Methodology — Portugal

One output, one statute.

The Portugal calculator computes the taxa de justiçaPortugal's court fee — the mandatory charge payable to the State to file or proceed with a case, fixed by the Regulamento das Custas Processuais (DL 34/2008). Each fee is a multiple of the unidade de conta, read off the RCP value tables (Tabela I/II). It is a court cost, not a lawyer fee — Portugal has no statutory lawyer tariff.Glossary → — the mandatory, government-set fee payable to the State to bring or proceed with a case. Every matter, across the judicial and administrative/fiscal courts, is governed by the Regulamento das Custas Processuais (RCP, Decreto-Lei n.º 34/2008) in its current consolidated form. Each fee is a multiple of the unidade de contaThe reference unit (UC) in which Portuguese court fees are expressed — fixed at €102 for 2026 by Lei n.º 73-A/2025, art. 242.º. Every taxa de justiça in the Regulamento das Custas Processuais is a multiple of the UC (for example 7 UC = €714), so a single value scales the whole fee table.Glossary →, fixed at €102 for 2026 by Lei n.º 73-A/2025, art. 242.º (which freezes the UC of art. 5.º RCP). Every figure on the page is in EUR and shown at face value.

Unlike Tarifo’s lawyer-tariff countries, Portugal has no statutory lawyer tariff: advogados’ honorários are freely negotiated under the Estatuto da Ordem dos Advogados (Lei 145/2015, art. 105.º). So there is no lawyer-fee engine and the “reference valuesA tariff figure that is advisory, not mandatory — a guide to what a fee customarily is, which the lawyer and client remain free to depart from. Every number Tarifo shows is a reference value.Glossary →, not floors” framing (CJEU C-438/22) does not apply — the taxa de justiça is an exact statutory amount, not a reference. Registry acts under the Regulamento Emolumentar dos Registos e Notariado (DL 322-A/2001) and insolvency costs under the CIRE live in separate statutes and are returned as out-of-scope.

A banded UC multiple — no percentages.

Tabela I, column A

The standard scale (art. 6.º n.º 1) for ordinary actions. It rises from 1 UC (value ≤ €2.000) to 16 UC (€275.000) across thirteen bands, each inclusive of its upper edge. A €50.000 action is the €40.000,01–€60.000 band: 7 UC = €714.

The over-€275.000 increment

Above the top tabled band, art. 6.º n.º 7 adds +3 UC for each €25.000 or fraction (“ou fração”, rounded up). €275.000 is 16 UC (€1.632); €275.000,01 already adds one step (19 UC = €1.938); the official €430.500 example is 37 UC = €3.774.

Tabela I, column B (reduced)

Half of column A, used for appeals (art. 6.º n.º 2) and for indeterminate-value actions (art. 12.º), which default to €30.000,01 → band 6 → 3 UC = €306 (contested divorce, child arrangements, non-monetary declaratory).

Tabela II (injunção / execução)

A separate, flatter schedule (art. 7.º): the domestic injunção is 0,5 / 1 / 1,5 UC, capped at 1,5 UC; execução is 2 UC up to €30.000 and 4 UC above. Neither follows the Tabela I-A ladder.

No VAT — and no lawyer fee.

The taxa de justiça is a statutory charge outside the scope of IVA (Portuguese VAT). The calculator displays it at face value with no VAT line and no toggle. Because there is no statutory lawyer tariff, there is also no lawyer-fee figure and no lawyer-VAT toggle — the court fee stands alone. A litigant with insufficient means may qualify for full or partial exemption under apoio judiciárioPortuguese legal aid (Lei n.º 34/2004) — a means-tested benefit that can waive or reduce the taxa de justiça, and cover other costs, for a litigant with insufficient means.Glossary → (legal aid, Lei n.º 34/2004).

An ordinary action of €50,000, first instance.

Take an ordinary civil action with a value of €50,000 (civil_claim_patrimonial, first instance):

The same action on appeal switches to Tabela I column B at the same band — 3,5 UC = €357.00 (it lands at half, but via a column switch). A value of €275.000 is the top tabled band (16 UC = €1.632); €275.000,01 adds the first €25.000 increment (19 UC = €1.938); the official €430.500 example is 37 UC = €3.774. All of these values are pinned in the engine’s unit tests.

Where the RCP is re-derived, not ported.

Portugal reuses the shared cross-country case-type taxonomy, but every classification is re-derived from the RCP — a case treated one way in another country may be charged differently here. Three re-derivations are pinned as regression tests:

A second class of divergence is purely categorical: consensual divorce (family_divorce_consensual) and company formation (company_registration) are registo acts under DL 322-A/2001, not a taxa de justiça; and insolvency_open follows the CIRE’s own cost rules. The calculator returns null for those cases and hides the fee panel rather than quoting an RCP number that would not apply. Coverage: 12 computed + 3 no_fee (€0, surfaced) = 15 mapped; 3 out_of_scope omitted (catalogue of 18).