Taxpayers can opt in to system from today
Starting today, the tax office (AT) portal is offering a reinforced authentication system for taxpayers to access their personal page by sending an SMS with a verification code.
In a note sent to Lusa, the Ministry of Finance explains that reinforced authentication requires two-step verification.
The feature, which taxpayers can opt into, “adds an extra layer of protection when accessing the taxpayer’s reserved area on the Finance Portal,” seeking to ensure “authorised access only,” the Ministry, which oversees the tax authority said.
The option will soon become available to all taxpayers. “Taxpayers without business activity can already sign up for two-step authentication, and the ministry will gradually extend the service to individual taxpayers with business activity and to legal entities,” says the ministry note.
For a citizen to sign up for two-step authentication, “they must have a telephone number registered and confirmed with the AT”.
After signing up, “whenever they log in to the Finance Portal with their tax number and access password, the AT will send a unique verification code by SMS, which they will have to enter to access their reserved area”, says the ministry.
Anyone accessing the ‘portal das finanças’ today may not find it simple to ‘sign up’ (the Resident is trying to discover exactly how this new facility works).
People can still access their personal tax information by entering their fiscal number and access code, or by authenticating with a Citizen Card or Digital Mobile Key.
In the latter case, in addition to entering the code already associated with this feature, users must also enter a code sent by SMS to their associated mobile phone, which already implies two-step authentication.
LUSA
