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On this page, you will find usefull links and information (e.g. how to matriculate your car tax free)
Car Matriculation:
Prerequisite conditions: for exemption from import duty
You must be in ownership of the car for min. 12 months
It should be registered in your home country
You must show that you have lived in your home country over the previous 12 months
You must matriculate within 6 months of moving to Portugal
You should not have done this before (or at least within the previous five years).
Procedure
Go to your local junta armed with passport, Nº Contribuinte and a utility bill (or similar) relating to your Portuguese address. Ask for a certificate of residency. Costs c. 2 euros.
Take this certificate to your local Câmara and ask for a Licença de Residencia. Take also passport, Nº Contribuinte. Costs c. 7 euros. Note that this can be cancelled at a later date, but Customs insist you must stay in Portugal one year after matriculation to qualify for exemption from import duty. I’m also told that there are penalties if you sell the car on within five years, but haven’t confirmed this.
Make an appointment with your embassy. (In the case of the British Embassy, this must be done by email. Note that the appointments are always from 15:00 hours, so don’t be alarmed if you arrive to find the place closed. They open the door at 15:00 hrs, even though there is no mention of this on the timetable outside. Be prepared for tight security.) Check with the embassy which ORIGINAL documents you must take, but they should include the ‘Residencia’ just obtained from the Câmara, passport, Nº Contribuinte, Vehicle Registration documents. The Consul should give you a declaration that you are indeed a British citizen now resident in Portugal.
You must now go to your local customs (Alfândega). This is most likely to be in Aveiro. From the nice bit with gardens and gondolas, follow signs for ‘Praias’ and almost immediately to your right you will see a sign ‘Alfândega’. It’s a pink, two-storey Stalinist building just a short drive from the city centre in the Zona Portuaria. As ever, don’t expect them to answer any correspondence, but it might be prudent to first check by phone that they are open, as they seem to award themselves days off with abandon.
Take with you: Declaration from Embassy; Licença de Residencia. Passport; Nº Contribuinte; Driving Licence; Vehicle Reg. documents; Certificate of European conformity; proof of residency (eg utility bills) in your home country over the preceding year. (Note: at no stage was I asked to produce proof of income or bank statements). All must be originals. Make it clear that you are asking for exemption from taxes.
You will be issued with a document which you must take firstly to a specially approved Inspection Centre (there are very few of these; the nearest is in Taveiro, not far from Mondego Park) for testing. This costs c. 70 euros.
Now take ALL your papers to your local IMTT office. This is most likely to be in Coimbra. It can be found towards the Bus Station, on the same side of the road, right next to BPI Bank. As you enter, to your right you will see a ticket machine. Press button ‘C’. Look at the display board to be called, and to which table (‘Mesa’).
With the paper from the IMTT you must now return to the Alfândega. Take all your other papers, just in case.
A few days after this second visit, you should receive a letter from the Alfândega advising you of your new registration number. Take this back to the IMTT (with all your other papers), where you pay a fee of c. 46 euros. They will give you a paper authorising the making of plates.
Get the plates made. That’s it!
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