Tax incentives for Dutch investors in Portugal: IFICI, SIFIDE, RFAI, the treaty

NHR and the Dutch clause

The non-habitual resident regime (2009–2023) exempted most foreign income and, from 2020, taxed foreign pensions at 10 %. For Dutch residents it never worked as advertised: article 18 n.º 2 of the treaty lets the Netherlands tax a pension whose contributions were tax-relieved there when the residence state taxes it at less than its ordinary rate (or taxes less than 90 % of it) and the total exceeds 10 000 € — exactly the NHR situation. The regime closed on 1 January 2024; holders keep their remaining years and, with them, the Dutch claim.

• IFICI: 20 % for ten years on listed activities; foreign income exempt with progression; pensions excluded
• SIFIDE: corporate credit of 32,5 % of R&D spend plus 50 % of the increase
• RFAI: investment credit of up to 30 % of qualifying investment in eligible regions
• 15 % IRC on the first 50 000 € for SMEs; patent box exempting 85 % of qualifying income

IFICI for individuals

The Incentivo Fiscal à Investigação Científica e Inovação applies to people who become resident without having been resident in the previous five years and earn income from listed activities: higher-education teaching and research, qualified posts in companies with contractual investment incentives or under RFAI, listed industrial and service companies exporting at least 50 %, companies recognised by AICEP or IAPMEI, R&D staff eligible for SIFIDE, certified start-ups, and activities in the Azores and Madeira. It gives 20 % on the Portuguese income from the activity for ten years and exempts foreign income (salaries, business, dividends, interest, rents, gains) with progression. Registration by 15 January of the year after arrival; former NHR beneficiaries excluded.

For a Dutch investor the exemption on foreign income is protected by the treaty in a way the NHR pension exemption was not: dividends, interest and gains have their own articles with a 10 % source ceiling and no subject-to-tax fallback, so Dutch dividends cost 10 % in the Netherlands and nothing in Portugal under IFICI. Dutch pensions are outside IFICI and taxed in full — which is precisely what keeps the Dutch authority away from them.

Incentives for companies

• SIFIDE II: a corporate tax credit of 32,5 % of R&D expenditure, plus 50 % of the increase over the previous two years (capped), carried forward eight years; certified by the ANI.
• RFAI: a credit of up to 30 % of qualifying investment in eligible regions (25 % above 15 million), with IMT, IMI and stamp-duty exemptions on the investment property, subject to job creation.
• Patent box (CIRC art. 50.º-A): 85 % of income from patents, designs and software copyright excluded from taxable profit.
• SME rate: 15 % on the first 50 000 € of profit; 19 % above in 2026, falling to 17 %.
• Madeira International Business Centre: 5 % IRC for licensed companies creating jobs on the island, until 2028.
• Start-ups: certified start-ups give their staff IFICI eligibility and their founders a 50 % taxation of stock-option gains at 28 % deferred to sale.

The Netherlands answers with the innovation box (9 %), the WBSO payroll credit for R&D and the participation exemption for holdings; Portugal’s participation exemption (10 % held for a year) works the same way for dividends and gains between companies.

Real estate investors

No specific incentive remains for residential property beyond the IMI exemptions of the 2026 housing package for moderate-rent lettings and the refund of the 7,5 % non-resident IMT when the property is let at a moderate rent for 36 of the first 60 months. Golden-visa investment excludes property since 2023; the 500 000 € fund route qualifies for residence, not for a tax break.

Steps

Questions