Qualifying for the NHR status and Registration as NHR
Recognition of this status is not automatic and requires activation by attending to the following formalities:
- Application for a Portuguese taxpayer number
- Registration as tax resident
- Request the access codes to the Tax Authorities’ website
- Application for the NHR status.
Nevertheless, in case the Portuguese Tax Authorities have doubts about the individual’s effective tax position, additional documents can be requested, e.g. tax residency certificate(s) and other documents to prove that the personal and economic interests of the individual were located in another State in the five years preceding the arrival in Portugal.
The NHR status has to be requested until March 31 of the year after taking up residency in Portugal.
To qualify as a NHR, an individual must meet the following requirements:
- Become tax resident under Portuguese domestic legislation; and
- Not having been taxed as a Portuguese resident in the five years prior to taking up residence in Portugal.
An individual is tax resident in Portugal for any year in which:
- He/she stays in Portugal for more than 183 days (continuously or not) during a 12 month period, which begins or ends in that tax year; or
- He/she has a residential accommodation available in Portugal in any day of that 12 month period, used as the individual’s habitual abode.
Any day (or part of the day) spent in Portugal will count as one day if the individual stays overnight in Portugal. Residency is established as of the first day of permanence in the country.
