Tutorial on How to Request IRS Installment Payments

As the tax payment deadline approaches, it's essential to explore the available payment methods. Instead of paying the full amount upfront, you can opt to request an installment plan from the Tax Administration. Your request will be reviewed and decided upon.
This online request can be initiated through your Finances Portal. If your IRS debt is under €5,000, follow these steps:


Log in to the Finance Portal using your NIF number and password. Search for "Prestações" (installments) and select "Planos prestacionais" (installment plan). Choose "Simular/Registar Pedido" (simulate/make request) and select the IRS assessment you wish to pay in installments. Then click "Simular". Choose the condition "Sem apresentação de garantia" (without presenting collateral) and click "Confirmar" (confirm). Select the number of installments.Under "Razão Económica" (economic reason), state the reason for the request. In the field "Justificação do motivo indicado anteriormente" (justification for the reason indicated above), provide a brief explanation in Portuguese. 

Finally, click "Registar o pedido" (submit the request). If your debt exceeds €5,000 but can still be paid within 12 months, no collateral is required. Alternatively, you can make partial payments to reduce the debt to €5,000 and then proceed with the installment plan, which can extend up to 36 months.


If you can't adhere to these terms, and need an extended time to pay, you must present collateral along with your installment plan request. This collateral can be in the form of a bank guarantee, real estate, mortgage, or shares:
a)bank guarantee or guarantee from an institution legally authorized to provide it.

b) Surety bond or collateral issued by legally authorized insurance institutions

c) Mortgage. The guarantee should be provided for the amount of the debt and default interest, counting up to the date of the application, plus 25% of the sum of those amounts.


To proceed with this request, follow the same steps in the Portal. After selecting "Simular/Registar Pedido," indicate the type of collateral you intend to present, and then specify the number of installments.


After submitting the request, send a copy of the collateral to the Tax Office through e-balcão. You have 15 days to provide the original guarantee document to the Tax Office where you are registered.


To find out your competent Tax Office, log in to your Finances Portal, select the "Posição Integrada" (integrated position) option under My Area, and click "Dados Gerais de Identificação" (General Identification Data). There, you will find your competent Finance Service code.


Lastly, note that even if your debt is under €5,000 and no collateral is required, your request will be accepted only if you've met two additional requirements: timely submission of the declaration and absence of any other tax debt with the Portuguese Tax Authority.

The tax season is over now and as the leader in filing expat tax returns, we plan to soon publish some of our insights.

However, before that, we should be addressing something that came up quite a lot during the tax season - the cost of filing a tax return.

A bit like the Tardis, Portugal is sometimes bigger on the inside. From the outside, it seems like a relatively small country, but inside, there are a few completely different worlds and it's not just the Portuguese and expats but it's also different groups within the expat community. 

A little while ago, we left a post in the FB group that suggested that charging a few hundreds of Euros for a tax return is taking advantage of people and indeed, many people in Portugal are perfectly happy to do their own tax returns or pay a local accountant 30 or 50 or 100 Euros and feel that this is the right price for the task of filing a tax return. From their perspective, charging 400-700 Euros as we do (or more) is outrageous. 

At the same time, not a single one of the 150 people who used us to file a tax return this year considered the price to be anything other than reasonable.

During the tax season, we did not want to engage in too much of a debate and we are aware that this could be a heated subject, but we felt that the case for paying hundreds of Euros for a tax return need to be made for the future, so we are making it here.


These are the primary arguments:


1. getting taxes right is important.

Most procedures in Portugal would let you correct errors. If you mess up a form for exchanging a driving licence or even an immigration form, you will normally have an opportunity to correct the error. 

If you make an error in your taxes, you have a limited time to submit an amended return, there is normally a fine and an increased chance of an audit. If you miss the deadline, there is nothing you can do anymore.

So, getting taxes right in the first time is more important than any other administrative process.


2. Sometimes you can't get it right 

Importantly, getting the taxes entirely right is sometimes not possible. The NHR has many grey areas and the form is lacking on some points. This means that there are points where rather than submitting your taxes in only one way (as is the case for most nationals), there are multiple ways and you need to run a risk assessment and understand the risk-benefit analysis of each option. 

This is a nuanced and difficult exercise that needs to be understood and communicated very carefully. Local accountants will rarely be skilled in communicating nuance and possibilities even if they understand them well. Instead, they will tell their clients "let's see what happens" or "maybe it will work" which leads to anxiety and feeling of lack of control


3. Enforcement is minimal but when it happens, it is brutal

One of the reasons that very low quality services exist in Portugal is the low rates of audits. Many mistakes are never identified. Unfortunately, many mistakes lead to automatic assessments of high tax rates but some do not and these could go unnoticed for years. 

However, when a case is picked up for an audit, the authorities can be very aggressive. Since we also have a litigation department, we see the cases that are picked up and have seen people receiving tax assessments of hundreds of thousands of Euros. Many if not most of the people who engage with the tax authorities after an audit end up leaving Portugal.


4. Expat taxes aren’t normal taxes. Taxes are normally handled by accountants, but expat taxes are business for lawyers or very specialised accountants.

We see this ALL THE TIME – people looking for a local accountant to submit their taxes, assuming that just because they could use any accountant in their original country, they can do the same for expat taxes and failing to understand the complexity and nuance of the NHR system. 

The NHR system is so complex that each stream of income is treated differently and each source country is treated differently. US expats are exempt from capital gains on securities whilst everybody else isn’t. Canadian government pension is taxed in Portugal, whilst American and British isn’t. US board members generate foreign-sourced income, whilst British board members do not. 

Filing NHR taxes correctly requires understanding Portuguese tax law, following the most recent jurisprudence and being able to read and understand complex double taxation treaties. It also often requires collaboration between a qualified professional in Portugal and one in the US, UK or another country. This means that the pool of competent professionals who know how to do it correctly is narrow.


5. Failing to read the cultural cues.

Most expats come to Portugal with expectations engrained in their culture that the person who they speak to will tell them what they know and what they don’t know and refer them if needed to someone else. 

However, this is not how Portuguese service culture works. 

The Portuguese professionals are very polite and avoid conflict. 

They will rarely say “no” to work directly. They will take the work but if they encounter difficulties, they will normally address it by  making themselves unavailable and fail to respond to messages. 

