Originally Posted by m2m2012

With no passport control because of the Schengen area it's very difficult for authorities to know how much time someone spends in Portugal. So it seems they assume if your NIF address is local you're declaring that you are a tax resident...which I guess is not unreasonable.

Originally Posted by Red Eric

There's a little more to it than that, too.

The tax authorities have no business looking at immigration / borders data, any more than the border agents have to look at tax information. They wouldn't, under any normal circumstances, be able to get hold of any such info even if they wanted to. They're entirely separate departments which don't routinely share information with each other. Data protection and all that.

Originally Posted by wellinever

Please read the many posts I have made regarding this topic.
Just for your info. I was a tax resident and resident of Portugal from 2005 -2009 (as far as I knew) having sold my house in Portugal, paid all of the taxes due in Portugal,made a reinvestment in the UK. All of that including copies of the deeds of the new UK house were sent to my accountant for onward information for the PT tax office to confirm I had made the agreed reinvestment in Portugal.......I was told by my accountant that all was then in order.
My temp 5 year residency expired (as it does) in 2010.
I never had cause to look at nor think about the PT tax system after then.
Until 2016, when I bought a plot of land to build on.
On going to the local tax office (same one I had left 7 years earlier) to register the land with my name and my UK address (had all docs of council tax ,service bills etc), only to be told that I was a Tax resident of Portugal and had been since 2005 !!!!!!!
On checking my online account at AT, yes there it was.....a Portuguese address against my name..........only problem was not only was it NOT the address of the house I had sold and lived in......it was my old accountants SHOP address.
I explained that this was never my address and was my accountants SHOP (not house).........they refused to accept that and claimed that I was tax resident end of story.....

Armed with the docs of the UK house I had with me, they did then change my address to UK, but only starting from the day I was there ie Nov 2016.
Which meant that I could then not take out NHR as I had been considered to be a tax resident up until Oct 2016. !!!!
So anyone BE WARNED
And dont just take the word of your accountant.....she refused to discuss it with me when I asked her how she had made such a terrible mistake....my problem.
Make sure your address is altered against your NIF, as well as all of the contact details like phone, email etc....take nothing for granted.

Originally Posted by throwawayaccount

No I did not. I didn't think I needed to or rather, there was zero information for this. I guess I was naive in thinking I could just leave the country? Surely there are thousands of expats who leave the country without updating any of their details on a daily basis.

Originally Posted by Red Eric

There's a little more to it than that, too.

The tax authorities have no business looking at immigration / borders data, any more than the border agents have to look at tax information. They wouldn't, under any normal circumstances, be able to get hold of any such info even if they wanted to. They're entirely separate departments which don't routinely share information with each other. Data protection and all that.

Originally Posted by Rambling archer

There is a Reciprocal arrangement between the two tax authorities.

Originally Posted by m2m2012

You might be right; I don't know anything about how tax authorities in Portugal operate. I do know that in other countries the tax authorities do have access to such records, see:

https://www.sbs.com.au/language/engl...kdown-on-fraud

The Australian tax authorities know exactly how many days a year it's citizens and visiting foreigners spend in the country.

Originally Posted by m2m2012

With no passport control because of the Schengen area it's very difficult for authorities to know how much time someone spends in Portugal. So it seems they assume if your NIF address is local you're declaring that you are a tax resident...which I guess is not unreasonable.

Originally Posted by throwawayaccount

Thank you everyone for your reply.

I decided to just bite the bullet and ask the accountancy firm to sort it out. I still don't understand what happens to the thousands of people that come in and out of the country to work and decide to leave for whatever reason without knowing they had to deal sort fiscal stuff out before leaving.

In reply to Sunseeker1st, I was a resident in Portugal, and I guess I still am even after being out of Portugal for more than 183 days. I am a citizen in the UK.

Surely there are other people in the exact same situation as me that can help shed some advice?

Originally Posted by TonyJ1

If you leave the country and don't notify the tax authorities, how would they know you have left without you notifying them? This applies as well to the UK, France etc, though the processes and procedures will necessarily be different.

Originally Posted by m2m2012

Can you tell us what's the easiest way to change a NIF address from a Portuguese address to a foreign address; or from Foreign to Portuguese? Can you do it online? Is there a special form to do this? Do you need to explain why you want to do this and provide documents?

Originally Posted by TonyJ1

At the moment the only way to do it is through the tax office and if the address is outside the EU, you will need a fiscal representative. Though if you do not have any assets or any tax obligations, this can be done if you have access / registered for secure email notices (at the moment only CTT is authorised to this for tax purposes. First step is to log in / register with CTT