The Liberal Initiative (IL) will propose from a budgetary point of view to create a voluntary housing allowance which, up to 250 euros extra paid by the employer, will receive the same tax treatment as the food allowance, ie without tax.
Speaking to Lusa, IL Representative Carlos Guimarães Pinto detailed this proposed amendment to the state budget for 2023 (OE2023) that would allow employers to voluntarily pay their employees housing allowance.
According to the IL deputy, this surcharge up to 250 euros would have “the same tax treatment that the food allowance currently has”, ie, “there would be no tax”.
“Then eventually the limits would increase because of housing costs, but the goal is that an employer can voluntarily give, if he wants, up to 250 euros extra – it could not replace part of the current salary – as a housing supplement,” he explains. from.
According to Carlos Guimarães Pinto, with this measure there would be “no tax advantage for the company, only the tax treatment for the employee would be the same as currently exists for the food subsidy” up to the fixed limit.
“Companies have great incentives to keep their employees and some of them, especially in the metropolitan areas of Lisbon and Porto, have struggled to find housing at prices they can afford with their current salary,” he justified.
For example, the Liberal said that if “a company wants to support its employee with 100 euros for these housing costs, the employee receives less than 50 euros, it is enough to have a net wage of about 1,200, 1,300 euros”.
“We want this money to go straight into employees’ pockets up to a certain limit, which will help employees on the one hand and help the companies themselves retain them on the other hand,” he said.
Asked about the expectation that this proposal will be approved in the specialty, Carlos Guimarães Pinto argued that if the PS “is sufficiently aware of the current situation”, this measure has “possible potential to succeed”.
“But given the inflexibility that the PS has had in the past with regard to the Liberal Initiative’s proposals, it is unfortunately possible that it will not be approved,” he lamented.
The Liberal deputy recalled that “Portugal had a problem with a lack of housing supply”, referring to the party’s “reports from companies and organizations that had difficulties renting or keeping houses” precisely because of these costs.
“This mechanism would be open to any employer. It is the introduction of a voluntary housing allowance, i.e. each employer can choose whether or not to give it and the amount in which this is done, including, of course, public employers” , he assured.
IL’s inspiration, according to Carlos Guimarães Pinto, came precisely from the food allowance and the tax treatment it has in Portugal.
“If we think about it, housing and food are not as different needs as that and so it makes sense that in both cases we can have favorable tax treatment so that companies or employers can contribute to these costs without the tax increase introduced because of our IRS fees,” he emphasized.
Source: DN
