Key figures — as of 2026-08-22: AIMI settlement notes are issued by the end of August and payment is due by 30 September — Autoridade Tributária; the individual exemption is €600,000 of combined taxable value (VPT), doubled to €1,200,000 for married or de facto couples taxed jointly; rates run 0.7% (€600k–€1M), 1% (€1M–€2M) and 1.5% (above €2M) for individuals — companies pay a flat 0.4% with no exemption at all.
The bill many foreign owners forget exists
If you own a Portuguese home worth more than €600,000 in tax terms, a letter from the Autoridade Tributária should be landing this week — and it's not the ordinary IMI bill most owners already budget for. The AIMI payment note is sent by the end of August, with payment due by the end of September. Unlike IMI, which every property owner pays, AIMI (Adicional ao Imposto Municipal sobre Imóveis) only bites once a taxpayer's combined property holdings cross a threshold — and a striking number of foreign owners of higher-value homes have never heard of it until this envelope shows up.
That's not an accident of bad communication. This is an additional tax, and yes, it takes a lot of people by surprise. It was bolted onto the system in 2017 specifically to tax concentrated real-estate wealth, and it runs on its own calendar, separate from the May–August–November IMI instalments most owners are used to.
Who actually owes it, and how much
For individuals, AIMI applies to the part of the combined VPT of Portuguese residential property that exceeds 600,000 euros, with a 1,200,000 euro allowance available to married or de facto couples who opt to be assessed jointly. Crucially, that threshold is measured against the VPT — the tax authority's official taxable value — not the price you paid or what an estate agent would list the home for. Individual owners are only exempt from AIMI in the first 600 thousand euros' worth of property, based on the tax value and not the commercial value. VPT typically sits below market price, so a home that cost €700,000 or €750,000 on the open market may still fall under the €600,000 line — or may not. Only a Finanças statement of VPT settles it.
Above the threshold, the rates step up. Broadly, the individual rates are 0.7 per cent on the value above the allowance, 1 per cent on the part above 1,000,000 euros, and 1.5 per cent on the part above 2,000,000 euros, with a flat rate for property held through companies. That corporate route is deliberately unforgiving: companies pay AIMI at a flat rate of 0.4 per cent on the full VPT of all Portuguese residential properties they hold, with no individual threshold exemption. And residency status offers no shelter — AIMI applies to high-value Portuguese property regardless of residence, but you are only liable on any value exceeding €600,000 per person.
The GrowIN calculation: what it actually costs
Take a fairly typical case among foreign buyers in the Algarve or Cascais: a villa with a VPT of €900,000, owned outright by one non-resident individual. The taxable excess is €300,000 (€900,000 minus the €600,000 allowance), taxed at 0.7% — a bill of €2,100 for the year, or roughly €175 a month if you spread it mentally across your ownership costs. Push the same property to a €1.5 million VPT and the marginal bands kick in properly: €400,000 taxed at 0.7% (€2,800) plus €500,000 taxed at 1% (€5,000), for a combined €7,800 a year — nearly €650 a month. Married couples opting for joint assessment double every threshold, so the same €1.5 million property owned jointly stays entirely inside the €1.2 million exemption and generates no AIMI charge at all — a gap in tax exposure worth knowing about before, not after, the deed is signed.
"AIMI is the one Portuguese property tax that penalises you for buying alone rather than jointly, and for buying through a company rather than in your own name," notes GrowIN Portugal Editorial.
What to do before 30 September
Check the Portal das Finanças for your settlement note rather than waiting on the post, confirm the VPT figures match your actual holdings, and pay by the deadline — late payment triggers interest and, eventually, enforcement action. If you hold property through a Lda purely to manage it, run the maths on whether the flat 0.4% corporate rate still beats personal ownership at your specific value band; it isn't automatic. Owners disputing an inflated VPT can request a review, though that won't change this year's bill. For the fuller picture on how AIMI sits alongside IMI, IMT and capital gains as a foreign owner, see our tax & NIF hub, and get in touch via services if you need help reading a settlement note or restructuring ownership before next January's valuation date.
What to watch next
Keep an eye on whether the État's 2027 budget touches the €600,000 threshold, which hasn't moved since AIMI's introduction despite years of property-price inflation — a freeze that quietly pulls more ordinary higher-value homes into scope every year without anyone changing the law.
Sources