What replaced NHR in Portugal in 2026?

NHR ran for twelve years and was the reason a lot of people moved to Portugal in the first place. It is finished for new arrivals, and the search results still promising it are stale. What took its place is narrower, and worth understanding before you plan a move around it.

The three dates that closed NHR

1. 1 January 2024. The regime stopped accepting new tax residents.
2. 31 March 2025. The transitional window closed. It was open only to people who could prove that before 31 December 2023 they already had an employment contract, a residence visa or permit, a property purchase or lease in Portugal, or a dependent child enrolled in a Portuguese school by 10 October 2023.
3. 31 December 2033. The last of the grandfathered statuses expire around then, because approved holders keep the benefit for their full ten years.

If you became a Portuguese tax resident in 2024 or later and were not inside that transitional window, there is no route back in. There is no "late NHR" and no fee that reopens it.

What replaced it

IFICI, set out in Article 58-A of the Estatuto dos Beneficios Fiscais and regulated by Portaria 352/2024/1 of 23 December 2024. It gives a 20 percent flat rate on Portuguese source employment and self employment income from a qualifying activity, for ten consecutive years, plus an exemption on most foreign source income.

The difference that matters: NHR was broadly open to anyone who had not been resident in the previous five years, while IFICI asks what you do for a living and who employs you. Teaching and research, certified research and development, jobs in eligible export oriented companies, certified startups and the Madeira and Azores routes qualify. A remote employee of a foreign company with no Portuguese entity generally does not.

The other change retirees feel: IFICI leaves pensions out of the foreign income exemption entirely, so the old 10 percent pension rate has no successor.

Start with what IFICI is and who qualifies, then check the application deadline, which is the part that costs people years of benefit.