Taxpayers can start submitting their annual IRS declaration today

Taxpayers can start submitting the declaration of income earned in 2023 today, and this declarative obligation can be fulfilled over the next three months, until June 30th.

Accounts for 2023 income will be based on withholding tax (for income subject to this tax advance), the collection deductions presented and the changes determined by the State Budget law for 2023 (OE2023), namely the update of the taxable income brackets by 5.1% and the reduction of the rate applicable to the second bracket from 23% to 21%.

This annual settlement of accounts between individual taxpayers and the tax authorities will reveal how the new withholding tax regime (on salaries for employees and pensions), which came into force in July 2023, has effectively approached the situation tax for each taxpayer, which could result in a reduction in reimbursement, that is, the return of money that the taxpayer handed over to the State or in tax payable.

For several years now, the refund has reached taxpayers’ accounts a few days after submitting the declaration, with everything pointing to the process being the same this year. According to information provided by the Ministry of Finance at the end of last year’s IRS campaign, the average refund period was then 19.5 days, and 16 days in the automatic IRS. The greater speed in paying the refund after delivery (if there are no discrepancies or other problems) has concentrated the delivery of the IRS in the first few days of the deadline, but tax experts advise that this should not be the case.

In recent statements to Lusa, the president of the Order of Certified Accountants (OCC), Paula Franco, even warned to avoid the first and last days of the deadline, as a ‘peak’ in access to the Finance Portal could make the process difficult. The three months for submitting the IRS declaration apply to all income categories, i.e. dependent work (category A), independent work (category B), pensions (category H), property or capital income.

The delivery of the IRS must be done electronically, but, as in previous years, there will be finance services, citizen spaces and parish councils that provide support for filling out and delivery. This year the number of taxpayers covered by the Automatic IRS will be extended to those who have retirement certificates (known as public PPR), and whoever uses this automation, in addition to benefiting from a fully completed declaration (which each person must check and see if is certain before accepting and submitting it), you can also know exactly the final result, that is, whether there will be tax to pay or a refund to receive and, if applicable, what the value will be for joint or separate delivery.

For those who have to fill out the IRS declaration (model 3), this year’s forms bring several changes in order to accommodate changes to legislation: this is the case of landlords with housing rents that last year were not updated or increased by up to 2%. income or even people who chose to remove houses from local accommodation and place them on the housing rental market. All these situations will have to be reported in the declaration, as well as possible capital gains from the sale of properties to the State and local authorities, so that they can benefit from the temporary exemption regime contemplated in Mais Habitação.

Anyone who meets the requirements to benefit from the IRS Jovem will also have to expressly adhere to this regime in the declaration — which means refusing the automatic IRS, if it is covered. On the other hand, non-residents who have sold a property in Portugal now have a similar regime to that of residents, which means that these gains are taxed at 50% of their value, with inclusion being mandatory.