If you drive for Uber or Bolt, or run a fleet, the rules of the game changed on 1 September 2026. Lei n.º 59/2026 rewrote much of the TVDE regime (the old Lei 45/2018) - and some changes hit your day-to-day and your wallet.
It feels like “just another law”. But in fact this one caps the platforms’ commission, opens the door to taxis, tightens the rules on cars and contracts, and raises fines sharply. Worth knowing what’s what.
What Lei 59/2026 is
It was published in the Diário da República on 25 August 2026 and has been in force since 1 September. Even so, not everything bites on day one: the platforms get a transition period - up to 120 days to prove their technological capacity and up to a year to demonstrate the new access requirements, only then getting a new licence (existing licences stay valid until they expire). It amends the legal regime of TVDE - not the tax side (VAT and IRS keep following their own rules), but the rules on who can operate, with which car and under what conditions.
The changes that weigh most
The car is no longer a detail
Two changes reshape how you put a car into service:
- Comodato and usufruct closed. It used to be common for a driver to put their own car at a fleet’s service. Now lending the car by comodato or usufruct is prohibited - and the exception is narrow and exists only for comodato: only the owner-driver lends the car to the operator, the car is driven in the activity by the owner alone, and car, driver and operator are named and linked in the IMT register and the platform. Usufruct has no such escape valve. If you were counting on your own car in a fleet, check the current rules before signing.
- Written contract. The driver-operator relationship now has to be in a written contract, and the driver must be linked to the operator on the platform.
Warning: a written contract is not the same as safe green-receipt status. If in practice you work to the operator’s hours and under its direction, it can be presumed to be employment (art. 12.º of the Labour Code), whatever the paper says.
Video recording, badge and data
- Video recording: the platform may offer an optional in-car video function, image only (no sound) and for safety. It’s off by default and only turns on for a specific trip with the express agreement of both the driver and the passenger for that trip. The passenger can ask for the ride without recording, at no extra cost or penalty - and, if there’s no alternative car at that moment, can cancel without penalty. The images are encrypted (only the authorities can access them, to investigate an incident) and are kept only for as long as strictly necessary, never more than 30 days, after which they are deleted automatically - unless there’s a reported incident or a justified request from an authority. It’s not a camera you switch on yourself - it’s a platform function.
- Identifier badge (dístico): stays physical, non-removable and visible from outside, but gains anti-fraud security elements and a digital identifier (QR code) linked to the IMT register. The exact model depends on regulation.
- IMT data-sharing platform: cross-references operators, drivers, vehicles, insurance and licences, with access for the AT, Social Security, AMT and law enforcement. In plain terms: the driver-car-operator link and tax compliance become much more visible.
Two worked examples
- The 25% commission. A ride costs the passenger €10.60 (€10 + €0.60 VAT at the mainland reduced rate of 6%; in Madeira and the Azores the reduced rate is lower - 4% in both). The platform can keep at most 25% of the ex-VAT value - €2.50 (25% of €10), not 25% of €10.60.
- The car’s age. Bruno’s car turns 10 in November; from then on it no longer qualifies for TVDE, because the law requires under 10 years. If it were 100% electric, it would still qualify up to 12.
And the taxes?
Lei 59/2026 is the regulatory part - it doesn’t directly change VAT or IRS. The tax side of TVDE (the simplified-regime coefficient, the transport VAT that belongs to the operator - the reduced rate, 6% on the mainland and 4% in Madeira and the Azores - the self-assessment on the commission, Social Security) has its own rules, which stay the same. If that’s what you need, it’s a separate topic - see the TVDE driver tax guide.
Where FIZ comes in
If you’re a driver on green receipts, FIZ issues your receipts at the right VAT rate and calculates and files your VAT and Social Security declarations for you - so you focus on driving, not paperwork. If you operate with a company, FIZ handles invoicing and expenses and works with your accountant for the rest.
In summary
- Lei 59/2026 has been in force since 1 September 2026 and rewrites the TVDE regime (Lei 45/2018).
- What weighs most: commission capped at 25% (on the value excluding VAT), cars under 10 years (electric up to 12), taxis in TVDE, limited comodato, written contract and fines up to €44,000 for companies.
- It’s the regulatory part - TVDE’s VAT and IRS follow their own rules and don’t change with this law.