Short answer. Once you are resident in Portugal, Portugal taxes your income from everywhere, at rates from 12.5% to 48% in 2026. The old NHR regime is closed to newcomers; its successor, IFICI, is for people who come to work in qualifying roles. Most of what you can still influence, you influence before you arrive.

• Residence: more than 183 days in any 12-month period, or a home kept as your habitual residence, makes you resident.
• Income tax: the 2026 scale runs from 12.5% to 48%. Gains on shares are normally taxed at a flat 28%.
• NHR: closed to new applicants since 1 January 2024. Newcomers look at IFICI instead, registered by 15 January of the year after arrival.
• The return: filed between 1 April and 30 June for the previous year, with payment by 31 August.

When do I become tax resident in Portugal?

You are resident for a year if you spend more than 183 days here, consecutive or not, in any 12-month period that begins or ends in that year. You are also resident, with fewer days, if on any day of that period you have a home here in conditions suggesting you mean to keep it as your habitual residence (article 16.º, n.º 1, of the IRS Code). Any day that includes a night spent in Portugal counts as a day here (n.º 2).

A popular belief needs correcting: the test is not "183 days in the calendar year". The 12-month window can straddle two years, so a person who arrives in July and stays through the winter can be resident sooner than they think. Nor does nationality decide anything on its own. A Portuguese citizen returning home is tested exactly like everyone else.

Residence starts on the first day of your stay, not on 1 January, unless you were resident on any day of the previous year (n.º 3). The year you arrive therefore usually splits in two, and where you have income to declare under each status, you file a return for each (article 57.º, n.º 6).

What does residence change?

Everything. A resident is taxed in Portugal on worldwide income; a non-resident only on income obtained in Portugal (article 15.º). Your salary from a foreign employer, your foreign pension, the dividends in a brokerage account abroad: once you are resident, all of it goes on the Portuguese return. Where the other country has also taxed it, the relief comes through the double tax treaty and the foreign tax credit, explained below.

How much income tax will I pay?

Residents pay IRS on a progressive scale of nine brackets, from 12.5% on the first 8,342 euros to 48% on income above 86,634 euros (article 68.º, wording of Lei n.º 73-A/2025). These are marginal rates, so your overall rate is always below your top bracket. Our guide to Portugal's 2026 income tax rates has the full table and worked examples.

Non-residents with Portuguese salaries or pensions are usually taxed by a final withholding of 25% (article 71.º, n.º 4). It is simpler, and for modest incomes it costs more than the scale would.

Is there anything for younger people?

Yes. IRS Jovem lets people up to 35 years old, who are not dependants, exempt part of their employment and self-employment income during their first ten years of earning income, if they opt for it on the return (article 12.º-B). The exemption starts at 100% in the first year and falls in steps to 25% in years eight to ten, up to an annual cap. It cannot be combined with NHR or IFICI (n.º 9).

Can I still get NHR?

No. This page used to say otherwise, and it was wrong. The non-habitual resident regime closed to new applicants on 1 January 2024, when the 2024 State Budget (Lei n.º 82/2023) revoked it. People already registered keep it for the rest of their ten years. Anyone arriving now, US citizens included, cannot apply. The full story is in our article on the end of NHR.

What replaced it?

IFICI, often called NHR 2.0, set out in article 58.º-A of the Tax Benefits Statute (EBF). If you qualify:

• You pay a flat 20% on the net income from your qualifying work, for 10 consecutive years.
• Most foreign income is exempt, but it still counts when setting the rate on your other income. Foreign pensions are not exempt (AT Ofício-Circulado n.º 20276/2025, question 2).
• You must not have been resident in Portugal in any of the previous five years, and you must never have had NHR.
• There are seven routes in, from research and university teaching to highly qualified roles in qualifying companies and certified startups.
• You register on the Portal das Finanças by 15 January of the year after you become resident.

IFICI is generous to the people it was built for; the work lies in showing that you are one of them. Our IFICI guide sets out who qualifies, route by route.

How are investments and property sales taxed?

Gains on shares and other securities are taxed at an autonomous rate of 28%, and residents may opt to add them to their other income instead, which can pay when their marginal rate is lower (article 72.º, n.os 1 and 13). Gains on crypto-assets held for 365 days or more are excluded from tax (article 10.º, n.º 22).

