IFICI: RNH 2.0?

The Tax Incentive for Scientific Research and Innovation regime (IFICI) established in Article 58-A of the Tax Benefits Statute and introduced by the 2024 State Budget Law, aims to attract highly qualified and specialized professionals to Portugal and to promote scientific research and innovation activities in strategic sectors in the country, in an attempt to replace the then revoked Non-Habitual Resident regime, making the country more competitive and appealing by offering more advantageous tax treatment to individuals.

Are eligible for this regime:

• Individuals who became resident for tax purposes in a given year, under the terms of Article 16 CIRS;
• Have not been resident in Portuguese territory in any of the previous 5 (five) years.

So far, everything is the same to the NHR regime.

The innovation comes in the requirement to cumulate an activity under the terms of article 58-A EBF, which, in simplified terms, translates to:

• Teaching in higher education and scientific research and members of governing bodies in entities recognized as centers of technology and innovation;
• Qualified jobs and members of governing bodies within the scope of contractual benefits for productive investment;
• Highly qualified professions in:

  • Companies with relevant applications, at the time of starting work or in the previous five financial years, which benefit or have benefited from the Investment Support Tax Regime (RFAI); or
  • Industrial and service companies, whose main activity corresponds to a CAE code defined by decree and the economy and which export at least 50 % of their turnover, in the year in which they take up their duties or in any of the two previous financial years;

• Other qualified jobs and members of governing bodies, in entities carrying out economic activities recognized by AICEP, E. P. E., or by IAPME. E., or by IAPMEI, I. P., as relevant to the national economy, namely in terms of attracting productive investment and reducing regional asymmetries;
• Research and development of staff whose costs are eligible for the purposes of the system of tax incentives for research and business development;
• Jobs and members of governing bodies in organizations certified as start-ups;
• Jobs or other activities carried out by tax residents in the Autonomous Regions of the Azores and Madeira, under the terms to be defined by regional legislative decree.

It is therefore urgent to unravel all these concepts.

What does “highly qualified activity” mean?

• General manager and executive manager;
• Director of administrative and commercial services;
• Director of production and specialized services (except directors of other specialized services and professionals with command, direction or leadership functions in the security forces and services);
• Specialist in physical sciences, mathematics and engineering (except architects, urban planners, surveyors and designers);
• Designer of industrial products or equipment;
• Physician;
• University professor;
• Specialist in information and communication technologies (ICT).

Provided they have at least:

A doctorate or degree, as long as they have 3 years of duly proven professional experience.

As far as companies benefiting from the RFAI are concerned, in addition to the professions listed above, the positions of directors, managers and managing directors of companies with relevant applications that benefit or have benefited from the regime are also covered.

Which industrial and service companies are eligible?

• Extractive industries – divisions 05 to 09;
• Manufacturing industries – divisions 10 to 33;
• Information and communication activities – divisions 58 to 63;
• Research and development of physical and natural sciences – group 721;
• Higher education – subclass 85420;
• Human health activities – subclasses 86100 to 86904.

Which highly qualified jobs and economic activities are considered relevant to the national economy (recognized by AICEP or IAPMEI)?

1. Highly Qualified Jobs

Except for industrial product or equipment designers, all the activities listed above are considered to be highly qualified, plus:

• Hotel, catering, retail and other service managers;
• Finance and accounting specialists (except accountants, auditors, chartered accountants and the like);
• Film, theatre, television and radio directors, stage managers, producers and related directors;
• Intermediate-level science and engineering technicians and professions;
• Directors, managers or general managers of companies.

Workers must also have at least an after-college qualification with credits for further study at a higher level and a diploma as a higher professional technician.

