Good morning to you all, and thank you for inviting me, as your guest speaker at the AFPOP meeting of this morning. Today we will speak about healthcare, which in the last years has become a hot item. Throughout Europe we hear complaints about poor assistance, in comparison to what it was before.
Building restrictions in the past In the old days “before 1994” we were used that planning consent could be obtained on nearly every plot of land as long as it had a kind of approval of the local Ministry of Agriculture that part of the land could be used for the construction of a house. This way most of the time we could apply to have 200 – 400m² of the land to be excluded from it agriculture classification. This document was normally good enough for the Bank of Portugal to give permission to import the necessary funds to purchase the property by a foreigner.
More and more people decide to come and live in Portugal and start a new life. Quite often now people are not prepared to wait till the education of their children has been completed in their home country. There is no doubt to my mind that a good and sound education will be the corner stone of a child’s future. For parents with children the Algarve has the following to offer.
The majority of people coming to the Algarve to purchase a property will firstly consider buying an existing property. This seems the easiest and fastest way as the advantage is there:
Tax on rental income in Portugal As many of you rent out your property through our services it is maybe good to know if and what you have to declare to the Portuguese tax authorities (Finançes). It is known know that undeclared rental income is high on the list of the Finançes. All rental income either received inside or outside Portugal but related to in Portugal situated real estate is subject to either IRS (income) tax, for property owned in your own name or IRC (corporate) tax for properties owned by an offshore property company.
Some of you may have heard for some time rumours that offshore companies, holding properties in Portugal are under attack by the Portuguese tax authorities.
Earlier this year it became evident that in the Portuguese state budget, proposals were made to make offshores less attractive to hold.
The legal regulations are very specific when buying a property in Portugal; however, it is always advisable to use qualified legal advice from a lawyer, solicitor or experienced person in this field.
Understand how to apply for a mortgage in Portugal, and the types of mortgage available… For those who have a Portuguese Residency Card (Cartão de Residencia), a Portuguese Tax Code (Numero Fiscal de Contribuinte), a Portuguese bank account (Conta Bancaria em Portugal), proof of regular income and/or a contract (Contrato) with an international or national company in Portugal, and a good credit rating, it is fairly easy to take out a mortgage.
THE SOVEREIGN PORTUGUESE PROPERTY PURCHASE PLAN Since 2002 there have been various reforms of property taxation by the Portuguese authorities, including the introduction of a penalty tax rate which increased the level of Municipal Tax (rates) payable in respect of properties held by companies included on the Portuguese Finance Ministry “blacklist”. That tax rate is now set at a flat 7.5% of the “Valor Patrimonial” (Rateable Value) making the tax payable unacceptable for most properties. The same changes also imposed a tax on a presumed rental income calculated at 1/15th of the “Valor Patrimonial” in the case of a property held by such a blacklisted company.
