°µÍø½ûÇø

Hi John,

The core of the issue is the link between your tax residency status (which is tied to your NIF address) and the import tax exemptions for your household goods and vehicle. To qualify for the exemption from VAT and duties (and the ISV tax for your car), you must be a tax resident of Portugal and prove that you have been a resident abroad for a specific period (usually at least 6 months) before you move.

Some sources and services for °µÍø½ûÇøs mention that you can attempt to update your NIF address through the Portal das Finanças (the Portuguese Tax Authority's website) using the "e-balcão" service. This is the online portal where you can manage your tax information.

Here's the crucial part: instead of a residence permit, the documents that might be accepted as proof of your Portuguese address include:

1. Your rental agreement (contrato de arrendamento) or deed of a purchased property.

1. A certificate of residence (Atestado de Residência) issued by your local parish council (Junta de Freguesia). You would need to go in person to your parish council with your rental contract and NIF number to get this.

1. A document proving your AIMA appointment or a receipt proving your application for a residence permit.

It's important to note that this is not a guaranteed process, and it may depend on the specific tax office or person reviewing your request. However, it seems to be the primary method people are using to navigate this issue....

Regards

Hello,
We received our D8 visas last month, and are flying to Porto on September 1st to begin our new lives. We are shipping our household goods and vehicle in a contrainer.
We were advised that there has been a change in that if our goods and vvehicle arrive at the port before our NIF address is changed to our Portugal residence, we are at risk of having to pay VAT and duties on everything. Further, we were told that the NIF address update only occurs at our AIMA appointment - which is scheduled for March 5 2026!

SO for now we are forced to live with paying storage until next year, and do without the majority of our goods as well as our car. While not exactly a hardship, it's certainly not good. My understanding is that this rule change occured only two months ago. Our immigration attorneys are trying to get a meeting with AIMA sooner but I am not optimistic that they will.

Have any of you recently moved and faced this, and were you able to find a way to attach your Portuguese address to your NIF before you AIMA appointment?

Thanks in advance, and hoping someone has found a solution!

John - @Jpdudley

Hi, Welcome.

That's an interesting change, do you have any links to the relevant rule changes?   Shirly your immigration attorneys would the persons to advise you and deal with this?

Regards.

@JohnnyPT

That's very interesting. Can't one simply change the address at the Financas Office of the area one lives in? I mean bringing all or some of the documents you mention. Maybe a SMAS or EDP bill would also help. Maybe it is even easier if one first goes to the Fregesia to register there.

Cheers

@TGCampo,

This is a person who doesn't live in Portugal and doesn't even have a residence permit. I don't even know if he has a tenancy agreement or if he owns a house. Nothing is said about it...