Portugal · Tax regime
Tax Incentive for Scientific Research and Innovation (Incentivo Fiscal à Investigação Científica e Inovação)
In force since 1 January 2024 as the replacement for the closed NHR regime. Substantially narrower than NHR — this is not a retirement regime.
IFICI is routinely mis-sold as 'NHR is back'. It is not. NHR was a status you obtained by moving; IFICI is a status you obtain by working in a specified way for a specified category of employer. The blanket foreign-income exemption is genuinely better drafted than NHR's treaty-dependent version — but only for the narrow population that qualifies.
Qualifying routes
Applies only to income from the qualifying activity; other Portuguese income is taxed at normal progressive rates up to 53%
Blanket exemption (with exemption-with-progression) on foreign employment, self-employment, rental, investment income and capital gains — no longer dependent on treaty analysis as under NHR
The facts
- Total landed cost
- no direct cost; the cost is structural — you must hold a genuinely qualifying role, and getting there usually means restructuring how income is earned
- Timeline
- 1–6 months — registration by 15 January of the year following the first year of Portuguese tax residence; the deadline is hard
- Physical presence
- requires Portuguese tax residence (183+ days, or a habitual residence in Portugal on 31 December)
- Family
- applies individually — each spouse must qualify on their own activity
- Permanent residency
- not applicable — a tax regime, not an immigration status
- Citizenship
- not applicable
- Language test
- not applicable
- Dual citizenship
- Permitted
- Requirements
- become Portuguese tax residentnot have been Portuguese tax resident in the previous 5 calendar yearsnot have previously benefited from NHRhold a qualifying highly-qualified role (generally EQF level 6+ or PhD) in a qualifying entityregister with the Portuguese tax authority by 15 January of the following year
- Pensions are excluded and taxed at progressive rates up to 53%. If the client is a retiree, IFICI does nothing for them. This is the decisive break from NHR and it invalidates most pre-2024 Portugal retirement planning.
- Income from blacklisted jurisdictions is taxed at a flat 35% with no exemption — a real problem for families with structures in classic offshore centres.
- The registration deadline of 15 January following your first residence year is unforgiving and there is no general reinstatement mechanism.
- You must actively carry on the qualifying activity in each year to keep the benefit; the status is not 'granted for 10 years' in the way NHR was.
- Prior NHR beneficiaries are excluded (save narrow 2024 transitional cases).
- Qualifying-employer criteria are technical (RFAI-eligible companies; exporters with 50%+ of turnover from exports; entities recognised as of national economic interest). Whether a given employer qualifies is an opinion, not a certificate — get it in writing before relocating.