Expats are often puzzled when not receiving a reply on the same day and are not sure what to do. In reality, a long pause in communication is normally an indication of a problem that is not being communicated directly.  


6. A 30 or a 100 Euro fee is paid to type the form. It's impossible, even for a small local firm, to do anything more than that

As experts in expat taxation, we are obsessed with figuring out the correct answer to every question. Some returns bring no new points but occasionally, we come across complex matters - income obtained on board ships out of territorial water, income obtained from the United Nations, income by pilots, employment income split between jurisdictions. When we do - we can spend hours researching the law and jurisprudence, we have panels of experts and external advisors and we dig in until we get to the bottom of it. Charging properly for our work allows us to do that.

What does a professional charging 30 Euros for a tax return do when coming across a complex matter? They aren't paid for research - they are paid for completing the form, so they would either disappear or make up an answer and hope not to get audited. 


7. Lawyers are better when things go wrong

Lawyers and accountants can both help clients with tax returns. For normal tax returns, accountants are a sensible choice, but for expat tax return, lawyers have the edge. 

The reason is that lawyers are better in dealing with grey areas and are also that they can have your back if there is a disagreement. If the tax authorities fail to accept your position, accountants would fold and refer you to a lawyer, but lawyers can take your position to arbitration or to court and continue to argue it. Having access to the judiciary allows lawyers to take bolder positions and defend them and this could be critical to tax rates. 

Importantly, all advice from lawyers on tax matters is confidential, whilst advice from accountants is not. This means that the tax authorities could demand to receive a copy of the advice given by accountants, whilst they cannot do the same for legal advice. 


8. Many returns aren't as straight-forward as clients think

Many people believe that their tax returns are simple and straight forward, but in reality, even pension income is tax differently depending on source and country and nearly all NHR tax return are fairly complex, certainly in comparison to a standard tax return in Portugal. 

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It is clear to us that many people are struggling and are not in a position to pay hundreds of Euros. We hope to offer means-based support next year. In the meantime, we urge you to read our information and guides on the site - these are all free of charge. 

 

For other who can afford it, we hope that we have now made the case clear why it is good to be investing in doing taxes properly. We don't expect to convince everybody, but we believe that it is important to articulate our position.

We also take this opportunity to remind everyone that we are now taking super early bird bookings for our next year's tax return service in Portugal only or Portugal and the US

Portugal, like many other countries, has a requirement for individuals to file an annual tax return and classify their income.

It is for the taxpayer to make their best effort to classify their income correctly and the tax you owe depends on how you report it, so long as your report is uncontested by the tax authorities. 

The considerable movement of many expats to Portugal in recent years has inadvertently created some complex tax questions, with some income streams being rather hard to classify. 

One such complex income stream is distributions from a ROTH IRA for American taxpayers. 

ROTH IRAs are US retirement saving instruments that allow taxpayers to frontload the payment of tax to a type of investment account that can then be allowed to grow tax free. The taxpayer therefore pays tax on an amount that is released to the ROTH IRA at an early stage and then benefits from ongoing capital growth within the ROTH IRA. This is opposite to most private pensions, where the contributions to the pension provide a relief from taxation when they are made, whilst tax is payable when the money is received. 

Portugal does not offer any guidance on the taxation of ROTH IRA and to understand how they should be taxed requires an analysis of the Portuguese legislation. 

First and foremost, it is important to understand that a ROTH IRA is a type of savings account that becomes accessible during retirement. Under Portuguese law, this is precisely the definition of pension. Pensions in Portugal are subject to a flat tax rate of 10% during the Non-Habitual Residency (NHR) year and progressive rates apply thereafter. Portugal does not offer an equivalent product to ROTH IRA and the taxation should be analysed on the basis of Portuguese law. 

However, not all the income received from a ROTH IRA is pension. Article 54 of the Portuguese IRS code states that if an annuity scheme includes a portion corresponding to the reimbursement of capital, that portion is not taxable. This provision makes sense since it involves returning money to the taxpayer that was already taxed. 

The Portuguese law further states that if it is not possible to identify the capital reimbursement within the total payment received, 85% of the payment is deducted as an assumed capital reimbursement. Since in most cases, the capital growth is considerably larger than 15%, it would have been lucrative for taxpayer to attempt to argue that it is not possible to identify the capital reimbursement, but in fact, it is normally possible and the correct treatment is to treat all moneys paid from the ROTH to the taxpayer as capital reimbursement as non-taxable amounts and the money paid from capital growth as pension, taxable at 10% during NHR and progressive rates afterwards. 

This leads to another question – does the taxpayer have the flexibility to classify the return of capital or capital growth within the IRA as one or the other, so long as an amount lower than the total capital initially converted has been returned to the taxpayer? Our view is that the answer to this question is positive, but whether it is better for the taxpayer to treat all the initial amount as capital return or not depends on the individual circumstances of the taxpayer. For example, if the taxpayer intends to leave Portugal after the NHR period comes to an end, it would make sense for the taxpayer to classify all distributions as capital return and only start classifying distributions as capital growth once the entire initial amount has been returned. 

However, if the taxpayer intends to stay in Portugal and is in risk of progressive taxation that is higher than 10%, it is better for the taxpayer to classify the earlier distributions as pension and wait until a later time to classify the remainder as capital return. 

A more aggressive interpretation would be to attempt to apply the 85/15 rule despite the ability to identify the total amount of capital growth within the ROTH IRA because such application cannot be made in respect to specific payments. Such an interpretation is literally possible and could be helpful for taxpayers. 

In the absence of clear instructions from the authorities, it is for taxpayers to choose a reasonable manner to report their income. Ideally, in the future clear guidelines would be provided to help individuals accurately report their ROTH IRA income and fulfill their tax obligations. 

In conclusion, there are a number of ways to report ROTH IRA income in Portugal, but the guiding principle is that capital return is not taxable and capital growth is taxable as pension income.

Introduction

While living in Portugal as a British expat can be an attractive proposition due to the tax-friendly environment offered by Portugal's Non-Habitual Residence (NHR) regime, the taxation of dividends from UK companies can be more complex than initially anticipated. 

