Hotel activities’ development by non-residents: Portuguese taxation and accounting framework

Abstract

Purpose: Portugal has been recognized as an election destination in the tourism dimension. Several awards have been assigned to Portugal and Portuguese cities as the best places to have holidays worldwide. On the other hand, like other countries, Portugal has developed tax policies to catch foreign investment, and the tourism area is not an exception. The paper's primary goal is to understand the tax framework for the local lodging activities developed by non-residents in Portugal. Method: The research uses the legal research method to evaluate Portuguese legal data sources, in particular, it studies the personal income tax law and accounting standards. Results: The results show that the activity's development is framed in the Portuguese personal income tax category B scope. As a non-resident, the local housing income beneficiary is taxed to the income obtained in Portuguese jurisdiction through the hotel unit. The building is recognized as a fixed installation that will be recognized as a permanent establishment where the activity is developed. The gross income will be taxed under the simplified regime of the personal income tax, and it is applied a coefficient of 0.35 to determine the taxable base of the personal tax. Over the taxable base, the non-resident pays an effective tax of 25% of personal tax. All the expenses supported by the investor are not recognized in this process. The procedure is different whether the non-resident opts to be taxed under the organized accounting regime.