The document discusses Portugal's non-habitual residents tax regime. The regime aims to attract qualified professionals, high net worth individuals, and foreign pensioners by providing them with favorable taxation rates during a 10-year period if they become tax residents in Portugal. Key benefits include a 20% tax rate on employment and self-employment income obtained in Portugal, and exemption from taxation on income obtained abroad.

1. “Non-Habitual Residents” Tax Regime
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2. IntroductionIntroduction
The non-habitual residents tax regime, introduced by the Decree-Law n.º 249/2009 and completed by the
Decree-Law n.º 12/2010, is a beneficial tax regime for highly skilled professionals, high net worth individuals
and foreign pensioners who wish to qualified as non-habitual residents in Portugal, regardless of their
Non-Habitual Residents Tax Regime
and foreign pensioners who wish to qualified as non-habitual residents in Portugal, regardless of their
nationality.
ObjectivesObjectives
The purpose of this regime is to attract qualified professionals (as defined in Decree n.º 12/2010) in various
economical activity sectors, high net worth individuals, as well as beneficiaries of pensions obtained abroad,
to a more favourable tax regime.
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3. Requirements
Interested person must be considered as Portuguese Tax Resident in the year in which that
person intends to begin being taxed as non-habitual resident;
Non-Habitual Residents Tax Regime
Any individual wishing to benefit from this regime must not have been qualified as a resident
in Portugal, for tax purposes, in the last 5 years;
On the other hand, qualification for this regime in some cases is limited to professionals that
perform a high added value activity (accordingly to the activities list defined by the Portuguese
Government);
The interested person must proceed with the inscription as resident in the register of taxpayers of
the Tax Authority up and until the 31st of March of the following year in which such person
becomes a tax resident in Portugal. 3

4. High Added Value Activity List (Decree n.º 12/2010, January 7th)
1 - Architects, engineers and similar:
101 - Architects
102 - Engineers
103 - Geologists
2 - Visual artists, actors and
musicians:
201 - Theater, ballet, cinema, radio
407 - Clinical dentists
408 - Medical physiatrists
409 - Gastroenterologists
410 - Ophthalmologists
411 – Orthopedic Surgeon
412 - ENT(Ear Nose and Throat)
specialists
705 – Computer programming activitie
706 - Computer consultancy activities
707 - Management and operation of computer
equipment
708 – Data services
709 - Data processing, hosting and related
activities; Web portals
710 - Data processing, hosting and related
activities
Non-Habitual Residents Tax Regime
201 - Theater, ballet, cinema, radio
and television artists
202 - Singers
203 - Sculptors
204 - Musicians
205 - Painters
3 - Auditors:
301 - Auditors
302 – Tax Consultants
4 - Doctors and dentists:
401 - Dentists
402 - Medical Analysts
403 - Clinical Surgeons
404 - Ship’s doctor
405 - General Practitioners
406 - Dentists
413 -Pediatricians
414 - Radiologists
415 - Doctors from other specialties
5 - Teachers:
501 - Professors
6 - Psychologists:
601 - Psychologists
7 - Liberal Professionals, technicians
and alike:
701 - Archaeologists
702 - Biologists and life sciences
experts
703 - Computer Programmers
704 - Software consultant and
activities related to information
technology and computing
activities
711 - Other data service activities
712 – News agencies
713 - Other information service activities
714 - Scientific research and development
715 - Research and experimental development
on natural sciences and engineering
716 - Research and development in
biotechnology
717 - Designers
8 - Investors, Managers and Directors:
801 - Investors, Directors and managers of
companies that promote productive
investment, as long as they are connected to
projects and concession contracts that are
eligible for tax benefits per the Investment Tax
Code (Código Fiscal)
802 - Upper Management
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5. Duration
The tax regime is applicable for 10
consecutive, but non extendable, years
from, and including, the year, of the registration
as a non-habitual resident in Portuguese
territory.
The individual who has not made use of this
Non-Habitual Residents Tax Regime
The individual can suspend his registration as
“non-habitual resident” and being considered
during the time of suspension, as a “non
resident”- and restart the application of the
“non-habitual residents” regime on a single
request for reinstatement.
The individual who has not made use of this
regime in one or more years can benefit from
it in the remaining years of that period, since
the year in which he is considered again to be
a resident in Portuguese territory.
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6. Taxation – advantageous regime
Income Obtained in PortugalIncome Obtained in Portugal
Income of the categories A (employment
income) and B (self-employment income)
are taxed at the tax rate of 20%
To this rate are added the surtaxes in
Income Obtained AbroadIncome Obtained Abroad
Income of categories A, B, E, F,
G e H (Pensions) are entitled to
tax exemption
provided certain conditions are
met
Other Income Obtained in PortugalOther Income Obtained in Portugal
The remaining income obtained in
Portugal, from activities other then the
value added activities, is subject to the
general provisions applicable to residents.
Non-Habitual Residents Tax Regime
To this rate are added the surtaxes in
force in Portugal in each period
(2017 – up to 3,5%)
Compared to the rates aplicable to the
following normal income tax brackets:
Income above € 80.640 - 54%
Income above € 250.000 - 56,5%
This rates are substancially higher than
those applicable to Non-Habitual
Residents, in this way giving evidence of
the benefits of such tax regime.
Note: This rates include normal tax rate,
surtax and solidarity adicional tax rate
For instance, income from
dependent work obtained abroad is
deemed to be exempt when:
(i) They are taxed in the state of
origin (DTT);
(ii) They are taxed in the other
country in cases where there is no
agreement to eliminate double
taxation and as long as the income is
not considered obtained in Portugal.
It is however possible to
choose the tax credit method
as long as the income of
categories A, B and H is
subjected to aggregation
Dividends 28%
Interest on Deposits 28%
Interest on Shareholders Loans 28%
Interest on Debt Securities 28%
Other Capital Income 28%
Real Estate Income 28%
Capital Gains:
on shares 28%
on real estate property 14,5% to
56,5% (effective rate is only half)
Note: this items of income can be lumped
together with other items of income in
order to be taxed at the normal
progressive rates between 14,5% and
56,5%
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7. How to obtain the status:
To obtain the non-habitual resident status the applicant must apply for
the registration in such category in any Tax Office through an
application addressed to the “Director de Serviços de Registo de
Contribuintes.”
Non-Habitual Residents Tax Regime
Contribuintes.”
The application must include a statement where the applicant attests
that he/she hasn´t met the requirements to be considered a resident in
Portugal in the past five years.
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8. The team chosen to address each subject has the experience, dedication and necessary knowledge for the provision of legal services
of such nature.
In order to respond to the multiplicity and specificity of questions that may arise in the course of work, we have a multidisciplinary
team, coordinated by Ana Bruno and José Filipe Eusébio.
Our Team:
Non-Habitual Residents Tax Regime
José Filipe Eusébio
Telephone +351 213 713 350
Mobile +351 917 043 615
E-mail filipe.eusebio@anabruno.pt
Ana Bruno
Telephone +351 213 713 350
Mobile +351 933 845 490
E-mail ana.bruno@anabruno.pt
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