The ordinance that defines the communication model is published in the Official Gazette of the Union.

The regulation of this measure will allow tenants to access extraordinary income support or Porta 65 and benefit from the IRS deduction of the instalments paid to the landlord, the maximum amount of which to be deducted rose this year to 700 euros.

Owners “are obliged to notify the Tax and Customs Authority (AT) of the conclusion, amendment, or termination of lease and sublease contracts, or, in the case of a promise, of the provision of the leased property”, recalls the preamble of the ordinance.

If the owners do not register the contracts, the new law now approves the “Tenant or Subtenant Communication (CLS)”. Submission of this form is optional and “is exclusively submitted by electronic data transmission, through the Finance Portal”.

The tenant “must indicate the reason for the communication, which must be accompanied by the lease or sublease agreement that is the subject of the communication, as well as documents that prove the elements communicated”, according to the ordinance.

“If the communication concerns changes to, or termination of a contract, the contract identification number must be indicated, as registered on the Finance Portal”. Furthermore, “for each lease or sublease agreement, respective amendments and termination, as well as a promise agreement with the provision of the leased asset, a CLS must be presented”, according to the rules that have now been defined.

The diploma, signed by the Secretary of State for Finance, Cláudia Reis Duarte, also states: “Whenever the existence of any error, omission or inaccuracy that harms or prevents the correct treatment of the communication is found, the tenant or subtenant is informed of this fact on the Federal Revenue portal, and may correct the deficiencies or omissions by presenting a new CLS.”

This communication aims to combat many situations of informality. An audit by the General Inspectorate of Finance (IGF), released last year and relating to 2023, had already detected that “60% of lessee contractors did not have a registered/current lease agreement and 25% of owner contractors, with supply contracts for various items/fractions, had no declared activity”.

The Secretary of State for Tax Affairs indicated at the end of last year that the Tax Authority had already “accommodated a good part of the recommendations” of the General Inspectorate of Finance (IGF) for greater control of illegal leases, adding that others “are being implemented”.