wellinever

Thnks Red.
I note that it says it is considered as taxable as a house from when the licence is issued and that was in Nov 2020.
Is IMI payable in arrears ?
If not then I assume I will also get a bill for this year as well

Red Eric

If you're the owner of a property on 31st December, you're liable for the IMI for the entire year, the bill for which is issued the following April.

If you sell a property, even if it changes hands on 30th or 31st December, the new owner pays the IMI for that full year.

sportpix

Interesting. I’ve just fished a letter from my mailbox which seems to say I owe $xxx for 2020, even though I completed the purchase at the end of December. It’s just put me off my breakfast...

wellinever

Sport.....you and I have same luck. You pay for whole year after buying in December......I pay whole year after finishing house in November.....

sportpix

True enough. Neither my property agent nor lawyer explained that if we’d delayed completion for another two weeks I could have avoided this tax 😡

wellinever

And I had assumed that until the house was actually registered as a house, not a piece of land, that the IMI for 2020 would be based on the land value.

Red Eric

I'm sure many of us have similar crosses to bear.

I lost 2 years of a (then) 6 year IMI exemption because I didn't know I had to request it. Completed the purchase in March one year, 1st bill delivered April the following year - when I went to Finanças to query, they said I could request it then but it couldn't be backdated, and as we were already into 2nd year of ownership, we'd not be eligible for exemption on that one either.

4 years exemption was better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, though.

toots sweet

Red
"If you're the owner of a property on 31st December, you're liable for the IMI for the entire year, the bill for which is issued the following April.
If you sell a property, even if it changes hands on 30th or 31st December, the new owner pays the IMI for that full year."

That sounds a bit contradictory, unless I'm reading it wrong. We bought our house in Feb(2019) and didn't pay IMI till May 2020.The previous owner was liable for the tax of 2019. If above, isn't the old owner liable for the year up till the 31st Dec, payable (by him) the following year?

Red Eric

No, that's in line with what I said.

You paid for 2019, billed in April 2020. The previous owner's last IMI bill would have been for the year 2018, billed in April 2019.

So you didn't get an IMI bill the year you moved in, despite moving in prior to the month the IMI bills are issued, because the bill applies to the previous year.

toots sweet

Thanks Red. Clarified.... The illogicality(if there's such a word) of Portuguese taxes etc is making my head boil.

Rambling archer

I have a couple of problems with the IMI - the main one being the local Finanças office is SHUT - as in, you make an appointment with the first available being in 10-14 days, get a phone call the evening before the appointment to say that they are not doing in-person meetings, and for us to get a solicitor involved to resolve the matters in question!!! So the whole of PT is relaxing the rules and Finanças is closed to the public! Does anybody else have experience of Finanças offices at present?
What can a solicitor do that we cannot do over the counter?
If the Camara is open for business, and I believe even the Loja for Citizens is open now having been totally closed for months, why is the Finanças different?

1 We have the final approval of the end-or-works and certificate from the Camara which we have to submit to Finanças within 60 days of the approval - for an extension to the existing house.
2 We have new passports (since the start of construction/planning for the extension so the number of the ID document is different now to that on the permit) and we need to update our IDs to the Tax Office also with reference to our NIF registration which confirms identity via the passport numbers as ID.
3 We have just received the IMI demands for 2020 - the house should have been automatically exempted as well under the "Rate-able Value" marked on the IMI demands, bought 18 months ago so 2020 was the first full year. Why is the automatic exemption not working?

The man on the phone refused to discuss any of the above further and repeatedly said we had to engage a solicitor even when it was pointed out that we would incur the solicitor's fees for something which only Finanças can deal with?
Help, comments, experiences would be appreciated - TIA

Red Eric

Did you do a tax return in 2020 for 2019 income?

That's what would generate an automatic exemption on 2020 IMI, provided income and property VPT were under the limits.

Rambling archer

Thanks for the reply - any knowledge of the Finanças not doing in-person advice/reception of documents?
Yes we did do a tax return for 2019 - I did think the exemption was given as an either or :- so either you had low income, OR the value of the house was below the limits? Rather than a combination of the two?

Red Eric

No, it's definitely both criteria that must be met.

Sorry - no idea whatsoever on the other one.

Rambling archer

OK - thanks again.