Americans always have to deal with double taxation.
As far as Iām aware thatās not relevant here and the answer isnāt quite that simple. NWhile countries have double taxation treaties for this reason (and I am a US citizen so I know it all too well), the issue is that the treaties specify various rules for which country has priority for taxation, which I believe means that the concept of tax residency canāt apply for both. (See https://orbitax.com/taxhub/taxtreaties/nl/netherlands/pt/portugal/18551c2492f0ba3c7e743ab34b99bab1/-Resident_ARTICLE-4)
I believe it would be possible to not use the treaty. But then you would indeed be liable for tax in both countries. So then the question would just be whether the tax rules in Portugal would cause me to pay anything I wouldnāt already pay elsewhere.
Curious to hear from anyone who has firsthand experience going through this, maybe thereās some detail I havenāt understood.
Per my accountant it just means you have to file a tax return in PT as well, but the NHR means nearly all income is exempt there, so itās basically just the hassle factor. That said, I am relocating to Portugal in a few days so it doesnāt really matter in my case.
Can you please provide your accountants contact information, we bought our home in Dec 2022 and filed for GV March 30, 2023, we need to try and secure our NHR status this year.
Thank you!
My family is planning to move to Portugal within the next two years. We currently reside in California. We are trying to decide if we should apply for the NHR status while it is still a possibility, even though our move is a year or two out. Has anyone had experience with this? If it is quite complex, does anyone have an accountant that they have been working with to figure this out? I appreciate the help!
Hello
I am just reading your thread and was curious where you landed with NHR. My family is currently in California but we have our Visas and are trying to decide whether or not to apply for NHR. I was also wondering if you had found any good international accountant reccomendations! Thank you.
Take a look at this webinar:
I donāt have experience with these fellows, but they claim they could help with NHR (for a price, of course). They will be holding a webinar specifically on NHR.
If you are moving to Portugal in the next couple of years, try to get NHR by all possible means now. This is your last chance, and if you miss this window, it would be a totally different tax regime. Your taxes still would most likely be lower than what you are paying in now CA, but under NHR, savings are quite substantial and many income streams are completely exempt in PT.
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Hi , I was hoping to get any feedback on processing times now that it is May 20th, if I qualify for the NHR based on 2023 purchase of an condo, and still applying for the D7 Visa, without having submitted the paperwork for the Visa, is this still ok , or too late ?
My understanding is that I need to have a residence card by Dec 31 2024 and declare a NHR tax resident by March 31 2025 ? I heard it is very hard to get appointments and approvals for the D7 and the interview in Lisbon and cutting it too tight for Dec 31 ?
Hi , would you recommend your consultant ? I am trying to do the same thing, purchased my Lisbon condo in 2023 before the cut off. Many thanks !!
These are my tax people. Definitely recommend. Highly responsive and knowledgeable, particularly about the DTT/NHR.
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I believe if you have started your visa process prior to December 31, 2023, you should still be eligible for the NHR. If you are already in Portugal, you could do it yourself with FinanƧas. Otherwise, consider Fresh Portugal since they seem to have experience with arranging NHR for other expats.
Hello all. We submitted our GV applications in Dec. 2022 based on a property purchased in Oct. 2022. We had plans to move to PT last September but had to cancel given the visa delays and problems uncovered about our property. Given our personal logistics, we really canāt move there without at least the biometrics appointment successfully completed, and of course we donāt even have preapproval yet.
We had been counting on NHR to make this whole thing feasible and hope to take advantage of the grandfathering.
However, isnāt tax residency a question of fact that requires that you live there for 6 months out of the year? And if so, doesnāt that mean that we would have to move there now and stay there for the rest of the year to qualify?
Any insights/experiences on this point would be greatly appreciated.
This has been discussed before.
You can register as a PT tax resident (i.e. change your NIF address to Portugal) now. Y
You only need a proof of owning or renting a home in PT.
You donāt need a GV card in hand or a proof of stay.
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You donāt necessarily need to be there for 6 months to establish tax residency. You can āestablishā yourself later in the year and still claim tax residency for that year . See below from OECD.org:
As a general rule, an individual is qualified as a resident of Portugal if:
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he is present in Portugal for more than 183 days, consecutive or otherwise, in any 12-month period starting OR ending in the calendar year concerned; or
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he is in Portugal for a shorter period, but he has on any day during the period mentioned in the previous subparagraph, an home under circumstances which imply his intention to keep and occupy such abode as his permanent residence;
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he is, on 31 December of any year, a crew member of a ship or aircraft operated by a resident entity;
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he is performing public functions or commissions for the Portuguese state.
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Thanks Aaron, thatās helpful. My mom needs NHR most of all, and this makes what we need to do for her more clear.
FYI: Got contrary advice todayāthe tax attorney we met with said that while itās theoretically possible to seek NHR based on pending GV applications, the status very often isnāt granted until thereās at least a pre-approval because itās seen by the tax authorities as too uncertain to be a manifestation of intent to make PT your permanent residence.
He advised that the better route is to withdraw our GV applications and apply for D7s, which can be used as a proof of intent upon receiving a biometrics appointment.
So now we have that terrible choice to make.
This again was discussed and tested before.
I personally went to my local AT office and tried to register myself as a PT tax resident (which in practical terms = change my NIF address to PT).
They refused to do it claiming that they need to see my residence permit first, which I did not have at that time. No amount of convincing, including showing them the printed copy of āDespachoā, helped at that time.
Then I consulted with my lawyers, who were able to make their own arrangements with AT, and voila - my NIF address was changed to PT.
So yes, there is some element of uncertainty with ATās interpretation of our rights, but if you instruct a capable legal firm they would probably help you achieve what you want.
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Thanks. The lawyer was the NHR expert at Fresh Portugal, who seem to be preferred providers to this forum. He didnāt say it couldnāt be done, just that it was riskyāespecially for all 3 of usāand that by the time we had a decision it might be too late to change to D7.
@tommigun Was your approval for just you? And before pre-approval?
I have not availed myself of this service yet (still hoping my GV progresses before 2024 runs out), but our immi advisors told me āā¦we changed another Clientās tax residence and got the NHR status in about 2 days.ā
So other than wasting (more) money, if you really want NHR now not sure what the risk in trying is. It shouldnāt take long to find out if it does/doesnāt work for you.
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To my knowledge, change of tax address literally is done on the spot. Then getting NHR takes another 1-2 days (you apply yourself online, no lawyer needed for that).