Categories: Taxation

Portugal has become the Eldorado of the "silver economy

The Portuguese can rub their hands&comma; their country has become the Eldorado of the "silver economy"&period; The silver economy&comma; is the economy that caters for senior citizens&comma; the "silver" in question referring to the silver hair&comma; or supposed to&comma; of the over-60s&period;&NewLine;This silver economy &lpar;in every sense of the word&rpar; represents a juicy market&comma; particularly in France where the over-60s now make up 25&percnt; of the population and hold&comma; by far&comma; the highest wealth of any age group &lpar;&more; 200,000 EUR on average&rpar;&period; The reason for this sudden craze is very simple &colon; moving to Portugal now increases their purchasing power substantially, thanks to cheaper real estate&comma; a lower cost of living, but also advantageous tax breaks&period;&NewLine;Tax carrot&NewLine;Entangled in the crisis and burdened by a debt still flirting with 130% of GDP, the Portuguese proved inventive when, in September 2009, they adopted a decree-law formalizing the status of <a href="https&colon;//vivreauportugalconsulting&period;com/regime-fiscal-au-portugal/">non-habitual resident</a> &lpar;NHR&rpar;&comma; a measure designed to attract foreigners to their country&period;&NewLine;In concrete terms&comma; this status allows expatriates who benefit from it to be tax-exempt for 10 years&comma; provided they spend at least 183 days a year in Portugal&comma; as tenants or owners&period; &NewLine;With the special status of non-habitual resident having been simplified in August 2012&comma; Portugal has become the preferred destination for French retirees moving abroad&comma; to the point of supplanting Morocco and Spain in the rankings of favorite destinations according to a recent survey carried out by Opinionway&period;" The French are among our main customers "confirms Ricardo Simoes&comma; director of the Franco-Portuguese Chamber of Commerce and Industry&period; However&comma; Ricardo Simoes does not want to see what he calls a "tax carrot" as the&OpenCurlyQuote;sole object of the French's attraction to his country&period;" Tax advantages are obviously a plus, but they're not the only one. "&comma; he objects&period; " There's the climate&comma; the gastronomy&comma; the diversity&comma; the purchasing power&comma; the cultural proximity&comma; and also the human dimension&colon; the Portuguese are very welcoming. "&period;&NewLine;In his opinion, these many advantages have finally won over the French&comma; at a time when other destinations&comma; such as Morocco and Tunisia&comma; have become less attractive due to the fear of terrorism, while Portugal has the reputation of being a very safe country&period; "Tax exemption and the international situation have only shortened retirees' decision-making time. "he assures&period;&NewLine;The Algarve is popular&NewLine;As a result&comma; Portugal's target of welcoming 20,000 French nationals between 2014 and the end of 2016 looks set to be achieved&comma; a windfall valued at 1 billion euros&period; The French aren't the only ones&colon; the Swiss and Germans are flocking in droves&comma; as are the British&comma; already historically very present&comma; in a country with which the UK has always had ties&period;&NewLine;Three regions are favored by expatriates&colon; Porto in the north&comma; Lisbon, the capital, and the Algarve&comma; in the south&period; Reputed to be Portugal's Côte d'Azur&comma; this sunny, almost year-round region has just been named the "most beautiful region in Portugal". <a href="http&colon;//www&period;huffingtonpost&period;com/kathleen-peddicord/best-places-to-retire-overseas&lowbar;b&lowbar;8917292&period;html">ranked N&period;1 best place to retire</a> by the American version of the Huffington Post&period website;&NewLine;Young retirees Anne and Dominique took the temperature last Friday at Porte de Versailles in Paris. Salon des seniors in Paris, where they attended a conference on the advantages of settling in Portugal&comma; a country they already knew from vacations spent there with their respective husbands&period; " It's not out of the question that my husband and I will be retiring to Portugal in a year's time. "&comma; admits Anne&period; " Finally&comma; takes up&comma; there are some very interesting advantages&period; There are many companies that leave France to improve their tax situation&period; So&comma; we&comma; as individuals&comma; are bound to ask ourselves some questions. "&period;&NewLine;" The main motivation for leavingshe adds&comma; it's the tax system&comma; which is very, very heavy in France from the moment you earn a cent&period; According to our calculations&comma; you could save between 10,000 and 30,000 EUR a year&comma; by moving to Portugal. "&period; "What's more&comma; she adds&comma; inheritance tax can benefit from the Portuguese tax system, which is more attractive&something I didn't know. before coming to the show "&period; Her friend Dominique would have been tempted too but there's a worry &colon; the tax exemption only applies to private sector pensioners&period; And she's a civil servant&period; " It's a country I used to dream about and know&period; so&comma; I'm much less interested in it. "&comma; she acknowledges&comma; a hint of regret in her voice&period;&NewLine;

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