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Calculadora Capital

Portuguese Lawyers Social Security

A calculator for the monthly CPAS contribution: it is not charged on what you bill, it is charged on the notional pay of your bracket.

The minimum bracket is not a choice: it follows from your situation and from the years since your first registration, counted continuously even if the registration was suspended (article 80(2) and (3) of the CPAS Regulation).

Monthly contribution
€148.14
Over 12 months
€1,777.68
Bracket applied4
Multiple of the contribution index1
Notional pay (contribution base)€617.24
Contribution rate24 %
2026 contribution index€670.91
2026 correction factor-8 %
Corrected index (the base that counts)€617.24
Minimum bracket that applies4

Note the date: in 2027 your minimum bracket becomes bracket 5, which takes the mandatory contribution to €296.28 a month, that is €148.14 more than you pay now. Because there is no intermediate bracket between 1 and 2 times the index, the increase is not gradual, it happens in one step.

The base is not the headline index. The 2026 contribution index is €670.91, but Portaria 28/2026/2 set a correction factor of minus 8 %, so the base that multiplies the brackets is €617.24. On the headline index this contribution would come to €161.02 a month, that is €12.88 more.

Left out, and explained on the page: the default interest on late payment, which article 81(4) charges at the rate applicable to tax debts owed to the State; the future CPAS pension, which depends on the whole contribution career; the declaration deadlines (30 days after registration and 30 November to change bracket); and income tax. 2026 values: index of 670.91 €, correction factor of minus 8 % and a rate of 24 %.

This is an educational estimate and does not constitute tax, legal or financial advice.

Lawyers and solicitors do not pay into Social Security

That is the starting point and the source of half the confusion. Anyone practising as an advogado, solicitador or agente de execução in Portugal belongs to a separate social insurance scheme, the Caixa de Previdência dos Advogados e Solicitadores, created in 1947 and now governed by the Regulation annexed to Decree-Law 119/2015 of 29 June. It is not an extra layer on top of Social Security: it replaces it for this activity, and three consequences follow. The rate is 24 %, against the 21.4 % a self-employed worker pays in the general scheme. The base, and this matters more, is not the income actually declared for the quarter but a notional pay chosen from 26 brackets, so a month with no billing at all still produces the same contribution. And the calendar is monthly: contributions fall due on the first day of the month they relate to and must be paid by the last day of that month.

The calculation has two lines, and almost everyone misses the second

Article 79(1) of the Regulation states that contributions are calculated by applying the rate in the following paragraph to the notional pay corresponding to the chosen bracket, and paragraph 2(d) sets that rate at 24 % from 2020 onwards. The notional pay is a multiple of the contribution index, and that is where the second line appears. Article 79-A requires the index to be updated on 1 January by the consumer price index excluding housing published by the INE up to 1 October of the previous year, floored at zero and capped at five percentage points. For 2026 that variation was 2.64 % and the index rose to 670.91 €. But the figure so determined can still be adjusted: article 5(2) and (3) of Decree-Law 116/2018 allows a correction by ministerial order, on a proposal from the CPAS board supported by actuarial studies, and Portaria 28/2026/2 of 6 January set a correction factor of minus 8 % for 2026. So the base that counts is 617.24 €, not 670.91 €. Anyone computing on the headline index overstates the contribution by 8 % in every bracket, which is the difference between 322.04 € and 296.28 € a month in the 5th bracket. One further point of arithmetic decides the cents: the corrected index is rounded to the cent BEFORE being multiplied by the bracket, and that is the only order that returns the published figures. In the 21st bracket, 14.5 times 670.91 € less 8 % gives 8,949.94 €, but the official table publishes 8,949.98 €, which is exactly 14.5 times 617.24 €.

