This information intends to give you knowledge about a new law, the ATCUD law, regulated by Portaria nº195/2020, de 13/08, which will take effect from January 1, 2023.

In resume, this system obligates everyone to communicate to the Autoridade Tributária (AT) the invoices and other tax relevant documents series.

This communication will create a code, which will have to be included in all billing issued from this date.

Billing software is already, or will soon be, able to include these codes in the documents and its only needed to communicate to AT the series and numbering you want to use, so they can set the ATCUD.

For the documents pre-printed in typographies, it´s necessary to request the contracted printing the preparation of the documents, with the series and numbering that you want to use as soon as possible in order to be prepared on the deadline date. In these cases, it´s the typography that communicates all the information and then receive the ATCUD that will be included in the printed invoices.

All pre-printed documents without ATCUD can only be used until December 31, 2022.

What is ATCUD and how it works?

The ATCUD it´s a code to clearly identify one document.

The issuers must communicate electronically to Autoridade Tributária the identification of the series used in the invoices and other billing documents. This code must appear in any tax-relevant document, i.e., any document that is presented to the customer, such as purchase orders, transport guides, receipts and invoices.

For example, when you report a series to invoices you will receive a validation code. If you want to use a series for Credit Notes, you will also need to communicate this series for this type of document, to which a different code will be assigned.

What is necessary to report to AT?

In order to obtain ATCUD, the issuers should communicate the following information to AT:

• The document series identifier;
• The type of document;
• The number that begins the series;
• The expected start date of the series.

It´s very important that you only start using the series after the code is assigned.

The QR code should also be included in all of the documents.

Documents issued on Portal das Finanças

For the documents issued in the Portal das Finanças, the communication is automatic because the program immediately assigns the ATCUD.

Documents issued by software

For the implementation of these new rules, software must ensure that QR code and ATCUD are correctly created in the program. But it´s indispensable to communicate the series to AT, because only AT is able to create this code. Probably,  a software update will be needed.

We suggest that you contact your software supplier in order to speed up the entire process.

Documents issued manually

It is up to the typography to communicate, through the Portal das Finanças, the data to obtain the validation code to be included in the printing of the documents. All pre-printed documents without ATCUD can only be used until December 31, 2022.

It´s necessary to request the contracted printing as soon as possible, in other to the documentation is ready to be used in time.

Implementation date

The ATCUD becomes mandatory on January 1, 2023.

In order to obtain any clarification, please contact our services.