In 2010, she obtained her PhD in Law from the Faculty of Law, University of Lisbon – Thesis “As Entidades Públicas e o Imposto sobre o Valor Acrescentado: uma ruptura no princípio da neutralidade”. Since 1996 she holds a master’s degree in Law from the Faculty of Law, University of Lisbon – Legal-Economic Sciences – Dissertation “O IVA e o mercado interno – Reflexões sobre o Regime Transitório”. She has a degree in Law from Free University of Lisbon (1985-86) and a Post-graduate degree in European Studies from the European Institute of the Faculty of Law of the University of Lisbon (1987-88).Throughout her academic career, she has lectured in numerous modules of undergraduate degrees and masters’ degrees. She is also a visiting professor at several national and foreign faculties at undergraduate and postgraduate degree levels, as at ISEG – Institute for Economics and Business Administration of the Technical University of Lisbon (Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão – ISEG/IDEFE), The Higher Institute for Labour and Business Studies (Instituto Superior de Ciências do Trabalho e da Empresa – ISCTE/ OVERGEST) and the Faculty of Law, University of Oporto. She is also a professor at Lisbon´s Higher Institute of Accountancy and Administration (Instituto Superior de Contabilidade e Administração de Lisboa/ISCAL) and at IDEFF at the Faculty of Law, University of Lisbon. She is a lawyer and a legal consultant. She has served as the Head of Cabinet of the Secretary of State for Fiscal Affairs of the 17th Constitutional Government, Professor Carlos Manuel Baptista Lobo, from 11 February 2008 to 31 October 2010. She was a member of various ministerial committees charged with preparatory work for tax legislation, namely: Member of the Working Group for Tax Reform set up by the National Assembly in December 2000, Member of the Working Group for Property Tax Reform commissioned by the National Assembly in November 2000, She was also a counsellor appointed by the Ministry of Finance for the Equality of Opportunities from January 1996 to December 1999, Counsellor appointed by the Ministry of Finance for Family Promotion from January 1997 to December 1999, Portuguese representative of the Code of Conduct Group for Business Taxation of the European Union, since 1998, Portuguese representative of the OECD Forum of Harmful Tax Practices, since 1998. She is a permanent contributor to the tax magazines and periodicals “Revista de Finanças Públicas e Direito Fiscal”, “Fiscalidade” and “Fisco”, as well as an occasional contributor to other specialist magazines such as “Fiscália”, “Ciência e Técnica Fiscal”, “Revista da Ordem dos Técnicos Oficiais de Contas”, “Revista da APOTEC” and “Revista da APECA”. Her publications include - Introduction to Value Added Tax (Introdução ao Imposto sobre o Valor Acrescentado), Colecção Cadernos do IDEFF (Instituto de Direito Económico, Financeiro e Fiscal da Faculdade de Direito da Universidade de Lisboa), Livraria Almedina, 4ª edição, Outubro de 2009; Rewrote and updated the 2nd edition of the textbook, International Tax Law Textbook (Manual de Direito Fiscal Internacional) by Professor Alberto Xavier, published in Abril 2007 by Almedina; VAT Studies (Estudos de IVA), Livraria Almedina, Junho de 2006.
Her principal research areas are namely, International Tax Law and Tax Planning, Portuguese Tax System. She joined the research group on Tax Governance: International Standards, Patriotisms and Exiles.
