Supermarket Loyalty Cards
#16
BE Enthusiast
Thread Starter
Joined: Dec 2019
Location: Lagos and Hong Kong
Posts: 570
Re: Supermarket Loyalty Cards
You may have come across the desire for the Finanças department for everyone to give their "Contribuente" number which is your NIF number whenever paying for anything in Portugal, and for suppliers of goods and services to ask for it. This links your invoices to your tax situation since there are items that will then be added to a discount on your eventual tax due the following year. You spend for instance on Hotel &/or Restaurant, take your dog to the vet, pay for Medical Services, have your hair done, rental accommodation - all of these go to your discount. Supermarket general shopping, buying fuel for the car, and many many other things do not count and go in the "other" classification.
One advantage of having your NIF associated with your Supermarket Loyalty Card is that you don't have to quote your NIF every time! Personally can't see any downside to supplying it. Passport number would be more for non-residents perhaps?
Of course there are sceptics who see lurking government surveillance of the population's spending habits and noseyness into whether bills are issued properly and IVA paid etc etc, and of course a lot of people do not pay enough tax in Portugal to benefit from the scheme, but it does give some sort of benefit, encourages use of such as Vets and Hairdressers !!, and gives the government's statistics gurus something to chew on!
We have just had friendly emails from the Portal of Finanças to suggest we check our faturas as some were pending, wanting confirmation of their categories before 23 February for the tax year 2020 - and indicating how much discount we would have on our tax bill - if we were liable to pay any, which we are not expecting to do ... A fun thing to do on a rainy day!
One advantage of having your NIF associated with your Supermarket Loyalty Card is that you don't have to quote your NIF every time! Personally can't see any downside to supplying it. Passport number would be more for non-residents perhaps?
Of course there are sceptics who see lurking government surveillance of the population's spending habits and noseyness into whether bills are issued properly and IVA paid etc etc, and of course a lot of people do not pay enough tax in Portugal to benefit from the scheme, but it does give some sort of benefit, encourages use of such as Vets and Hairdressers !!, and gives the government's statistics gurus something to chew on!
We have just had friendly emails from the Portal of Finanças to suggest we check our faturas as some were pending, wanting confirmation of their categories before 23 February for the tax year 2020 - and indicating how much discount we would have on our tax bill - if we were liable to pay any, which we are not expecting to do ... A fun thing to do on a rainy day!
#17
Re: Supermarket Loyalty Cards
Your NIF number is only recorded with the spend in a supermarket if you ask for it to be, not simply because you use your loyalty card and your NIF is associaed with it.
If the checkout staff says "Quer fatura com número de contribuinte?" or versions thereof (sometimes just "Quer fatura?") and you decline, it's an anonymous spend when the data gets to Finanças. I only ever ask for receipts with NIF for as long as they're of benefit, which is for 750 odd euros expenditure in the "general" category. If you have utilities in you name, those will automatically have your NIF associated and you'll possibly clock up the 750 in a year on those alone.
I have read that if recorded expenditure is greater than declared income, it's flagged - something I find entirely plausible, although there are likely to be so many instances of that given the entirely legit circs under which it might occur that I suspect the authorities would need hugely more inspectors than they're likely to have at their disposal to investigate every single case.
I sincerely doubt the supermarket spend was related to the message from Finanças. Apart from anthing else there's usually a time lag between your purchase and the data being uploaded and visible on the portal but there's no reason I can think of that a purchase would trigger a message. It's just a general reminder in my opinion.
If the checkout staff says "Quer fatura com número de contribuinte?" or versions thereof (sometimes just "Quer fatura?") and you decline, it's an anonymous spend when the data gets to Finanças. I only ever ask for receipts with NIF for as long as they're of benefit, which is for 750 odd euros expenditure in the "general" category. If you have utilities in you name, those will automatically have your NIF associated and you'll possibly clock up the 750 in a year on those alone.
I have read that if recorded expenditure is greater than declared income, it's flagged - something I find entirely plausible, although there are likely to be so many instances of that given the entirely legit circs under which it might occur that I suspect the authorities would need hugely more inspectors than they're likely to have at their disposal to investigate every single case.
I sincerely doubt the supermarket spend was related to the message from Finanças. Apart from anthing else there's usually a time lag between your purchase and the data being uploaded and visible on the portal but there's no reason I can think of that a purchase would trigger a message. It's just a general reminder in my opinion.
Last edited by Red Eric; Feb 20th 2021 at 1:29 pm.
