NHR Portugal. What determines domiciliation and taxation start date?

Hi Deuterion, Welcome

Question 1
NIF is mandatory in all goods and services transactions in Portugal.

But you only pay income tax in Portugal when you become tax resident in this country.

See here when you become tax resident (translation required):

https://info-portaldasfinancas-gov-pt.t … tr_pto=nui


i.e Residents in Portuguese territory are those who, in the year to which income refers:

a) Have remained there for more than 183 days, consecutive or interpolated, in any period of 12 months beginning or ending in the year in question;

b) Having remained there for less time, have, in any day of the period referred to in the previous paragraph a), a home in such conditions that make presume a current intention to maintain and occupy it as habitual residence;

(...)

Question 2
No problem about that.


Kind Regards

Thank you JohnnyPT for this complete answer that I read carefully.

What I don't manage to figure out is: if I connect my NIF to the address of my Portuguese home rental, will I be considered as Portuguese resident from that very moment? And taxable by Portugal starting from this date?

Or will I be considered as Portuguese resident after I file and receive the european residency certificate CRUE?

Or will I be considered as Portuguese resident after I file a request for NHR and it is accepted? If accepted, will it be for the entire year or starting on the NHR approval date?

"What I don't manage to figure out is: if I connect my NIF to the address of my Portuguese home rental, will I be considered as Portuguese resident from that very moment? And taxable by Portugal starting from this date?"

Yes, according to article 16, 1 b) of the previous link. The connection of your NIF to a Portuguese tax address is decisive and you should confirm that everything is OK.

But you do not become NHR at that moment. By becoming a tax resident in Portugal until the end of 2021 and requesting the NHR status until 31 March 2022, you enjoy that tax benefit already in 2022, regarding the year 2021, even though you didn't live in Portugal almost the whole year of 2021.

You should always clarify this doubt at a tax office, and nobody better than them to clarify all this for you.


"Or will I be considered as Portuguese resident after I file and receive the european residency certificate CRUE?"

The CRUE is not about tax residence, it is a common procedure throughout the EU regarding the right of a European citizen to stay in another EU country more than 3 months.

Portuguese gov. official website:
https://eportugal.gov.pt/servicos/pedir … /eee/suica

The Certificate of Registration (CRUE), which formalises the right of residence in Portugal, should be requested if the EU (European Union)/EEA (European Economic Area)/Switzerland citizen stays in Portugal for a period longer than three months. Until this period, they only need to have a valid Identity Card or passport.

"Or will I be considered as Portuguese resident after I file a request for NHR and it is accepted? If accepted, will it be for the entire year or starting on the NHR approval date?"

No, as I have mentioned above, to be an NHR, you must first be a tax resident.

Thank you JohnnyPT. You perfectly answered to my question. I want to establish/retire myself officially win Portugal starting on January 2022 and ask for the NHR residency immediately in 2022. Reading carefully your answers, I do realise that if I linked my NIF to an address in Portugal in 2021, I will be considered as a taxable resident in 2021already. No point in filling up tax declaration for one month in 2021.

Btw, do you know a reasonably priced tax accountant to fill up correctly my RNH tax declaration? Or is there a good online app? It may be tricky.

Please read this
https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.p … 74#5281825
(Post #4)

In your first year as a NHR, it is recommended to use a Portuguese accountant to fill in your tax statement properly. Many of them are used to dealing with NHR tax forms and speak English. In this link are details about the NHR tax statement, and which annexes you should fill out.

Tax statement as an NHR (how to do): (jul 2021)

https://info.portaldasfinancas.gov.pt/p … RNH_PT.pdf

You can translate free the PDF into English/other language by using a Doctranslator, such as:

https://www.onlinedoctranslator.com

NIF is only mandatory on goods and services if you intend to reclaim the IVA - or want the transaction included in your tax calculation.  You are quite at will to not provide the NIF number when buying goods and services.

Deuterion wrote:

Thank you JohnnyPT for this complete answer that I read carefully.

What I don't manage to figure out is: if I connect my NIF to the address of my Portuguese home rental, will I be considered as Portuguese resident from that very moment? And taxable by Portugal starting from this date?

Or will I be considered as Portuguese resident after I file and receive the european residency certificate CRUE?

Or will I be considered as Portuguese resident after I file a request for NHR and it is accepted? If accepted, will it be for the entire year or starting on the NHR approval date?

If you advise the Portuguese tax authority that your domicile (address) is in Portugal, that will be the effective date - in effect you would be 'telling' them that you are tax resident.

If you became tax resident in 2021, you have until 31 March 2022 to request the nhr status. It will be with effect as from the 2021 income tax year - and if you have any income from the date of residence to the 31 December, this should be declared in the annual tax return for 2021.

The CRUE is handled by a different bureaucracy - you can use the CRUE document to change the tax residence