Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Risk the GV investment for a few thousand €? Not worth it. Thanks for the confirmation. I guess it’s never too early to support the Portuguese economy 
.
BTW, I love the em-dash. I was actually sad to hear people associate it with AI responses.
You didn’t use an em dash ( — )
You used a hyphen, the key on most keyboards ( - )
That’s why it’s an AI tell, because for most people it’s a pain in the butt to type it so they just use a hyphen (colloquially, “a dash”)
I tried to work in the em-dash, but I didn’t want to force it. Most of the time my editor autocorrects – (two dashes, no leading/trailing spaces) to an em-dash.
Back on topic: the good news is that Grizzly takes credit cards (payment in EUR). I’m still trying to understand the fees with my PT bank, and there seem to be a lot. If anyone has tips on how to minimize all these tiny (and not so tiny) fees, that would be great.
BTW, the default text for my email address in the web payment page is some random HTML:
class="input-blocked
Does not inspire confidence. I guess I’ll track my credit card statement closely…
An also be done through a local banking app.
Have there been any changes to this? I’m a US citizen living outside PT and invested in Optimize.
My lawyers wrote “Following notification from the Tax Authority regarding the obligation to submit an annual tax return for some of our clients who have invested in funds, we suggest that you submit a simple declaration certifying your Portuguese income (or a nil return if you have not received any income), as a preventive measure to avoid potential problems.” I asked if it was just getting a “Certidão de Dívida e Não Dívida” and they wrote “What we are suggesting is that you submit an income statement, even if it is submitted without the need for any payment, as you did not earn any income from your investment in the fund.” Is that the same thing as the process here or is there something additional they’re proposing for 300 euros?
I’m quite confused!
If the 300 euros is for tax representation and they are filing your NIL tax return included in the tax rep fee, that is reasonable.
If they are proposing to file a NIL tax return for 300 euros (in addition to a tax rep fee) for a scenario where you don’t owe taxes and are not required to file, this seems inappropriate.
I received the same message from my lawyer. I invested with IMGA last year, and have not distributed nor will until at least 5 years per the golden visa requirement. I already signed a package with my lawyers that included “5 years of tax representation”. I asked them to clarify, and they basically told me that it doesn’t include tax return, so it will cost me 300 euro extra per year and every year. Is this right?
If you are not a tax resident in PT then you do not need to fill in the annual IRS.
If you ARE, then yes, you’d need to submit annually by end of Jun I believe.
Does not matter if you are on NHR or not, still you need to submit if you are a tax resident.
You can fill in the IRS yourself in the Portal das Financas.
Takes some time to figure out, but it can be done.
If that’s too much hassle then of course you can pay the lawyer to do it.
Hopefully I can share some additional insights on this topic.
This is a case where the practical experience does not match the legal framework. In fact, although the law does not require a tax return for non-residents who do not obtain any income in Portugal, in recent months several of our non-resident clients have received notifications from the Portuguese Tax Authority to file a tax return, even though they hadn’t received any income in Portugal.
In most cases these notifications are administrative checks rather than indications that tax is due. The AT is increasingly relying on information reported by third parties (AIMA, banks, financial institutions), and their systems often trigger alerts when it identifies an inconsistency or mismatch.
For this reason, we have recommended filing a protective non-resident tax return, even where there is no Portuguese-sourced income.
This is simply a cautious approach, based on experience. We believe this may help avoid administrative notifications, reduce the need to respond to tax authority inquiries, and create a clearer record with the tax authorities. Of course, the decision always rests with you, but our role as lawyers is to inform and try, as much as possible, to anticipate potential issues in the future.
Feel free to PM me if you’d like to discuss this in more detail.
Hi all, I’m in an annoying situation with my fiscal representative and would appreciate this group’s advice. I learned earlier this year that I can now represent myself (I’m a non-EU applicant and was in the group required to have representation when I applied back in 2021). I planned to cancel when my renewal came up, as I don’t generate any income in Portugal so my case is very simple.