In this blog post, we will explore the tax implications for British expats in Portugal receiving dividends from UK companies, highlighting the challenges of split-year taxation, returning to the UK within five years, and the risks associated with a UK company being deemed tax resident in Portugal due to effective management being located there.

Understanding the Tax Environment in Portugal: 

To comprehend the tax implications for British expats in Portugal, it is crucial to understand the NHR regime, which was introduced in 2009 to attract foreign professionals and high net-worth individuals. The NHR status provides tax exemptions on foreign-sourced income (including dividends) and reduced tax rates on certain Portuguese-sourced income for ten years. It is important to note that this tax scheme is only available to those who have not been Portuguese tax residents in the five years preceding their application.

Taxation of Dividends from UK Companies: 

Under the NHR regime, dividends received from UK companies are generally exempt from Portuguese taxation, as long as they are not sourced from a tax haven. The UK is particularly attractive as it normally does not impose a withholding tax on dividends paid to a non-resident despite having the right to do so.


Risks of Split-Year Taxation: 

When relocating to Portugal, a British expat's tax year may be split between the UK and Portugal, resulting in a 'split year.' 

This occurs when an individual leaves the UK in the middle of the UK tax year (which normally starts, inconveniently, from early April). 

Under the split-year treatment, income received during the UK part of the tax year is subject to UK tax, while income received during the Portuguese part of the tax year follows the rules of the NHR regime. 

This general rule does not apply to dividend income. Dividends paid to a non-resident in a split year cannot be considered excluded income and is therefore taxed in the UK fully.

 

Returning to the UK within Five Years: 

Another potential risk for British expats in Portugal is the "temporary non-residence" rule. This UK tax rule affects individuals who return to the UK within five complete tax years of leaving. If a British expat receiving UK dividends returns to the UK within this time frame, they may be subject to UK tax on the dividend income received while they were non-residents, even if the dividends were exempt from Portuguese tax under the NHR regime.


The Risk of UK Company Deemed Tax Resident in Portugal: 

British expats should also be cautious of their UK company being considered a tax resident in Portugal by virtue of its effective management being located there. 

According to the double taxation treaty between the UK and Portugal as well as domestic Portuguese legislation, a company can be deemed tax resident in the country where its "place of effective management" is situated. 

Consequently, dividends paid by a UK company deemed tax resident in Portugal may be subject to Portuguese taxation instead of being exempt under the NHR regime.

This risk can be mitigated in various ways, including by ensuring that strategic decisions and board meetings take place in the UK and that the majority of the company's directors are UK tax residents. Maintaining accurate documentation is essential to support the company's tax residency claims.

The tax filing season will shortly start. 

At Fresh Portugal, we file more tax returns for expats than any other company in Portugal. 

Despite our very best efforts to make our own tax return service affordable, some people have told us that they cannot afford our tax filing service priced at 700 Euro. We therefore decided to put together a guide to help people better understand how taxes in Portugal work and how they should file their tax return. 

As you will see below, the main issue with filing a tax return is not filling the form. The hard part is classifying the income. It is not always obvious or easy to understand what a certain type of income is and therefore we provide some guidance below. 

Those filing themselves or using neighborhood Portuguese accounting firms are welcome to use this guide to review how their income should be classified. Ready? Here we go! 


Principles

  • Apply for NHR!

The NHR scheme is not automatically granted for recent residents in Portugal, there is an administrative deadline to follow, which is March 31st of the following year in which you became a tax resident in Portugal. 

  • Getting familiar with Modelo 3

You can go into the IRS form – Model 3. You can find the digital form on your Finances Portal. The important thing to know about how to fill the Mod 3 form is that the burden of classifying and matching the income with the existing types provided by Portuguese law is entirely yours

You can check the types of income provided by the Portuguese tax law on articles 2 to 11 of the IRS Code. 

You will see categories A to H income: 

A: employment income
B: self-employment income
E: capital income
F: income from property (rental)
G: capital gains
H: pension income 

After correctly classifying and matching your types of income to the Portuguese classification, you have to identify whether the income is Portuguese sourced or foreign-sourced. 

A lot of people make mistakes at this point, because the decisive criteria here for the most important income types – employment and self-employment income - is not where your clients are, but where you do the work from

And finally, to access the 20% flat rate for employment and self-employment income, you have to identify if you have a high value activity. Portugal have changed this list over the years according to the professions most needed in the country. We have the current list of high value activities at another post of our blog. 

  • Common pitfalls:

 Here are a few mistakes that we see frequently: 

  • You don’t have to hold a high value profession to be eligible to the NHR. The only criteria you have to meet is not being a tax resident in Portugal for the last 5 years and inform the country where you were a tax resident before coming to Portugal.

  • Also, if you have been a tax resident just for a portion of the first year, you don’t need to declare the income incurred in the entire year. Also, if you have to file a partial declaration for the year and want to file together with your partner, you have to make sure your tax residence dates match.

  • Portugal has an accrual tax accounting system, different from the American system, so for example, you don’t need to report bonuses when received if it was incurred in the past years (when you were not a tax resident in Portugal).

  • Another typical mistake has to do with profit from a US LLC. Such profits are normally classified as self-employment income in the US, but in Portugal, the only known decision on the matter deals with this income as capital income.

  • As mentioned before, is very common to misunderstand foreign-sourced income with Portuguese income when your client base is outside Portugal or the company you work for is a foreign entity. The place where the work is done from that defines where the income is sourced.

  • Along with the domestic laws and the NHR rules, you always have to analyse the Double Taxation Treaties between Portugal and the country you have business with. The double taxation treaty leads to different outcomes depending on what country the income comes from.

  • Finally, it is important to be consistent between jurisdictions, so that the information you submit on both returns match as much as possible.


Classifying income

The below tables show how we normally classify income and could give a good indication to you and/or your accountant.

Kindly note that we are not responsible to how you choose to classify your income when working with other firms!

