Pilou

I feel so sorry for you! This is a nightmare. Portuguese is not a language people learn to speak in the EU, like english, german and french. It would be nice if the authorities who want to attract thousands of foreigners with the RNH-scheme, help the foreigners a bit. For example that you can make an appointment with a person within 'financas' who can speak english.

Ukkram

Our Finanças is not very friendly. There is a machine at the entrance with buttons to get a ticket to enter but I cannot figure out what button to press so I press any button. My number gets called up and the guy says something in Portuguese and waves his arms. So I just go home again.

macliam

Jeez man, stop moaning and ask someone!!! The machine will give a different ticket (senha) for different functions, which I'm sure are labelled on the machine. It's just the same as the system all over Portugal, at supermarket counters, at Banks, at the Post Office - take a dictionary and work out which queue you need! The gut "waving his arms" id pronably just telling you that you're in the wrong queue!

I have few good words for the finanças, but they are no different to any other bureaucrats in Portugal. If you behave as you suggest here and EXPECT them to speak to you in English, whilst making no effort yourself, you'll not get far. Many Portuguese are no diffferent to you, they might speak a little English, but not enough, so they don't try. Make an online translation, print it and take it with you - it will be wrong, but at least you'll have made an effort....

Otherwise, your only option is to request an English speaker or an interpreter - and/or pay for a Portuguese speaking agent to speak for you. You might be lucky - but not in a local office, only at one of the regional centres.

ouriquejan

Your attitude when visiting finances helps, ask and ask, preferably in your limited Portuguese and you'll more than likely find that people will help.

The finances in Olhao was a nightmare years ago., kept moving offices for various things - car tax was in one office one year, another the next. We always asked and were helped. One bloke even gave us his place in the queue.

Here, in Ourique, we're blessed with lovely, understanding people. Only had one long wait but more than happy with them. Helpful and friendly.

RichardHenshall

Another tactic is to press every button and get a full set of tickets. Surely one of them will be right. When the first guy starts waving at you, show him your ticket collection - with a bit of luck he might indicate which ticket you need.

Pistolpete2

I'm going through the process of re-contacting a legal advisor who provides advice regarding the tax implications of applying for NHR.

I have already told him that I happen to have pension income from a country that does not have a double-taxation treaty with Portugal so it is my understanding that this will be taxable in some way but what I am hoping for is something very similar to the overall HMRC tax position as below, which comes from the make-up of tax due when one files an HMRC UK tax return under self-assessment.

This brings all the income together, deducting allowances and giving the final tax due. I would think/hope that this could be provided as a standard template for what must be a fairly typical make-up of annual income for those considering NHR apart from that Foreign Income

Profit from UK land and property £X,XXX.00
Foreign income* £X,XXX.00
Dividends from foreign companies ** £X,XXX.00
Interest from UK banks, building societies and securities etc £XXX.00
Dividends from UK companies £X,XXX.00
UK pensions and state benefits *** £X,XXX.00
UK and US Capital Gains

*State and Employment Pension Income from a non-double taxation treaty jurisdiction

** USA - double taxation treaty
*** Purely UK State Pension

Presumably one would have to provide hard evidence to support the taxable income figures and one also needs to ADD/INCLUDE any income and capital gains in ISAs

Providing the make-up of all income for UK tax purposes is pretty darned onerous and it would be nice to escape this under NHR but I'm not sure what the Portuguese authorities typically need - aside from the known initial financial position.

If it is a serious grind indeed - does it make sense to become residents? as opposed to going up to six months per tax year as a non-resident

liveaboard

I went through a similar process, trying to figure out the tax implications of foreign income and getting frustrated with web based information that always seemed to assume I was in a certain category that I'm not.

Tax laws and their application is often counter-intuitive, and when you're a multinational person you really need a specialist, even when your income level is quite moderate.

Make an appointment, bring your paperwork and sit down for an hour with a person who knows this stuff, like Denis Swing-Green over at Eurofinesco.

Then you can do your sums and make these very important decisions. Don't forget to factor in the cost and quality of health care in whatever scenario you're considering; this is really important, and often treated as an afterthought as people get all excited about climate and scenery.

I've sat down and consulted with tax experts from 3 different countries, multiple times. a few hundred Euros in fees VERY well spent.

Pistolpete2

Thank you for that!

I was thinking that as a UK State Pensioner I would be able to avail myself of the existing scheme where the NHS gets re-billed since apparently that is the only deal that has so far been accomplished by the DD crew. My admittedly thoroughly disillusioned GP in the UK said that using the Portuguese public health system would be a step-up.

I've looked at the issue of care in Portugal and thought the custom-built facilities west of Faro rather expensive and would need to dig deeper. We were of a mind to CREATE our own small care facility in the Caribbean to meets our/my needs and maybe a couple of others in due course but I've gone off that idea of late even though we would be below what is known as the Hebert Hurricane Box and the Hurricane Navigation Box.