Portugal has been dubbed a “fiscal El Dorado” for retirees by French newspaper La Voix du Nord.
The country’s tax benefits for foreigners, great weather and security are among the main reasons “thousands of French pensioners” are moving to Portugal to live out a sunny retirement.
The article, which made the front cover of the Lille-based newspaper yesterday (October 26), even says Portugal “is the new favourite destination of French pensioners”.
They come here mostly to make the most of the country’s ‘non-habitual resident’ tax regime, which allows any retired person in Europe 10-years free from paying taxes as long as they haven’t lived here for the last five years.
It is the prospect of a tax-free pension that has spurred around 25,000 French retirees into moving to Portugal since 2013, said the president of the Portuguese-French Chamber of Commerce, Carlos Vinhas Pereira.
“It is a dream that is possible for everyone,” he told the paper.
Though there is “something for all budgets”, the dream usually costs between €350,000 and €400,000 and includes a “1,000sqm country house with three or four rooms and a pool”, according to Nicolas Chamoux from real estate agency Villa Algarve.
The report also focuses on some negative aspects of a life in Portugal, such as “the poor conservation of the Portuguese countryside”, the Algarve’s toll payment system, pricier petrol and even the fact that restaurants do not always have their menus visible outside.
(click here) to see the full, original report.