 

Income typeManagement / work donePT/Foreign sourcedNormal tax treatment Modelo 3
LLC (not S-Corp)PortugalPortuguese sourced incomePT capital income (28%)Annex E (4)
LLC (not s-Corp)Outside PTForeign sourcedForeign sourced capital income (0%)Annex J (8) + Annex L (6)
S-Corp/LLC Scorp election – salaryWork done in PTPortuguese sourced income20% + SS in PortugalAnnex A (4) + Annex L (4) (6)
S-Corp/LLC Scorp election – salaryWork done outside PTForeign sourced income0%Annex J (4) + Annex L (5) (6)
S-Corp/LLC Scorp election – distributionsPortugalPortuguese sourced incomePT capital income (28%)Annex E (4)
S-Corp/LLC Scorp election – distributionsOutside PortugalForeign sourcedForeign sourced capital income (0%)Annex J (8) + Annex L (6)

   

  • Income from other companies (UK, EU, but not black-listed)
Income typeManagement / work donePT/Foreign sourcedNormal tax treatment Modelo 3
SalaryWork done in PTPortuguese sourced income20% + SSAnnex A (4) + Annex L (4) (6)
SalaryWork done outside PTForeign sourced0%Annex J (4) + Annex L (5) (6)
DividendManagement in PTPortuguese sourced incomePT capital income (28%)Annex E (4)
DividendManagement outside PTForeign sourced incomeForeign sourced capital income (0%)Annex J (8) + Annex L (6)
  • Employment income
Income typeWork donePT/Foreign sourcedNormal tax treatment Modelo 3
In Portugal, high valueWork done in PTPortuguese sourced income20% + SS in PortugalAnnex A (4) + Annex L (4) (6)
In Portugal, not high valueWork done in PTPortuguese sourced incomeStandard rates + SSAnnex A
From outside Portugal, high valueIn PortugalPortuguese sourced income20% + SS in PortugalAnnex A (4) + Annex L (4) (6)
From outside Portugal, not high valueIn PortugalPortuguese sourced incomeStandard rates + SSAnnex A
From outside Portugal + effective taxFrom fixed base + DTTForeign sourced income0%Annex J (4) + Annex L (4) (6)
  • Self-employment income
Income typeWork donePT/Foreign sourcedNormal tax treatment Modelo 3 
In Portugal, high valueWork done in PTPortuguese sourced income20% + SS in Portugal (subject to coefficient)Annex B + Annex (4) (6) + Annex SS
In Portugal, not high valueWork done in PTPortuguese sourced incomeStandard rates + SS (subject to coefficient)Annex B + Annex SS
From outside Portugal, high valueIn PortugalPortuguese sourced income20% + SS in PortugalAnnex B + Annex (4) (6) + Annex SS
From outside Portugal, not high valueIn PortugalPortuguese sourced incomeStandard rates + SSAnnex B + Annex SS
From outside Portugal + not high value + risk of tax under DTTFrom fixed baseForeign sourced incomeStandard rates + SSAnnex B + Annex SS
From outside Portugal + high value + risk of tax under DTTFrom fixed baseForeign sourced income0%Annex J (6) + Annex L (5) (6)


  • Capital income (dividend, interest)

Income typeSourcePT/Foreign sourcedNormal tax treatment Modelo 3
Capital incomePortugalPortuguese sourced income28%Annex E
Capital income, risk of tax under DTTFrom outside PortugalForeign sourced0%Annex J (8) + Annex L (6)
  • Property income

Income typeSourcePT/Foreign sourcedNormal tax treatment Modelo 3
Capital gainPortugalPortuguese sourced income28% * coefficientAnnex G
Capital gain, risk of taxationFrom outside PortugalForeign sourced0%Annex J (9) + Annex L (6)
ALPortugalPT sourced income28% * coefficientAnnex B (15)
RentPortugalPT sourced incomeSee special ratesAnnex F
Rent, risk of taxationOutside PortugalForeign sourcedNormally 0%Annex J (7) + Annex L (6)
  • Capital gains (securities)

Income typeSourcePT/Foreign sourcedNormal tax treatment Modelo 3
Capital gainPortugalPortuguese sourced income28%Annex G
Capital gainFrom outside PortugalForeign sourced28%Annex J (9)
Capital gain, American citizens (risk of tax)From outside PortugalForeign sourced0%Annex J (9) + Annex L (6)
  • Pension (any retirement savings)

Income typeSourcePT/Foreign sourcedNormal tax treatment Modelo 3
Pension from PortugalPortugalPortuguese sourced incomeNormal ratesAnnex A (4)
Pension, NHR before 2020From outside PortugalForeign sourced0%Annex J (5) + Annex L (5) (6)
Pension, NHR before 2020From outside PortugalForeign sourced10%Annex J (5) + Annex L (5) (6)
Government pensionFrom outside PortugalForeign sourcedSee the DTTAnnex J (5) + Annex L (5) (6)


  • Using MyTaxes.pt

Fresh Portugal created a tax calculator with the most common foreign income types, leaving the classifying work with us.


Fresh Portugal's primary focus is optimising the benefits awarded by the NHR regime to expats coming to Portugal. 

However, the NHR benefits are subject to a harsh deadline imposed by the tax authorities in Portugal. 


The deadline

A tax resident must apply to obtain NHR status until the 31st of Marth, during the year following the year of becoming a tax resident. 

In other words, if someone becomes a tax resident during 2022, they should apply for NHR status until 31/03/2023. Or at least, so say the authorities.

One may remember that the tax residency date is normally based on self-declaration - the date that the person associated an address in Portugal with their NIF. 

However, the tax residency date can be backdated by the authorities if the relevant taxpayer met the legal definition of a tax resident prior to that date - i.e. if the tax resident stayed in the country for longer than 183 days in a prior year or had a primary residence. 

The primary residence rule can theoretically be applied to rental properties, but in practice the authorities normally treat a residence owned by the tax payer where taxes of a primary residence have been paid as an admission that the intention is to occupy the residence is a primary residence.


Deadlines missed due to Catch 22 

Joseph Heller's mythical novel Catch 22 is remembered for multiple paradoxes where you cannot do one thing without doing the other first and you cannot do the other before doing that one thing. 

Since tax residency can be backdated, so can the deadline for NHR, so a sensible strategy would be to apply for NHR as soon as possible rather than wait to the last minute to avoid any risks of backdating.

However, the authorities add a further paradox - they normally do not let people change their address to a Portuguese address before obtaining a residence permit. In other words, they say "you cannot register as a tax resident before you are legally registered as a resident". 