I just received my invoice for this year (900 EUR) and asked to cancel. The firm, Atlantic Fusion, sent back a snippet of my original agreement requiring 60 days’ notice in advance of the renewal date by registered mail. I should have checked the contract, clearly, but also think it’s ridiculous that they are insisting on this fee though they do not do any work. (FWIW, it also seems like I have been way overpaying historically given others’ experiences in this thread!)
Our lawyers originally recommended Atlantic Fusion so I reached out to them to see if they could help. Any other advice? The chatbots suggest I could fight this in mediation, but I’m not sure it’s worth the agita (though I am really kicking myself for not taking care of the cancellation earlier).
When did you change your fiscal representation with Financas? (Or did you wait till renewal with them?)
You can argue that’s the date you stopped their services, but I don’t know if they receive a notice from Financas.
I changed mine when I moved here but still got a bill from my representative (never told them I changed it). When I said I changed it on this date they never followed up for payment. I don’t know if they just hit send to all their customers every year or if I should have been filtered out.
That’s a good point. I thought I needed them to de-register themselves first. I just tried to switch the representation myself with Financas. But I’m being asked for a password that I don’t have. How did you get around this?
This was a machine translated portion from their website. If you don’t have the online digital key (unlikely if you are not actually here) do you know if they registered the NIF under your email or theirs?
Another possibility would be to give a lawyer power of attorney to change it. That will cost money but probably cheaper than another year of tax representation.
Recover the access password
If you don’t remember the security question and answer and don’t have a Citizen Card or Digital Mobile Key, you can recover the access password through the email associated with your NIF.
1. Request password cancellation by email
Send from the email registered in AT a message to portal-senhas@at.gov.pt, with the following information:
- If you are a private individual (natural person):
- In the subject indicate: NIF password cancellation (enter your NIF)
- In the body of the email include:
- Tax ID
- Full Name
- Tax domicile (your tax address)
- If it is a company (legal person):
- In the subject indicate: NIPC password cancellation (enter the NIPC)
- In the body of the email you must indicate:
- NIPC.
- Company name
- Address of the headquarters
- You must also attach:
- Scanned copy of the identification document to prove the legitimacy of the request
- Signed order requesting the cancellation of the access password
2. Ask for a new password
After receiving the email confirmation that the access password has been canceled, access the Finance Portal and click Register to request a new password. The password will be sent by postal mail to your tax domicile.
Confirm that you have your updated tax address before placing the order.
3. If you don’t have or don’t know what the email is registered in AT
Before requesting the cancellation of the password, you must update the email registered with AT.
- If you are a private individual (natural person):
- Request from a Finance Service to update the email address
- After updating the email, follow the steps indicated in the previous numbers
Important note: If you have an urgent tax obligation to fulfill, you can request the issuance of a “password on the spot” at the Finance Service.
- If it is a company (legal person)
- The company’s Certified Accountant (CC) can deliver a declaration of change of activity on the Finance Portal, indicating the new email.
Alternatively, the declaration of change of activity can be made in a Finance Service. In the case of companies with CC, this declaration must be signed by the CC and bet the vignette.- After changing the email registered in the TA, follow the steps indicated in the previous numbers
The tax reps registered the NIF under my email, but never gave me the password.
I’m going to send an email as you lay out below and see if Financas will share it with me… if the password is sent by post, it will take a while, but at least I will be set up for next year. I don’t know what my chances are of fighting the automatic renewal are. I asked my lawyers to speak with Atlantic Fusion informally as my lawyers are the ones who originally recommended them to me.
The only issue with them sending the password by post is it may go to the address on file with Financas. Does it list your non-residence address or an address in Portugal?
Good question: I am not sure what other addresses they listed given they handled everything (perhaps I should have specified). Without that, I guess Financas will send to the representation firm and I’ll have to work it out with them to get them to transfer registration to me?