Ending the Tax Deadlock for Parents with Shared Custody

The law guarantees parents with shared custody equal access to their children's tax credentials. In practice, the law is not being followed. Help us fund a request for a Binding Ruling (Informação Vinculativa) from the Tax Authority.

In 2017, the Portuguese Parliament (Assembleia da República) passed legislation recognizing the right of both divorced parents with shared custody to declare deductible expenses related to their children on their IRS (personal income tax) return. In 2018, the law was strengthened, enshrining the right of equal access to children's tax credentials, as set out in Article 13, No. 11 of the IRS Code:

"11 – For the purposes of implementing the provisions of the previous paragraph, each taxpayer must be provided with the means to access the restricted area of their respective dependents on the Finance Portal (Portal das Finanças), under terms to be defined by the government member responsible for finance. (Wording amended by Law No. 71/2018, of December 31)"

However, the right of equal access to the tax credentials of children of divorced parents with shared custody, established in Article 13, No. 11 of the IRS Code, is not being upheld. There is no automatic mechanism guaranteeing that both parents have access to their children's login credentials on the Finance Portal. Without effective sanctions or automatic notifications, one parent can block the other, preventing them from including their children's expenses in their IRS tax return.

The only legitimate option available to those affected is a slow and uncertain complaints process, filing an administrative appeal (declaração graciosa) after receiving their tax assessment. This path places the entire burden on the wronged party, penalizing them twice: once by their ex-spouse's omission, and again by the system's inefficacy.

Call to Action:

After seeking legal advice, we've concluded that the most effective step is to request a Binding Ruling (Informação Vinculativa) from the Tax Authority — a mechanism that obliges the Tax Authority to formally clarify how Article 13, No. 11 must be applied. This is the request we aim to fund through this fundraiser, with a goal of raising 750 euros. This amount will cover:

• Legal fees for the lawyer(s) responsible for filing the binding ruling request;
• Legal support throughout the process.

By contributing to this fundraiser, you're not just supporting my individual case — you're also paving the way for other parents who, now or in the future, find themselves in the same situation. Once a response to the Binding Ruling request is obtained, the text of the request will be made freely available for anyone in the same circumstances to reuse, simply adapting it to their own case — without having to bear the legal drafting costs again. The more Binding Ruling requests submitted by different parents regarding this same issue, the more visibility and weight this cause gains with the Tax Authority — making this investment valuable not just for you, but for the entire community of shared-custody parents facing a similar situation.

If you're a parent with shared custody, or know someone in this situation, you'll understand how unjust it is to be denied a right already recognized by law. We're counting on your support to take this first, decisive step!

About the author

Ana Martins is a researcher at the University of Porto.

She is also the mother of two children, under a shared custody arrangement, and is directly living the situation this campaign seeks to resolve: although the law recognizes her right to access her children's tax credentials on the Finance Portal (Portal das Finanças), that access was never made available to her. Like so many other parents in the same situation, she encountered a system that, in the absence of automatic mechanisms, leaves this right dependent on the other parent's goodwill — with no practical, immediate way to enforce it.

With no record of other such requests in the system, Ana Martins decided to move forward with what is, in effect, the first request for a Binding Ruling on this matter in Portugal. This fundraiser will thus pave the way for all shared-custody parents facing the same obstacle in Portugal to benefit from: a) a formal, binding legal clarification on the application of Article 13, No. 11 of the IRS Code; and b) a ready-made text that they can reuse and adapt to their own case, without having to bear the legal drafting costs again.

That is the purpose of this fundraiser: to turn a personal experience of frustration into a legal tool that others can use in the future, without having to walk the same path or bear the same costs.

Budget and due dates

Budget:

The amount to be raised — €750 — is intended entirely for legal fees: 5 hours of lawyer's work, at €150/hour, dedicated to drafting, submitting, and following up on the binding ruling request with the Tax Authority. We opted for the standard (non-urgent) procedure, so no administrative fees apply.

These 5 hours break down as follows:

• 3 hours for drafting and submitting the request, including the legal grounding under Article 13, No. 11 of the IRS Code;
• 1.5 hours reserved for following up on the process — the Tax Authority frequently fails to respond within the legal deadline, so the lawyer will need to formally follow up with the relevant services whenever there is silence or delay, to prevent the request from stalling;
• 0.5 hours for reviewing the final response and preparing it for public disclosure.

As for the timeline, we expect the process to unfold in the following phases:

1. Consultation and gathering of documentation (1–2 weeks) — an initial meeting with the lawyer and collection of relevant materials, such as details of the shared custody arrangement and previous attempts to access the tax credentials.
2. Drafting and submission of the request (2–3 weeks) — technical drafting of the request and formal submission via the Finance Portal (Portal das Finanças).
3. Tax Authority response period (up to 150 days) — the maximum legal response period, during which the lawyer will carry out the necessary follow-up, including any formal reminders in case of silence.
4. Publication of results (1–2 weeks after the response) — public disclosure of the outcome and release of the request's text for free reuse by other parents in the same situation.

We are committed to keeping this page updated as each stage is completed, ensuring full transparency about the use of funds and the progress of the process.

See attached image for information on the Budget and Timeline.

Images