The general comparison shows both countries
on their ordinary rules. This page answers the question that actually decides the bill:
which regime — every option each country offers, on the same income,
each computed with the same engine and verified data as the per-country calculators.
One amount, both countries, every regime
The figures show take-home pay and, in brackets, the effective rate.
Spain€36,156(27.7%)
Portugal€33,064(33.9%)
On €50,000, that is €3,092 more take-home pay in Spain.
Spain
Ordinary rules (no special regime)
take-home pay: €36,156(27.7%)
Portugal
General IRS scale — The default progressive scale — how you are taxed unless you qualify for and choose a special regime.
take-home pay: €33,064(33.9%)
IRS Jovem — partial exemption for young taxpayers — You are 35 or under and within your first 10 years of earning employment or self-employment income (closed to anyone who has used NHR or IFICI). · details
take-home pay: €40,656(18.7%)
Only if — and you confirm this yourself: Available for 10 tax years in total; Aged 35 or under on 31 December of the tax year, not counted as a dependant in someone else's household, earning employment (category A) or self-employment (category B) income, and within the first 10 years of earning such income. The option is exercised in the annual return, year by year. Closed to anyone who benefits or has benefited from the NHR regime or from IFICI, who has opted for the former-residents regime of art. 12.º-A CIRS, or whose tax situation is not in order.
IFICI — tax incentive for scientific research and innovation — You have just become a Portuguese tax resident (not resident in the five preceding years, never on NHR) and work in a qualifying research or innovation activity. · details
take-home pay: €35,600(28.8%)
Only if — and you confirm this yourself: Available for 10 tax years in total; Not a Portuguese tax resident in any of the five preceding years, never an NHR beneficiary, and working in a qualifying research or innovation activity at an eligible entity listed in Portaria 352/2024/1; registration by 15 January of the year after becoming resident
A regime is only comparable while you can see its assumptions. Each row above is a real
calculation on that regime's own qualifying example, with your amount swapped in:
Spain — Ordinary rules (no special regime): region — Madrid.
Portugal — General IRS scale: national rules, no region selected.
Portugal — IRS Jovem — partial exemption for young taxpayers: national rules, no region selected.
Portugal — IFICI — tax incentive for scientific research and innovation: national rules, no region selected.
Why the ordinary-rules row keeps going to Spain
The matrix above will hand Spain the general-rules comparison at almost any salary you type, and the reasons are structural enough to survive whatever number that is. Portugal’s scale reaches 48% once taxable income passes €86,634, with a solidarity surcharge of 2.5% stacking on the slice past €80,000 and 5% further up. Spain’s state half is still charging 22.5% through that whole range, and even with Madrid’s regional half added the combined marginal rate never reaches Portugal’s top rate.
Contributions do the rest of the work. A Portuguese employee pays 11% of gross, on every euro, with no ceiling.
A Spanish employee pays 6.5% across four payroll items, on a base that stops at €61,214 a year; above it, only solidarity slices of a fraction of a percent keep charging.
On €100,000 gross that is €11,000 of Portuguese contributions against roughly €4,060 of Spanish ones. The contribution gap alone moves the net by several points before the two scales even start arguing.
Portugal’s deduction is bigger where it matters, and it still loses
Portugal’s specific deduction is €4,587 or your mandatory social contributions, whichever is larger, never the sum.
Contributions overtake the fixed amount near €41,700 of gross, so above that line the deduction simply is your social security and grows with every raise. A Spanish employee deducts contributions plus a flat €2,000, and a further low-earner reduction that has tapered to nothing by €19,748 of net employment income. From mid-range salaries upward the Portuguese taxable base is the smaller of the two, and Portugal still collects more tax from it. That tells you where this comparison is really decided: in the brackets and the contributions, not the deductions. Spain’s personal minimum of €5,550 does quiet work too, though as a credit computed at the bottom rates rather than a chunk taken off the base.
The two regimes built to flip the verdict
The Portuguese side of the matrix carries two escapes, and they change the answer more than any assumption does. IRS Jovem exempts 100% of gross employment income in the first year of earning income, stepping down to 25% in the last three of its ten years, with the exempt amount capped at €29,542 and the exempt income still counted when setting the rate on the rest. It wants you aged thirty-five or under and inside your first ten earning years. IFICI charges a flat 20% on net employment income for ten years, and its gates were drawn for relocators: no Portuguese residence in the five preceding years, no NHR history, and work on the qualifying-activity list. The two exclude each other permanently, so this is a fork. Whether either branch actually beats the Spanish column at your salary is exactly what the matrix computes; the headline rates alone cannot answer it, because IFICI’s rate lands on net income and the IRS Jovem cap bites early on a good salary.
The Spanish regime we refuse to fake
An employee relocating to Spain hears about one regime before any other: Beckham, a flat 24% on income up to €600,000. It is not in the matrix, on purpose. Our engine models Beckham only in its self-employed variant, where it prices autónomo contributions that a payroll employee does not pay; bolting that result onto an employee comparison would be precise-looking and wrong. The Beckham page draws the same boundary in its first paragraph. Until an employee mode ships, read the Spanish column as ordinary rules only: for a qualifying impatriate it is a ceiling, not a forecast, and we would rather say that above the fold than in a footnote.
