Portugal's very generous tax gift to French pensioners

<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1"><b>Portugal has seen its conservative government deposed by a coalition of left-wing parties, including communists&amp;period; An upheaval which will not call into question the regime enjoyed by European and French retirees moving to the country&amp;period;<&sol;b><&sol;span><&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">Should French pensioners who had planned to spend their golden years in Portugal tremble&amp;quest; This Tuesday, November 10, the Conservative government of Pedro Passos Coelho<span class&equals;"s2"><b> was overthrown by an alliance of left-wing parties<&sol;b><&sol;span> including the Socialist Party&amp;comma; the ecologists&amp;comma; the communists and the anti-austerity left-wing bloc&amp;period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">Pedro Passos Coelho's government had introduced <span class&equals;"s2"><b>a highly favorable tax regime<&sol;b><&sol;span><b> <&sol;b>to encourage European retirees to come and stay in Portugal&amp;period; Thus&amp;comma; since January 1, 2013&amp;comma; any European retiree who has not lived in this country for more than five years before retiring can spend his or her old age there and be exempt from&amp;rsquo&amp;semi;tax on his or her pension&amp;period; To do this&amp;comma; you must also have non-resident status in your country of origin&amp;comma; that is, you must be able to prove that you live in Portugal for at least 183 days a year&amp;period; Lastly&amp;comma; you must have worked in the private sector&amp;period; Civil servants remain&amp;comma; taxable in the country that employed them&amp;period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;<p class&equals;"p2"><span class&equals;"s1"><b>Ahead of Morocco and Thailand<&sol;b><&sol;span><&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">This tax niche has had the effect of attracting more and more French retirees to Portugal&amp;period; So much so, that according to the rankings carried out by retraite-etranger&amp;period;fr at the beginning of the year&amp;comma; Portugal came top of the list of foreign destinations where the French decide to spend their retirement&amp;comma; ahead of Thailand and Morocco&amp;period; In addition&amp;comma; 20&amp;period;000 French people are expected to arrive in 2016&amp;comma; the vast majority of them retirees&amp;comma; according to the President of the Franco-Portuguese Chamber of Commerce and Industry&amp;comma; Carlos Vinhas Pereira&amp;comma; quoted by <span class&equals;"s2"><b><i>the JDD<&sol;i><&sol;b><&sol;span>&amp;period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">But can the fall of Pedro Passos Coelho's government and the probable arrival of a plural left-wing government call everything into question by repealing the tax system&amp;quest; "There is no reason for alarm"&amp;comma; replies Pascal Gonçalves&amp;comma; president of the Casa em Portugal&amp;lpar;Maison&amp;rpar;&amp;comma; real estate agency;Pascal Gonçalves&amp;comma; president of the Casa em Portugal&amp;lpar;Maison au Portugal&amp;rpar;&amp;comma; real estate agency, which enables French people to buy and invest in Portuguese real estate&amp;period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">He points out that the program agreed last Sunday between the various left-wing parties makes no mention of this measure&amp;period; It was even the Portuguese Socialist Party (PS) that initiated the tax regime for pensioners&amp;period; "The Socialist government voted for it&amp;semi;had voted for it in 2009&amp;comma; and it was then the right-wing who unblocked it in 2013"&amp;comma; he explains, recalling that&amp;rsquo&amp;semi;Antonio Costa&amp;comma; the current leader of this bloc of left-wing parties&amp;comma; was already an active member of the socialist party at the time&amp;rsquo&amp;semi;period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;<p class&equals;"p2"><span class&equals;"s1"><b>A windfall of 100 million euros a year<&sol;b><&sol;span><&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">"The Communist Party has no intention of calling this measure into question&amp;period; For them, the most important thing is that Portuguese workers earn more money&amp;period; But they don't want there to be fewer foreigners in Portugal"&amp;comma; replies the&amp;rsquo&amp;semi;entrepreneur&amp;period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">"Especially since there is no reason to go back on it, since it has no negative impact&amp;period; In fact, retirees who move to Portugal for tax reasons would not have paid any tax anyway if this scheme did not exist, since they would have stayed in France or moved to another country&amp;period; "The impact is positive, since the tax system has no negative impact;tax if this scheme did not exist, since they would have stayed in France or moved to another country&amp;period; "On the contrary, the spin-offs are positive, since&amp;rsquo&amp;semi;they consume once they are here"&amp;comma; adds Pascal Gonçalves&amp;period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><span class&equals;"s1">According to figures from the Franco-Portuguese Chamber of Commerce quoted by <i>the JDD<&sol;i>&amp;period; And Pascal Gonçalves concludes that, when it comes to retirement&amp;comma; "the notion of borders is less and less important"&amp;period;<&sol;span><&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;<p class&equals;"p1"><a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;bfmbusiness&period;bfmtv&period;com&sol;votre-argent&sol;le-tres-genereux-cadeau-fiscal-du-portugal-aux-retraites-francais-929178&period;html&quest;utm&lowbar;campaign&equals;echobox&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;medium&equals;social&amp&semi;utm&lowbar;source&equals;twitter&num;link&lowbar;time&equals;1447309341" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank">source<&sol;a><&sol;p>&amp;NewLine;