DAC7 in Portugal 2026: What Airbnb Sends to Autoridade Tributária (and HMRC, IRS)

DAC7 in Portugal 2026: what Airbnb sends to Autoridade Tributária (and to HMRC and IRS)

Cross-border tax reporting for foreign owners running Portuguese AL: how Airbnb and Booking.com transmit your earnings to AT (Portuguese tax authority), what HMRC and IRS see automatically, how to reconcile Modelo 30 with home-country tax returns.

Since January 2024 every booking platform you use for your Portuguese Alojamento Local sends a structured report to AT (Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira) every January. AT then forwards your data to your country of tax residence under the EU Directive on Administrative Cooperation, version 7 (DAC7). If you are UK or US tax-resident, HMRC and IRS receive details of every reservation, gross receipts, payouts and counterparty information. This guide explains exactly what is reported, when, and how to make sure your Portuguese Modelo 30 declaration matches the data your home tax office already has.

What is DAC7 and why does it apply to your Portuguese AL

DAC7 is Directive (EU) 2021/514, transposed into Portuguese law via Decreto-Lei 17/2024. It forces every digital platform (Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo, TripAdvisor, Hostelworld, Expedia and approximately 90 other reportable platforms) to collect tax data from their hosts and send it annually to the tax authority of the country where the property is located.

For a UK or US owner with an AL apartment in Lisbon, the chain works like this: Airbnb collects your data, sends it to AT every January (covering the previous calendar year), AT verifies the data against your Modelo 30 (your monthly host filing) and Modelo 3 (your annual income tax return), THEN AT forwards a summary to HMRC or IRS via the standard CRS (Common Reporting Standard) infrastructure.

The end result: by April every year, HMRC and IRS already know your Portuguese AL gross income BEFORE you file your home-country tax return. This is a major change from pre-2024 when only AT had the data and cross-border information sharing required specific requests.

Exactly what data Airbnb sends to AT each January

The reportable data set under DAC7 is standardised across all platforms. Each January, for each host with EU property, the platform sends to AT:

• Host identification: full name, date of birth, address, NIF (Portuguese tax ID), and your home-country tax ID (UK UTR, US SSN/EIN)
• Property details: full address, AL registration number (if you provided it), cadastral reference where available
• Per-quarter financial data: total nights booked, gross receipts received, fees and commissions deducted, net payout to your bank account, currency
• Bank account details: IBAN, SWIFT, account holder (the platform sees where money was sent)
• Number of distinct reservations and aggregate guest counts

For a typical UK owner with a 1-bedroom Lisbon flat doing 200 nights/year at 80 EUR/night, the Airbnb annual DAC7 report to AT would show approximately 16,000 EUR gross, 13,600 EUR net of platform fees, 200 nights, 65 reservations, your IBAN, your UK address.

How AT reconciles DAC7 data with your Modelo 30 declarations

Modelo 30 is the monthly declaration Portuguese AL hosts file by the 20th of the following month, reporting the previous month gross receipts. AT runs an automated reconciliation: SUM of your 12 monthly Modelo 30 filings should equal your annual DAC7 receipts from all platforms combined.

Common reconciliation issues that trigger AT notices:

• Off-platform bookings missing from Modelo 30: direct bookings, repeat guest bookings, cousin renting it for a week. AT compares your Modelo 30 total to DAC7 platform total. If Modelo 30 is HIGHER (you reported more than platform DAC7 says), you are fine. If Modelo 30 is LOWER, AT assumes you under-reported and opens an inquiry.
• Cancellations and refunds: Airbnb may report gross of cancellations whereas you report net. Document each refund with platform statement.
• Cleaning fees and security deposits: taxed differently in PT vs other markets. Cleaning fees are part of taxable income; security deposits returned to guest are not.
• Currency conversions: Airbnb pays you in EUR but reports in EUR; some platforms report in USD or GBP. AT uses the ECB monthly average exchange rate for conversion.

What HMRC sees about your Portuguese AL (UK owner)

HMRC receives an annual summary from AT under CRS for each UK tax-resident with Portuguese-source rental income. Format: aggregate gross receipts in EUR, AT reference, your NIF, your UK UTR, country code PT.

What HMRC receives	What HMRC does NOT receive (yet)
Annual gross rental income from Portuguese platforms	Per-property breakdown
Your NIF and identification	Cleaning costs, mortgage interest, IMI, depreciation
Total nights booked across the year	Per-guest details (visitors stay private from HMRC)
Confirmation you have AL income (binary)	Whether you applied NHR exemption

You declare this income on HMRC SA106 (foreign income), foreign property section. The arrival is reported in EUR; you convert to GBP using HMRC monthly average rate or actual receipt rate. You claim foreign tax credit (UK-Portugal double tax treaty) for any Portuguese tax paid on the same income to avoid double taxation.

Critical: if HMRC sees you receive Portuguese AL income via DAC7 but no SA106 was filed, you receive a "discovery assessment" letter and the burden of proof shifts to you. Penalty for non-disclosure under FA 2007 Sch. 24 is 30 to 100 percent of tax owed plus interest.

What IRS sees about your Portuguese AL (US owner)

For US tax-resident owners (US citizens, green card holders or substantial presence test residents) the path is similar but layered with FATCA on top of DAC7. AT shares your data with IRS via the 2014 IRS-Portugal FATCA IGA Model 1 and via CRS where applicable.

