Tax residence certificates issued by tax office portal from January
Tax authorities have "simplified the certification procedure" of tax residence in forms from foreign tax administrations and that as of January 2022, it is no longer necessary to send those forms.
The tax residence certificate issued through the Finance Portal in 2022 will be the only document certifying tax residence in Portugal for the Convention to Avoid Double Taxation (CDT), according to the tax authorities.
The Directorate of International Relations Services of the Tax and Customs Authority (AT), in a note dated Tuesday and available on the Finance portal, reports that the AT has “simplified the certification procedure” of tax residence in forms from foreign tax administrations and that as of January 1, 2022, it is no longer necessary to send those forms.
“We have made the certification procedure faster as you do not need to send any forms to the Tax Authority or wait for them to be returned by post, once authenticated,” reads the information, which also highlights the fact that the AT has given notice of this new procedure “to all” the foreign tax administrations with which Portugal has a DTT.
After January 1, go to the Finance Portal to request a tax residence certificate, it said, explaining that it is enough to write the word ‘certificate’ in the search field and access ‘request certificate’, identifying yourself with your NIF and personal password and choose ‘tax residence’.
“Fill in all the requested fields and do not tick anything in field Q5, where the existence of a foreign form is mentioned,” reads the note to the services, further specifying that, after filling in the data, the request is confirmed and “you immediately” get the certificate of fiscal residence.
“You should attach this document to the duly completed foreign form and send it to the foreign entity for whom it is intended,” it adds, concluding that the tax residence certificate issued through the Finance Portal “is a safe document, with a reliable form of validation and is the only document that certifies tax residence in Portugal to benefit from the provisions of the DTT.
The residence criteria are set out in the IRS Code, considering that residents in Portuguese territory are subject to IRS taxation on all their income, including income obtained outside that territory.
