Tuition and housing or university accommodation expenses for students traveling abroad, such as those for the Erasmus program, are deductible for the IRS and can be indicated on the annual tax return or communicated by electronic invoice.
In response to Lusa, an official source from the Tax and Customs Authority (AT) stresses that, in the case of accommodation, “both housing leases and university accommodation are deductible”, provided that the conditions provided are met in both situations. In the law. fulfilled, that is, provided that “the rental expense is due to a contract in which the student is a tenant”, which is not over 25 years old and attends a teaching establishment integrated into the National Education System (regardless of being located in another country) “and whose location is at a distance greater than 50 km from the permanent residence of the household.”
In practice, the accommodation expenses of students traveling abroad have the same tax treatment, in terms of IRS deductions, as the equivalent expense incurred by a student attending a public higher education establishment in Portugal.
Part of the expenses with textbooks or school books and tuition fees are also deductible for the IRS, but not expenses with meals.
“Education expenses are considered to be the fees of educational establishments integrated into the National Education System of the country where they are located,” underlines the AT, specifying that in the case of meals, even in university canteens, they cannot be used for reduce the IRS “due to the fact that this dining room is not part of the list of school food service providers communicated to the AT, under the terms of subsection b) of subsection 10 of article 78-D of the SRI Code.”
Remember that an amount equal to 30% of education or training expenses is deductible from IRS collectionup to a limit of 800 euros, which appear on invoices for the provision of services or purchases of goods exempt from VAT or subject to a reduced rate (6%).
Since the VAT rate for school meals is not subject to that requirement of the law, the IRS Code provides that, In order to be deductible, the “tax identification of service providers that provide school meals” will be required., which must be “notified to the Tax and Customs Authority”. A requirement that caterers operating in other countries do not meet.
Invoices for education and training expenses issued to students traveling abroad can be communicated through the Finance Portal, refers to the AT, in the e-invoice computer application (invoices>consumer>register invoices issued abroad), “or be entered as an education and training expense in Table 6C1 of Annex H of the income tax declaration IRS Model 3 income”.
The ‘manual’ entry of expenses in the IRS return implies that the invoices of the same are kept for a possible later verification by the AT.
According to the SRI Code, taxpayers have 15 days to present “the documents that prove the income obtained, the deductions and other facts or situations mentioned in the respective declaration, when the Tax and Customs Authority requires them.” This period may be extended to 25 days if the taxpayer alleges difficulty in obtaining the required documentation.
The law also determines that invoices are kept “during the four years following the one to which the documents refer.”
This Wednesday ends the term for the validation of invoices by taxpayers. IRS annual return filing begins April 1 and runs through June 30.
Source: Observadora
