The main objective of Portuguese Tax and Customs Authority (AT) is to ensure that its operations are increasingly efficient and effective by seeking to utilize resources efficiently to improve its productivity, using new management models, qualified personnel and digital solutions, and which it hopes will result in increased cooperation and trust between taxpayers and tax administrations, helping to improve tax compliance.
Building a relationship of trust between the AT and taxpayers is based beyond general principles on more specific practices that help taxpayers and tax administrations to work together effectively, and on principles such as transparency, availability, pragmatism and mutual trust.
It is now established by law, (since 2018), that the AT must make the digital forms relating to the periodic income tax returns PIT and CIT models, and the annual accounting and tax information declaration (IES) available at least 120 days in advance of the deadline.
Whenever AT does not comply with this deadline, the deadline for compliance with the corresponding reporting obligation is extended by the same number of days of delay.
The PIT and CIT declarations must be completed online through the AT website ‘Portal das Finanças’. This obligation applies to all taxpayers who are required to submit these declarations (including cases of pre-filled PIT declarations).
The early announcement of the changes to be made to the abovementioned declarations will:
• prepare taxpayers, accountants and software suppliers for the necessary changes to be made to the computer programmes;
• that any doubts that may arise in relation to the completion of the declarations, on foot of the changes introduced, can be submitted before the deadline, involving all stakeholders in their definition, seeking to make them feel part of the solution;
• reduce tax litigation related to errors of interpretation arising from changes made;
• achieve better levels of tax compliance, namely avoiding declarative errors that would lead to a loss of tax revenue or a delay in submitting declarations.
In conclusion, we can state that the objective of introducing this rule, reinforced by the option of using the definition of a legal standard for this purpose, is to communicate to the taxpayer that AT is seriously committed to the need to improve transparency and to make the rights and obligations easy to understand and comply with.
Trust & Compliance
