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Paying IMI Property Tax in Portugal

Researched and written with AI tools from official sources. How we make our guides

How Portugal's yearly property tax is worked out, when the bill arrives, the May to November instalments, how to pay, the main exemptions, and AIMI.

The Portugal Brief 10 min read

Paying IMI Property Tax in Portugal

Last verified: October 2026.

Who this is for

  • You own, or are about to buy or inherit, a flat, house, or plot of land in Portugal.
  • You live in Portugal or abroad. IMI is charged on the same basis for residents and non-residents.
  • You want to know what the bill will be, when it falls due, and how to pay it.

Not for you if: you are buying and want the one-off purchase taxes. Read Property Taxes in Portugal for Residents and Foreign Owners, which covers IMT and stamp duty, instead.

IMI (imposto municipal sobre imóveis) is Portugal's yearly property tax. If you own property in Portugal on 31 December, you owe IMI for that year, whether you live in it, let it, or live abroad. You do not file anything. Finanças works out the bill and sends it by the end of April of the next year. Most homes pay 0.3% to 0.45% of their tax value, so a flat with a €120,000 tax value costs €360 to €540 a year.

You pay in one, two, or three instalments, in May, August, and November.

What IMI is and who pays it

IMI is a tax on owning property. It goes to the town hall (câmara municipal) where the property is. The tax office (Finanças) calculates and collects it.

The taxpayer is whoever is recorded as owner on 31 December of the tax year. The bill you pay in 2026 is for 2025, based on who owned the property on 31 December 2025. So if you bought in March 2026, the 2025 bill belongs to the seller, and your first bill arrives in spring 2027.

If someone holds a life interest (usufruto) or a surface right over the property, that person pays the IMI, not the bare owner.

Every registered property in Portugal is liable, urban or rural. If you are an individual, you pay the same rates whether or not you live in Portugal.

How the bill is worked out

The bill is your property's tax value multiplied by your town hall's rate.

The tax value (VPT). IMI is charged on the valor patrimonial tributário (VPT, taxable property value), not on the market price or what you paid. Finanças sets it with a formula. The formula uses a base building value per square metre, the area, the use (home, shop, office), the location, quality and comfort features, and the age of the building. Older buildings often have a VPT well below market value.

The rate. Each town hall sets its own rate every year within the legal band:

  • urban property (homes, shops, offices, building land): 0.3% to 0.45%;
  • rural land (farm and forest plots): 0.8%.

The law allows a few town halls under financial support programmes to go up to 0.5%. If a town hall does not send its decision to Finanças by 31 December, the 0.3% minimum applies.

Town halls can also vote local changes:

  • triple the rate on buildings empty for more than a year, or in ruins;
  • raise it by up to 30% on run-down buildings;
  • cut it by up to 20% on rented homes in chosen areas;
  • cut it by up to 50% on listed heritage buildings.

Example. A flat with a VPT of €120,000 costs €360 a year where the rate is 0.3%, and €540 where it is 0.45%. It pays to know your town hall's rate.

How to check your VPT and your town hall's rate

You need a Portuguese tax number (NIF) and a Portal das Finanças login. See Getting a NIF (Tax Number) in Portugal if you do not have one yet.

To see your VPT:

  1. Log in at portaldasfinancas.gov.pt with your NIF and password, or with the Chave Móvel Digital (digital mobile key).
  2. Go to the property section, then the property record (caderneta predial).
  3. Open the property. The record shows the property, its owners, and its VPT.

To see your town hall's rate, use the Portal das Finanças page of municipal IMI rates (Consultar taxas de IMI). Choose the district and the municipality.

When you pay

Finanças assesses IMI in February and April. It sends the bill (nota de cobrança) by the end of April, by post or by electronic notice. The bill is also in your portal account. If it never reaches you, you still owe it. Print it from the portal or ask any tax office for a copy.

How you pay depends on the total for the year, not on how many properties you own:

Total IMI for the yearWhen you pay
Under €10Nothing is charged
€10 to €100One payment, by 31 May
Over €100, up to €500Two payments, by 31 May and 30 November
Over €500Three payments, by 31 May, 31 August, and 30 November

You can pay the whole amount in May if you prefer.

If you are married or in a de facto union, and you live in a home you own together, the instalment limits apply to your total bill for that home. That can give you more instalments.

How to pay

All of these use the payment reference on the bill:

  • a Multibanco cash machine;
  • your Portuguese bank's online banking;
  • the Finanças payments app (Situação Fiscal, then Pagamentos);
  • a tax office or a CTT post office;
  • direct debit (débito direto), once you sign up on the Portal das Finanças.

