With the new state budget proposed by the Portuguese Government for the year 2019[1], the taxes for all rents received through rental agreements for residential purposes have undergone some changes. Such changes could see the previous rate of the 28% of income tax being reduced to the following:
– Rental agreements with a minimum period of at least 2 years and up to 5 years may see a reduction to 26%. Please note that per every renewal of a rental agreement, the tax reduces by 2%. The income rate, however, can only be limited to 14% and can go no lower;
– Rental agreements with a minimum duration of 5 years and a maximum of 10 years may see a reduction to 23%. With such rental agreements, for every renewal the tax reduces by 5%, but will go no lower than a 14% rate;
– Rental agreements with a minimum of 10 years and a maximum of 20 years may see a reduction to 14%. In this case, it is not possible to reduce the tax any further;
– Rental agreements with 20 years+ may see a reduction below 14% to 10%. In such cases, there is no possibility to reduce the tax any further.
For all the above rental agreements, it is key that the landlord must effectively communicate when the agreement(s) have been signed and pay the respective stamp duty (10% of the monthly rent to be paid by the tenant) to the local tax office. From the moment that the registration of the rental agreement is concluded as mentioned, the tax rate of each invoice is to be issued by the landlord to the tenant with the automated tax reduction.
The primary reason that the Portuguese Government have taken such measures is to promote the residential renting market for Portuguese nationals and reduce the amount of properties for the short-term rental market.
Portugal’s changes to rental income tax
