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Tânia de Almeida Ferreira, CCA's Partner and Head of the Tax Department, in statements to Jornal de Negócios, comments on the new diploma that transposes a European directive on evasion into Portuguese law.
The objective is to avoid any abusive behaviour on the part of taxpayers, but according to the inspectors this will serve to impose functions that are the responsibility of the State. The result, they say, will be more conflicts and an increase in costs for companies.
According to the CCA Partner, with this mechanism "if large companies may have the capacity to respond, great difficulties are anticipated for the vast majority of the Portuguese business fabric", recalling the high costs of tax compliance and the time spent "which should be allocated to business and diverted to the exercise of public functions".
With the Portuguese legislator going beyond what was required by Brussels, Portugal will be one of the few Member States to implement the regime in mechanisms of exclusively national scope, which means that this broader obligation will increase Portugal's context costs in the face of the main community trading partners.
"The idea that taxpayers generally adopt evasive practices tends to be negatively viewed by investors, does not contribute to confidence in the Portuguese tax system and, in the end, works as an exclusion factor when choosing a jurisdiction for investment purposes", stresses Tânia Almeida Ferreira.
Tânia de Almeida Ferreira, Partner and Coordinator of the Tax department at CCA, in statements to Jornal de Negócios, comments on the new diploma that transposes a European directive on evasion into Portuguese law.
The objective is to avoid any abusive behaviour on the part of taxpayers, but according to the inspectors this will serve to impose functions that are the responsibility of the State. The result, they say, will be more conflicts and an increase in costs for companies.
According to the CCA Partner, with this mechanism « if large companies may have the capacity to respond, great difficulties are anticipated for the vast majority of the Portuguese business fabric », recalling the high costs of tax compliance and the time spent « which should be allocated to business and diverted to the exercise of public functions ».
With the Portuguese legislator going beyond what was required by Brussels, Portugal will be one of the few Member States to implement the regime in mechanisms of exclusively national scope, which means that this broader obligation will increase Portugal's context costs in the face of the main community trading partners.
« The idea that taxpayers generally adopt evasive practices tends to be negatively viewed by investors, does not contribute to confidence in the Portuguese tax system and, in the end, works as an exclusion factor when choosing a jurisdiction for investment purposes », stresses Tânia Almeida Ferreira.
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