Technical article

Moving Back to Portugal: What Coming Home Costs

They wonder whether Portugal gives anything back to people like them, and what the move would cost.

By Neil Solomon · 4 min read

Picture a couple named Manuel and Teresa. Both are 61. They left Portugal in their twenties and spent most of their lives in another country. Now they want to come home. They wonder whether Portugal gives anything back to people like them, and what the move would cost.

I looked at two official pages from the Portuguese tax authority. One covers income tax for returning residents. The other covers the tax on cars.

The income tax programme: Programa Regressar

The page describes it as a programme to encourage emigrants to return. It says "The programme has been extended until 2026." These are the conditions as the page lists them:

• You become a tax resident in Portugal in 2024, 2025 or 2026.
• You were not a tax resident in Portugal in the previous five years.
• You were resident in Portugal before you emigrated.
• Your tax affairs are in order with the authority, and your tax address is in Portugal.
• You are not registered under the Non-Habitual Resident regime.

The benefit is a 50% exemption on taxable income from employment or self-employment. It lasts "for the year of return and the four following years", five years in all. The income cap is EUR 250,000 a year. It is claimed by opting in on the annual income tax return.

Note the wording: employment or self-employment. A second tax authority page, its list of frequently asked questions, names "rendimentos do trabalho dependente e dos rendimentos empresariais e profissionais" (income from employment, business and professional activity), with 50% excluded up to EUR 250,000 a year. It says a person must become a tax resident "até ao ano de 2026". Neither page mentions pensions or investment income. If your income comes from a pension, neither page says the exemption applies, and the sources do not show it. An accountant who works with returning Portuguese could confirm this.

Because the page says the programme runs until 2026 and the window for becoming a resident is 2024 to 2026, a move in 2027 is not covered by what is written. I am waiting for the government to publish whether the programme will be extended.

The car

The tax on vehicles is called ISV. The vehicles page describes an exemption when someone transfers their residence to Portugal from another EU country or from a country outside the EU.

The page shows no deadline for claiming the exemption. It shows no update date either.

Your household goods

Whoever moves their normal residence to Portugal from a country outside the European Union, a returning Portuguese citizen included, can bring personal property in free of import duty under the Union's duty relief (Council Regulation 1186/2009, articles 3 to 9, read on the EU's legal database on 11 October 2026). The conditions are these: you owned the goods, and used them if they are not consumed, at your former home for at least six months; your normal residence was outside the Union for at least 12 continuous months; and the goods are entered within 12 months of setting up your residence. Alcohol, tobacco, commercial vehicles and tools for a trade are left out. For 12 months after entry you may not lend, pledge, hire out or sell the goods without telling customs.

Health care and everyday costs

The official guide for migrants says a person with legal residence can get a health service user number on a first visit to a public health unit. It adds that the number alone does not guarantee coverage. The guide is written for foreigners. It does not say what happens for a returning Portuguese citizen, so I cannot say.

What is left open

• Whether Programa Regressar continues after 2026. The page says it runs until 2026, and I am waiting for the government to publish whether it will be extended.
• Whether pensions count for the 50% exemption. Both tax pages name employment and self-employment income only, so a pension is not covered by the wording I read.
• Health service rules for returning citizens, which sit with the health centre where you register.
• Property transfer and annual property taxes, moving costs and pension taxation. Each has its own table; this article is about the return itself.