The tax regime that replaced that of non-habitual residents, IFICI+, covers eight professions considered to be "highly qualified", according to the ordinance published in the Official Gazette of the Union.
In this ordinance, the Government regulates the registration of beneficiaries in the aforementioned IFICI+ as well as the lists of highly qualified professions and planned industrial and service activities.
The "highly qualified professions" for the purposes of tax incentives for scientific research and innovation are then those that fall under the following codes:
- general director and executive manager of companies;
- directors of administrative and commercial services;
- directors of production and specialized services;
- specialists in physical, mathematical sciences, engineering and related techniques;
- ‘designer’ of industrial product or equipment;
- doctors;
- professor of university and higher education;
- and specialists in information and communication technologies (ICT).
As had already been said by the Minister of Economy, there is a transitional regime, "for the purposes of applying this regime to income earned in the year 2024", which allows anyone who becomes resident in Portuguese territory this year to submit an application for registration and report changes by March 15, 2025.
In this first year of IFICI+ operation, interested parties will be able to register until March 15th, but in the future the deadline for registration will be January 15th (for those who became residents in the immediately previous year).
At issue is a new tax regime for attracting qualified workers, particularly in the areas of scientific research, to whom an IRS rate of 20% will be applied to income from dependent and independent work (categories A and B).