Divorced mothers or fathers who receive alimony for their dependent children and who, when filing their 2021 IRS returns, have opted for inclusion of that support, rather than autonomous taxation, are at risk of being excluded from the income allowance that began to accrue. pay this Monday to income holders.
By adding this pension to the overall remuneration, the tenants increase the net collectible profit, which, by adding this amount, can exceed the annual ceiling of EUR 38,632 set by the government as a condition for granting the aid, provided that there is a percentage of effort greater than or equal to 35% to pay rent. “The alimony is a pension income that can be taxed autonomously at a rate of 20% or included in the total income, which contributes to the taxable calculation,” explains taxpayer Luís Leon, co-founder of the DN/Dinheiro Vivo , from advisor Ilya. So “those who decided to include, that is, add, the alimony pensions, because the general tax rate was lower, will have a higher taxable income compared to those who opted for the autonomous taxation excluded to reduce the taxable amount to calculate”, details Louis León.
Deco Proteste’s online forum, dedicated to rent support, and consulted by the DN/DV, contains hundreds of complaints from tenants who have not yet received the subsidy, including mothers who receive alimony and are unaware of the tax form with them. According to that organization, “there has been an increase of a thousand registrations in the past two weeks, of which no less than 80% is related to rent support”.
The question of aggregation also arises with regard to income from capital, i.e. from dividends, and real estate, related to rents, in favor of those who subject these profits to the autonomous rate, deducting them from the tax base . “For example, two families with the same gross income, including capital gains and capital gains, will have different net earnings depending on the aggregation: it will be higher if you added those incomes together, which could result in exclusion from income support,” points out he on it. the tax specialist, since “this is a huge injustice”. And he proposes a different situation: “Imagine that a businessman declares the national minimum wage and then receives a million euros in dividends, but they are taxed autonomously. This income does not count for the calculation of the tax base”. “Governments want to see the IRS declaration as a portrait of the income of the Portuguese, which is incorrect. The declaration serves only one purpose: to settle the accounts between the Portuguese and the Treasury when calculating the tax,” he emphasizes. .
Many doubts have also been raised about what income should be taken into account when determining the right to support. In the case of income holders, and as the DN/DV had advanced, first-hand Finance does not take into account the gross income but the taxable amount, already after the amortization of the specific deduction of 4104 euros, which appears in the tax return referring to the income for 2021, confirmed to DV an official source of the Internal Revenue Service (AT): “The relevant income is the annual income that is taken into account for determining the IRS rate (including the value of specific deductions and the value of the taxed income).either at the rate of the IRS tax or at special rates).” This value must be equal to or less than the maximum limit of the 6th step of the IRS, in effect on the date of granting the aid, i.e. up to EUR 38 632, so that the family income can be taken into account for the purposes of subsequent measurement of the percentage of effort in relation to the amount of income, which cannot be less than 35% for eligibility purposes” , the AT also refers, emphasizing that “the aid paid, for the year 2023, took into account the income for 2021, as the deadline for the delivery and settlement of the IRS 2022 is still pending”.
The payment of the subsidy to income holders, retroactive to January, should reach 150 thousand families and will be made exclusively by the Social Security via bank transfer, so the IBAN must be entered both on the financial portal and on Social Security Direct be updated. The Ministry of Housing revealed to Lusa that “about 20,000 people eligible for income support yesterday did not receive the amount they would be entitled to because they did not update their IBAN”.
The maximum monthly subsidy is 200 euros, which corresponds to the difference between the effort percentage of more than 35% and this level. Support of less than 20 euros per month is transferred every six months.
Not to beneficiaries of social benefits
In the case of pensioners and beneficiaries of social benefits such as the Social Insertion Income (RSI) or unemployment benefit, the income calculation is carried out by “Social Security for the household of the contract holder, based on the three previous months “, from 20- B/2023 of March 22, creating extraordinary income support. That is, the IRS return for 2021 is not taken into account.
The government announced that the grant began being credited on May 30 and should reach about 35,000 families receiving a pension or social assistance. But dozens of complaints have been received by the DV from retirees and RSI beneficiaries who claim entitlement to the subsidy and have not yet received it. To illustrate, two cases, both with updated IBAN: a private individual with 200 euros per month RSI, pays 1000 euros rent, which corresponds to an effort percentage of 500%, has two monthly payment arrears and has still not received support; a pensioner with a pension of 400 euros pays 400 euros in rent, which translates into a 100% effort rate, he also did not see the money falling into the account. The DV questioned the Ministry of Finance about the reasons for the non-payment, but received no response. The Ministry of Housing only said that “being in rent arrears is not an exclusion factor”.
Source: DN