The minimum bracket is imposed by your years of registration, not chosen

Article 80(2) sets a floor that depends on when you registered, in four steps: the 1st bracket for trainee lawyers and trainee associates, the 2nd until the end of the first calendar year after registration, the 3rd until the end of the second, the 4th until the end of the third, and the 5th in all remaining cases. Paragraph 3 adds that these periods run continuously from the date of the first registration with the professional body, with any suspension or cancellation of registration being irrelevant, so suspending your registration does not stop the clock. Paragraph 2(d) also gives the 4th bracket a second role: it is the permanent floor for extraordinary beneficiaries and for retirement pensioners who keep contributing, which the CPAS confirms in its own instruction that those beneficiaries declare a bracket from the 4th to the 26th. And the floor is not advice: paragraph 6 provides that where no declaration is made the bracket is set by the minimum rules, and paragraph 9 requires it to be set of the authority’s own motion whenever a declaration disregards them.

The fourth-year cliff: the mandatory contribution doubles at once

Look at the bracket table and notice what is missing. From the 1st to the 4th the multiples rise in quarters of the index: 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1. After the 4th the next step is 2. There is no 1.25, no 1.5 and no 1.75. Because the legal floor moves from the 4th to the 5th bracket at the end of the third calendar year after registration, the minimum contribution does not rise in stages: it doubles at once, from 148.14 € to 296.28 € a month, that is from 1,777.68 € to 3,555.36 € a year. For somebody who registered in 2023 that jump lands in 2027. It is the most useful thing on this page for a young lawyer, and it is why the calculator announces the next minimum bracket, the year it takes effect and the increase it brings.

Moving up a bracket is effectively irreversible

The CPAS states that beneficiaries may each year keep, lower or raise their bracket, declaring the change by 30 November to take effect on the following 1 January. That freedom has a brake written into article 80(2)(e): the 5th bracket is the minimum in the remaining cases, unless a higher bracket was already in force in the previous year, in which case that one continues to apply. In other words, the highest bracket you have already paid becomes your new floor and lowering it is no longer available. The only reduction the Regulation provides for is in article 81-B: paying at the 4th bracket for a maximum of 6 months, and only on proven grounds of serious illness or a particular parenthood situation, with economic hardship and no contributions in arrears. Alternatively article 81-A allows the obligation to be suspended on the same conditions. Anyone thinking of moving up to build a larger pension should treat the decision as final, because in practice it is.

What happens if you do not pay, and what the calculator leaves out

Article 81(2) provides that from the first day of the month following the due date default interest is added, and paragraph 4 sets the rate at the rate applicable to tax debts owed to the State, which is the fiscal rate in our default-interest calculator. Paragraph 5 adds that the debt certificate issued by the board constitutes an enforcement title. And there is a consequence that is not financial but is more serious: article 83 provides that failure to pay contributions suspends the right to any benefit, immediate or deferred, so being late does not only cost interest, it cuts your cover. What this calculator does not do is estimate the future pension, which depends on the whole contribution career and on the sustainability factor, nor compute the interest on a specific arrears position, nor deal with income tax on the contribution.

Worked example

Take a lawyer who registered with the Bar in 2023 and is paying at the 4th bracket in 2026. The base is the corrected index, 617.24 €, times a multiple of 1, and the contribution is 24 % of that: 148.14 € a month, or 1,777.68 € a year. Computed on the headline index of 670.91 € the answer would have been 161.02 €, that is 8 % too high. Now look at 2027, the fourth calendar year after registration: the legal floor moves to the 5th bracket, whose multiple is 2 and not 1.25, so the base becomes 1,234.48 € and the contribution 296.28 € a month. That is 148.14 € more a month and 1,777.68 € more a year, exactly double what was being paid, with no intermediate step. If instead the 12th bracket is chosen voluntarily, the base is 3,703.44 € and the contribution 888.83 € a month, but from then on the 12th becomes the floor and there is no going back to the 5th.

