Maria has been a freelance graphic designer for four years. She invoices an average of €1,500 a month, has one main client and two or three occasional ones. Every month she pays €300 to an accountant.
What does the accountant do? She receives the invoices Maria has already issued, submits the quarterly VAT declaration — which, in Maria’s case, is always zero, because she is exempt under Article 53 of CIVA (she invoices under €15,000/year) — and handles the IRS once a year.
In a conversation with a friend, Maria realised for the first time that she was not required to have an accountant. The law is clear on this.
What the law says
The IRS Code and the Commercial Code establish that independent workers on the simplified regime are not obliged to have a Certified Accountant (TOC). This obligation only exists in two situations:
- Annual turnover above €200,000 — in which case you are required to switch to organised accounting, which requires a TOC
- Voluntary choice of organised accounting — if you decide to opt for this regime instead of the simplified one
Below €200,000 and on the simplified regime? The law does not require you to have anyone. It is an option, not a requirement.
What the simplified regime actually is
There is a misunderstanding worth clearing up because it is the root of much confusion: the simplified regime is not a generous concession from the state, nor something you can lose by not having an accountant. It is simply a different way of calculating taxable income.
Instead of presenting your actual expenses and having the state calculate your profit, the state applies fixed coefficients:
- 0.75 for services (75% of what you invoice is taxable income)
- 0.15 for product sales in wholesale or retail
The result is that you do not need to keep and present professional expense receipts to benefit from a tax “discount” — it is automatically built into the coefficient.
Your actual obligations (without an accountant)
The simplified regime without a TOC does not mean zero obligations. It means the obligations are managed by you — or by certified tools. They are always the same:
Certified invoicing. All invoices must be issued using AT-certified software, with ATCUD and QR code. You cannot use Word or Excel to issue invoices — they are not legally valid.
Quarterly VAT declaration. If you invoice more than €15,000/year, you must submit the periodic VAT declaration by the 20th of the second month after each quarter ends. Below that threshold you are VAT-exempt and do not have this obligation.
Quarterly Social Security declaration. Quarterly, with a deadline by the 20th of the month following the end of the quarter. In your first year of activity you benefit from a full exemption.
Annual IRS. Once a year, between April and June.
The most important point: exempt from paying is not the same as exempt from filing. Maria, being VAT-exempt because she invoices under €15,000/year, does not have to pay VAT — but she must have that exemption correctly formalised and registered. If she were ever to exceed the threshold without reporting it, the consequences could be significant.
”But what if I make a mistake?”
This is the question that keeps many people paying a TOC when they don’t need one. The fear of getting a declaration wrong, miscalculating, missing a deadline.
The objective answer is that the risk exists — but it is manageable. The most common mistakes always have a correction window before generating a fine. The Tax Authority and Social Security notify first, apply sanctions later. And certified software has safeguards that warn you when something is missing or overdue.
The alternative of paying €300/month to eliminate that risk represents, in Maria’s case, €3,600 a year — roughly two and a half months of work. For a service she could do herself in under an hour per quarter.
When a TOC actually makes sense
There are situations where an accountant is not a luxury but a necessity:
- Annual turnover above €200,000 (organised accounting is mandatory)
- Clients in other EU countries (recapitulative declarations, VAT reverse charge)
- Complex expenses you want to deduct that require validation (expensive equipment, vehicles, property used for the business)
- Mixed tax situations (self-employment plus employment income, rental income, capital gains)
For a freelancer providing services, invoicing up to a few thousand euros per month, with clients mainly in Portugal? The law does not require a TOC, and certified tools allow you to meet all obligations without outside help.
✅ Summary — 3 key points
✅ The law is clear: on the simplified regime with annual turnover below €200,000, you are not legally required to have a TOC — it is a choice, not a requirement, and most service freelancers will never need to reach that threshold.
✅ Your actual obligations are three: certified invoicing (ATCUD and QR code mandatory), quarterly VAT and Social Security declarations, and annual IRS — and remember: being exempt from paying VAT is not the same as being exempt from filing; registration obligations remain.
✅ Certified software replaces the TOC for most freelancers: tools like FIZ handle legal invoicing, submit quarterly declarations automatically, and show your tax position in real time — without the €300/month Maria was paying for services she could have done in 5 minutes.
