Finance minister promises to lower the Personal Income Tax (IRS) on income up to 20 thousand euros

Mário Centeno, Portuguese Finance Minister, has confirmed this Wednesday that the Government is preparing changes in the Personal Income Tax (IRS), “which could involve creating new brackets” to be inscribed in the 2018 State Budget. The highlight may go to the second bracket of the IRS, which affects “families with lower incomes”.

In a Q&A session live on Facebook, the minister was asked about what is the Executive preparing withing the Personal Income Tax — IRS (Imposto sobre o Rendimento das Pessoas Singulares) — and answered there are some changes being prepared, such as António Costa had previously led to believe.

The relief should be focused on the second bracket of the IRS, concerning people whose income does not surpass 20 thousand euros. According to Centeno, IRS will have an adequate “progressive decrease in the tax”. The change, he stated, could be creating a new bracket, and it will be focused on “the need to grant a tax relief in that income bracket”.

IRS’ current brackets

The Portuguese newspaper Correio da Manhã had previously disclosed there would be a new IRS bracket between the second and third, for families whose yearly income stands between 13,500 and 27,500 euros. This news was not officially confirmed by anyone linked to the executive, but it seems to go along the Finance minister’s statements. This will be “another step” in returning income to citizens, since the previous Government reduced the IRS brackets from eight to five.