On a first glance, this appears like a reasonable statement, but in fact, this statement is entirely false. Tax residency has to do with the physical presence of a person in a country and that person's duty to pay taxes. Being in a country illegally does not in any way take away the person's duty to pay taxes and it is therefore no coincidence that there is nothing in the tax residency legal definition about legal residency. The two things are unrelated concepts. 

However, in practice, the authorities normally prevent registration from people who are not yet legal residents. Furthermore, the ever growing waiting time for SEF appointments leads to a paradox - it could take many month before legal residency can be registered, but the tax residency could be backdated once this happens.

If is therefore possible for someone to miss the NHR deadline at no fault of their own - simply due to the waiting times at SEF. 


Strategy 1 - set the record straight

One strategy to addressed the said missed deadline is to convince the authorities that the taxpayer's tax residency had in fact began in a later year. This is a common strategy when people arrive in Portugal and register at the end of a calendar year. 

This is better done by disputing the initial refusal of NHR. A further deadline of 15 days is set out for that. 

The golden evidence to shift tax residency is a legalised tax residency certificate from the other country. However, these could take a while so it is often wise to first obtain the certificate and then apply for NHR, so that the negative outcome could be disputed straight away. A further procedure of amending the records is also available. 


Strategy 2 - dispute the legality of the denial

It may come as a huge surprise to readers, but the NHR law does not in fact set any deadline to apply for NHR. The deadline has been set by authorities in separate ordinances which many experts (and us amongst them) argue, is illegal as the executive cannot take away a right given by the legislator. 

One would consider whether taking away a benefit publicly advertised to attract people to Portugal for a mere few days formal delay of submitting an online form presents a reasonable outcome. Even those opposing the NHR regime for ideological or political reasons would normally admit that in-so-far as the regime exists, it is unfair and unreasonable not to apply it consistently to the entire group that it covers, even if such people believe that the rights given to this groups are unfairly given.

And indeed, taxpayers have now disputed tax assessments denying NHR treatment to people who missed the deadline a number of times. Such disputes have been made in arbitration courts, so these were specific tax assessments and may not be respected by the authorities for future years, but the emerging trend is clear - the arbitration courts did not believe that it is acceptable for the authorities to deny NHR status due to the missed deadline.

This understanding of the arbitration center in Portugal can be attested in the decisions of the arbitral pronouncements "Processo nº 188/2020-T"; "Processo No. 777/2020-T"; "Processo No.: 815/2021-T"; "Processo nº 319/2022-T".

The position of the CAAD in these decisions has been consistent - regarding the matters of the tax regime applicable to non-habitual residents, the registration referred to in paragraph 10 of article 16 of the IRS Code assumes a merely declarative nature and does not constitute the right to be taxed under such regime.

This means that the registration does not condition the application of the regime, only the criteria established by Law serve this purpose.

It is unfortunate that the authorities continue to deny NHR treatment due to missed deadlines but taxpayers have a path to resist. Please free to consult us.


One of the most frustrating revelations for people moving to other countries is the fact that the employment relationship that they have can rarely continue as such.


Why employment doesn't work?

The main reason that employment relationship rarely works is the sense that the common arrangement in tax treaties between countries is that people are liable to pay taxes (both income tax and social security) in the country where they reside. As a result, in order to legally employ someone in a different country, the employer needs to register with the authorities in that country and deduct taxes for the other country.

In addition to this practical difficulty, having an employee in another country risks the creation of a Permanent Establishment or in other words, risks that the country of residence of that employee will seek to attribute some of the profits of the company to the employee and tax such profit. 


EOR - a solution?

To resolve this problem, there are companies that act as a de-facto employer and take on the administrative tasks related to employment, including payroll processing, benefits administration, and compliance with labour laws. These are called "Employer of record" companies (EOR) and they allow companies to legally employ in other countries. 

Employers of record are a practical and compliant solution for employers seeking to employ in other countries but are, in our opinion, the worst possible option for people moving to Portugal.


The costs of an EOR in Portugal

EOR don't come free and incur some setup costs. The costs can vary between hundreds or thousands of Euros per employee per month. 

However, it is not the EOR costs as much as the it is the employment taxes that are the main issue.


Income tax

Employees who work for international companies in Portugal are often paid salaries that are considerably higher than the average salary in Portugal. The sliding scale of taxation in Portugal is designed around the local population and it therefore rapidly reaches 45% in addition to a potential further 2.5-5% solidarity tax.

Many people working in a high value activity under the NHR scheme enjoy a reduction to a 20% flat tax rate.

So far so good.


Social security

This is where the real trap is. Social security is levied at a 23.75% over employers in Portugal (including EORs). In addition, the employee pays 11%. The total social security burden is therefore 34.75% (!) There is no social security ceiling so any amount suffers the 34.75%.


Overall tax burden 

Together, the tax burden of employing via an EOR is approximately 50% taking into account the 20% preferential tax rate

For people not in high value activity, the tax rate could be as much as 70%.

For many companies, this is a prohibitive rate.

 

Self-employment

A reasonable alternative to using an EOR is creating a contract relationship and having the employee register as self-employed in Portugal.

Portugal encourages freelancers and the tax benefits under the NHR scheme work better for freelancers. 

Income tax

The 20% special tax rate is further reduced by the application of the simplified regime, allowing for taxation of only 75% (in most cases) of the income (and achieving approximately 15% tax rate).

Social security

Self-employed individuals pay 21% social security but this is further reduced by the application of a the simplified regime by taxing only 70% of the income, leading to an overall rate of approximately 15%. In addition, there is a waiver on social security for the first year and a cap of approximately 1,200 Euros a month.

Overall taxation

The overall taxation of high value activities of freelancers therefore starts at around 15% and doesn't go over 30%. This is a reasonable tax rate. 


Indeed, using the self-employment mechanism leaves employers exposed to a hypothetical risk of the creation of a PE, but this risk could be mitigated considerably by avoiding a physical office and not awarding the freelancer a signing authority. We are not aware of a single case in Portugal, ever, where the risk had been more than theoretical. 


Working via a company

Another option is for the employee to set up an entity - either in Portugal or outside of Portugal and bill the employer via said entity. This option reduces the risk of a PE further and could lead to varying taxation depending on the exact structure chosen. 


