The Portuguese Parliament is considering the bill introduced by the government, which aims to strengthen the tax benefits to companies that invest in Portugal. This project pretends to adapt the Investment Tax Code to the new European rules, in regard to state aid for the Horizon 2014-2020.
Among the changes are:
- An increase of 20% to 25% of the tax credit in IRC, if spending is up to 5 million euros. For investments that pass this value, the incentive will be 10%. Equipment or technology transfers and the purchase of patent rights and licenses shall be considered as investments.
- Augment for the investments in regions with lower purchasing power than the national average and technological innovation of 6%, instead of 5%. If the deduction cannot be made in full, the values of the investment will be settled on the ten following tax periods.
- Extension of the period of exemption of the Municipal Property Tax, as well as the scope of the exemption from Stamp Duty, to encourage entrepreneurship, innovation and promote entrepreneurship.
The Secretary of State for Innovation, Pedro Pereira Gonçalves, argued that this new package aims to encourage “people to dare to create new businesses,” according to said to Lusa Agency.
Also, Paulo Núncio, Secretary of State for Fiscal Affairs, recently stated in the commission of Budget, Finance and Public Administration of the Parliament that “the decree-law to be adopted shall enter into force on normal terms, that is, when be published in the Diário da República, but take effect from July 1, 2014 for all investments made between July 1 and the date of publication of the decree-law, if it is issued after that date, with the purpose of don’t be affected and can benefit from the tax under the new tax code”.
[photo credit: Philip Taylor]
