Guia de remessa explained: the Portuguese delivery note, from the receiving side

Portugal regulates the movement of goods through the Regime de Bens em Circulação, approved by Decreto-Lei 147/2003 of 11 July. Goods that circulate in Portuguese territory in operations carried out by VAT taxpayers must be accompanied by a transport document. The law lists what counts: an invoice (fatura), a guia de remessa, a nota de devolução (return note), a guia de transporte, or equivalent documents.

In practice, most deliveries to a Portuguese construction site (obra) arrive with a guia de remessa. That is why every truck of concrete, every pallet of blocks and every bundle of rebar comes with one — it is a tax document, not only a courtesy delivery note. For the general concept, see what is a delivery note.

Article 4 of the regime sets the minimum content:

The sender does. Before the transport starts, the sender communicates the document’s details — including its unique document code, the ATCUD — to the AT (Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira) by webservice, file upload or directly on the Portal das Finanças. The AT returns an identification code that proves the prior communication. With that code, the carrier can travel without the paper copy.

Senders with turnover of €100,000 or less in the previous tax period are exempt from the communication, although they still have to issue the document. A telephone procedure exists for pre-printed paper documents or a proven system failure, with the details inserted on the Portal by the fifth working day after.

The receiver has no communication obligation. A contractor receiving materials on site does not report anything to the AT about the guia; what it does with the guia is operational — checking the goods and matching the invoice. The full reporting rules are in the AT’s transport-document FAQ and leaflet (see sources).

1. 01Check the receiver and the unloading place: is this obra (site) the destination?
2. 02Compare the description and quantities with the load — class of concrete, bar diameter, block type.
3. 03Record any shortfall, damage or refused goods on the guia before signing. When goods are not accepted immediately and in full, the regime requires an additional paper transport document identifying the change — in practice often just a handwritten note, so make sure it reaches the office.
4. 04Sign and keep the receiver’s copy (paper, PDF or photo). The law provides for three copies of documents processed on paper, by software or on the Portal: one for the receiver, one for the tax inspection, one for the sender.
5. 05Send it to whoever checks invoices the same day, tagged with the obra. The invoice will arrive later, through a different channel.

Transport documents carry the ATCUD (a unique code built from a series validation code issued by the AT and the document’s sequential number), plus the AT identification code when the guia was communicated, and a QR code. For a receiver, the ATCUD is mostly useful as a reliable document key: together with the supplier, it identifies the guia uniquely, which helps spot the same delivery being counted twice. See ATCUD explained.

• Not every movement needs a guia: excluded goods include, among others, the sender’s own fixed assets (for example its own equipment moving between sites) and returnable containers and packaging — relevant for pallet deposits.
• Guia de remessa and guia de transporte have no difference in content; see guia de transporte vs guia de remessa.
• Transport documents must be kept until the end of the fourth year after issue, without prejudice to article 52 of the VAT Code, which sets a longer period for accounting support documents. Many companies keep them for ten years; check with your accountant.

Audiree is built in Portugal, around exactly this document. The site team photographs the guia in the chat group they already use (or forwards the PDF); AI reads every line — article, quantity, unit, price where present — and matches it by meaning to the supply contract of that obra. When the fatura arrives, it is checked against the guias and the contract with ten deterministic validations, including supplier NIF, contract reference, unit consistency and designation (for example D16 vs D22 rebar). Duplicates are detected by document number or ATCUD plus supplier.

Audiree does not issue guias, report anything to the AT or validate the ATCUD with the AT — it uses the code as a duplicate key. It sits on top of your accounting system rather than replacing it.