2. Relevant economic activities

Except from the research and development in the physical and natural sciences – group 721, which is not on this list, and the subclasses 86905 and 86906, which correspond to spa activities and other human health activities, within human health and social support activities, this list corresponds, ipsis verbis, to the list of eligible industrial and service companies mentioned above, with the addition of the following economic activities:

• Electricity, gas, steam, hot and cold water and cold air – division 35;
• Construction – division 42;
• Accommodation, food service and similar activities – classes 5511 and 5512;
• Financial and insurance activities – classes 6420 and 6630 (for the purposes of the latter class you must hold a valid licence issued by the CMVM to carry out the activity of collective asset management or be owned directly or indirectly by another entity that holds a valid fund management licence issued by the competent regulatory authority in any country of the European Union or the European Economic Area);
• Consultancy, scientific, technical and similar activities – class 7010 and divisions 71 to 72;
• Administrative and support service activities – class 8211.

What is the registration procedure?

Applications for registration must be submitted by 15 January of the following year in which the beneficiaries become tax residents in Portugal.

For tax payers who become resident in Portugal in 2024, the registration can be made until 31 March 2025 (Order no. 24/2025-XXIV, of 21 February, of the Secretary of State for Tax Affairs).

Applications for registration must be submitted to the relevant organizations, namely:

1. Foundation for Science and Technology, in the case of teaching activities in higher education and scientific research
2. AICEP, in the case of qualified jobs and members of corporate bodies within the scope of contractual benefits for productive investment;
3. AT, in the case of highly qualified professions, which are carried out in companies that benefit from the RFAI or in eligible industrial and service companies;
4. AICEP or IAPMEI, in the case of qualified jobs and members of corporate bodies, in entities that carry out economic activities recognized as relevant to the national economy;
5. National Innovation Agency, in the case of research and development activities for staff whose costs are eligible for SIFIDE purposes;
6. Startup Portugal, in the case of employees and members of the governing bodies of entities certified as start-ups.

What documents do I have to submit when applying for registration?

1. A copy of the individual employment contract, when the activity carried out is a job;
2. An up-to-date permanent commercial certificate, when the activity carried out is that of a member of a corporate body;
3. Copy of the scholarship contract, when the activity carried out is scientific research;
4. Proof of applicable academic qualifications;
5. Declaration issued by the company attesting to fulfilment of the requirements relating to the activity carried out, if applicable;
6. Other documents that may be requested.

Regarding highly qualified professions, the AT provides a confirmation request in the reserved area of the company’s tax portal where the beneficiary carries out their activity (to be made by 15 March, extension of the deadline to 30 April for income earned in 2024):

• that the company fulfils the requirements;
• that the beneficiary is engaged in a highly qualified profession.

What are the benefits?

• Personal income taxation (IRS) at the special rate of 20% on net income from categories A and B earned within the scope of the aforementioned activities;
• Exemption on income obtained abroad in categories A, B, E, F and G, which must be included for the purposes of determining the rate to be applied to other income;
• Benefit applicable for a period of 10 consecutive years from the year of registration as a resident in Portuguese territory, without prejudice to the option of aggregation.

Who cannot benefit from the regime?

Tax payers who:

• Benefit or have benefited from the non-habitual resident regime;
• Have opted for taxation under the tax regime applicable to former residents (‘Return Programme’).

What has changed in relation to the NHR?

This is where we disagree with the term ‘2.0’, which tends to be associated with a new, improved version of a product, which does not seem to be the case with the IFICI:

• Requirement of an activity in Portugal in the IFICI, which in itself makes the benefit much more restricted than the NHR;
• Deadline for registration in the regime – in the IFICI 15/01 while in the NHR the deadline was 31/03, both in the year following the year in which the tax payer becomes resident;
• The IFICI does not include differential taxation for pension income (taxed at a flat rate of 10 per cent under the NHR), as this income falls outside the scope of the IFICI;
• The IFICI does, however, provide for a more direct exemption on other income earned abroad (previously dependent on certain conditions);
• However, the IFICI does not take into account double taxation conventions for the purposes of applying the exemption method; thus, in the case of income from any category paid or made available by non-resident entities domiciled in a country, territory or region subject to a clearly more favorable tax regime (even with a DTT signed with Portugal), it will be subject to 35% taxation.