Portugal.

Portugal abolished traditional inheritance tax but retained imposto do selo (stamp tax) under verba 1.2 of the General Schedule — 10% on free transfers (inheritance and gift) above €500. Critically, transfers to the spouse, descendants, and ascendants are exempt under article 6 of the Stamp Tax Code (CIS). The Código Civil (1966) preserves legítima under Articles 2156–2165, reserving one-half to two-thirds of the estate for forced heirs (descendants, ascendants, spouse), with the quota disponível (disposable quota) varying accordingly.

Portugal closed the long-running NHR (Non-Habitual Resident) regime to new entrants effective 1 January 2024, replacing it with the IFICI (Imposto Fiscal para Investigação Científica e Inovação) regime under Portaria 352/2024/1 — a more limited tax incentive for scientific and innovation activities. Portugal is bound by EU Succession Regulation 650/2012, with the law of habitual residence as default and the professio juris election available.

The memoranda in this series address the recurring fact patterns in Portuguese cross-border estate planning — including the spouse-and-direct-line exemption from imposto do selo, the legítima tension with Canadian and US testamentary freedom, the IFICI regime replacing NHR, the habilitação de herdeiros notarial procedure, the AIMI (additional municipal property tax) overlay on real-estate succession, and the absence of estate-tax treaties with Canada and the United States.