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Wage Garnishment Calculator

Portuguese law protects two thirds of your net pay, but a floor and a ceiling change the answer.

The net amount is what is left after income tax and social security, and after nothing else: insurance, union dues, the gym or a loan from your employer do not count towards this calculation (article 738(2)). If you do not know your net pay, work it out on the net-salary calculator first.

Can be garnished
€180.00
Protected
€920.00
Net amount the law considers€1,100.00
Share that is garnished16.4 %
A simple third, the calculation people usually make€366.67
Difference against a simple third-€186.67
Protected floor (1 minimum wage)€920.00
Protected ceiling (3 minimum wages)€2,760.00

The protected floor is working in your favour. Two thirds would come to less than €920.00, but the law does not let the protection fall below one minimum wage where the debtor has no other income, so less than a third is taken. This effect lasts up to €1,380.00 of net pay.

The calculator applies the rule in article 738 and does not replace the enforcement agent's calculation, which determines the amount at each seizure. Out of scope: the exceptional reduction a judge may grant on your application (paragraph 6), the absolutely and relatively unseizable goods of articles 736 and 737, and the costs and fees of the enforcement proceedings themselves.

Educational estimate based on the values you enter. This is not legal advice.

The law protects two thirds, it does not authorise one third

Article 738(1) of the Portuguese Code of Civil Procedure states that two thirds of the net amount of wages, salaries, retirement payments, other social benefits, insurance, accident compensation, life annuities or any payment securing the debtor's subsistence cannot be seized. Note which side the statute legislates on: it protects two thirds, it does not authorise the seizure of one third. That sounds like wordplay and it is the reason almost every published figure is wrong at both ends of the scale, because the two limits that follow apply to the protected part and not to the seized part. While neither limit bites, both readings give the same number. As soon as one bites, they diverge.

What counts as the net amount, and the deduction that does not

Article 738(2) is short and decisive: in working out the net amount, only legally mandatory deductions are taken into account. The base is therefore your pay after income tax and social security, and after nothing else. Company health insurance, union dues, the gym, a savings plan deducted from your payslip and above all a loan you are repaying to your own employer do not reduce the calculation base, however much they reduce what actually reaches your account. Netting all of that off first is the most common way people arrive at a lower figure than the enforcement agent will use. If you do not know your net pay on this definition, work it out on the net-salary calculator first and bring that figure here.

The two limits, and why one third is only true in the middle

Article 738(3) sets the protection's maximum at three national minimum wages at the date of each seizure, and its minimum at one national minimum wage where the debtor has no other income. With the 2026 minimum wage of 920 €, that is a 2760 € ceiling and a 920 € floor, both applied to the protected part. At the bottom, the floor lifts the protection above two thirds: on 1100 € of net pay, two thirds would be 733.33 €, but the protection rises to 920 € and the garnishment falls to 180 €, where a third would have been 366.67 €. Anyone earning 920 € or less with no other income cannot be garnished at all. At the top, the ceiling freezes the protection: on 4500 € of net pay, two thirds would be 3000 €, but the protection stops at 2760 € and the garnishment rises to 1740 €, where a third would have been 1500 €. Above 4140 € of net pay, every further euro is seizable in full. Between 1380 € and 4140 € neither limit bites, and there it really is exactly one third.

Maintenance debts follow a different and much harsher rule

Article 738(4) expressly disapplies everything above where the debt being enforced is a maintenance debt, in which case only an amount equal to the full non-contributory social pension is protected. There are no two thirds, no minimum-wage floor and no ceiling. A fixed 262.40 € is protected in 2026 and everything else can be taken. The contrast with an ordinary debt is stark: on the same 1100 € of net pay, an ordinary debt allows 180 € to be garnished and a maintenance debt allows 837.60 €. That is the difference between a garnishment you feel and one that changes your life, and it is why the calculator asks what kind of debt is being enforced before anything else.

Bank balances and self-employed income have their own rules

Where money or a bank balance is seized, article 738(5) applies: a global amount equal to the national minimum wage is protected, or the social pension where the obligation is one of maintenance. It is a flat amount with no fraction involved, so on a 3000 € balance 920 € is protected and 2080 € can be taken. Article 738(7) adds that the protections in paragraphs 1 and 5 are not cumulative, so a debtor cannot claim both the salary protection and the balance protection for the same month. Self-employed people fall under paragraph 8: the net amount is 75% of the total paid, excluding VAT charged, and the fraction and the limits then run on top of that. On a 2000 € invoice net of VAT, the net amount is 1500 €, the protection is 1000 € and 500 € can be garnished. Subparagraph (f) reserves this rule for debtors who receive no wages or pension in the month in question.

