It is already a recurrent practice of many Portuguese people to wait anxiously for the IRS refund, which can be applied to pay some expenses, reinforce savings or even pay for a well-deserved vacation.
Although receiving this extra money is something that all taxpayers want, do you know if you are entitled to this benefit? See, in our article, how you can find out.
Who is entitled to an IRS refund?
To receive the IRS refund, you must have withheld your income at source in the year corresponding to the declaration of this tax (in 2022, the declaration for 2021 is delivered). Only after delivery of this document will you be able to have access to a refund or not.
In order to receive reimbursement, a taxpayer will have to withhold an amount greater than what he will have to pay from the IRS. If the opposite occurs, then you will not have a refund and you will have to pay the missing amount.
Through the Finance Portal it is possible to consult your situation, so that you can understand how much will result from the payment of the IRS, whether the refund or the amount you will have to pay in additional tax.
If you have other debts with the Tax and Customs Authority, the refund amount will be used for their automatic payment. If there is still money left over from this debt settlement, then that amount will be delivered to you by the Finance Department.
Take note:
The minimum amount for issuing a refund is €10. If it does not reach this amount, then no IRS refund will be issued.
How can I confirm if I have a refund statement?
After submitting the declaration, if you want to check whether you will, in fact, receive IRS reimbursement, you will have to check the status of its issuance on the Finance Portal. To do so, you will have to follow these steps:
#1 – Access the Finance Portal
Once you are on the site, you will have to enter the IRS section. This will usually be available on the home page. However, if you cannot find it, you can always search for “IRS” in the search bar.
#2 – Authenticate your login on this platform
Subsequently, to authenticate your login on this platform, you will have to indicate your taxpayer number (NIF) and your password to access the portal.
#3 – Consult the IRS statement
Once you are in the IRS section, on your left you will find a menu with several options. Select “See statement”.
#4 – Select the year to search
On the page referring to the declaration consultation, you will have to select the year whose income you want to consult. For this year’s IRS refund, the option to choose is “2021”. Then click on “Search”.
#5 – Check the status of the declaration
After choosing the year you want, the data related to the declaration delivered in that same year will be available. Here you can consult the status of the declaration itself.
There are four possible states for it, which constitute the stages of the IRS refund or additional payment process:
- 1. “Certain Declaration” – If this is your case, then it means that the declaration was only validated without any central errors being verified;
- 2. “Processed Settlement” – This is the second step in this process. In this situation, your tax bills are complete;
- 3. “Refund Issued” – If the statement shows this status, then it means that there is no discrepancy or tax debt and the refund will be delivered within a few days;
- 4. “Confirmed Payment” – This is the last step in this process. At this stage, the IRS refund has already been paid.
If you are going to receive a refund from the IRS, the statement delivered may go through several states before the money enters your checking account. If you receive any of the messages below, learn what they mean:
- “Received – awaiting validation” – This phase refers to the period in which the Tax and Customs Authority will determine if there is any error in the declared data, after submitting the IRS declaration.
- “Certain after validation” – If you receive this notification it means that your declaration does not present any irregularity.
- “Settled” – This message means that the tax receivable (or payable, if applicable) has already been determined by the Finance
- “Settled with refund issued” – At this stage, there is already an order for the bank transfer regarding your IRS refund, and it should take about three days to enter your account.
- “Settled with invoice issued” – If you are in this status, it means that you will have to pay additional tax and you will have the necessary information to make the payment available.
- “Settled with zero balance issued” – When you receive this message, be aware that the final tax accounts resulted in zero, so no receipt or collection note will be issued.
- “Notification issued” – Sends only to those who will pay tax, and only the notification will have to make the payment by the established deadline.