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Assuming you/your employer are paying social security contributions, then you can give up your own health insurance. People in Portugal tend to have private hea

Assuming you/your employer are paying social security contributions, then you can give up your own health insurance. People in Portugal tend to have private healthcare plans for everyday stuff, but they are insanely cheap. For urgent/serious things, the public system is effective enough. However you will need to contribute for at least 15 years before you qualify for a pension, and as you say there are no deductions for private pension plans, so you lose out there. I suspect you are being 'taken to the cleaners', but not necessarily deliberately by anyone.

quonn 3y ago
I think I have explained the typical situation a few times in this thread but I will try again. 1. Nomads are not employed by Portuguese companies. 2. They could give up their home health insurance, but then they cannot remain residents of their home countries where this is mandatory. And since nomads are nomadic they cannot leave Portugal. The insurance would usually only work there. 3. And the retirement fund is the far bigger chunk. In short, the laws of different countries do not align so the tax deductable things do not align either. This is exactly the reason why the Portuguese government has introduced these measures in the first place.
- somewhereoutth 3y ago
  1. Plenty of Portuguese people and foreigners resident in Portugal work for foreign companies without huge tax burdens, plenty more work freelance for foreign clients without huge tax burdens. 2. I assume you are talking about Americans? You can't expect tax breaks just because your home country doesn't offer universal healthcare! 3. Indeed private pensions are not tax deductible here, but that doesn't mean taxes are higher, it means they are not less! The 88% you said sounds more like your actual living expenses, not the tax you pay to the Portuguese government. So don't call it tax, because it is not. NHR has unfortunately been abused by people who were in fact largely resident here, and the Portuguese are quite right to close the loophole. You want to benefit from Portuguese society? Then you contribute.

quonn 3y ago

I think I have explained the typical situation a few times in this thread but I will try again. 1. Nomads are not employed by Portuguese companies. 2. They could give up their home health insurance, but then they cannot remain residents of their home countries where this is mandatory. And since nomads are nomadic they cannot leave Portugal. The insurance would usually only work there. 3. And the retirement fund is the far bigger chunk. In short, the laws of different countries do not align so the tax deductable things do not align either. This is exactly the reason why the Portuguese government has introduced these measures in the first place.

somewhereoutth 3y ago
1. Plenty of Portuguese people and foreigners resident in Portugal work for foreign companies without huge tax burdens, plenty more work freelance for foreign clients without huge tax burdens. 2. I assume you are talking about Americans? You can't expect tax breaks just because your home country doesn't offer universal healthcare! 3. Indeed private pensions are not tax deductible here, but that doesn't mean taxes are higher, it means they are not less! The 88% you said sounds more like your actual living expenses, not the tax you pay to the Portuguese government. So don't call it tax, because it is not. NHR has unfortunately been abused by people who were in fact largely resident here, and the Portuguese are quite right to close the loophole. You want to benefit from Portuguese society? Then you contribute.