wellinever

At the moment is any Portuguese authority collecting dates of entry and exit from Portugal?

RichardHenshall

Not of every person or vehicle, as far as I'm aware. I'd still rather be innocent and trying to disprove an allegation of guilt (though generally you don't have to in law) than be guilty and trying to disprove it.

Diddion

And you might have a hard time without correct data. For example, if you use a toll motorway that is quite good evidence that you have been around, also, if questioned, any kind of receipt would help. And. similarly, card payments, and other purchases and bills could help in the UK. If you have no data from the country in question, then the only way you can prove you are somewhere else is to show evidence that you were somewhere else.

|I kind of think it important to play things absolutely straight, especially where Portuguese and UK authorities are concerned. I would hate having to attempt to deal with an appeal - could be expensive, even if you win, protracted and worrying.

AlexGee

Thank you for all the responses.

I can easily proof, that I came to Portugal in September (bills) and that I was away via christmas (flight ticket). I want to play absolutely straight here - nothing to hide

My goal is to complete my tax statement in 2019 in China and Germany (already complicated enough) and declare my tax statement for 2020 and following years in Portugal.

orangeblossom

Ooh, I see, thanks for that clarification. I was assuming it meant tax yeears. I don't quite understand why it is no more than 2 months before the start of November rather than the start of September in that scenario, though.
Avoiding becoming tax resident could be tough for me; I'd hardly be able to come back at all for the rest of the year as I was here just over 3 months s in the last 4 months of 2019 so it looks like I'd better get my NHR application underway afterall. The link you provided does make it clear that I would be able to keep the NHR status for the 10 years and use it off and on for tax in years where I was elligible for any tax break it provided, assuming I am reading the legalese correctly.
thanks so much for all your help!
Do you happen to know of the top of your head whether HMRC also use any 365 day period in calculating tax residence or do they use 183 in a given UK tax year?

RichardHenshall

It depends on when you return and for how long! 2 months more before September and you're caught but if you wait until the 2nd September, as each day of your stay in 2020 occurs one of the 2019 days drops out of the count. If you're cutting it that fine, beware of leap days and how many days in the month etc. There are online calculators that can total up your days for you. AFAIK any part of the day counts as one day in Portugal.

https://www.gov.uk/government/public...-test-srt-rdr3 should give those answers.

Diddion

HMRC is more complicated. Look up UK Statutory Residence Test. This is the primary source, and is a complete explanation. If you also google the same phrase you will find a plethora of summaries and flow charts. It is well worth studying carefully - and in principle not as daunting to understand as it might at first appear.

Edit. Richard got there before me!

orangeblossom

Thanks again to both Richard and Diddion, I will be sure to read what's at the link and more around the topic.

Diddion

And get back to us on the forum, either publicly or pm, for checking, clarification, etc!

algarvebound

I registered for my NIF and got my residency certificate in Jan 2020. Do I apply for NHR status now or wait until 2021. If as expected they introduce a 10% tax in March will I still get tax exempt status if I apply after March this year ?

I don’t know if it makes any difference but I hold both UK and USA passports with all of my assets and income coming from the USA, but I entered portugal on my UK passport and have used my UK address for registration of my NIF.

I will not be working just living off savings in the USA but I am not of retirement age yet. Do I still qualify for NHR relief?

If anyone can recommend an accountant I’d be very grateful

RichardHenshall

Are you 100% certain that, if anyone was to scrutinise your movements, they wouldn't be able to argue that you became (tax-) resident during 2019? Perhaps you should go and ask? Either way, getting in before the law changes (if it does), should allow you to get and keep the current rates.

algarvebound

I didn't arrive in Portugal until early January. 2020

RichardHenshall

It's still a proposal, not law but:

AlexGee

Hi,

just a quick update. I applied online last Saturday and already today, the status changed from pendente/pending to deferido/accepted Though I can enjoy the NHR status until 2028 now

When you apply: ensure that your entered first year is the same than the effective date ( A Minha Área / DADOS GERAIS - Data de Produção de Efeitos = effective date).

Thank you for your support
Alexander