Once you’ve imported your vehicle and received your Portuguese license plate number (DAV), the next step is paying your annual road tax — known as IUC.
When Do You Need to Pay IUC?
Technically, you are required to pay IUC within 90 days of obtaining your DAV. However, there’s a catch:
You can’t pay the IUC until the vehicle is fully registered with IMT — and unfortunately, this process often takes longer than 90 days.
Only once the registration is complete and processed by IMT will the car appear under your name in the Portal das Finanças (Finance Portal), allowing you to pay online.
How to Pay IUC
If the vehicle shows up in the Portal das Finanças:
You can pay the IUC directly online — this is the easiest and most convenient option.
If the vehicle doesn’t show up yet:
You may need to visit your local Finance Office (Serviço das Finanças) to make the payment manually.
Delays and What You Can Do
At the time of writing, IMT is often taking longer than 90 days to complete vehicle registration. This creates a bit of a grey zone, but here are your options:
Option 1: Try Paying with the DAV
Some customers have gone to the Finance Office with their DAV in hand and attempted to pay the IUC early.
In theory, this is allowed.
In practice, many employees don’t know how to handle this situation or may not be willing to help.
If you try this and hit a wall, politely ask if a colleague or supervisor might be able to assist.
Option 2: Wait and Pay Later
Since the delay is due to the system and not your fault, you can also wait until the registration is complete.
So far, we haven’t seen any fines given to customers who paid late in these cases — especially when it was the first IUC payment and the car wasn’t yet visible in the system.
