Tax office changing rules to protect immigrants

• 27 December, 22

A new report has revealed chaos in the tax office regarding the attribution of taxpayer numbers to foreigners, with the Tax Authority confirming the problem.

The Tax Authority (AT) will change the scheduling rules that allow foreigners, namely immigrants, to ask for their taxpayer number. The aim is to avoid abuses by professional tax representatives who are monopolizing these appointments.

The explanation was advanced by an official AT source to TVI (from the CNN Portugal group) following a report on the attribution of the Fiscal Identification Number (NIF) to foreigners that the Union of Tax Workers says is generating a form of chaos in finance departments.

The union reveals that there are professional tax representatives who monopolize appointments made over the internet: no vacancies via scheduling and with rare passwords to be attended on the same day, at a time when Portugal is going through one of the biggest waves of immigration in its history, thousands of foreigners are obliged to pay for a professional tax representation, with amounts that easily reach hundreds of euros.

The report highlights the fact that you are unable to work in Portugal without a NIF number – which has led to many immigrants feeling forced to paying for services.

Professional tax representatives “make a lot of appointments because they work methodically and book appointments in a series of services, creating constraints”, says Gonçalo Rodrigues, vice-president of the Union of Tax Workers.

Cre: Portugalnews