Government wants to squeeze foreign pensioners too

Portugal’s finance minister, Mário Centeno, acknowledged on Friday that the government has been looking into introducing a minimum income tax bracket for foreign pensioners for some months, to ensure a “good tax relationship” with other European countries.

Following an informal meeting of euro zones finance ministers in Talin, when he was asked about an article in Friday’s edition of business newspaper Jornal de Negócios saying the government was studying changes to the income tax rules for non-habitual residents because of the discontentment of other countries, finance minister, Mário Centeno said that this was true and the changes could come into force next year, though the matter is still under consideration.

He said the tax would be around 5%, but the rate and starting date has not yet been set.