The Portuguese Ministry of Finance acknowledged disruptions recently, stating, “Despite the restoration of the operational capabilities of the ‘e-fatura’ Portal, some issues persisted as of Monday morning. These have since been resolved. Consequently, the government has decided to extend the deadline for the submission of invoices for April until Friday, May 9.”
Additionally, the government has extended the deadlines for the submission of VAT returns. Taxpayers under the monthly regime will have until May 26 to submit March VAT returns, while those under the quarterly regime will have the same extension for their first-quarter returns. Furthermore, the payment of the respective VAT can be made without any additional charges or penalties by May 30, as noted by the Ministry of Finance.
The Order of Certified Accountants reported on Monday that the Finance Portal experienced failures following a system-wide power outage a week earlier, highlighting the impact on tax compliance and demanding deadline extensions.
Paula Franco, the organization’s chair, conveyed to Lusa that over the past week, “the system continuously went down,” particularly affecting the ‘e-fatura’ and the submission of the SAF-T file, which was due by Wednesday. Franco emphasized the accountants’ reliance on these operational systems for meeting various tax obligations, noting that the instability has directly impacted professionals. She urged the Tax and Customs Authority to compensate for the days when access was unavailable by appropriately extending deadlines.
The widespread power outage affected Portugal and Spain for approximately 10 to 11 hours on April 28, with the cause still unidentified by authorities.
The European Network of Electricity Transmission System Operators announced last week the formation of a committee to investigate the “exceptional and severe” blackout in the Iberian Peninsula.
