The Portuguese State conceded €770 million in fiscal benefits to foreigners inscribed in the NHR (non-habitual resident) regime in 2019. Says Jornal de Notícias, it is the highest amount ever – seven times the concessions applied in 2014. Up till last year, the ‘method’ of this programme was to give 10-year fiscal amnesties to all retired foreigners who received their pensions abroad, and attribute a special form of income tax (20% of the normal rate) to ‘highly qualified’ foreigners living on national territory. 2020 saw the pensioners’ tax amnesty fall. Now they pay a (reduced) tax of 10%. Leading the “table of the privileged”, says JN, are the French (9,371), followed by the British and Irish (6,748) and Brazilians (6,623).
