The law was in public consultation and this Wednesday the Council of Ministers approved the law that imposes a minimum IRC rate of 15% on the profits of multinationals operating in Portugal.
The scheme is the result of the transposition of a European directive and is aimed at companies with a turnover of more than 750 million euros. In practice, the law, which is now going to Parliament, will force large companies to pay taxes that they do not currently pay in Portugal, stressed Minister Leitão Amaro. There is still no estimated revenue value.
Minimum IRC rate of 15%. Nine answers to find out, after all, what is at stake?
“It is justice, social equity and it is allowing the Portuguese to pay less taxes, while all those who can pay more pay their share,” stressed the Minister of the Presidency in the press conference that followed the weekly meeting of the members of the Government.
“The global phenomenon of taking advantage of tax arbitrage, of shifting profits to reduce taxes, is well known. Today, in connection with our measures to reduce the IRC, we have approved a new regime.” This new regime aims to make multinationals with a presence in Portugal “pay what they were not paying before.”
Leitão Amaro also stressed that the measure “is taken to create a level playing field with all countries participating in the global effort,” although there is still no estimate of the revenue that will be possible to collect. “I do not want to mislead with an estimate of revenue. I am not sure that until the general debate it will be possible to establish this calculation with certainty. There is an assessment by the Treasury of the eligible universe, it is not certain that we can estimate a figure that is pedagogically enlightening,” he said.
Leitão Amaro stressed that this is a proposal from the Government “based on its vision of economic and social justice.” The minister stressed that “it is necessary to lower taxes for all companies” and for this “it is important that those who can pay pay and those who cannot, due to their multinational nature,” which gives them the possibility of allocating profits to “more favorable jurisdictions.” , begins to pay. “This minimum IRC is an option of the Government based on its vision of economic and social justice,” insisted Leitão Amaro.
The Government’s policy regarding the IRC is to gradually lower the tax for all companies until 2027, two points per year, from the current 21% to 15%, and for SMEs, in the first part of the taxable profit, the rate is lower. The Government estimates that this reduction will have a budgetary cost of 1.5 billion euros (500 million per year or 250 million for each percentage point cut).
Source: Observadora
