On June 21, 2023, the Administrative Commission for the Coordination of Social Security Systems, pursuant to the EU Framework Agreement for cases of habitual cross-border telework, approved a new guidance note on cross-border telework that:
- Does not change the general regime, keeping in full the guidelines established in the original note adopted in June 2022 (attached to Circular No. 4/2022 dated July 7, 2022), but
- Complements it with the multilateral Framework Agreement that establishes a specific regime for non-permanent telework situations, already signed by 17 countries including Portugal.
Under this regime, telework is assimilated to assignment in situations when a worker resides in a different state that the employer and travels to the employer’s state frequently or for prolonged periods.
Therefore, starting from July 1, 2023, Portugal is bound by the multilateral framework agreement, which determines that in the case of telework, workers are not necessarily subject to the Social Security legislation of their State of Residence (as provided by the general rule), but to that of the employer’s state, provided that cross-border telework in the State of Residence is less than 50% of the total telework time.
To benefit from this regime, the worker will have to submit a request in the state where the employer is based to obtain a Portable Document A1, which confirms that the worker will be subject to the Social Security legislation of that state during the telework period. This request will be valid for a maximum period of 3 years and can be extended through a new request.