Geography moves one column and freezes the other
In Spain, regions own half the income tax scale. The matrix prices the region named in the assumptions block; Madrid is the lightest of the five regional scales we model, and any other choice narrows Spain’s lead, so re-run the numbers if the offer is in Barcelona rather than Madrid. In mainland Portugal the personal scale is national, so moving from Lisbon to Braga changes your rent, not your income tax. Madeira and the Azores are the exception: each replaces the national scale with a reduced one of its own, and the Portuguese column here assumes the mainland. If the offer is in Funchal or Ponta Delgada, price it on the Madeira or Azores calculator instead.
What changed in 2026
Portugal’s bracket table is the new one from the State Budget for 2026 (Lei n.º 73-A/2025).
The annual IAS revision to €537.13 moved everything indexed to it: the specific deduction now stands at €4,587 and the IRS Jovem cap at €29,542. Portuguese contribution rates carried over untouched. Spain’s state scale is the consolidated LIRPF table; the year’s movement is on the contribution side, where Orden PJC/297/2026 set the 2026 bases, putting the annual cap at €61,214, fixed the employee share of the intergenerational equity mechanism at 0.15% from the first of January, and set the solidarity contribution slices that apply to pay above the ceiling.
Questions people actually ask
Does the Spain column include the Beckham regime?
No. Our engine models the Beckham regime only in its self-employed form, with autónomo contributions that a payroll employee does not pay, so pricing an employee with it would produce a confident, wrong number. The Spanish column above runs ordinary rules. If you qualify for Beckham, read that column as your worst case and the Beckham page for what we can and cannot compute.
Can a relocating employee use IRS Jovem or IFICI in Portugal?
IFICI is the one designed for newcomers: it requires recent years outside Portugal, a clean history with the old NHR regime, and work on the qualifying-activity list at an eligible entity. IRS Jovem turns on age and on how many earning years you already have behind you, and it is closed for good to anyone who has used NHR or IFICI. They form a fork, not a stack: run your salary through both in the matrix and pick a branch.
Is Spain's advantage about tax rates or social security?
Both, and they compound. Portugal's brackets climb to their top rate at a fraction of the income where Spain's scale peaks, and a solidarity surcharge stacks on top for high earners. Meanwhile Portuguese social security takes a flat share of the entire salary with no ceiling, while the Spanish contribution base is capped, so past the cap a raise in Spain is almost contribution-free. The higher the salary, the more the contribution side dominates.
I am moving to Madeira or the Azores. Does the Portuguese column apply to me?
Not directly. Both archipelagos replace the national scale with their own reduced one, and every Portuguese figure on this page assumes the mainland. We model both islands on their own pages, with the reduced scales verified against the regional laws, so run your salary there instead of discounting the number here by feel.
How exact is the Portuguese result?
It is an upper bound. The engine models a single filer and skips every expense-based credit, including the general family expenses credit that almost everyone claims, so a real Portuguese taxpayer pays somewhat less than the column shows. Joint taxation for couples is not modelled either. The Spanish side carries its own single-filer assumption, so the comparison stays fair, but neither number is your final assessment.
What this calculator does not model
Every rule below is real and is left out on purpose — modelling it would need
information this form does not ask you for, or a mechanism we have not built yet. What
matters is not that something is missing, but which way it moves your number, so that
is what we tell you.
Your real tax may be LOWER — Portugal: Tax credits for documented expenses — health, education, rent, and the general family expenses credit — are not modelled, and neither is the income-dependent cap on them. The tax shown is therefore an upper bound: it is what you would pay if you claimed nothing. This also means a small tax is shown at incomes just above the minimum-existence threshold, where the general family expenses credit would in practice cancel it. Applies to: Residents who file receipts — which is nearly everyone.
Your real tax may be LOWER — Portugal: Married couples and civil partners may elect to be taxed jointly, which splits the income between two taxpayers and usually lowers the total tax when one partner earns much more than the other. We model a single taxpayer only. Applies to: Couples filing jointly, especially where incomes are unequal.
Your real tax may be LOWER — Portugal: Madeira and the Azores replace the national IRS scale with their own, lower one — select your region in the form and the calculator applies it. Two island details stay approximate: the mínimo de existência (the low-income abatement) is applied with the national parameters, because no citable regional norm settles how the islands adjust it; and the Azores scale's average-rate column is derived from the statutory 30% reduction formula, since no official table of it exists, so the tax authority's own software could round a step differently — a cents-level effect. Applies to: Residents of Madeira or the Azores — the abatement point only matters on low salaries.
Your real tax may be LOWER — Portugal: The dependant credit is higher for a second and further child aged up to six, and the ascendant credit is higher when only one ascendant lives with you. We apply the base amounts only. Applies to: Families with more than one young child, or with a single ascendant in the household.
Your real tax may be LOWER — Portugal: The specific deduction can be raised above the fixed amount for fees paid to a professional order, when membership is required for the job. We apply the standard amount. Applies to: Employees who must belong to a professional order — lawyers, doctors, engineers, architects.
This calculator is for information only and is not tax advice. Rates and thresholds
change; check the methodology page for sources and
verification dates, and confirm your own situation with a qualified adviser.