Sweden wants to tear up an agreement with Portugal and start taxing its pensioners who have chosen to live in Portugal in recent years as fiscal residents. According to the newspaper Public, Sweden plans to revoke the tax treaty signed with Portugal in 2002 and start taxing pensioners who have been exempt from assessment in both countries.

In 2019, the two governments signed an agreement with amendments to the rules that would allow Sweden to tax the pensions of its nationals living in Portuguese territory. Stockholm has already ratified the agreement, but Lisbon still has not.

“The combination of the Portuguese tax regime for Non‑Habitual Residents (RNH) with the tax convention originally signed with Sweden makes Portugal a fiscal paradise for Swedish pensioners.”, declared Swedish Minister of Finance, Magdalena Andersson. “We are submitting this proposal to Parliament. I can withdraw it if the Portuguese Government implements the treaty quickly.”

Asked how much Sweden has lost in tax revenues since 2009, the minister responded that the loss of tax revenues is not the primary reason for tearing up the double tax convention. “The possibility given to wealthier citizens to pay 0 or 10%, while ordinary citizens pay much more, is a fiscal injustice that undermines the credibility of the fiscal system. Some Swedish citizens have an income of millions of euros yet do not pay any tax. The 10% rate is too low and is much less than what a regular pensioner in Portugal pays,” affirmed the Swedish Finance Minister.