The Government has decided to give landlords until the end of this year to issue electronic receipts to tenants and to register their lease agreements online. This mainly is due to a distinct lack of effort by landlords despite the new system being law.
This decision taken by the new socialist government and was issued by the new Secretary of State for Fiscal Affairs, Fernando Rocha Andrade.
The extension until the end of December covers a number of documents that must be registered on the Ministry of Finance website, including lease contracts, electronic receipts for rental payments and the registration of supply contracts from telecommunications and water companies.
Andrade said the decision had been taken after advice from the Tax Authority, the advice being that not enough landlords had signed onto the scheme, many with valid excuses.
"We estimate that there are many landlords lagging behind, but on the other hand there are those having difficulties in with the new obligation," explained Andrade.
By the November deadline, 165,000 landlords had signed up for the online system which enables the State to track who is renting what to whom. This was just 43% of the government estimated total number of landlords in the country.
Many have claimed they have 'stopped letting their properties' but all will be subject to possible scrutiny and fines as from January 1st next year.
The aim is to push unwilling landlords into declaring their rental incomes. Some that have been letting their properties and not declaring the resulting income will be in trouble, especially if the tenant has been registering payments on his tax return and the landlord has not been declaring the equivalent amount on his.
Landlords under 65-years-old and with and monthly income above €70 are required to issue these new electronic receipts through the Finanças web portal. Those over 65-years-old only have to make an annual declaration of rental income, also electronically.
For tenants renting properties on a long term basis, landlords that are complying should issue electronic receipts for each month of this financial year.
