Categories: Taxation

Portugal markets itself among Swiss retirees

The Lusitanian country hopes to become the Florida of Europe with its tax status package for residents and investors&period;&NewLine;Portugal is increasingly targeting retirees&period; On Tuesday evening&comma; a delegation of Portuguese tax lawyers&comma; accompanied by the Portuguese consul in Geneva&comma; came to the end of the lake to present the tax advantages of settling or investing in this country which&comma; for the past four years&comma; some 40 people - Portuguese who have been living in Switzerland for many years&comma; local entrepreneurs and wealthy Genevans - came to the Swissôtel Métropole to talk about taxation in the country with "3300 hours of sunshine a year"&period;&NewLine;"In life&comma; only death and taxes are inevitable&comma; jokes Jaime Esteves&comma; partner at PwC Portugal&comma; who regularly does this type of tour in France or the United States&period; But our government has worked hard to make the country more attractive fiscally&period;"&NewLine;Non-usual resident status&comma; express visas for investors&comma; life insurance&comma; exemption from inheritance tax&colon; Portugal hopes to convince retirees&comma; high-value-added workers and multinationals to set up in Portugal thanks to its special tax status package, which should convert the country into the "California of Europe"&period;&NewLine;Part-time tax-exempt residents&NewLine;Since 2013&comma; for example&comma; Lisbon has offered a ten-year tax exemption for European retirees wishing to buy property in the country&period; Provided they live there for at least 183 days a year&period; This "non-habitual resident" status has become a new tool for promoting the country's economy&period; Some 5,700 Swiss nationals - mainly private bankers and families - and French nationals have already been won over by this tax regime&comma; according to Jaime Esteves&period;&NewLine;For Miguel Calheiros de Velozo&comma; Consul of Portugal in Geneva&comma; these discussions reflect an economy that is opening up to the world&period; "From north to south&comma; there are a lot of foreigners in the country&period; It's a great country to live in but also to do business&period;". The consulate reportedly receives up to eight calls a week relating to the <a href="https&colon;//vivreauportugalconsulting&period;com/regime-fiscal-au-portugal/" target="&lowbar;blank">non-habitual resident status</a>&period;&NewLine;Lisbon&comma; the new gateway to Europe&NewLine;But Portugal is also hoping to attract non-European investors with its "golden visas"&period; A sesame&comma; granted in less than 90 days&comma; opening the doors of the Schengen area to all entrepreneurs ready to invest at least 500&ThinSpace;000 euros to buy a house or apartment&comma; inject one million euros into the Portuguese economy, or create ten jobs&period; The golden visa also allows you to apply for Portuguese nationality 6 years after settling in the country&period;&NewLine;More than 3,295 "golden visas" have been granted since the end of 2012&period; The status has brought in some 2 billion euros in investment - the majority in real estate -&comma; according to figures released by the Lusitanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs&period; Nearly 80&percnt; of the golden visas have been granted to Chinese nationals&period; Followed by Brazilian and Russian millionaires with 151 and 111 permits&period;&NewLine;A "safe house" for bribes&NewLine;However, these statutes have been challenged since the discovery that a Chinese citizen wanted by Interpol was able to obtain a Portuguese passport in exchange for a sum of over half a million euros&period; The affair doesn't stop there&period; In all&comma; seventeen people&comma; including former Portuguese Interior Minister Miguel Macedo and several Chinese businessmen&comma; are currently on trial for corruption&comma; money laundering or influence peddling&period;&NewLine;Once frozen by Portugal's former center-right government&comma; the granting of "golden visas" has resumed "at the same rate as in 2014"&comma; reassured Socialist Foreign Minister Augusto Santos Silva at the end of April, while affirming that new control measures had been put in place since he took office on November 26&period;&NewLine;Merchandising in a Europe in crisis&NewLine;Portugal is not the only Mediterranean country to have set up such a system&period; Spain and Greece&comma; weakened by the economic crisis&comma; are also trying to attract foreign investors with their Schengen visas&period; But they can't promise the same fiscal and political stability as Portugal&comma; says Jaime Esteves&period; "Since the national debt crisis&comma; there are few countries that can boast of offering such guaranteed framework conditions for ten years&comma; he believes&period; In tax&comma; it's an eternity&period;".&NewLine;<a href="https&colon;//www&period;letemps&period;ch/economie/2016/02/12/portugal-une-fiscalite-or-attire-retraites-suisses-cote-atlantique" target="&lowbar;blank">source</a>&NewLine;

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