Portugal’s government has worked out a way of taxing sunshine. Those property owners who get more than their fair share will be paying higher rates bills than their shaded neighbours.
The ‘amount of sunshine and the view from the property’ now have vastly increased weight when the tax department works out how much it thinks you can afford to pay in property rates (IMI).
As for having a ‘sea view’ - prepare for a rates hike for any re-rated property as new owners soon could be feeling the result of their insisting to the estate agent that ‘a sea view is essential.’
New rules were published in the Official Gazette today showing a sunny sea view could result in a higher rates bill while a dismal could see property taxes dropping.
The part of the complex rates equation that deals with 'location and aspect' has risen in weight from 5% to 20% making it the driving factor in penalising sea-view and sun-kissed properties, those that the taxman considers should be stumping up more rates for local services such as bin collections and street lighting.
Such increases penalise without debate or discussion those who buy a sunny property rather than one that faces north or is hidden behind trees despite the fact such houses may be just metres apart on the same estate.
With most of the country’s housing stock re-rated in the past few years, there is not expected to be a push by Finanças staff to impose the new formula on existing properties, relying on newly built properties and property sales which automatically are reassessed.
With the threat in 2017 of a 28% inheritance tax on amounts over €1 million, added to significantly higher rates bills for front line properties, the government as expected is starting to milk those who it has encouraged to move to Portugal.
This is the same tactic used by previous administrations in luring property owners in the 80s and 90s by pushing the tax-efficient offshore ownership of properties, only to change the rules when enough owners were in the net.
