Cash — what it is

Cash is money in coins or banknotes, that is the physical banknotes and coins in circulation that we use to make payments.

Cash is a means of payment that is:

universal and widely accepted; in other words, it has to be accepted as a means of payment for goods and services, unlike cheques and payment cards, which some merchants may not accept;
of immediate liquidity; in other words, payment for the good or service is received immediately.

The euro has been the official currency of Portugal since 2002.

Euro banknotes

The banknotes are identical throughout the euro area.

There are two series of euro banknotes currently in circulation:

the first series (introduced in 2002), with seven denominations: 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 and 500 euro;
the Europa series (introduced from 2013), which has six denominations in circulation: 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 and 200 euro.

All banknotes in circulation are legal tender across the euro area, that is they must be accepted as a means of payment in all countries that have adopted the single currency.

Notas de euro

In Portugal, there are legal restrictions to cash payments:

receiving or making cash payments in amounts equal to or greater than €3,000 (or its equivalent in foreign currency) is forbidden. This limit is €10,000 for payments by non-resident natural persons who do not act as entrepreneurs or merchants;
for persons subject to corporate income tax and personal income tax who are or should be required to keep organised accounting, payments equal to or greater than €1,000 (or its equivalent in foreign currency) should be made using a means of payment that allows for the recipient to be identified;
paying taxes in cash for amounts greater than €500 is forbidden;
payment by legal persons of taxes and any other claims collected by the Portuguese Tax and Customs Authority is made exclusively using electronic means of payment.

These restrictions do not apply to transactions with financial entities that receive deposits, provide payment services, issue electronic money or carry out manual exchange transactions. Nor do they apply to payments resulting from judicial decisions or orders and situations provided for in specific legal provisions.

Euro coins

There are eight denominations of current euro coins: 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 50 cents and 1 and 2 euro.

All the coins have a common European side and a national side, identifying the issuing country.

Moedas de euro

Euro coins are legal tender across the euro area; in other words, they must be accepted as a means of payment in all the countries that have adopted the single currency.

However, in Portugal, no-one has to accept more than 50 coins in a single payment (that is, euro coins have limited discharging power), with the exception of the State (via treasury offices), the Banco de Portugal and credit institutions.

Collector or collectible coins have different characteristics than coins intended for circulation. In Portugal, these characteristics are published in the Official Gazette. Collector coins are legal tender only in the territory of the Member State issuing them.

The face value of collector coins cannot be equal to that of standard coins but may coincide with the face value of euro banknotes.

Similarly to coins intended for circulation, the discharging power of collector coins is limited by law to 50 coins, with the exception of the State (via treasury offices), the Banco de Portugal and deposit-taking credit institutions. This means that, except for these entities, no-one is obliged to accept more than 50 collector coins in a single payment.

For the deposit of coins, credit institutions cannot charge fees exceeding 2% of the deposited amount.

It is possible to exchange damaged euro banknotes and coins and euro banknotes and coins at the Banco de Portugal’s cash offices.

Payments Banknotes and coins

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Cash — what it is

Euro banknotes

Euro coins