What you actually keep in Portugal
| Company revenue | UK resident | Standard rates | NHR (legacy)closed to new arrivals | IFICI / NHR 2.0 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £60,000 | £46,831 | £34,909-£11,922 | £50,069+£3,238 | £47,555+£724 |
| £100,000 | £66,668 | £51,261-£15,407 | £79,746+£13,078 | £77,232+£10,564 |
| £150,000 | £87,303 | £69,502-£17,801 | £116,496+£29,193 | £113,982+£26,679 |
| £250,000 | £130,448 | £105,885-£24,563 | £189,996+£59,548 | £187,482+£57,034 |
Every figure above is a separate call to the same engine the calculator uses, run at build time on 2026-08-12. The green column is the best available outcome at that income.
The Portugal options, priced
- Standard rates. The ordinary Portuguese progressive rates, 13.25% to 48%, plus the solidarity surcharge.
- NHR (legacy). The original non-habitual residence regime. Closed to new arrivals, but still running for people who registered in time.
- IFICI / NHR 2.0. The replacement regime for qualifying activities. Twenty per cent on Portuguese employment income and, in the usual case, an exemption on foreign-source dividends.
What actually moves the number
- Whether you qualify for IFICI is the single biggest number on this page. It is worth more than every other decision combined.
- Portugal taxes worldwide income once you are resident, which is the 183-day test or a permanent home available to you from any point in the year.
- The UK and Portugal have a double taxation agreement, and the UK applies 0% withholding on dividends paid to Portuguese residents.
When Portugal starts taxing you
Residence starts at 183 days in any 12-month period, or earlier if you keep a home in Portugal in a way that implies you intend to hold it as a residence. The D7 and D8 visas are the usual routes in for people with income from outside Portugal.
The other half is the UK side. Leaving the UK tax net is the Statutory Residence Test, and running a UK company from outside the UK raises Central Management and Control and Permanent Establishment questions that are separate from your own residence. Running a UK limited company while living abroad covers both.
What this calculation assumes
- The company is assumed to distribute everything it can in the same year, after a director salary at the UK National Insurance threshold. Leaving profit in the company, or paying into a pension from it, changes the answer and is usually worth modelling.
- Corporation tax is charged at UK rates throughout, because a company incorporated in the UK stays UK tax resident wherever its director lives.
- Source-country (United Kingdom) dividend withholding tax of 0% applied on the gross dividend; a foreign tax credit is granted in Portugal up to the residence-country liability (relief under the applicable double-tax treaty).
- UK-Portugal Double Taxation Agreement applies. UK applies 0% withholding on dividends to PT residents. Under NHR/IFICI, qualifying foreign-source dividends may be exempt in Portugal.
- Employment/self-employment taxed at 20% flat (IFICI qualifying activity)
- Foreign dividends exempt under IFICI
- Foreign dividends exempt under NHR (DTA country)
- Foreign employment exempt under NHR (taxable in source under DTA)
- No PT social security on foreign employment (paid in source country)
- Standard progressive rates (13.25%-48%) plus solidarity surcharge
The last items are the engine's own disclosures, reproduced rather than summarised. Where a regime is not modelled it is named as not modelled, because a caveat you have to go looking for is not a caveat.