Tax representation in Lisbon

Tax and legal
1

Hi,

Does anyone have any good tax representation to recommend for Lisbon for golden visa? My lawyer is pretty expensive and I would like to switch to a cheaper but still reliable and professional option

2

There are a number of threads on this. Here are a few:

3

For purely tax representation purposes related to your NIF, I would recommend hiring one of the online firms such as NIFonline or bordr or similar.
See Nomadgate articles for details and promo codes.

You don’t need to hire a “full-blown lawyer” just for that reason.

4

I believe you should be able to replace your tax representative by enabling electronic notifications in Portal das Finanças.

However, if you still want ongoing tax representation I’d say either Anchorless or E-residence would be the most affordable options.

5

If you own a property in lisbon but do not live there primarily and are not in portugal longer than half the year, is it worth having a tax representative? Thinking about firing my lawyer for that particular duty given the high cost.

6

My previous lawyer has already opened up a bank account for me as I have received my bank statement. Does that mean I already have an NIF number? My lawyer is not very responsive not as I am switching projects and not using IAS anymore. Is there anyway I can find out my NIF number and then maybe appoint an online tax representation? My new lawyer is charging over 1000 eurs for basically doing nothing as the project would not be completed for the next few years

7

A tax representative just forwards you notices about taxes due or other official notices from the state. So as long as you can get those notices electronically or by other means, I would not see a reason to have one.

Do you have any rental income from the property? If so, you’ll need to file a Portugal income tax return every year.

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8

Ah got it. No rental income, but I assume I owe property tax once I own a property? Does the Portuguese irs just send me a bill? If so that’s easy

9

If you owe any property taxes, your tax bill should show up in the online tax portal as well as be mailed to the tax representative if you have one.

10

Doesn’t your tax representative need to reside in PT? In which case you’d need to change your NIF address to PT too? Which means, after the first year of this, you’d no longer be eligible for NHR when you do ‘really’ move to PT (if you do indeed do that)
Just don’t want anyone to miss out if they might need NHR

11

Guys, please don’t confuse yourselves too much :slight_smile:

The whole point of appointing a ‘tax representative’ only exists for someone who is NOT a tax resident in PT.
So if your tax address showing on your NIF is outside of PT, then you need to appoint a tax rep who MUST reside in PT. There is no other requirement for your tax rep. It could literally be anyone who resides in PT.

Then, since July 2022, even that requirement got relaxed, so it is no longer required to keep your PT-based tax rep if you enable electronic notifications on the Portal das Financas. There are some conditions such as ‘economic activity’ which would still mandate a local tax rep.
But for a simple case where:

  • a person resides outside of PT, there tax address on NIF is outside of PT
  • a person owns property in PT but does not rent it out, so only IMI is payable

=> there is no need to maintain the local tax rep, provided that Electronic Notifications enabled.

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12

A few points on IMI:

  • it will be enabled automatically as your Caderneta Predial will be known to AT;
  • you will start receiving IMI bills in Portal das Financas in the year AFTER the year of your property purchase;
  • you can pay annual IMI bill in one go or in three installments - I believe May, August and November if I remember right;
  • you can set up a Direct Debit mandate via Portal das Financas for automatic payments of your future IMI bills.
13

If you are paying 1,000 euros a year for tax representation, it is not a good value in my opinion (that’s a polite way of saying it). There are full service firms or accountants that will do it for 250 euros a year, or you can hire a random person for 100 euros a year. Or you can do it yourself for nothing.

I would demand they reduce their price to 250 euros or transfer the password to another person/company.

14

The password is legally yours - i.e. the taxpayer’s. Your tax rep have no business in accessing your tax portal unless you allow them to. My tax rep duly forwarded the password to me and I have changed it as soon as I have logged in first time. I still keep my tax rep, no problem.

15

My lawyer is charging me only 300 euros per year for tax representation. In case I will be renting out my property (2 years from now) there will be additional charge for filing my income tax each year.

Question: Would it be better to switch to an accountant when you are already earning income in Portugal? I’m thinking an accountant will be more knowledgeable for reducing your taxes and VAT payments?

16

Not sure you’d need an accountant just for processing the rental income.
I am not renting out in PT, but from my personal experience in another country it was fairly easy to file the annual tax declaration there by myself. It’s all online these days, with guidance documents in English etc.

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17

I hired a Portuguese accountant for rental income because I wanted to make sure the deductions I took were legally okay. It was about 250 euros for the return. But if you are not worried about deductions and do not mind reading Portuguese on the website, you can easily do it yourself online.

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18

Can any of you recommend a good tax rep that charges reasonable prices? I won’t get any income till the property is completed in 2026. I already have my NIF number but I don’t have the login name and password as it’s applied by my original set of lawyers

19

Ask your lawyers for the login and password. They will give it to you.

20

E-residence is affordable for ongoing tax representation at €99/year (minus discount).

But as Rob states you’ll likely need to get in touch with your current lawyers first to both get your username & password (if they requested it for you) as well as instructions for how to assign your new tax rep (assuming they still have that role).