NHR vs IFICI: What Changed and What It Means for You

NHR closed to new applicants on 1 January 2024 and was replaced by IFICI, a narrower regime that keeps the 20% flat rate and 10 year duration but drops the broad eligibility and the foreign pension treatment NHR offered.

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Read the full IFICI guide

Same headline rate, much narrower door

If you are still searching for NHR out of habit, this is the correction: the regime is closed and IFICI is what applies to new arrivals. The 20% flat rate and the 10 year duration carried over, but eligibility did not.

IFICI is defined under Article 58-A of Portugal's Tax Benefits Statute and implemented through Portaria n.º 352/2024/1.

Who loses out in the switch

who does not qualify for IFICI

Who is better placed than they think

Income tax treatment under IFICI

How different income types are taxed under the standard Portuguese regime versus IFICI.

NHR and IFICI: frequently asked questions

Treatment under either regime depends on your personal circumstances and on the terms granted when your status was approved. This page does not constitute tax or legal advice. Speak to a qualified Portuguese tax adviser about your specific situation.

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Closed to new applicants since 1 January 2024. Existing holders keep their status.

The active regime for new arrivals, open to applications from qualifying residents.

Broad. Becoming a Portuguese tax resident was effectively enough for most applicants.

Narrow. A genuine qualifying professional activity under one of six defined routes is required.

20% flat rate on income from listed high value activities.

20% flat rate on income from the qualifying activity, unchanged.

Exempt for holders who registered before the 2020 change, then taxed at 10% for those who registered from 31 March 2020 onward.

Excluded from the regime entirely and taxed at standard progressive rates.

Exempt where taxed in the source state under a treaty, or where the activity was a listed high value one.

Exempt, provided the income does not come from a blacklisted jurisdiction.

Foreign dividends, interest, rents and capital gains

Generally exempt where the income could be taxed in the source state under a treaty.

Generally exempt on the same logic, with the blacklisted jurisdiction restriction.

None beyond fitting a listed high value activity, where that was claimed.

On the highly qualified professions route, EQF Level 8, or EQF Level 6 plus three years of documented professional experience. No formal qualification on the certified startup route.

The Tax Authority alone, through a registration in the Portal das Finanças.

One competent entity per route: FCT, AICEP, IAPMEI, ANI, Startup Portugal, or the Tax Authority.

By 31 March of the year after becoming resident.

By 15 January of the year after becoming resident, with status confirmed by 31 March.

Could not be combined with the youth IRS regime.

Cannot be combined with IRS Jovem, and is closed to anyone who has already benefited from NHR or Programa Regressar.

Article 16 of the IRS Code, in its pre 2024 form.

Article 58-A of the Tax Benefits Statute, implemented through Portaria n.º 352/2024/1.

The regime closed on 1 January 2024. Searching for NHR in 2026 as a route into Portugal leads nowhere, IFICI is the successor regime.

If you already hold NHR, nothing changes. You keep your original 10 year terms, including the treatment of foreign pension income, until your period ends.

NHR asked little more than tax residency. IFICI asks what you actually do in Portugal, and the activity must fit one of the six eligibility routes.

No. NHR closed to new applicants on 1 January 2024, and IFICI replaced it. Anyone moving to Portugal now looks at IFICI, not NHR.

If I already have NHR, does anything change for me?

No. Existing NHR holders are grandfathered and keep their original 10 year terms, including the tax treatment they were granted. The closure applies to new applicants, not to statuses already in place.

Could anyone still register for NHR after 1 January 2024?

Only under the transitional rules in the 2024 State Budget law, Law 82/2023, which allowed people who already had firm commitments in place during 2023, such as a signed employment contract, a lease, a residence visa application, or enrolment of dependants in a Portuguese school, to register as non habitual residents for 2024. That window has closed. Portaria n.º 352/2024/1 also states that granting an IFICI registration ends any NHR registration procedure still running under those transitional rules.

No. Anyone who has already benefited from the non habitual resident regime is excluded from IFICI, and the same applies to Programa Regressar. The two regimes are alternatives, not stages, which is why an existing NHR holder simply runs their original ten years to the end.

You move to the standard Portuguese rules, with progressive IRS rates on employment and self employment income and the usual autonomous rates on investment income. IFICI is not available as a follow on, because prior NHR use is an exclusion, so the planning question at that point is about your income mix rather than about another special regime.

Is IFICI easier or harder to qualify for than NHR was?

Harder, because it is narrower. NHR was largely about becoming a Portuguese tax resident, while IFICI requires a genuine qualifying professional activity under one of six defined routes, assessed by a competent entity. Passive income alone, pension income alone, and remote work for a foreign employer with no Portuguese entity all fall outside IFICI even though they fitted comfortably under NHR.

* Cryptocurrency exemption should not be assumed without individual tax advice. The sourcing and classification of crypto gains can be complex.

Indicative figures only. Actual tax treatment depends on individual circumstances, income sourcing, and applicable tax treaties. This table does not constitute tax or legal advice.