One of the side effects of the large rise of Americans moving to Portugal is also the considerable use of unique US structures. 

We have already written about the treatment of US LLCs in Portugal and it is now time to say a few words about S Corporations (S Corp / S-Corp) or LLCs that elect to be taxed as S-Corps.

S-Corps are a unique vehicle that is only available to US citizens. It is a desirable structure when living in the US because it shields some of the income that people have from social security payments, leading, mostly, to a reduced overall tax rate. S-Corps are also an efficient vehicle for various deductions.

However, for people living in Portugal, S-Corps (or LLC/SCorps) are not a recommended vehicle in our view, even for people with NHR status, for reasons explained below.


Income from S-Corp - US perspective

S-Corp must pay their shareholder-employees a reasonable salary. A reasonable salary needs to be a sensible market compensation. Most S-Corp shareholder-employees pay themselves approximately 40% of the profits as a salary. The IRS is cracking down on people trying to reduce the salaries below "reasonable".

Over and beyond the salary, the S-Corp can retain or distribute its profits. Distributed profits are not considered earned income and are therefore not subject to social security payments. They are, however, pass-through income, i.e. they are allocated to the owners regardless of whether they have been distributed or not. 

It is important to remember that whilst distributions are exempt from social security payments in the US, there is another side to the coin - since they are not earned income, they will not be benefiting from the Foreign Earned Income Exclusions and will be fully taxed in the US.


Income from S-Corp - the Portugal position

The salary

As we have seen, S-Corp owner-employees much pay themselves a salary. 

The double taxation treaty between the US and Portugal gives both countries taxation rights over salary income.

The default clause on salary income in the double taxation treaty sets out that salary is taxed at the country of residency unless the work is done in the other country. In other words, the default position is that work done from Portugal is taxed in Portugal regardless of where the employer is or where the clients are.

However, the saving clause gives the US taxation rights over all income by US citizens regardless of what other clauses say.

The bottom line is that both countries can tax the salary.

Many people mistakenly believe that the fact that the combined effect of the US's right to tax the salary, the effective taxation in the US that is deducted at source and the NHR regime that exempts foreign sourced employment income that is taxed at the source country leads to no taxation in Portugal.

This position may be on many tax returns but it is legally wrong

Since work done from Portugal, even for a US employer and US client is sourced in Portugal both in accordance with the double taxation treaty and in accordance with Portuguese domestic legislation, the NHR exemption does not apply as it only applies to foreign-sourced income.

The outcome is reverting to the default position - Portugal has the first right of taxation. 

S-Corp employment income should therefore be reported to the tax authorities in Portugal as Portuguese-sourced income and tax should be paid in Portugal first, claiming a refund on the US tax return, leading to a cash-flow problem. 

However, the problems do not end there. Employment income in Portugal is also subject to social security contributions in Portugal. Social security contributions in Portugal are paid BOTH by the employee AND by the employer. 

Therefore, employees in Portugal should be income tax and social security and their S-Corp employers should technically register with the Portuguese authorities and pay employers' social security. 

The combined effect of doing things "by the book" would be a tax rate of the salary portion of approximately 54% under the NHR regime with no social security cap.

 

The distributions

Distributions from an S-Corp that is genuinely a US entity would likely follow the rationale set out in processo 2360/2016 (covered here in relation to LLCs) and will be considered foreign-sourced capital income that is exempt from tax in Portugal under the NHR regime. 

However, the risks of partnership LLCs apply to this income in an equivalent manner. Particularly, if the S-Corp is managed from Portugal, it could be considered a tax resident in Portugal and thus not benefiting from the exemption.


When would S-Corps be a good structure?

When an S-Corp is very profitable, e.g. can legitimately pay a relatively small salary and relatively high distributions, it can be a better structure than a standard LLC. 

In such a specific scenario, the combined benefits on the US and the fact that it is slightly less likely that its status as a company will be questioned in Portugal, can give the S-Corp the edge.

However, these are rare occasions.


Bottom line

We believe that S-Corps are a ticking time bomb. 

There are many people not following the correct treatment who are under enormous risk of future audits in Portugal going 4 years backwards.

for those who have any flexibility, we generally do not favour S-Corps and recommend to sacrifice the social security benefits in exchange for a much more straight forward structure.

The day has arrived and our much anticipated tax calculator for expats is finally up and running. Our tax calculator is the first product to estimate taxes for expats under the NHR scheme. There is nothing quite like it.


But estimating taxes is not enough. Eventually, a tax return need to be filed and at Fresh we designed the best-in-class tax return filing service, designed around our calculator.


Early on in our journey, we consulted our clients and the expat community and a large majority told us that they would not feel comfortable self-filing their taxes. Further conversations have made it clear that nearly everyone filing their taxes in Portugal would want to consult a tax lawyer before doing so. We therefore made it a standard part of our service. 


Our tax filing package (500 Euros)

Our most common tax return and is meant for people with income streams that include income from work, profits and investments. 

Once you book our service, we will ask you to provide us your income information and personal details and will book a consultation with a tax attorney to discuss it. 

This will be followed by filing and reporting the tax return.

Our standard packages do not include responding to queries from the tax authorities, arguing with them or taking them to court.  


Fresh Membership  (125 Euros a month)

For people who have complex income, or people who need regular access to tax services, including people who are self-employed in Portugal and need to file VAT and social security reports, we designed a membership package that includes the tax return but also ongoing consultancy. 


Next steps

The next step would be to book a package with us. If you are not sure about which package you need, do not worry, you can change it later. 

One of the most important tools in the toolbox of the tax advisor is identifying income from intellectual property. Tax planning that takes advantage of intellectual property is very common at big corporate level, but unfortunately, rarely utilised when it comes to individual taxpayers due to the niche expertise needed in both tax and intellectual property. 

The two most important principles of taxation is tax residency and the source of the income. The NHR in Portugal exempts most types of foreign sourced income. This leads to a great deal of planning that focuses on using non Portuguese companies and taking dividends out of these companies as an alternative to incorporating in Portugal.

Such structures have risks that need to be mitigated as part of planning. These risks have to do with both the residency of the company and the sourcing of the income.

Companies that are managed from Portugal could be considered residents in Portugal. 