#20
BE Enthusiast
Thread Starter
Joined: Dec 2019
Location: Lagos and Hong Kong
Posts: 570
Re: Supermarket Loyalty Cards
Sorry, I’m a newbie to all of this and am trying to tread an honest path
#21
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 1,805
Re: Supermarket Loyalty Cards
I have had to submit Portuguese tax returns in the past (as a non-resident) due to property rental income but I still got no benefit! I assume the tax breaks can only be applied against income if you are resident.
#22
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Nov 2017
Posts: 866
Re: Supermarket Loyalty Cards
Just because one is non-resident, that does not mean that one is non-taxable, depending on other things, like renting out property, paying local taxes on Property etc - once you have a NIF number which is in effect a Tax Office number, you are part of the system. Residents are taxable anyway, but non-residents may have assets or taxable work in Portugal also.
Richard - perhaps you have not taken your dog to the vet, paid for medical services, paid rent or given your NIF while staying in a hotel or eating in a restaurant, or paid your monthly fees to the Old Folks Home, or even bought a bus pass? The categories are quite limited but worth looking up on the Portal de Finanças website - do the search for "e-faturas" and see what you get? Don't see how it can be limited to Residents, and it should be for Tax-payers of any sort?
Richard - perhaps you have not taken your dog to the vet, paid for medical services, paid rent or given your NIF while staying in a hotel or eating in a restaurant, or paid your monthly fees to the Old Folks Home, or even bought a bus pass? The categories are quite limited but worth looking up on the Portal de Finanças website - do the search for "e-faturas" and see what you get? Don't see how it can be limited to Residents, and it should be for Tax-payers of any sort?
#23
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Jul 2009
Posts: 1,805
Re: Supermarket Loyalty Cards
Or maybe I failed to complete my tax returns correctly? I had assumed that any allowance was automatic - did I need to specifically claim the allowance in some way?
#24
Re: Supermarket Loyalty Cards
The deductions are automatic, yes.
It's a possibility that as tax for non-residents is not on the same terms as that for residents (who, for example, have to declare worldwide income), the concessions pertaining to one's entire income being taxed here therefore don't apply.
It's a possibility that as tax for non-residents is not on the same terms as that for residents (who, for example, have to declare worldwide income), the concessions pertaining to one's entire income being taxed here therefore don't apply.
#25
BE Enthusiast
Thread Starter
Joined: Dec 2019
Location: Lagos and Hong Kong
Posts: 570
Re: Supermarket Loyalty Cards
Just because one is non-resident, that does not mean that one is non-taxable, depending on other things, like renting out property, paying local taxes on Property etc - once you have a NIF number which is in effect a Tax Office number, you are part of the system. Residents are taxable anyway, but non-residents may have assets or taxable work in Portugal also.
Richard - perhaps you have not taken your dog to the vet, paid for medical services, paid rent or given your NIF while staying in a hotel or eating in a restaurant, or paid your monthly fees to the Old Folks Home, or even bought a bus pass? The categories are quite limited but worth looking up on the Portal de Finanças website - do the search for "e-faturas" and see what you get? Don't see how it can be limited to Residents, and it should be for Tax-payers of any sort?
Richard - perhaps you have not taken your dog to the vet, paid for medical services, paid rent or given your NIF while staying in a hotel or eating in a restaurant, or paid your monthly fees to the Old Folks Home, or even bought a bus pass? The categories are quite limited but worth looking up on the Portal de Finanças website - do the search for "e-faturas" and see what you get? Don't see how it can be limited to Residents, and it should be for Tax-payers of any sort?
#26
Re: Supermarket Loyalty Cards
Deductions à coleta apply only to taxpayers resident in Portugal.
#27
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Nov 2017
Posts: 866
Re: Supermarket Loyalty Cards
Article 78 no 5 of the PT Tax Code
Deductions à coleta apply only to taxpayers resident in Portugal.
Deductions à coleta apply only to taxpayers resident in Portugal.
#28
Re: Supermarket Loyalty Cards
You're welcome.
On a related note, it looks as though beneficiaries of NHR who pay tax at a special rate (like those who work and pay the flat 20%, or the 10% pensioners) also don't qualify for those deductions.
On a related note, it looks as though beneficiaries of NHR who pay tax at a special rate (like those who work and pay the flat 20%, or the 10% pensioners) also don't qualify for those deductions.
#29
BE Enthusiast
Joined: Feb 2020
Posts: 475
Re: Supermarket Loyalty Cards
The only card I've got so far is the Continente one. For the reason that there's usually a till free where one can get out ASAP instead of waiting in an interminable queue. There only ever seem to be five manned tills open in the Portimao place. Not sure i've got any discounts I wouldn't have got anyway.... BTW, how does one get the vouchers that the machines always present one with? What am I missing here?
#30
Re: Supermarket Loyalty Cards