Two tax deadlines on the same day — and new residents meet both

Today, 31 August, two Portuguese tax deadlines fall on the same date. If your income tax return left a balance to pay, that payment is due. If you own property and your IMI is split across the year, the second instalment is due as well.

Why new residents meet both at once

The first Portuguese tax return almost always produces a balance to pay. During your first year here, foreign income — a pension, dividends, rent from the flat you kept back home — usually had no Portuguese withholding on it. Nothing was taken monthly, so everything arrives at once, in one number, months after the year it belongs to.

IMI catches you from the other side. It is charged on the taxable value of the property, not on the price you paid — which is why a recent buyer can face an instalment before completing a full year of ownership, for a period that partly belongs to the previous owner.

What actually happens if you miss it

Interest starts running the next day. That part is annoying but small. The part that hurts later is the certidão de não dívida — the certificate saying you owe the tax authority nothing. It is asked for in residency renewals, in some rental and business contracts, and in several public procedures. A forgotten instalment turns into a blocked document at exactly the moment you need to move fast.

What to do today

Log in to Portal das Finanças and look at your own settlement note. Both the amount and the payment reference are there — do not calculate anything yourself, and do not rely on a figure someone quoted you. Pay with the reference through your bank or Multibanco.

The part worth keeping after today

The Portuguese tax year is not your arrival year. You declare in the spring for the year before, and you pay at the end of summer — which means the bill for your first months in the country reaches you when you have already stopped thinking about them. Put the dates in a calendar the day you get your NIF, not the day the letter arrives.

If you want to know what the bill will look like before it exists, we set out the current brackets and the two-part calculation here: what you will actually pay in IRS.