Treasury to Update House Location Coefficients for IMI

30 January 2019

The specialists will re-evaluate the location coefficients that serve as the basis for calculating property taxes. The new assessment can lead to increased or decreased IMI charges.

The Finance Ministry intends to review the location coefficients that serve as a basis for the real estate taxes that property owners pay annually on the value of their holdings, the IMI (the Municipal Property Tax).

The Jornal de Negócios reported Wednesday that any changes will not go into effect immediately but that after the re-assessment, IMI charges may subsequently increase or even decrease. The location coefficients reflect current real estate prices, so the belief is that the re-assessment will lead to alterations in the amount of IMI charged on individual properties.

The specialists’ will conduct their reassessment based on the properties’ use, whether it is for housing, commerce, services or industry and will then propose a new coefficient for each. Those coefficients run from 0.4 to 3.5 and take into account criteria such as accessibility, transport, social facilities and existing real estate prices.

Given those premises, the specialists may then choose to maintain the current zoning or propose alternations. Areas in Lisbon, Porto, some historical city centres and the Algarve have suffered the most significant changes in the market since 2015.

Original Story: Economia Online

Translation: Richard Turner