A sample follow-up memo

1. Questions and scope

After our call on 2 October 2026, Jordan Ashworth asked for our position on three questions:

1. From which date in 2026 is Jordan Ashworth resident in Portugal for personal income tax, given that he moved to Lisbon on 1 July 2026?
2. Does his salary from a Portuguese company certified as a startup qualify for the IFICI regime, at what rate and for how many years?
3. What does IFICI require, and by which date, for it to apply to the salary he earns in 2026?

The law is stated as at 6 October 2026.

2. Facts and assumptions

1. Jordan Ashworth is a German national. He lived and worked in Berlin until 30 June 2026 and gave up his Berlin flat on that date. He made no stay in Portugal in 2026 before 1 July.
2. He was never resident in Portugal before July 2026.
3. He has never been registered as a non-habitual resident and has never opted for the former-residents regime.
4. On 15 June 2026 he signed a three-year lease of a flat in Lisbon. He has lived there since 1 July 2026, and it is the address registered with his tax number.
5. Since 1 July 2026 he has been employed in Lisbon by a Portuguese company that Startup Portugal has certified as a startup. His role is to design and build the machine-learning systems at the core of the company's product.
6. His gross salary is €96,000 a year, of which €48,000 is paid in 2026. Social security contributions of 11% are withheld from it.
7. Apart from his Berlin salary to 30 June 2026, he has no other income in 2026, in Portugal or abroad.
8. He has a Portuguese tax number and access to the Portal das Finanças.
9. He is 38, single, has no dependants, and his personal deductions for 2026 come to less than €1,000.

Facts 2, 3, 6, 7 and 9 rest on the Client's information.

Assumption 1. The company's startup certification is valid throughout 2026, and Startup Portugal accepts, when it checks the registration request, that the role in fact 5 is directly involved in innovation tasks. Conclusions 2 and 3 rest on it. If it fails, IFICI does not apply and the salary is taxed at the ordinary rates (see 3.2).

3. Analysis

3.1 The start of tax residence during the year

A person is resident in Portugal for a year if, in any 12-month period beginning or ending in that year, they spend more than 183 days here, counting each day with an overnight stay, or have a home here in conditions suggesting the intention to keep and occupy it as their habitual residence.

A person who meets either test is resident from the first day of their stay, unless they were resident here in the previous year. From that day Portugal taxes their worldwide income; before it, only their income from Portugal.

The Lisbon flat meets the second test from 1 July 2026: it is let for three years, he lives in it, and it is his registered address (fact 4). The day count points the same way within the twelve months from 1 July 2026.

He was not resident in 2025 (fact 2), so his residence starts on 1 July 2026, not on 1 January. His Berlin salary to 30 June is not Portuguese income, so Portugal does not tax it, and his 2026 return covers only the period from 1 July (facts 1 and 7).

Jordan Ashworth is resident in Portugal from 1 July 2026. The position is settled by the plain words of the law, which leave little room for challenge.

3.2 The IFICI regime for the salary

IFICI, the tax incentive for scientific research and innovation, applies to a person who becomes resident in Portugal, was not resident in any of the five previous years, and works in one of the activities the law lists. The statute names every job in an entity certified as a startup in Portugal. The AT, and Startup Portugal as the entity that checks the activity on the registration request, read it as a job directly involved in scientific research or innovation tasks. The regime is closed to anyone who benefits or has benefited from the non-habitual resident regime, and to anyone who opted for the former-residents regime.

Under IFICI, net employment income from the eligible activity is taxed at a special rate of 20% for ten consecutive years, counted from the year the person registers as resident. Net employment income is the salary less the larger of a fixed deduction and the social security contributions; here the contributions are larger. The taxpayer may instead aggregate the income with other income at the ordinary rates in any year. Each year of the ten depends on being resident at some point in it and still earning income from an eligible activity. A new eligible activity that starts within six months of the end of the last one keeps the regime. A change of employer, or the end of an eligible job, is reported on the Portal das Finanças on or before 15 January of the following year, with a new registration request for a new job.

Jordan Ashworth meets each condition. He becomes resident in 2026 (see 3.1), was not resident from 2021 to 2025 (fact 2), and has never used either excluded regime (fact 3). His job is in a certified startup (fact 5), and on Assumption 1 it is directly involved in innovation tasks. The ten years run from 2026 to 2035.

The strongest contrary reading is that a software role is not directly involved in innovation tasks. The answer is factual: the role in fact 5 is the design of the company's core technology, and Startup Portugal decides the point when it checks the registration request. On Assumption 1 the salary qualifies, and the position is settled. The risk lies in that check, not in the law: without Startup Portugal's confirmation the AT does not register him and the regime does not apply. A refusal is an administrative decision that can be challenged, and the statute's wider words, which name every job in a certified startup, support the challenge.

On the facts, net income for 2026 is €42,720: IFICI tax on it is about €8,500, against about €10,700 at the ordinary rates. For a full year at €96,000, IFICI tax is about €17,100 against about €29,800 at the ordinary rates, including the additional solidarity rate: about €12,700 a year less. These figures are before personal deductions, which the AT allows only against tax at the ordinary rates. They would favour aggregation for 2026 only above about €2,200, and on fact 9 they are well below it.

3.3 The conditions and dates for the 2026 salary

The registration request is made on the Portal das Finanças on or before 15 January of the year after residence starts: for 2026, 15 January 2027. A later request takes effect only from its own year, within the same ten years, so a request after 15 January 2027 loses 2026 for good.

Once the request is submitted and the employer holds the proof of submission, it withholds tax at 20% on the IFICI salary. Until then, withholding follows the ordinary tables; the amount withheld is credited against the final assessment, with a refund where it exceeds the tax due.

The AT shows the status of the registration on the Portal das Finanças on or before 31 March each year. The 2026 return is filed from 1 April to 30 June 2027, and the 20% rate is chosen in that return.

These conditions and dates follow from the plain words of the law, and the position is settled. The only risk is a missed date: after 15 January 2027, IFICI no longer applies to 2026 (see 3.2).

4. Conclusions

1. Jordan Ashworth is resident in Portugal for personal income tax from 1 July 2026, because his Lisbon home and his stay meet the residence tests and he was not resident in 2025. Portugal taxes his worldwide income from that date (see 3.1).
2. On Assumption 1, his salary qualifies for IFICI and is taxed at 20% for the ten years from 2026 to 2035, in each year in which he is resident and keeps an eligible job. For 2026 that is about €8,500 against about €10,700 at the ordinary rates, and for a full year about €17,100 against about €29,800. If Startup Portugal does not confirm the role, the salary is taxed at the ordinary rates (see 3.2).
3. IFICI applies to 2026 only if the registration request is submitted on or before 15 January 2027, with the evidence of the certification and of the role (see 3.3). The employer withholds at 20% once it holds the proof of submission; until then, withholding follows the ordinary tables and the amount withheld is credited against the final assessment, with a refund where it exceeds the tax due. The 20% rate is chosen in the 2026 return, which is due on or before 30 June 2027.

Telmo Ramos

Taxbordr