Lagos council have approved a series of tax reductions for property owners and residents in the municipality.

A proposal to reduce the rates of income tax and property tax in Lagos has been approved by the Lagos Council for 2018 with the reason for the tax reduction being attributed to the successful collection of taxes over previous fiscal years.

The municipal property tax, known as IMI in Portugal, is to now be set at 0.8% for rural buildings and 0.35% for urban buildings assessed by the council.  The previous property tax rate was set at 0.375% and this reduction will help to ease the tax burden of those living in the Lagos area.

Individual municipalities in Portugal set their rates of IMI property tax.  Since the economy in Portugal has seen a dramatic upturn, many councils have chosen to reduce the tax rates for residents to make it more affordable to live in the Algarve.

There are many tax advantages for property owners in Portugal, for those who are both permanent residents and also for Non Habitual Residents.  The NHR (Non Habitual Residents) tax incentive allows for tax exemption on almost all income from foreign sources and a flat income tax rate of 20% on the majority of revenue sources, such as salaries.  Some other advantages of this special tax regime for non habitual residents include tax exemptions on pensions, inheritance, capital gains and dividends and interests.

Currently the NHR programme is available to all individuals becoming tax resident in Portugal (if they were not Portuguese tax residents in the previous 5 years) and the status is granted for a period of 10 consecutive years.

Further information about all tax incentives, costs and other fiscal information about becoming a property owner is available from a member of the team who have years of experience in the industry and are able to offer advice on fiscal issues relating to property purchases.