Frequently asked questions

How much do you pay CPAS each month in 2026?
It depends on the bracket. The contribution is 24 % of the notional pay of the bracket, and the notional pay is a multiple of the corrected contribution index, which is 617.24 € in 2026. It runs from 37.03 € a month in the 1st bracket to 2,518.34 € in the 26th. The most common figures are the minimum brackets: 74.07 € in the 2nd, 111.10 € in the 3rd, 148.14 € in the 4th and 296.28 € in the 5th, which is the floor for anyone past the third calendar year after registration.
Why is the base 617.24 € and not the 670.91 € CPAS announces?
Because the index as determined can be adjusted. Article 5(2) and (3) of Decree-Law 116/2018 allows it to be corrected by an order of the ministers responsible for justice and social security, on a proposal from the CPAS board supported by actuarial studies, and Portaria 28/2026/2 of 6 January set a correction factor of minus 8 % for 2026. The determined index is 670.91 €, the corrected one is 617.24 €, and it is the corrected one that multiplies the brackets. This is not a fixed feature of the scheme: it was minus 10 % in 2023 and minus 8 % in 2025, and it is decided every year.
Can I choose any bracket?
You can choose upwards, not below the minimum. Article 80(2) sets a floor by your situation and your years since first registration: the 1st bracket for trainees, the 2nd until the end of the first calendar year after registration, the 3rd until the end of the second, the 4th until the end of the third and for extraordinary beneficiaries and pensioners, and the 5th in the remaining cases. If you declare below that, paragraph 9 requires the applicable minimum to be set of the authority’s own motion, and if you declare nothing paragraph 6 applies the same rule. Above the minimum the choice is yours, up to the 26th bracket.
Why does the contribution double in the fourth year?
Because the table has no step between 1 and 2 times the index. The first four brackets are worth 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1 times the index, and the fifth is worth 2. Since the legal floor moves from the 4th to the 5th bracket at the end of the third calendar year after registration, the minimum contribution jumps from 148.14 € to 296.28 € a month in one move, 1,777.68 € more a year. Nothing can be done about the amount, but knowing the date in advance is worth a lot, which is why the calculator shows the year the jump happens.
If I move up a bracket, can I move back down?
As a rule, no. Article 80(2)(e) provides that the 5th bracket is the minimum in the remaining cases unless a higher bracket was already in force in the previous year, in which case that one continues to apply, which makes the highest bracket you have paid your new floor. The only reduction the Regulation provides for is in article 81-B: paying at the 4th bracket for at most 6 months, and only on grounds of serious illness or a particular parenthood situation, with proven economic hardship and no contributions in arrears. Treat moving up as a final decision.
Do trainees pay?
They do not have to. Article 79(3) provides that trainee lawyers and trainee associates of the Ordem dos Solicitadores e dos Agentes de Execução are exempt from the obligation to contribute throughout the traineeship, and may optionally start paying at any time during it and benefit from the cover the Caixa provides. Anyone who chooses to start pays at the 1st bracket, that is 37.03 € a month in 2026. Also outside the contribution obligation are pensioners who cease to be registered with the professional body, pensioners from the age of 70 and recipients of the invalidity allowance.
What if I pay late?
Two things happen. The first is financial: article 81(2) provides that from the first day of the month following the due date default interest is added, and paragraph 4 sets the rate at the rate applicable to tax debts owed to the State. The debt certificate issued by the board is an enforcement title under paragraph 5. The second is more serious: article 83 provides that failure to pay contributions suspends the right to any benefit, immediate or deferred. Where the reason is serious illness or parenthood with economic hardship, articles 81-A and 81-B allow you to apply for the obligation to be suspended, or temporarily reduced to the 4th bracket, instead of accumulating debt.
Are the calculator figures exact?
The table is the one CPAS publishes for 2026 and this calculator reproduces all 26 rows to the cent, including the rounding order: the corrected index is rounded to the cent before being multiplied by the bracket, which is the only order that returns the 8,949.98 € base of the 21st bracket rather than 8,949.94 €. The index and the correction factor are annual values and change every January. What is left out, and stated on the page, is the future pension, the interest on a specific arrears position, the declaration deadlines and income tax. It is an educational estimate and does not replace the information CPAS itself provides or professional advice.

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Author: Thorben Rasmus Idel · Reviewed by: Nahar Geva · Last reviewed: 2026-08-18