Lisbon, Oct. 15, 2025 (Lusa) - Parliament approved on Wednesday a specialised version of a government bill that creates a VAT group scheme for economic groups to consolidate the amounts of tax they have to pay or recover from the state.
In today's vote on the Budget, Finance and Public Administration Committee, the initiative received support from the PSD, CDS-PP and Chega. The PS abstained.
The proposal by Luís Montenegro's government (PSD/CDS-PP) introduces the VAT group regime, “which consists of consolidating the VAT balances to be paid or recovered by the members of a group of entities, united by financial, economic and organisational ties”, according to the proposal that entered parliament on 29 August.
The new model is aimed at companies belonging to the same economic group, based on "the consolidation of tax balances to be paid or recovered by the members of a corporate group".
For this to happen, the companies must be linked to each other "by close financial, economic and organisational ties", says the government in the bill's explanatory memorandum.
According to the explanation of the initiative, consolidation takes place "in a VAT return made available by the Tax and Customs Authority and confirmed by the member of the group considered to be the dominant entity [the parent company of the economic group]".
In the proposal, the government emphasises that the companies in the group "continue to submit their respective periodic returns, calculating the respective balance, credit or debit, which is then shown in the group's return".
"The consolidation thus carried out does not affect the normal functioning of the VAT activities of the taxable persons who make up the group, who will continue to pay tax on their active transactions and deduct tax on their passive transactions, whether these occur between themselves or with third parties," the initiative also explains.
When drafting the proposal, the government says it took into account the "experience acquired in the taxation of corporate groups" in IRC and "the contributions obtained within the framework of the Large Taxpayers Forum", a dialogue group between the Tax and Customs Authority (AT) and the largest national companies.
The initiative was approved in general on 19 September. At the time, the PSD, CDS-PP, Chega and IL voted in favour. The PS, Livre, PAN and JPP abstained, while the PCP voted against.
PCT/ADB // ADB.
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