Must a GV holder become a tax resident to import household goods or a car free of import duties? I own a house in Portugal which I acquired in 2021 to qualify for my GV application. I would like to import some household goods and a car into Portugal but it seems to me that to qualify to do that without paying import duties ones permanent residence must be in Portugal and therefore one must become a tax resident of Portugal first. True?
Generally speaking - yes! You are “importing” your household goods and personal property because you are moving to Portugal. You probably can start the process before you become a tax resident (say you ordered your container in August and only have four months left in that year), but most likely you will be a tax resident the next year…
Now, if you moving on a temporary assignment (like you received a teaching position for a year), you may bring your personal belongings, including a car. It becomes a bit blurry if you intend to stay there less than 183 days per year.
As with so many things here, it’s a bit of a lotto. We still don’t have our GVs, but paid zero duty/taxes importing 1.5 pallets of household items into PT last year. So not just suitcases, but a series of proper moving companies. Guess we got a lenient customs agent, as other reports on this forum say people paid quite a lot.
Cars on the other hand… taxes are high, used cars cost way more in PT than in the UK for example. So you may trigger all sorts of questions trying to bring a car in.
Interesting. Had your NIF address somehow been changed to a Portuguese address by the time you imported the stuff? You’re supposed to require an atestado de residencia also, did you have one? If not maybe the reason you didn’t have difficulties is because it was all used stuff?
No, NIF address is still non-PT. Don’t think an atestado de residencia was requested.
True it was all used household goods, mostly tons of books. Perhaps they didn’t seem like they were worth much to the average person 
Yes, you need to change your NIF address to PT (i.e. become a PT tax resident) in order to receive the import tax exemption.