Notifications of payment from the Tax Authorities are distributed through the universal postal service. But, often, there are delays in sending, which, at first glance, may prevent payment.
Is that, according to the weekly Expresso, quoted by the portal idealista, there are delays in sending the collection notices of the Municipal Property Tax (“Imposto Municipal sobre Imóveis”, IMI), since the Tax Authority (“Autoridade Tributária”, AT) only finished the process of sending the notifications last May 5. And even with this delay, the deadline for payment remains the same: 31 May.
So, yes: you do have to pay the tax, even if the letter does not arrive. The AT does not consider the non-receipt of a tax a valid reason for not paying this or any other tax or fine, not least because the payment details are just a click away.
My payment Note has not arrived. So how can I get the data to pay the IMI?
You can use the Finance Portal (“Portal das Finanças”). Besides centralizing all your tax information, the Portal also includes an area where you can obtain the reference for payment of IMI.
You will need your access data to the Portal (NIF and password) or your Citizen’s Card and respective authentication PIN to access. After authenticating yourself, simply follow the following steps:
- In “A Minha Área”, click on “Posição Integrada”
- Search for “IMI” and click on “Documentos de Cobrança”.
- Select the collection note or issue a duplicate.
Do I really have to pay until the 31st of May, even if the letter doesn’t arrive or the payment Note is not on the Finance Portal?
The short answer is: yes! There is no extension foreseen, at the time of the publication of this article, for the payment of IMI. So, you really have to pay until May 31st.
Even if Taxpayers have not received the collection notes in their mailbox or if the payment slip is not available online with the deadline already elapsing, you can make the payment in the collection sections of the Tax Office.
For the cases where there is a physical or digital payment slip, besides the Tax Services, you can pay at the Post Office counters, at the ATM, at the homebanking area of your banking institution, by direct debit if you have set it up on the Finance Portal or even through the app “Situação Fiscal – Pagamentos “, available for Android and iOS.
What if I don’t pay?
In extreme cases, your house can be seized. But the whole process has several stages.
The first step is that you lose the right to pay the amount of IMI in instalments and must pay the full amount. Thus, the AT extracts a debt certificate and initiates a tax enforcement procedure in which it requests the owner to make voluntary payment of the debt, plus interest on arrears and procedural costs, within a maximum period of thirty days from the date on which the taxpayer is served with a summons.
If the owner does not make the payment within this period, the interest on arrears will be increased and the property will be seized, and if it is not for permanent residence (such as a holiday home, for example) or if it is of a high value, it may be sold by judicial means to cover the debt.