Income generated from work in Portugal could be considered Portuguese-sourced. 

Whilst foreign companies remain one of the most important pillars of tax planning, foreign-based structures that are not based on a genuine trade outside of Portugal require a high level of risk mitigation.


Intellectual property, however, can give rise to royalty income. Royalty income falls under the NHR and will not be taxed in Portugal if it is sourced in the other country and can be taxed in the other country. The vast majority of the double taxation treaties that Portugal is a party to provides for possible (very low) taxation of royalties so foreign royalties are almost always exempt from taxation in Portugal. 


However, the truly great benefit of royalties is that the typical clause in the double taxation treaty sets out that the location of the payer has preference in determining where the income was source. This is in sharp contrast to income from work, which is sourced where the work is physically done.


The outcome is that if someone living overseas pays a person to use their intellectual property, the income is genuinely foreign sourced and issues of sourcing and residency should not arise.


It is very common in the course of trade that businesses own intellectual property - this could be brands, websites, copyrighted materials, software etc. However, small businesses tend to ignore the existence of such intellectual property rather than charge for using it. It is often the case that income that is classified as self-employment or employment income is actually wrongly classified and in fact, some of the income relates to intellectual property owned by the taxpayer. Identifying such intellectual property and assigning an appropriate value to it can be extremely powerful and open up exciting tax planning opportunities.



Hi there,

If we referred you to this post, it is probably because you got in touch with us via a social media channel, a personal message or an email. We have a larger amount of contacts than what we can handle so prepared this document to help you navigate the best way to work with us.

First, we would like to thank you very much for contacting us. We created a lot of resources to help people get information about tax benefits in Portugal (and now, in Spain). This includes: our blog, our tax advisor bot (we do apologise but due to a messenger bug, it only works for about 75% of people), our YouYube channel, and most importantly, our Facebook groups (Portugal / Spain). All Q&A in our groups is completely free of charge. 

However, that if you are looking for an individual advice, confidentially, by a lawyer, you must book one of our services. We get many request to have a "quick chat", "an introductory meeting", to "assess suitability", "to get to know us" or "make sure we can help" before deciding to work with us. 

We completely understand that people are hesitant to pay for advice, particularly since we often advise people who have previously consulted other tax experts and did not feel satisfied. 

However, we still cannot do "free intro meetings", for the following reasons:

(1) Our preference is always our clients and not new prospects. We want to dedicate our clients the time they deserve.

(2) We don't know how to hold introductory meetings without actually advising. It is awkward and artificial to hold back advice until the "introduction" stage is over.  

(3) The typical true value of half an hour of advice from a true expert is often in the 5,6 and even 7 figures. Whatever we charge, it would still be a good deal.

(4) We are widely recognised as one of the best tax firms in Portugal. See our reviews.


We, of course, understand that this may not work for you and therefore invite you to use one of our free services explained above.

Thank you for understanding!

A lot of confusion arises from the definition of "Foreign sourced income" and "Portuguese-sourced income". 


For our readers' benefit, the view of the Portuguese authorities of what constitutes Portuguese sourced income is defined in Article 18(1) of the IRS code which is brought hereby fully, followed by a machine translation to English.


It should be noted that the definition in Portuguese law of Portuguese sourced income is at times at odds with the double taxation treaty that Portugal is part of. In such an event, it is expected that the authorities will respect the double taxation treaty.


In Portuguese:


Artigo 18.º
Rendimentos obtidos em território português

1 - Consideram-se obtidos em território português:

a) Os rendimentos do trabalho dependente decorrentes de atividades nele exercidas, ou quando tais rendimentos sejam devidos por entidades que nele tenham residência, sede, direção efetiva ou estabelecimento estável a que deva imputar-se o pagamento;

b) As remunerações dos membros dos órgãos estatutários das pessoas coletivas e outras entidades, devidas por entidades que nele tenham residência, sede, direção efetiva ou estabelecimento estável a que deva imputar-se o pagamento;

c) Os rendimentos de trabalho prestado a bordo de navios e aeronaves, desde que os seus beneficiários estejam ao serviço de entidade com residência, sede ou direção efetiva nesse território;

d) Os rendimentos provenientes da propriedade intelectual ou industrial, da prestação de informações respeitantes a uma experiência adquirida no setor comercial, industrial ou científico, ou do uso ou concessão do uso de equipamento agrícola, comercial ou científico, quando não constituam rendimentos prediais, bem como os derivados de assistência técnica, devidos por entidades que nele tenham residência, sede, direção efetiva ou estabelecimento estável a que deva imputar-se o pagamento;

e) Os rendimentos de atividades empresariais e profissionais imputáveis a estabelecimento estável nele situado;

f) Os rendimentos que não se encontrem previstos na alínea anterior decorrentes de atividades profissionais e de outras prestações de serviços, incluindo as de carácter científico, artístico, técnico e de intermediação na celebração de quaisquer contratos, realizadas ou utilizadas em território português, com exceção das relativas a transportes, telecomunicações e atividades financeiras, desde que devidos por entidades que nele tenham residência, sede, direção efetiva ou estabelecimento estável a que deva imputar-se o pagamento;

g) Outros rendimentos de aplicação de capitais devidos por entidades que nele tenham residência, sede, direção efetiva ou estabelecimento estável a que deva imputar-se o pagamento;

h) Os rendimentos respeitantes a imóveis nele situados, incluindo as mais-valias resultantes da sua transmissão;

i) As mais-valias resultantes da transmissão onerosa de partes representativas do capital de entidades com sede ou direção efetiva em território português, incluindo a sua remição e amortização com redução de capital e, bem assim, o valor atribuído aos associados em resultado da partilha que, nos termos do artigo 81.º do Código do IRC, seja considerado como mais-valia, ou de outros valores mobiliários emitidos por entidades que aí tenham sede ou direção efetiva, ou ainda de partes de capital ou outros valores mobiliários quando, não se verificando essas condições, o pagamento dos respetivos rendimentos seja imputável a estabelecimento estável situado no mesmo território;

j) As mais-valias resultantes da alienação dos bens referidos na alínea c) do n.º 1 do artigo 10.º, quando nele tenha sido feito o registo ou praticada formalidade equivalente;

