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I. EDITORIAL – MINIMUM GUARANTEED MONTHLY WAGE For the month of November, we highlight, on the legislative level, the approval and publication of the Decree-Law no. 167/2019 of 21 November, which updated the amount of the guaranteed monthly minimum wage to 635 euros, from 1 January 2020. It is also worth mentioning the publication, on 18 November, of State Secretary for Tax Affairs Order no. 10551 of October 1, which approved the amendments of the corporate income tax return «Modelo 22», with the respective annexes and instructions for completing, as well as the Ordinance no. 392/2019 of 5 November which established the minimum requirements for licensing, installation, organisation and operation, human resources and technical facilities of clinical pathology or clinical analyses laboratories and of the respective collection points. Regarding case-law, we emphasise the Judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union of November 7, Case no. C‑68/18, on the interpretation of 3th paragraph of Article 2, and 3th paragraph of Article 21 of Council Directive 2003/96/EC of 27 October 2003, restructuring the Community framework for the taxation of energy products and electricity. Concerning national case-law, it is noteworthy the Judgement of the Lisbon Court of Appeal of 7 … Read More

I. EDITORIAL – VOLUNTARY CREDIT CLEARING: CREATION OF THE ELECTRONIC CLEARING SYSTEM (“ECOMPENSA”) For the month of October, we highlight the publication of the Decree-Law no. 150/2019 of October 10 and the Ordinance no. 356/2019 of October 8. The Decree-Law no. 150/2019 of 10 October regulates the Electronic Compensation System (ECOMPENSA), for the purpose of voluntary credit clearing, with the dual purpose: to promote this extinction way of obligations and to guard against risks that may be associated with it. The voluntary adhesion to these electronic platforms is allowed only to natural or legal persons holding in Portugal a tax identification number or a legal entity identification number, being only eligible for voluntary compensation, within the scope of ECOMPENSA, the overdue and demandable pecuniary obligations arising from a juridical act or a legal business. In its turn, the Ordinance no. 356/2019 of October 8 regulates the electronic communications of courts of justice to the Banco de Portugal, in proceedings regulated by the Insolvency and Corporate Recovery Code. Regarding case-law, its is worth nothing the Judgements of the Constitutional Court no. 544/2019 in Case no. 570/2018, and no. 548/2019, in Case no. 146/2019,  in which the constitutionality of the rule contained … Read More

I. EDITORIAL – AMENDMENT TO THE STATUTE OF THE ADMINISTRATIVE AND TAX COURTS; AMENDMENT TO THE CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE The month of September at the legislative perspective, was marked, by the approval and publication of the relevant law which introduces the twelfth amendment to the legal frameworks of the Administrative and Tax courts status, approved by the Law no. 13/2002, of February 19, and by the amendment to the Code of Civil Procedure in terms of executive process, application for review and inventory process, by Law no. 117/2019 of September 13. This new law revoked the current legal framework of the inventory procedure. From now on, notary inventory is an exception and not a rule. This new law also amended the regime of procedures for the payment of pecuniary obligations emerging from contracts of a certain value. Also, the Law no. 114/2019 of September 12 allows administrative and tax courts to decide on consumer matters. The Law no. 118/2019 of September 17, which amended procedural regimes at administrative and tax jurisdiction. A final note should also be made to the amendment of the Labour Code (Law no. 93/2019 of September 4) and to the adjustment of the Labour Procedure … Read More

I. EDITORIAL – SIMPLIFICATION OF ADMINISTRATIVE PROCEDURES REGARDING VEHICLE REGISTRATION As usual, August was a month of a slow month for legislators. However, we highlight the Decree-law no. 111/2019 of 16 August, which amended the legal regime of vehicle registration, the Decree-law no. 54/75 of 12 February, which approved by its turn the corresponding rules of procedure, the Decree-law no. 178 -A/2005 of 28 October. It was approved the model of a Single Automobile Document, special exemptions in vehicle registration and a new model for specific proceedings.  The month of August was also marked by the Law no. 59/2019 of 8 August, approving certain rules for personal data processing for purposes of prevention, detention, inquiry or penalization of violations or execution of criminal penalties, by implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/680 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016.  Regarding the case-law, it is important to notice that the Judgment of Supreme Administrative Court of 11.07.2019, in Case-law no. 02083/18.8BELRS, which decides about terms and procedures such as “derogation of banking secrecy” as well as “tax domicile”.   Accordingly, about the banking secrecy, it is considered that the banking elements holder that never changed his tax domicile to an foreign one, declared as the resident, could not rely on unlawfulness , unless the administrative decision is regarding the derogation of banking secrecy, based … Read More

I. EDITORIAL – NON-HABITUAL RESIDENTS – AMENDMENT OF HIGH ADDED VALUE ACTIVITIES TABLE For the month of July, we highlight the Ordinance no. 230/2019 of 23 July, which introduced into the legal regime of taxation of non-habitual residents (“NHR”), provided for in Article 72, paragraph 10 and Article 81, paragraph 5 of the Personal Income Tax Code, a new high added value activities table, amending the Ordinance no. 12/2010 of 7 January, which initially approved the respective table. From 01/01/2020, the new list of high added value activities in the taxation of the NHR, will be based on the codes and the interpretation of the Portuguese Classification of Professions, being required to the workers that exercise such activities, in order to be qualified under this legal regime, the fulfilment of one of the following requirements: (i) being the holder of the level 4 of European Qualifications Framework, (ii) being the holder of the level 35 of the International Standard Classification of Education, (iii) have five years of duly attested professional experience. The month of July was also marked by the creation, through Ordinance no. 233/2019 of 25 July, of the system of notifications and summons made by electronic transmission of … Read More

I. EDITORIAL – REGULATION OF THE NEW “AFFORDABLE RENTING” PROGRAM The month of June saw the publication of different relevant laws, deserving a special mention the Ordinance no. 177/2019 of June 6. The Ordinance no. 177/2019 of June 6 regulates the provisions of the Decree-Law no. 68/2019 of May 22, regarding the registration of the residences in the Affordable Renting Programme establishing the minimum conditions regarding safety, health and living comfort, the content of the accommodation sheet and the instructions elements to submit in the registration of the residence and the content of the residence enrolment. It should also be noted the publication of the Ordinance no. 200/2019 of June 28 which establishes the deadline for the initial declaration of the Central Registry of Beneficial Owner and revoke the articles 13 and 17 of the Ordinance no. 233/2018, of August 21. Regarding case-law, it is worth noting the Judgment of Court of 19 June 2019, in Case C-608/17 which address the question of the application of the concept of the final losses of a non-resident subsidiary to a sub-subsidiary. Equally noteworthy is the Judgment of the Constitutional Court no. 331/2019, in  Case-law no. 599/17  which decides to judge unconstitutional the … Read More