Fiscal Incentive for Scientific Research and Innovation in 2024
Who is it for?
For individuals who become residents in Portugal and have not been residents here in the last five years.
What is the NHR 2.0?
It is a tax regime that provides a benefit in terms of IRS – Personal Income Tax – and consists of a special tax rate of 20% on income from work earned in the scope of the activities referred to below, for a period of 10 consecutive years from the year of registration as a resident in Portugal.
Requirements for obtaining NHR 2.0
To benefit from NHR 2.0, individuals must earn income derived from the following activities:
a) Teaching in higher education and scientific research, including scientific employment in entities, structures, and networks dedicated to the production, dissemination, and transmission of knowledge, integrated into the national science and technology system, as well as positions and members of social bodies in entities recognized as centers of technology and innovation;
b) Qualified positions and members of social bodies within the scope of contractual benefits for productive investment;
c) Highly qualified professions developed in:
i) Companies with relevant applications, in the exercise of the start of functions or in the five previous exercises, which benefit or have benefited from the tax regime supporting investment; or,
ii) Industrial and service companies, with a specific scope of activity and which export at least 50% of their turnover, in the exercise of the start of functions or in any of the two previous exercises;
d) Other qualified positions and members of social bodies, in entities that carry out economic activities recognized by AICEP, EPE, or by IAPMEI, IP, as relevant to the national economy, namely attracting productive investment and reducing regional asymmetries;
e) Research and development of personnel whose costs are eligible for the purposes of the tax incentives system for business research and development;
f) Positions and members of social bodies in entities certified as startups; or
g) Positions or other activities carried out by tax residents in the Autonomous Regions of the Azores and Madeira.
Process of obtaining NHR 2.0:
To obtain NHR 2.0, the individual must register as a beneficiary of this Regime with the following entities, depending on the relevant activities developed (Article 58.º-A/1):
- Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, I. P. (FCT);
- Agência para o Investimento e Comércio Externo de Portugal (AICEP);
- Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira (AT);
- Agência para a Competitividade e Inovação, I.P. (IAPMEI);
- Agência Nacional de Inovação, S.A. da Startup Portugal e das Regiões Autónomas dos Açores e Madeira.
How to maintain NHR 2.0 over the 10 years?
The right to be taxed under this regime for 10 years depends on the individual being considered fiscally resident in Portuguese territory at any time during that year and continuing to earn, each year, income framed within the exercise of one of the activities previously identified.
It is considered that the individual continues to earn income framed within one of the relevant activities whenever the start of the new activity occurs within a maximum period of six months after the end of the previously exercised activity.
If the individual does not meet the requirements for maintaining NHR 2.0 in any of the years, do they lose the right to benefit from the Regime in the following years?
An individual who has not enjoyed the right to be taxed under this regime in one or more years of the concession period may resume its enjoyment in any of the remaining years, starting from the year, inclusive, in which they are once again considered tax residents in Portugal and earn income framed within the exercise of one of the relevant activities.
Who cannot benefit from NHR 2.0?
Individuals who:
a) Benefit from or have benefited from the Non-Habitual Resident (NHR) regime;
b) Have benefited from the Regressar Program