l) As pensões devidas por entidade que nele tenha residência, sede, direção efetiva ou estabelecimento estável a que deva imputar-se o pagamento;

m) Os rendimentos de atos isolados nele praticados;

n) Os incrementos patrimoniais não compreendidos nas alíneas anteriores, quando nele se situem os bens, direitos ou situações jurídicas a que respeitam, incluindo, designadamente, os rendimentos provenientes de operações relativas a instrumentos financeiros derivados, devidos ou pagos por entidades que nele tenham residência, sede, direção efetiva ou estabelecimento estável a que deva imputar-se o pagamento;

o) Os rendimentos derivados do exercício, em território português, da atividade de profissionais de espetáculos ou desportistas, ainda que atribuídos a pessoa diferente.p) As mais-valias resultantes da transmissão onerosa de partes de capital ou de direitos similares em sociedades ou outras entidades, não abrangidas pela alínea i), quando, em qualquer momento durante os 365 dias anteriores, o valor dessas partes de capital ou direitos resulte, direta ou indiretamente, em mais de 50 %, de bens imóveis ou direitos reais sobre bens imóveis situados em território português, com exceção dos bens imóveis afetos a uma atividade de natureza agrícola, industrial ou comercial que não consista na compra e venda de bens imóveis. (Aditado pela Lei n.º 114/2017, de 29 de dezembro)

q) As mais-valias resultantes de cessão onerosa de direitos, de qualquer natureza, sobre uma estrutura fiduciária, desde que, em qualquer momento durante os 365 dias anteriores à transmissão, o valor dessa estrutura resulte, direta ou indiretamente, em mais de 50 % de bens imóveis ou direitos reais sobre bens imóveis situados em território português. (Redação da Lei n.º 12/2022, de 27 de junho)
2 - Entende-se por estabelecimento estável qualquer instalação fixa ou representação permanente através da qual seja exercida uma das atividades previstas no artigo 3.º

3 - É aplicável ao IRS o disposto nos n.os 4 e 5 do artigo 4.º e nos n.os 2 a 11 do artigo 5.º, ambos do Código do IRC, com as necessárias adaptações. (Redação da Lei n.º 75-B/2020, de 31 de dezembro)


In English:

Article 18.
Income obtained in Portuguese territory

1 - The following are considered to be obtained in Portuguese territory:

a) Income from dependent work [employment - Fresh comment] arising from activities carried out there [in Portugal - Fresh comment], or when such income is owed by entities that have their residence, head office, effective management or permanent establishment to which the payment [in Portugal - Fresh comment];

b) Remunerations of members of statutory bodies of legal persons and other entities, owed by entities that have their residence, registered office, effective management or permanent establishment to which the payment must be attributed; [this relates for example to payment to directors of Portuguese companies, even if NOT located in Portuguese territory - Fresh comment]

c) Income from work provided on board ships and aircraft, provided that their beneficiaries are at the service of an entity with residence, head office or effective management in that territory [Portugal - Fresh comment];

d) Income from intellectual or industrial property, from the provision of information regarding experience acquired in the commercial, industrial or scientific sector, or from the use or concession of the use of agricultural, commercial or scientific equipment, when they do not constitute property income, as well as as the derivatives of technical assistance, owed by entities that have their residence, headquarters, effective management or permanent establishment [In Portugal - Fresh comment] to which the payment must be attributed;

e) Income from business and professional activities attributable to a permanent establishment located therein [in Portugal - Fresh comment];

f) Income that is not provided for in the previous paragraph arising from professional activities and other services, including those of a scientific, artistic, technical and intermediation nature in the celebration of any contracts, carried out or used in Portuguese territory, with the exception of those relating to transport, telecommunications and financial activities, provided that they are owed by entities that have their residence, head office, effective management or permanent establishment to which the payment must be attributed;

g) Other income from investing capital owed by entities that have their residence, head office, effective management or permanent establishment to which the payment must be attributed;

h) Income from real estate located therein, including capital gains resulting from their transfer;

i) Capital gains resulting from the onerous transfer of shares representing the capital of entities with head office or effective management in Portuguese territory, including their redemption and amortization with capital reduction, as well as the value attributed to associates as a result of the sharing that, under the terms of article 81 of the IRC Code, is considered as a surplus value, or of other securities issued by entities that have their registered office or effective management there, or even of shares of capital or other securities when, not if these conditions are met, the payment of the respective income is attributable to a permanent establishment located in the same territory;

j) Capital gains resulting from the sale of the assets referred to in subparagraph c) of paragraph 1 of article 10, when the registration has been made or an equivalent formality has been carried out;

l) Pensions owed by an entity that has its residence, head office, effective management or permanent establishment to which the payment must be attributed;

m) Income from isolated acts performed therein;

n) Equity increases not included in the preceding paragraphs, when the assets, rights or legal situations to which they relate are situated, including, in particular, income from operations relating to derivative financial instruments, due or paid by entities that have their residence there , head office, effective management or permanent establishment to which the payment must be attributed;

o) Income derived from the exercise, in Portuguese territory, of the activity of entertainment professionals or sportsmen, even if attributed to a different person.p) Capital gains resulting from the onerous transfer of shares of capital or similar rights in companies or other entities, not covered by subparagraph i), when, at any time during the previous 365 days, the value of those shares of capital or rights results, directly or indirectly, in more than 50%, of immovable property or rights in rem over immovable property located in Portuguese territory, with the exception of immovable property allocated to an agricultural, industrial or commercial activity that does not consist of the purchase and sale of real estate. Added by Law No. 114/2017, of December 29)

q) Capital gains resulting from the onerous assignment of rights, of any nature, over a fiduciary structure, provided that, at any time during the 365 days prior to the transfer, the value of this structure results, directly or indirectly, in more than 50 % of immovable property or rights in rem over immovable property located in Portuguese territory. (Writing of Law No. 12/2022, of June 27 )
2 - A permanent establishment is any fixed installation or permanent representation through which one of the activities provided for in article 3 is carried out
3
- The provisions of paragraphs 4 and 5 of article 4 are applicable to the IRS and in paragraphs 2 to 11 of article 5, both of the IRC Code, with the necessary adaptations. (Writing of Law No. 75-B/2020, of December 31)


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