Key figures — as of 2026-09-28: Flat 7.5% IMT now applies to non-tax-resident buyers of urban residential property, in force since 25 May 2026 under Decreto-Lei n.º 97/2026 of 20 May — carve-outs exist if the buyer becomes a Portuguese tax resident within 2 years, or lets the home long-term at moderate rent (capped near €2,300/month, for 36 months within 5 years) — refund requests must reach the Autoridade Tributária within 6 months of the qualifying event — stamp duty of 0.8% still applies on top.
What changed, and why it matters now
Foreigners buying a home in Portugal without being tax resident here now pay a flat 7.5% in IMT (Imposto Municipal sobre as Transmissões Onerosas de Imóveis) regardless of the property's price or type. The rule sits in a new Article 17.º, n.º 10 of the IMT Code, inserted by the decree-law's change to the "taxas de Imposto Municipal sobre as Transmissões Onerosas de Imóveis (IMT) aplicáveis a não residentes", published in the Diário da República on 20 May 2026. Practitioners tracking the coming-into-force date confirm the rate has applied since 25 May 2026, with no transitional provision.
Before this, non-residents paid the same progressive scale as anyone else buying a second home — brackets running from 0% up towards a top rate, depending on price. That symmetry is gone. As Idealista Portugal puts it, "the introduction of a flat 7.5% IMT rate for many non-resident buyers purchasing" residential property marks one of the most significant shifts in the tax since the code was last overhauled.
The three carve-outs
The decree doesn't apply the flat rate unconditionally. According to PwC Portugal's technical note on the reform, the 7.5% rate on non-resident acquisitions doesn't apply when the buyer already qualifies, or falls into one of the exceptions set out in the law — chiefly: already being a Portuguese tax resident at the deed date, becoming one within two years of the purchase, or committing the property to long-term rental. On that third route, the rules require the owner to sign a residential lease within 6 months and keep it for at least 36 months during the first 5 years, with rent capped at roughly 2.5 × the national minimum wage (€2,300/month for 2026).
Crucially, none of this is automatic relief at signing. Buyers pay the 7.5% up front and then have to apply for a refund. The cancellation must be requested from the Tax Authority within 6 months of the qualifying event; missing the deadline forfeits the refund. As of mid-2026, procedural guidance from Finanças on how exactly to file that request was still thin — one specialist site noted the AT had not yet published procedural guidance for these requests by that point. Buyers should verify the current process directly with Portal das Finanças before assuming a refund will be straightforward.
One reassurance: this is about tax status, not passport. The rule is based on tax residency, not nationality — EU and non-EU buyers are treated the same. A French retiree who hasn't yet registered as tax resident faces exactly the same 7.5% as an American buyer.
What it costs in practice — GrowIN's calculation
Reported market examples give a sense of scale: on a €300,000 apartment, one industry estimate put the non-resident bill at €22,500, compared with approximately €11,790 for a resident under the old progressive brackets. Running that through our own numbers at GrowIN: the €10,710 gap between those two bills is equivalent to roughly 11.6 months' worth of Portugal's 2026 minimum wage of €920 — in other words, a non-resident buyer at that price point now hands over, in extra transfer tax alone, close to a full year's minimum-wage income before they've paid a euro of stamp duty, notary fees or legal costs. On pricier homes the absolute gap widens further, since the flat rate no longer tapers the way progressive brackets did for lower-value properties.
Stamp duty of 0.8% still sits on top of IMT regardless of residency, so the tax bill at the deed table for a non-resident is now IMT (7.5%) plus stamp duty (0.8%) — before legal, notary and registration costs that typically push total non-resident acquisition costs toward 8–9% of the purchase price.
Why the government did this
The measure isn't isolated — it's one plank of a wider housing package. The decree-law explicitly frames the non-resident surcharge alongside relief for residents: doutorfinancas.pt reports the same diploma also exempts owner-occupied primary homes from IMT up to €330,539, with progressive and reduced rates above that value for residents. The political logic is straightforward — cool foreign demand at the margins while making it cheaper for residents to buy their own home.
"A buyer who plans to actually live in Portugal has an obvious two-year escape hatch; a pure investor renting short-term does not," notes GrowIN Portugal Editorial.
Practical implications for foreigners
If you're mid-negotiation on a Portuguese home and not yet tax resident, the maths now genuinely favours accelerating your move — registering tax residency (183+ days, or habitual residence) inside the two-year window turns the 7.5% into a reclaimable overpayment rather than a permanent cost. Buyers planning to hold property purely as a rental should model both paths carefully: short-term/tourist letting doesn't qualify for the carve-out, only long-term leases within the moderate-rent cap do. Anyone weighing a purchase against a Golden Visa fund route or a D7/D8 relocation should read this alongside our tax & NIF guide on residency thresholds before signing a CPCV.
What to watch next
Finanças has yet to publish detailed procedural guidance on how refund requests under the two carve-outs will actually be processed, and a Declaração de Retificação published in July 2026 already corrected inaccuracies in the original decree — a sign the rules may still be refined. Anyone with a deed pending should get current advice from a Portuguese tax professional or lawyer, and check the live rate directly on Portal das Finanças before budgeting a purchase.
Foreign buyers weighing a Portuguese purchase this autumn should treat the 7.5% as the new baseline, not a temporary surcharge, and plan their residency or rental strategy accordingly.