Digital Nomad visa
The Portuguese Law No. 18/2022 approved on 25 August had relevant changes to Law No. 23/2007, also known as “the Foreigner’s Law”, introducing a new Portuguese visa type called the “Digital Nomad visa”.
This new visa programme applies to foreign individuals who intend to relocate to Portugal and perform a professional activity in the Portuguese territory, remotely, for the benefit of entities domiciled abroad, either as a dependent professional (i.e. an employee) or an independent service provider. In the case of independent service providers, the professional activity in question can be performed by a company incorporated for this purpose.
The Digital Nomad visa can be requested as a temporary stay visa, which is valid for one year and allows multiple entries into Portuguese territory during said period, or as a residence visa that is valid for four months and allows two entries into Portuguese territory during said period. However, the residence visa grants to the visa holder the right of requesting a residence permit in Portugal after the visa expires.
The visa applicants will have to present to the Portuguese consular authorities of their residence country a tax residence certificate, proof of income received in the previous three months (which should be equal to or greater than the Portuguese minimum wage of 3 months) and one of the following documents:
- An employment, service provision or company incorporation agreement;
- A promise/proposal for the conclusion of an employment or a service provision agreement; or
- A declaration issued by a company proving an employment relationship or any proof of the provision of services to one or more companies.
Crypto asset tax regime
On 30 December 2022, the Portuguese Law No. 24-D/2022 was approved, which established the Portuguese State Budget for 2023.
Along with many changes to the Portuguese tax law, the State Budget Law for 2023 introduced a tax regime for income obtained by individuals that is derived from crypto asset-related activities. As a preliminary note, it is relevant to consider that, for the purposes of this regime, only crypto assets of a fungible nature are considered, therefore the regime is not applicable to NFTs.
Operations related to the issuance of crypto assets, such as mining, or the validation of crypto asset transactions through consensus mechanisms are qualified as an independent professional activity. Income derived from such economic activities that does not consist of crypto asset mining shall be subject to Personal Income Tax (“PIT”) at 15% of its amount, while income derived from the mining of crypto assets will be taxed at 95% of its amount, if the simplified approach to determine the taxable income of the beneficiary is applied. If the taxable income of the taxpayer is determined by the organised accounting method (which is mandatory if said income exceeds EUR 200,000), then all income derived from the activities in question, after offsetting business expenses, shall be subject to PIT. The income in question will be liable to PIT by the application of the general progressive rates system.
Income derived from the trading of crypto assets shall be considered a taxable capital gain and other items of income derived from crypto assets will be classified as investment income, both subject to PIT at a 28% rate.
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