A change in withholding tax of the IRS from July could now result in a smaller refund or tax to be paid, highlights Deco, which advises taxpayers to check their invoices carefully to minimize this effect.
Speaking to Lusa at a time when the beginning of the delivery of the annual IRS declaration is counting down, Soraia Leite, spokesperson for Deco Proteste, warns that the fact that the withholding tax tables, changed in July 2023, “Having provided immediate relief to taxpayers’ wallets, payment can now be made upon submission of the IRS declaration.”
This context, he says, means that the process of checking and validating invoices with expenses deductible to the IRS has gained even more relevance this year, with the head of the consumer protection association advising taxpayers to check whether the value of the deductions calculated by the Tax and Customs Authority (AT) – which became available on the Finance Portal in the middle of this month – encompasses all invoices with NIF and to refuse it or complain if they find that there are missing invoices.
The taxpayer “must mirror” the deductions when submitting the IRS declaration, “to minimize the impact of changes to the withholding tables”.
If there are errors in expenses related to housing, education, health or homes, “when the taxpayer is filling out the IRS”, from April 1st, “he must delete the pre-filled value and replace it with the correct value”, says Soraia Leite, noting that everything helps to minimize the tax payable.
The absence of invoices for general family expenses or those that allow part of the VAT paid in sectors such as restaurants, gyms, workshops and hairdressers to be deducted from the IRS must be claimed from the AT by the end of this month.
“All deductions actually made […]you must present them in the IRS declaration so that they minimize, in fact, the impact of the change in the withholding tax tables, which, naturally, caused the taxpayer to hand over less money to the State and, therefore, may now have an impact in the amount to be paid in IRS or even in the refund to be made”, he explained.
Automatic IRS extended to more taxpayers
The automatic IRS will this year be extended to more taxpayers, now covering those who have investments in retirement certificates, a change that makes this automation “more comprehensive” and that adds the public capitalization regime to the list of tax benefits that were already available. covered – namely donations and PPR.
Conversely, taxpayers who wish to benefit from the tax regime aimed at young people must refuse the automatic IRS and complete the declaration ‘manually’.
This is because, Soraia Leite points out, young people who want to take advantage of this tax benefit “will not be able to” automatically submit the IRS”, and the lack of knowledge of this fact, he admits, may have meant that in previous years some eligible young people were left out. of the regime.
Under IRS Jovem, IES is exempt from all income up to a maximum amount of 40 times the social support index (IAS). In the second year, the exemption covers 75% of income (categories A and B), while in the following two years there is an exemption of 50% and 25% in the fifth year.
IRS declaration can be submitted from April 1st
The IRS declaration is submitted between April 1st and June 30th, during which time it can be corrected and replaced at no cost.
Replacement within 30 days of the deadline may result in the payment of a fine depending on whether, as Deco points out, the error committed harms the tax administration or not.
Over the last few years, refunds have arrived sooner to taxpayers covered by the automatic IRS, a situation that is expected to continue in this year’s campaign.