Direct debit is the surest way not to miss an instalment if you spend time abroad.

Exemptions and deductions you can claim

Three reliefs matter most. All three depend on the property being your own permanent home, with your tax address there, so they do not help an owner who lives abroad.

Three years free on a new own home. If you buy a home to live in, it can be exempt from IMI for three years. All of these must be true:

  • the VPT is €125,000 or less;
  • your household's gross taxable income in the year before was €153,300 or less;
  • you move in, with your tax address there, within six months.

For a purchase, Finanças grants it automatically. In other cases, such as a home you built, you apply to the tax office within 60 days after that six-month period. The town hall can extend the exemption by two more years. Each household can get it twice at most.

Low income. Your own home and any rural land are exempt from IMI in 2026 if:

  • your household's gross income for the year before is €17,295.59 or less; and
  • the total VPT of everything you own is €75,198.20 or less.

The exemption is automatic, but only if you filed your income tax and IMI returns on time. It does not apply to non-residents.

Families with children (IMI Familiar). Many town halls cut the IMI on your own home if you have dependants: €30 for one, €70 for two, and €140 for three or more. It only applies where your town hall has chosen it for the year. Finanças applies it automatically.

Finanças reads your household from the last day of the year before the tax year. If the cut does not appear, check the household details on your portal account and your tax address. Those are the usual causes.

AIMI on larger holdings

AIMI (adicional ao IMI) is an extra tax on people whose homes and building land in Portugal have a high total tax value. Shops, offices, and industrial property do not count. Nor does property that was exempt from IMI the year before.

For individuals, the rates apply to the total VPT:

Total VPT (€)Rate
Up to 600,000Nothing (deduction)
600,000 to 1,000,0000.7%
1,000,000 to 2,000,0001%
Over 2,000,0001.5%

Married couples and couples in a de facto union can choose joint AIMI. The deduction doubles to €1,200,000, and the bands double too. You opt in on the Portal das Finanças between 1 April and 31 May. The choice stays until you cancel it.

Companies pay 0.4% from the first euro. Companies in tax havens pay 7.5%.

Finanças assesses AIMI in June, and you pay it in one go in September. It is a separate bill from IMI. The €600,000 line is easy to cross without noticing: three flats with a VPT of €250,000 each add up to €750,000.

If you pay late

If you miss an IMI instalment:

  1. The rest falls due at once. The law says missing one instalment makes the remaining ones due immediately.
  2. Interest runs on the overdue amount from the day after the deadline until you pay.
  3. Enforcement can follow. If you still do not pay, Finanças opens a tax enforcement case (execução fiscal), which adds costs and can lead to seizure of assets.

If you have missed a deadline, log in to the portal, find the debt, and pay it as soon as you can. Interest stops the day you pay.

If the VPT or the bill is wrong

The VPT is out of date or wrong. You can ask Finanças for a new valuation by submitting the property declaration (Modelo 1 do IMI) on the portal. If the VPT came from a valuation, you can ask on the ground that it is out of date only once three years have passed since that valuation. You can also complain at any time about clear errors in the property record, such as a wrong area.

Be careful. A new valuation can go up as well as down. Do not ask for one after a renovation or if your area has improved.

The bill is wrong (wrong owner, wrong rate, wrong number of instalments). File a formal complaint (reclamação graciosa) within 120 days. You can do this through the portal. If Finanças rejects it, you can go to the tax court.

Mistakes to avoid

  • Waiting for a bill that never comes. You owe IMI whether or not the bill reaches you. Check the portal each April.
  • Not moving your tax address to your new home. The new-home exemption, the low-income exemption, and IMI Familiar all depend on it. See Changing Your Registered Address in Portugal.
  • Confusing IMI with IMT. IMT is the one-off tax when you buy. IMI is the yearly tax for owning.
  • Forgetting AIMI when you own several homes. Add up your VPTs against the €600,000 line.
  • Forgetting that works change the VPT. Major works lead to a new valuation and usually a higher bill.
  • Leaving IMI out of your budget. Treat IMI, and any AIMI, as a running cost alongside condominium fees and insurance.

If you live abroad

  • Keep your address and contact details current at Finanças, so the bill reaches you.
  • If you live outside the EU and EEA, you need a fiscal representative or electronic notifications. See Appointing a Fiscal Representative in Portugal.
  • Set up direct debit, so instalments are paid while you are away.

This guide is general information, not tax advice. Rules change; check the official source, or ask a certified accountant (contabilista certificado), before you act.

Sources

This guide is written from official sources and, where relevant, organisations' own websites.

Last verified October 2026. Rules and fees change; check the official source before acting.

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