Property is where the old articles on this site, and many others, went wrong. When you sell a property, only 50% of the gain is taxed, and that half is added to your other income and taxed on the progressive scale (article 43.º, n.º 2). Since 1 January 2023 this applies to non-residents too: the old flat 28% for non-residents was revoked by Lei n.º 24-D/2022, and a non-resident's rate is now set by reference to their worldwide income (article 22.º, n.º 10). Our capital gains guide covers the exclusions, costs you can deduct and worked examples.

What taxes come with owning property?

• On purchase: IMT, the property transfer tax, whose rate depends on the price and the use of the property, plus stamp duty of 0.8% (General Stamp Duty Table, item 1.1).
• Every year: IMI, the municipal property tax, at 0.3% to 0.45% for urban property, as each municipality sets, and 0.8% for rural property (IMI Code, article 112.º). It is charged on the property's taxable value (VPT), not on the price you paid.
• Above 600,000 euros: individuals pay AIMI, an additional tax of 0.7% on the combined taxable value of their residential property and building land above that deduction, with higher marginal rates of 1% and 1.5% on larger holdings (articles 135.º-C and 135.º-F).

One practical point for anyone planning around residence: buying property no longer leads to a golden visa. That route ended under Lei n.º 56/2023, in force since 7 October 2023.

Is there inheritance tax in Portugal?

Not under that name. Inheritances and gifts bear stamp duty of 10% (item 1.2 of the General Table), but spouses, unmarried partners, descendants and ascendants are exempt from that charge (Stamp Duty Code, article 6.º, alínea e)). A gift of Portuguese property still bears the 0.8% of item 1.1, even within the family.

What if I run a business or work for myself?

Companies pay IRC at 19% for periods starting in 2026, with 15% on the first 50,000 euros of taxable profit for small and medium enterprises and small mid caps (Lei n.º 64/2025); municipal and state surcharges can apply on top. VAT is charged at 23%, with reduced rates of 13% and 6% on the mainland; the Azores and Madeira set lower rates of their own (VAT Code, article 18.º). A self-employed person with turnover up to 15,000 euros may be exempt from VAT under article 53.º, if the other conditions are met.

I am a US citizen. What is different for me?

On the Portuguese side, very little: once resident, you are taxed in Portugal like any other resident. Where the US has also taxed the same income, Portugal gives a credit for the lower of the foreign tax paid and the Portuguese tax on that income, and, because a treaty applies, no more than the US tax paid on the terms the Portugal-US treaty provides (article 81.º, n.os 1 and 2). Foreign tax above the Portuguese tax on that income is not refunded, and is carried forward only where the Portuguese tax that year was too low to absorb it (n.º 3).

How far Portugal credits US tax charged because of citizenship, rather than because the income arose in the US, is a point we check case by case before promising anyone a full credit. Your US filing position is a matter of US law, which we do not advise on; a US-qualified preparer should look at it alongside us.

What should I do before I move?

• Get a NIF, the Portuguese tax number. You need one to rent a home, buy property or open a bank account. A non-resident from outside the EU does not need a fiscal representative to obtain it, but must appoint one, or join electronic notifications, within 15 days of a first tax link such as owning property (Ofício-Circulado n.º 90057/2022, §2 and §3). See our NIF guide.
• Fix your arrival date with care. It decides when residence starts and how the first year is split.
• Check IFICI before you sign a contract. The route depends on your role and your employer, and the 15 January deadline does not move.
• Think about large sales before you become resident. As a non-resident, Portugal taxes only income obtained in Portugal.
• Put the calendar in your diary. The return runs from 1 April to 30 June, with payment by 31 August. Our Portuguese language guide, IRS para residentes estrangeiros, walks through the return itself.

Every move has its own dates, documents and income, and the answers above are the general rules, not advice on your case. If you would like us to look at yours, get in touch; we send a written proposal by email after the first assessment.

Written by OnCorporate Editorial Team. Approved for publication by João Teixeira de Freitas, Director of Operations. Tax review by Luiz Augusto Teixeira de Freitas, Director: in progress. Applies to tax year 2026, Portugal. Last updated 21 October 2026.