, which already includes the Fiscal officer; without that profile, they give the extra Fiscal officer access in the PT Localization — Fiscal Officer field, in Advanced settings: How to give each user the right profile.
Who does it: the Certified accountant; or the administrator, who gives the profile.
Expected result
Done by the Certified accountant, the operation goes through: for example, the return becomes Submitted.
When to contact support
- The message appears for a user with Fiscal officer chosen in that Advanced settings field.
Information to send
Follow How to ask support for help and what information to send, with the document or the return (for example the period 2026/9) and the full message.