Worked example

Take a net salary of 1100 € with no other income and an ordinary bank debt. Two thirds of 1100 € would be 733.33 €, but the floor in paragraph 3 lifts the protected part to the minimum wage of 920 €, so the garnishment is 180 € a month rather than the 366.67 € a simple third suggested: the floor saves 186.67 € every month. If the same worker had other income the floor would not apply and the garnishment would rise to 366.67 €. On a net salary of 4500 € the arithmetic inverts: two thirds would protect 3000 €, the ceiling cuts that to 2760 € and the garnishment rises to 1740 €, which is 240 € more than a simple third. And if, on the same 1100 €, the debt were a maintenance debt, only the 262.40 € social pension would be protected and 837.60 € could be taken.

Frequently asked questions

How much of my salary can be garnished in Portugal?
As a rule two thirds of your net pay are protected, so up to a third can be garnished. But that protection has a floor of 920 € and a ceiling of 2760 € in 2026, and those limits decide most real cases. On 1100 € of net pay the garnishment is 180 €, not 366.67 €, because the protection rises to the minimum wage. On 4500 € it is 1740 €, not 1500 €, because the protection stops at three minimum wages. Between 1380 € and 4140 € of net pay it is exactly one third.
Can I be garnished if I earn the minimum wage?
If the minimum wage is your only income, no. Article 738(3) sets the floor of the protection at one national minimum wage, 920 € in 2026, where the debtor has no other income, and the protection can never exceed the income itself. In practice someone earning 920 € or less with nothing else keeps all of it. Note the two conditions: the reference is the NATIONAL minimum wage, even for residents of Madeira or the Azores whose regional minimum is higher; and if you have other income the floor stops applying and a third becomes seizable.
Does the garnishment take my payslip deductions into account?
Only the mandatory ones. Article 738(2) provides that in working out the net amount only legally mandatory deductions count, meaning income tax and social security. Health insurance, union dues, the gym, vouchers and in particular a loan you are repaying to your own employer do not lower the base on which the garnishment is calculated. That is why the amount taken is usually higher than people expect: they calculate on what reaches their account, and the law calculates on the fiscal net.
I am self-employed. How is it calculated?
Under article 738(8), if your activity appears in the table of article 151 of the Personal Income Tax Code. The net amount is 75% of the total paid, excluding VAT charged, and only then do the two-thirds fraction and the floor and ceiling apply. On a 2000 € invoice net of VAT, the net amount is 1500 €, 1000 € is protected and 500 € can be garnished. Subparagraph (f) limits this rule to debtors who receive no salary, pension or other subsistence payment in the month of seizure, and subparagraphs (c) and (d) require the payer to report the figures to the enforcement agent before paying.
What if the debt is child or spousal maintenance?
Everything changes. Article 738(4) expressly disapplies the two-thirds fraction and both limits, and protects only an amount equal to the full non-contributory social pension, which is 262.40 € a month in 2026. Anything above that can be taken. On 1100 € of net pay an ordinary debt allows 180 € to be garnished and a maintenance debt allows 837.60 €. The same rule applies to bank-balance seizures where the obligation is one of maintenance.
Can I ask for the garnishment to be reduced?
You can, under article 738(6). Weighing the amount and nature of the debt as well as the needs of the debtor and their household, the judge may exceptionally, and on the debtor's own application, reduce the seizable part of the income for a period considered reasonable, and even exempt it from seizure for up to one year. Note the wording: it is exceptional, it depends on your application and it is a judicial decision, not an automatic right and not a calculation. The calculator therefore does not estimate it; it shows the figure the rule produces, which is the starting point.
Are the calculator figures exact?
The two-thirds fraction, the one and three minimum-wage limits, the maintenance-debt rule, the bank-balance rule and the 0.75 self-employment coefficient are those of article 738 of the Portuguese Code of Civil Procedure. The indexed values are the 2026 ones: the guaranteed minimum monthly wage of 920 € and the non-contributory social pension of 262.40 €. The result is an educational estimate based on what you enter. It does not replace the enforcement agent's calculation, which is what determines the amount at each seizure, and it does not account for the exceptional reduction a judge may grant. If you are in enforcement proceedings, seek legal advice.

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Author: Thorben Rasmus Idel · Reviewed by: Nahar Geva · Last reviewed: 2026-08-16