Ten years of foreign income, taxed at zero in Portugal.
0% on most foreign income. 20% flat on Portuguese income. Pensions excluded.
IFICI replaced NHR in 2024. It rewards active roles rather than passive residence, which is why board members qualify and retirees do not. The first approvals were issued in March 2026.
IFICI is narrower than the regime it replaced.
Most pages about it do not say so. Here is where people fall out.
- You have a foreign pension and expected it to be sheltered. It is not. Pensions are taxed at Portugal’s normal progressive rates. The old NHR’s 10% pension rate is gone.
- You were a Portuguese tax resident at any point in the last five years. That closes the door.
- You want a structure, not a move. IFICI requires real Portuguese tax residency and a genuine qualifying role, held every year for ten years.
- You held NHR before, or Programa Regressar. Same door, same result.
If none of those describe you, the rest of this page is worth twenty minutes.
A clear answer.
Book your free call
Map your income streams
Get a clear yes or no
you sit on.
You will speak with Fernando Ferreira, General Partner at Ventures.eu. Twenty five years in Portuguese venture capital, board seats at OutSystems, Bitsight and Defined.ai, and three exits led. No sales reps, no scripts.
Speak with Fernando
- 25+ years in VC: Portugal Ventures, PME Investimentos, InovCapital
- Board seats at Portuguese success stories: Bitsight (ex-Anubis), OutSystems, Defined.ai
- Led exits including Doppio, ToLife and Fyde
- MBA and Economics, Universidade Católica
How IFICI compares
Most high-tax countries take between a quarter and two fifths of the income you earn abroad. IFICI is built differently.
- 0% on most foreign incomecovering dividends, capital gains on securities, interest, royalties and foreign rental income. Pensions are excluded.
- 20% flat on Portuguese incomeagainst standard progressive rates of 13% to 48%, plus a solidarity surcharge above €80k
- Ten yearsfor as long as you hold a qualifying role. Holding one is the part we handle.
- No source-country conditionon foreign capital gains, which the old NHR required
IFICI is a tax regime. It is not a visa.
These get confused constantly, so plainly:
You already have the right to live in Portugal. IFICI is the only piece you need, and it is the piece this page is about.
You need residency first and IFICI on top. Portugal’s Golden Visa now runs through qualifying investment funds. Ventures.eu Fund I is one of them, which means the investment that secures your residency and the board seat that qualifies you for IFICI can come out of the same conversation.
Who is IFICI for?
Active professionals, including board members and governing-body members of qualifying Portuguese entities. Not retirees. The regime moved deliberately away from passive residence when it replaced NHR.
I already hold several board seats. Does that help?
Only if one of them sits at a qualifying Portuguese entity. A startup certified under Law 21/2023 is the most accessible route and carries no academic requirement at all. Sourcing that seat is most of what we do.
What happens to my pension?
It is taxed at Portugal’s normal progressive rates. IFICI shelters no part of it. If your pension is the bulk of your income, this regime is probably not for you, and we will say so on the call rather than after it.
Does my spouse qualify automatically?
No. Each person qualifies on their own route. We map both on the call.
Is this aggressive?
No. IFICI is Portugal’s official incentive regime and the tax authority reviews it every year. Nominal, paperwork-only positions do not survive that review, which is exactly why we only place people in genuine roles.
Am I eligible?
Two hard gates. You cannot have been a Portuguese tax resident in any of the previous five years, and you need a qualifying role from the day you arrive. Everything else is detail. Twenty minutes and you will know which side of the line you are on.
What does the call cost?
Nothing.
