Owning a home in Portugal from abroad: yearly taxes in 2026

If you own a home in Portugal and live abroad, you pay the municipal property tax (IMI) every year: in Porto, 0.324% of the property's tax value for 2025, charged in 2026. A second tax, AIMI, only applies above €600,000 of tax value per person. Rent from a housing lease is taxed at a flat 25%, or 10% since 2026 when the rent is up to €2,300 a month. When you sell, half of the gain is taxed at the progressive IRS rates. These rules depend on the property and what you do with it, not on your nationality.

Taxes on the purchase itself are in the real cost of buying property in Portugal, short-term rental income in how AL income is taxed, and moving here in IFICI, the regime that replaced NHR.

IMI: the yearly property tax

IMI is charged on the property's tax value (valor patrimonial tributário), shown on its tax record (caderneta predial), not on the price you paid. For urban properties the law sets a range of 0.3% to 0.45%, and each municipal assembly fixes its rate every year. If the council does not send it to the Tax Authority by December 31, the minimum applies.

The Tax Authority's table lists Porto at 0.324% for 2025, the tax charged in 2026. On October 29, 2026, it had no 2026 rates for the Porto district yet.

Whoever owns the property on December 31 owes that year's tax, assessed between February and April of the next year. The amount sets the payment months:

• up to €100: one payment in May
• over €100 and up to €500: May and November
• over €500: May, August and November

The rate can be higher: three times for a property vacant over a year, and in urban pressure areas the council can add up to 100% for an AL and up to 25% for a home neither rented nor used as the owner's permanent home. Under CIMI article 112(4)(a), the rate is 7.5% when the owner is tax resident in a country or territory on Portugal's list of tax regimes considered clearly more favorable (Portaria 150/2004). The list includes, for example, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Monaco, Panama, Lebanon and Jordan. Hong Kong was removed by Portaria 292/2025/1 of September 5, 2025, and Macau is not on it. The Tax Authority's "taxas por prédio" lookup shows your property's rate.

Example. A Porto apartment with a tax value of €150,000 (an illustration; yours is on the caderneta predial) pays €486 a year at 0.324%, in May and November.

AIMI: only above €600,000

AIMI (adicional ao IMI) is calculated on the total tax value of the urban properties you own on January 1, leaving out commercial, industrial and services properties. An individual deducts €600,000 and pays 0.7% on the rest, with a marginal 1% on the part of the total between €1 million and €2 million and 1.5% above €2 million.

Married couples and couples in a de facto union can opt for joint taxation, which adds their properties together and doubles the deduction to €1.2 million and the bracket limits. AIMI is assessed in June and paid in September.

Rent from a long-term lease

Non-residents pay IRS on income earned in Portugal, and rent from a property here counts. Rent from a housing lease is taxed at a flat 25% after deducting costs such as maintenance and repair works, condominium charges, IMI and the stamp duty on the lease. Financing costs, depreciation, furniture, appliances and AIMI are not deductible. Rent from a non-housing lease, such as a shop, is taxed at 28%.

Permanent-housing leases of 5 years or more get lower rates, explained in AL or long-term rental in Porto. Since 2026, Decree-Law 97/2026 sets 10% when the lease is exclusively for housing and the rent is within the moderate-rent limit: 2.5 times the 2026 minimum wage of €920, or €2,300 a month. It covers rent earned from January 1, 2026 to December 31, 2029, unless a lower rate applies. The text does not separate residents from non-residents, so check the Tax Authority's guidance for your lease.

A tenant with organized accounts, such as a company, withholds 25% (or 10%) when paying. Either way, you declare the rent in annex F of the IRS return (Modelo 3), filed from April 1 to June 30 of the following year.

Selling: tax on the gain

A gain on selling a property in Portugal is taxed here. Until December 2022, the rule that only 50% of the gain counts applied to sales "efetuadas por residentes". Law 24-D/2022 removed those words, so it now applies whoever sells. That half is taxed at the progressive IRS rates, set by taking into account all your income, including income earned abroad. You declare the sale in the next year's return.

Costs that are not taxes

Condominium charges cover the building's shared costs. They are not a tax, but when the property is rented, the charges you must legally pay are deductible from the rent.

Tax representative and electronic notifications

Within 15 days of becoming an owner, if you live outside the EU, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, you must appoint a tax representative in Portugal or sign up for the Tax Authority's electronic notifications (or the ViaCTT mailbox). That is how IMI bills and notices reach you.

Double taxation treaties

The Tax Authority counts 79 tax treaties, 78 of them in force. Its list includes the United States, Japan, Israel, China, Hong Kong and Macau, but not Taiwan. In the US treaty, income and gains from real property "may be taxed" in the country where the property is. How your home country treats the Portuguese tax is a question for an accountant there; we do not give foreign tax advice.

A year at a glance

What Urbanis does

Urbanis is a licensed real estate agency in Porto (AMI 24596). Through Urbanis Residences we have managed apartments and buildings in Porto for 3 years, for short, medium and long-term rental. We coordinate with independent accountants for the yearly return and the tax representative. We do not give tax advice. The team works in Portuguese, English, Spanish and Hebrew.

Frequently asked questions

How much IMI will I pay on a home in Porto?

0.324% of the tax value for 2025, charged in 2026: €486 on a tax value of €150,000.

Source: Tax Authority, IMI rates by municipality, Porto district, 2025

When is IMI paid?

In May if the bill is up to €100; in May and November if it is up to €500; in May, August and November above that.

Source: IMI Code, article 120, Portal das Finanças

What tax does a non-resident pay on rent in Portugal?

25% of net rent from a housing lease. Since 2026, 10% when the lease is exclusively for housing and the rent is up to €2,300 a month, until 2029.

Source: IRS Code, article 72 and Tax Benefits Statute, article 45-C

How is a non-resident taxed on the sale of a Portuguese property?

Half of the gain is taxed at the progressive IRS rates, with the rate set using all your income, including income earned abroad.

Source: IRS Code, article 43 and article 22

Do I need a tax representative in Portugal?

Outside the EU, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein, yes, or electronic notifications instead, within 15 days of buying.

Source: Tax Authority, NIF for non-resident foreign citizens (July 2025)

This article is general information, not legal or tax advice. Last verified: October 29, 2026.