Mnemosyne

Evening All. Does anyone know what documentary evidence the IRS require to establish non-fiscal residency in Portugal over the last 5 years in order to establish NHR eligibility. I have heard UK tax returns being mentioned, however due to low income I have not been required to submit a UK tax return since 2010. In the absence of UK tax returns what would the Portuguese Tax authority ask me to produce ?

I have another query : I was granted Residency on 7 October 2022 but due to non delivery of my Residency Card did not become aware that it had been granted until 5 January 2023. When would the Portuguese Tax authority consider I became fiscally resident : 7/10/22 or 5/1/23 ?

Thanks in advance to anyone who can throw light on these matters.

1Steve

I was in a similar situation to you and I applied for NHR and it was granted without the need for any UK tax certificates or any other docs.

You have 60 days from when you take up residency to inform Fiancas of your new address in Portugal. When did you inform Fiancas of your address in Portugal? Is your residency card a Brexit WA card? If so then the start date on that is not the start of you fiscal residence, it will be the year you inform them of your Portuguese address. When I eventually get my Brexit card it will state Oct 2022 as my start date but my fiscal residence and NHR started in 2021. I would advise you to contact them online through your account and explain your case and follow the advice they give.

wellinever

Isn`t the criteria that you have NOT been tax resident in Portugal for the previous 5 years, rather than the applicant proving that they were tax resident somewhere other than Portugal?
If your income is still low, NHR may not be of much financial help, unless selling a property in UK.

Mnemosyne

Thank you 1Steve. Yes, my card is a Brexit card. I last entered Portuguese territory on 7/1/22, got my card on 3/1/23 with an issue date of 7/10/22. I have requested the IRS to change my address via e-balcão and am waiting for them to get back to me. I am still confused about when, given these dates, my fiscally residency began and when therefore I need to submit a return. I will raise this too when IRS get back to me. Thanks again.

Loafing Along

Exactly - I went to the local Tax office and they printed off for me five years of nil return. This was sufficient for NHR

Bomber Harris

The dates on your Brexit card, or when you received it, aren't relevant to the date you officially became resident. To have been issued a Brexit card means you must have registered as a resident in Portugal before the end of the transition period, 31st December 2020, which would mean you had until 31st March 2021 to apply for NHR.

From Belion;
"In order to qualify as a “non-habitual resident”, a Portuguese national or a foreign individual having the right to live in Portugal must register as a tax resident of Portugal after not having been resident in this country during at least the previous 5 years. It should be noted that under the law an unregistered individual will be deemed resident for tax purposes if he/she either spends more than 183 days in the country during a 12-month period, or has a place of abode in the country, "in a way that may lead to the supposition of an intention to keep and occupy it as a habitual home". However, there is no minimum stay requirement for a Portugal-registered tax resident."
"Only in the event the tax authorities have doubts concerning the truth of what is stated will they request additional documentation, which may include a tax residence certificate from the previous country and/or a document proving that the vital and economic interests of the applicant were centred in another country during the previous 5 years."

My take on that and why you're being asked for the extra documentation is the tax office have doubts about the validity of your NHR claim due to you being the holder of a Brexit residency card.

atlasthemonk

1.My understanding of the NHR rules were that the applicant had until the end of March of the subsequent year of becoming a PT resident to apply for NHR .
2 If the op has a pre brexit residency then he has a CRU that has been replaced by his biometric card in November 2022.

Loafing around" Exactly - I went to the local Tax office and they printed off for me five years of nil return. This was sufficient for NHR"

This has confused me as loafing around was 3.5 years too late in applying for NHR in my opinion (so my understanding of the rules are flawed somewhere). Help required .
My story...( I think is similar to op).I received my residency in 11/2020 but as I was staying in short time residency (but still got my astedado?) and covid restrictions for travel were tightening I left soon after and again due to covid travel restictions couldnt return for 5.5 months in May, which by reckoning was too late (post March) for me to apply for NHR..My income has been negligable in the last two years but I am about to withdraw private pension , equity isa and start renting property here in PT , all of which will be taxable.....Am I too late too apply for NHR as I had thought ?
P.S.I changed from short time accommodation to buying a house in March 2022 and informed Finances immediately.

Loafing Along

Not sure how you came to that conclusion - arrived in April 2016 did NHR by March 2017 ..

atlasthemonk

If the tax office could print off nil return for 5 years I assumed you must have been on their system for 5 years. I assumed wrong. Momentarily you gave me a glimmer of hope that I was still eligible for NHR because I have yet had no tax returns in Pt despite my 26 months of residency..

Loafing Along

Effectively they printed off nil returns as thery had no previous records of me prior to my registration a month or so before I visited them. All done in one visit.

1Steve

atlasthemonk It would be the date you informed the tax office of your permanent address in Portugal. So if you informed them in 2022 when you purchased a property then You have until end of March 2023 to apply for NHR. Ask online via your Fiancas account, explain your situation and act on the advice they give. I had a reply from them that unless I was in the country for more than 183 days during the tax year then I was not considered a tax resident. I successfully applied for NHR the year after I attained the CREU.

Shanorme

Are people confusing Fiscal residency with Residencia (a Residency permit)? They are 2 different things. The one does not necessarily lead to the other.

Shanorme

The EuroFinesco hand book says this about NHR conditions: