Finance Minister Fernando Medina revealed this Tuesday at a parliamentary hearing that “rent support” aimed at more than 100,000 families “will be paid in the month of May, in a few weeks and backdated to January and the support for interest subsidies” on housing loans” will also be paid between May and June, depending on the request of the “borrower” to the banking institution”.
That is, the processing of these subsidies will reach the Portuguese about a month earlier than expected.
The rent allowance up to a maximum of 200 euros per month or half-yearly if the amount is less than 20 euros is intended for tenants with an effort percentage equal to or greater than 35%, taxable annual income up to 38,632 euros (6th step of the IRS), that is, already after the amortization of the specific deduction in the IRS of 4104 euros, with rental or sublease contracts for permanent housing concluded until March 15 and duly registered with the Tax Authority (AT).
“The aid is calculated by the Institute for Housing and Urban Rehabilitation (IHRU) and paid by the Social Security, by bank transfer, to the IBAN in its information system,” said the government document explaining the new measures approved by the Council. ministers on March 16.
The grant is retroactive to January 1, 2023 and is in effect for five years and “corresponds to the difference between the actual effort rate and the maximum effort rate of 35%,” according to the same statement.
It is paid monthly and automatically “and the situation of each beneficiary family is reassessed at the end of each year”.
With a subsidy of up to 75% of the additional interest, the variable interest (Euribor), with loans for the purchase, construction or renovation of own and permanent housing up to 250 thousand euros, with an effort percentage equal to or more than 35%, borrowers with an annual net income up to the 6th IRS scale (up to 38,632 euros) are eligible. However, families that have exceeded that limit in the last tax return may also be entitled to support, as long as they demonstrate a fall in annual income of more than 20% that puts them in that bracket.
Support of 30 euros for the most vulnerable families
“As for the support of 30 euros per month for the most vulnerable families and 15 euros for each child”, whose household has an income up to the fourth step of the allowance, “it will be paid on May 16”.
About 1.07 million more vulnerable families, beneficiaries of the social energy tariff and minimum benefits, will be entitled to monthly support of 30 euros.
Payment will be made automatically on a quarterly basis, from January to December of this year. In May, June, August and November, checks of 90 Euros are processed quarterly, amounting to a total annual support of 360 Euros per family. Labor Minister Ana Mendes Godinho warned that “families must have the correct IBAN” in the Social Security Direct, as payment will be made exclusively by bank transfer, to allow “greater capacity for immediate verification of recipients” to make. prevent fraud situations.
There will also be a monthly allowance of EUR 15 for children receiving child benefit, i.e. for households with a gross annual income of up to EUR 16,815 or EUR 1,201 per month, which corresponds to the fourth step of the child benefit . The measure will affect 1.1 million children and young people. The bank transfer will also be made quarterly, with the first installment coming in May with the child benefit. The aid is then paid out in June, August and November. The subsidy amount will be 180 euros per child for the whole year.
Additional 1% increase in the civil service
With regard to “the extraordinary 1% increase in the civil service will be paid from May 20 retroactive to January, with corrections of the withholding mechanism” at the source in the IRS “so as not to have a loss of income”, the Treasury Secretary assured .
All 742,260 public administration officials will be entitled to an additional 1% salary increase, on top of the nominal increases granted at the beginning of the year from €52.11 for gross wages to €2,612.03 or 2% for higher amounts.
With this interim increase, civil servants will receive at least another EUR 7.6 if they earn the minimum wage in the state, which goes from EUR 761.58 to EUR 769.2, representing a cumulative increase of 9% over last year’s minimum wage. year of 705 euros. euros, or 1% more than the 8% granted at the beginning of the year.
The increase in the meal allowance from 0.80 euros to 6 euros will also be processed on 20 May from January.
Due to this increase, the value of the meal allowance paid by card or voucher exempt from IRS will increase in 2023 from EUR 8.32 per day to EUR 9.6, an additional EUR 1.28, which corresponds to an increase of 15.4% or an increase of 1.97 euros or 25.8% compared to the 7.63 euros determined for last year.
zero VAT
As for zero VAT for a list of 46 foods, it will be in effect “between April 18 and October 31,” the official added.
Fernando Medina also referred that “support for agricultural production is expected to start in the first half of the year, subject to approval by the European Commission, under the state aid regime”.
The package of measures will cost the state treasury 2035 million euros, just over half (58%) of the budget space in 2022, which amounted to 3.5 billion euros, INE revealed. That is, the government had a deficit of €4.4 billion (1.9% of GDP) that shrunk to €944 million (0.4%), as Dinheiro Vivo had reported.
However, the government official assured that “the more than 8.7 billion euros of the tax increase from all the additional benefit that the economy was able to generate last year will be divided between 2022 and 2023”.
As the DV revealed, budget revenue for 2022 grew by 11 billion euros thanks to the tax contribution that rose to 8825 million mainly through IRC, IRS and VAT, according to the Budget Support Technical Unit (UTAO) report on last year’s budget execution .
Live Money journalist
Source: DN