What IRS receives:

• Schedule E rental income equivalent: Portuguese gross rents reportable on Form 1040 Schedule E
• Form 8938 trigger: your Portuguese bank account containing AL deposits is a foreign financial account. If aggregate value exceeds 50,000 USD (single filer threshold) you must file 8938
• FBAR FinCEN 114 trigger: any Portuguese account exceeding 10,000 USD at ANY point during the year requires FBAR filing

You claim foreign tax credit on IRS Form 1116 for Portuguese tax paid (IRS section 901). The 1986 US-Portugal income tax convention (still in force, no replacement signed) governs allocation. Properly filed, you eliminate double taxation entirely.

Modelo 30 reconciliation worksheet (foreign owner edition)

Every January, after Airbnb sends you the annual earnings statement, do this 7-step reconciliation:

1. Sum your 12 monthly Modelo 30 reported revenues for the prior year. Call this "Modelo 30 total".
2. Download the annual DAC7 report from each platform you used (Airbnb dashboard → Tax → DAC7 statement).
3. Sum DAC7 gross receipts across all platforms. Call this "DAC7 total".
4. Compare: Modelo 30 total should equal DAC7 total OR be higher (because Modelo 30 also includes off-platform direct bookings).
5. If Modelo 30 LOWER than DAC7 total: open Modelo 30 supplementary declarations to add missing months/months/transactions. Penalty for underreporting under art. 119 RGIT is up to 7,500 EUR plus owed tax.
6. If Modelo 30 higher than DAC7: this is GOOD (you over-reported). No correction needed. Optional: claim refund through Modelo 3 if applicable.
7. Keep both reports for 10 years (Portuguese statute of limitations on tax assessments).

Common foreign-owner DAC7 traps

Top 5 mistakes UK and US owners make:

• Using personal name vs company name on Airbnb: if you set up a Sociedade Unipessoal in PT for asset protection but Airbnb still pays your personal IBAN, AT cannot match the DAC7 report to the company NIF. Always align: Airbnb host name must match the entity that owns the property and files Modelo 30.
• NIF not provided to platform: Airbnb withholds 25 percent at source from non-NIF foreign hosts (art. 88 CIRS). Always upload your NIF to host profile within the first booking.
• Direct bookings undeclared: Booking.com or repeat guests booking via WhatsApp = not in DAC7 but still taxable in PT. Most common AT inquiry trigger.
• NHR claim without disclosure: if you have NHR status you may be exempt on certain Portuguese-source income. But you must still declare and claim the exemption explicitly. Silent omission triggers Modelo 3 audit.
• Forgetting Form 8938 (US): US owners over 50k USD threshold MUST file 8938 for Portuguese bank account. Penalty starts at 10,000 USD per year missed (IRC s. 6038D).

Audit risk for foreign owners under DAC7

Foreign owners are statistically 2 to 3 times more likely to be audited than Portuguese-resident hosts because: (1) DAC7 makes data comparison automatic, (2) cross-border data is harder for auditors to verify so they pull more cases, (3) language and document barriers create more apparent discrepancies. Mitigation: keep meticulous records, use a Portuguese accountant (contabilista certificado) for IRS Categoria B filing if revenues exceed 14,500 EUR/year, file Modelo 30 on time every month.

Frequently asked questions

Can I avoid DAC7 by using only direct bookings?

No. AT can compare your declared rental income to: bank deposits to your IBAN, IMI returns showing residential property used commercially, neighbour complaints, AL inspector visits. Direct bookings escape DAC7 but not the other detection paths. Worse, they leave NO documentation if you ever face a dispute. Always declare every rental.

What if my home country has not yet signed CRS with Portugal?

UK and US both have CRS/FATCA agreements with PT. So do Ireland, Germany, France, Netherlands, Italy, Spain, all Nordic countries. The handful of jurisdictions that do not (some Caribbean tax havens) cannot avoid AT informing them under standard EU mutual assistance treaties anyway.

How much PT tax do I owe as a non-resident with one AL apartment?

Under IRS Categoria B simplified regime, non-residents pay 25 percent flat tax on the taxable base (35 percent of gross AL receipts for apartamento type, 50 percent for moradia, 65 percent for hostel). Example: 16,000 EUR gross apartamento → 16,000 × 35% = 5,600 EUR taxable → 1,400 EUR PT tax. After UK or US foreign tax credit, your home country tax is reduced by this 1,400 EUR.

Do I need to pay VAT (IVA) on my AL?

No, AL revenues are exempt from IVA (art. 9 no. 29 CIVA) regardless of revenue level. You do NOT register for IVA, you do NOT charge IVA on bookings, you cannot deduct input IVA on cleaning supplies. Saves significant complexity for foreign owners. (Exception: if you also offer breakfast or other "hotel-like" services, partial IVA applies. Vanilla AL stays exempt.)

Read also

• RNAL registration for non-resident UK/US property owners 2026
• NHR regime for AL hosts: still worth it post-2024 reform?
• UK-Portugal double tax treaty for STR rental income
• Buying Portuguese property as foreigner: CPCV, IMT, IMI

Informational, not tax advice. For DAC7 reconciliation specific to your situation consult a Portuguese contabilista certificado AND your home-country tax adviser. References to UK and US forms reflect April 2026 schedules; verify with HMRC and IRS for the latest.