Lisbon, Nov. 11, 2025 (Lusa) - Portugal's Socialist Party, the far-right Chega party and the Liberal Initiative (IL) are proposing, as part of the specialised discussion of the proposed State Budget for 2026, to reduce the VAT rate on art transactions from 23% to 6%.
The proposals from the three parliamentary groups are among the more than 2,000 amendments acknowledged in Parliament in recent days, which will be debated and voted on in the special session before the final overall vote on the 2026 State Budget, scheduled for 27 November.
At the end of October, the Minister of Culture, Margarida Balseiro Lopes, considered that “it naturally makes sense” to reduce the VAT rate on art transactions from 23% to 6%, noting that this “is a competence of the Parliament”.
During the 1st Culture Forum, in a moment open to questions, gallery owner and president of Exibithio - Associação Lusa de Galeristas, Vera Cortês, reiterated a request already made to the previous minister, Dalila Rodrigues, to reduce the VAT rate on art transactions from the maximum to the minimum rate. That is, from 23% to 6%.
The gallerist regretted that this was not included in the government's 2026 State Budget proposal, "after all the conversations" Exibithio had with both Margarida Balseiro Lopes and the parliamentary groups.
Since then, the PS parliamentary group has proposed an amendment to “respond to the legitimate expectations of the sector, so transfers and imports of works of art carried out by registered dealers will benefit from the reduced rate of 6%”, reads the document, which is available on Parliament's official website, just like all the proposed amendments acknowledged in recent days.
With the proposed addition, the Chega parliamentary group aims to "correct an asymmetry that penalises Portuguese art galleries, antique dealers and auction houses compared to their European counterparts".
"Maintaining the 23% tax rate in Portugal puts our country, and our economic operators in this sector, at a clear competitive disadvantage in the European context and constitutes a disincentive to investment, the professionalisation of the sector and the appreciation of national artists," Chega argues in the document.
The IL parliamentary group argues in its proposed amendment that “by applying the reduced rate of 6%, Portugal promotes the preservation and circulation of cultural and historical goods, stimulates investment and strengthens the international competitiveness of the arts sector”.
On 11 March, Luís Montenegro's first government approved a law that partially transposes an EU VAT directive into Portuguese law, changing the special tax regime for second-hand goods, art objects, collectors' items, and antiques.
The transposition of this European directive, long-awaited above all by art gallerists and artists, would allow VAT to be reduced to 6%, a rate currently applied only in Portugal when transactions are made by artists or rights holders.
Although the law came into force on 24 March, art transactions continued to be taxed at the maximum VAT rate of 23%.
Entered into force on 1 January, the European Union (EU) Directive 2022/542 aims to standardise the Value Added Tax (VAT) system across member states, which until now have used complex systems with different rates.
The week before the government approved the law, the then Minister of Culture, Dalila Rodrigues, considered it essential and a priority to reduce the VAT applied to art gallerists to 6%, and said she expected a "favourable response, and soon, from the Minister of Finance" to this claim.
"This is a priority of ours and, therefore, it cannot fail to be considered in the short term [...] in the next [State] Budget, without a doubt," said Dalila Rodrigues at the time, during a visit to the ARCOmadrid fair.
At the end of May, at the opening of the ARCOlisboa International Contemporary Art Fair, Exibithio organised a protest calling for VAT to be reduced to 6%. Dalila Rodrigues visited the fair that day, but ignored the protest.
On that occasion, the president of Exibithio told Lusa that if VAT on art transactions wasn't reduced to 6%, several Portuguese gallery owners might leave Portugal.
"If it's not possible [to reduce the VAT rate] we'll all leave Portugal. Either they solve it or we do,“ said Vera Cortês, recalling that a foreign work of art enters Portugal and pays 6% at customs, what is produced and made in this country pays 23%”.
The VAT landscape for art transactions in the EU is very diverse, with some countries considering changes under the directive, others maintaining it, such as Spain, at 21%, but France and Germany, who are at the forefront of this reform, reducing it from 20% and 19% to 5.5% and 7% respectively.
JRS/ADB // ADB.
Lusa
