IRS internet boom
MORE AND more people in Portugal are submitting their IRS (income tax) declarations over the internet, according to numbers released by the Director General of Taxes. In 2004, 949,758 IRS forms were completed and submitted via internet; this year the figure reached 2.2 million. However, according to statistics, companies seem to be far more reticent in using the internet to declare their profits. In 2005, 410,428 companies submitted their IRC (corporation tax) returns in this way, whereas the number of declarations fell to 397,287 in 2006. The tax authorities announced that the amount of owed tax and fines totalled more than one billion euros. However, with cross referencing and sophisticated management, the government is increasing its recovery rate of unpaid taxes.
Charitable Figo
Exclusive football shirts were auctioned on the Portuguese Sapo site in order to raise money for the Luís Figo Foundation, which raises money within Portugal to encourage youngsters to develop their sporting skills. Famous football players were invited to autograph Sporting Clube de Portugal shirts, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the football club. The sale of these shirts raised around 6,000 euros, with the highest bid at the auction for a shirt signed by the famous Figo, which went for an amazing sum of 1,602 euros.
