VAT on urban rehabilitation: interpretative statute drops the operation requirement and takes effect from 2009
Law No. 48/2026 of 17 August provides an authentic interpretation of item 2.23 of List I annexed to the VAT Code, as worded by Law No. 64-A/2008 of 31 December. Article 2 provides that urban rehabilitation works are taken to mean all works carried out on buildings or public spaces located in urban rehabilitation areas delimited in accordance with the law, irrespective of the approval of an urban rehabilitation operation. This removes the cumulative requirement of both a delimited area and an approved operation, which had been fuelling arbitration and court disputes and constraining application of the 6% rate. Article 3 provides that the law takes effect as from the entry into force of Law No. 64-A/2008, becoming part of the interpreted rule under Article 13 of the Civil Code, the instrument having entered into force on 18 August 2026. For contractors and developers, this supports applying the reduced rate to works invoiced at the standard rate out of caution; for owners, condominiums and municipalities, it opens the question of recovering tax borne, depending on the contractual terms and on the periods in Articles 78 and 98(2) of the VAT Code. Note that the retroactivity inherent in interpretative statutes does not reopen situations covered by res judicata or by a final administrative decision. Ref.: Law No. 48/2026, Official Gazette No. 158/2026, Series I, of 17/08/2026, Articles 1 to 4.
R&D tax credit extended to 2026 — and the deduction through investment funds comes to an end
Decree-Law No. 170/2026 of 21 August, under the authorisation of Law No. 13/2026 of 16 April, amends the Investment Tax Code and extends the SIFIDE II R&D tax credit to tax periods from 2014 to 2026. At the same time, it does not extend indirect access to the benefit through investment funds, by the new wording of Article 37(1)(f) and the repeal of Article 38(7) and (8) and Article 40(12) and (13), the preamble invoking a recommendation of the U-Tax unit and an accumulated unapplied volume of over one billion euros. As regards contributions made in periods beginning up to 31 December 2025, Article 3 preserves the regime but extends from three to five years the period for the funds to make the investment and for investee companies to apply it to R&D, requiring at least 85% of the investment to be made and maintaining proportionate recapture of the amount deducted, with compensatory interest, if the units are disposed of within 10 years. Article 4 allows contributions to be applied to productive innovation expenditure functionally complementary to R&D activities completed in the previous three years, up to 20% of each fund contributions and with a limit of 20 million euros per investee company. The instrument entered into force on 22 August 2026. Ref.: Decree-Law No. 170/2026, Official Gazette No. 162/2026, Series I, of 21/08/2026, Articles 2 to 7.
Tax calendar: September concentrates the VAT deferred from August and the payments on account
September accumulates the obligations deferred under the August regime, so the filing and payment load is heavier than in a normal month. By 7 September, the details of invoices issued in the previous month must be reported; by the 10th, the monthly remuneration return; by the 15th, Form 11 by notaries and bodies exercising notarial functions. By 21 September, the periodic VAT returns under the monthly regime for June and July and the quarterly return for the second quarter are due, along with the recapitulative statement, the monthly stamp duty return, withholding tax on personal and corporate income and stamp duty settled in the previous month, the audiovisual levy and the second payment on account of personal income tax by self-employed taxpayers; by 25 September the VAT assessed in those returns is payable. By 30 September fall due the second payment on account of corporate income tax and the second additional payment on account of the state surcharge by taxpayers with prior-year taxable profit above 1,500,000 euros, payment of the additional property tax, road tax on vehicles whose registration anniversary falls in the month, Form 30 and Forms 62 and 63 under the global minimum tax regime. In October, invoice reporting is due by the 6th, the monthly remuneration return by the 12th and, by the 15th, Form 11 and Form 2 for property tax. Ref.: Tax Authority, 2026 Tax Calendar — “Filing obligations 2026” and “Payment obligations 2026”, last updated June 2026.
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