IFICI — tax incentive for scientific research and innovation
Portugal taxes qualifying employment and self-employment income at a flat 20% for people who move there to work in research, higher education, innovation or a handful of other recognised categories — for ten years, with no published income cap. It replaced the Non-Habitual Resident regime for anyone becoming a tax resident from 2024 onward.
- What is the flat tax rate under the IFICI — tax incentive for scientific research and innovation in Portugal?
- A flat 20% (2026).
- How long does the IFICI — tax incentive for scientific research and innovation in Portugal last?
- 10 years.
Parameters by year
| Year | Flat rate | Maximum duration |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 20% | 10 years |
What does the regime actually save?
Both figures below come from data published on this site: the ordinary Portugal scale and the regime's own parameters. The arithmetic is shown so you can check it, not asserted.
| Gross salary | Ordinary scale | Under the regime | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| €40,000 | €9,750 (24.4%) | €8,000 (20.0%) | −€1,750 |
| €60,000 | €18,318 (30.5%) | €12,000 (20.0%) | −€6,318 |
| €80,000 | €27,238 (34.0%) | €16,000 (20.0%) | −€11,238 |
| €120,000 | €47,213 (39.3%) | €24,000 (20.0%) | −€23,213 |
| €200,000 | €87,613 (43.8%) | €40,000 (20.0%) | −€47,613 |
Below about €27,900 a year the ordinary scale costs the same or less. The regime is a flat charge, and a progressive scale starts lower than any flat rate.
This compares two ways of taxing the same income and nothing else. Personal allowances, deductions and social contributions are not in either column, so neither is what lands in your account — it is the gap between the two regimes, which is what the choice turns on.
What changes, and when?
- 2026
The 20% rate applies to qualifying Category A (employment) and Category B (self-employment) income from an eligible activity — it does not cover all of your income. There is no published income cap: unlike Spain's Beckham Law, the 20% rate applies without an upper ceiling switching to a higher rate. IFICI replaced the Non-Habitual Resident (NHR) regime for new tax residents from 1 January 2024.
Who qualifies?
- You must not have been a tax resident in Portugal in any of the five years before the move.
- Your income must come from one of a defined set of activities: certified startups, scientific research and higher education roles, qualified positions in companies with recognised investment or R&D projects, and a published list of highly qualified professions.
- You must register with the tax authority by 15 January of the year following the one in which you became resident.
- The regime runs for ten consecutive years from the first year it applies — it is not renewable.
More about Portugal
- Why some visa thresholds have no published number
A salary threshold set by law as a formula is not the same thing as a salary threshold you can quote. Portugal still shows why. Spain stopped showing it twice over, and both corrections are on this page rather than edited away.
- Portugal's skilled job seeker visa: what the law actually says
Portugal's skilled job seeker visa is written into law and cannot be applied for, and the reason is specific: the law delegates the list of qualifying skills to a ministerial order that has not been published. Also the one-year lockout that no page mentions.
- Portugal income tax: four different tables in three years
The bottom rate is quoted as 12.5%, 13% and 13.25% across the first page of results. All three are correct, and all three come from a different version of the same article of the law.
- Portugal's NHR ended: four dates, and which one is yours
Search for when Portugal's non-habitual resident regime ended and you get four different dates. All four are correct: they are four separate deadlines in one article of the law, answering four different questions.
- Moving from Spain to Portugal
- Moving from the Netherlands to Portugal
Sources
- 01Portaria n.º 352/2024/1 — regulamentação do IFICI (Estatuto dos Benefícios Fiscais, artigo 58.º-A)Diário da República ·
Every figure here comes from an official source and carries the date we checked it. How we work with data.
This page is information, not advice. We are not an employer, a recruitment agency, a visa centre or an immigration adviser, and we are not affiliated with any government body. Rules change — confirm against the official source before you act.