Data reported by Jornal de Notícias shows that approximately 11,000 fines, totalling an amount of nearly 14 million euros, were issued to companies. The illegal practice has also emerged into activities associated with digital platforms.

Last year, the Authority for Working Conditions (ACT) carried out approximately 15,000 inspections of employers in its search for cases of non-compliance with these national labour rules.

Green receipts are the official electronic documents which freelancers and independent workers in Portugal use to bill clients and declare their income, and they function as both an invoice and a proof of payment.

The government had intended to decriminalise some practises and reduce the value of fines with a planned labour package change, but the proposal was rejected in Parliament.

Set working hours

So-called fake self-employment receipts continue to rise, and many of them include set working hours, which is illegal.

According to data from the National Institute of Statistics (INE), 15 percent of 736,000 workers had a single client who accounted for 75 percent of their income in 2024. Of the 110,000 self-employed workers, around 84,000 indicated to the INE (National Institute of Statistics) that the clients they serve set working hours.

Having set working hours requires being contractually linked to a company, and workers who issue green receipts are by definition self-employed professionals, meaning that they therefore cannot have set working hours. SIC Notícias reports that companies that do not comply with the national labour rules are subject to fines of up to 60,000 euros.