As most of the AL owners who follow this blog already know, and as we already indicated here it is necessary to confirm the AL activity before 7th December 2023, two months after the Mais Habitação law came into effect, otherwise the local council could cancel the AL registration.
All AL owners have to do this, except if the AL property is the primary residence of the AL title holder, and also operational for 120 days or less. But even in this case, we recommend that you complete the process, since at least this way you inform the authorities of this situation, which allows you to be exempt from the CEAL tax.
The activity is confirmed by providing the authorities with a copy of one of the following declarations: IRS (for individuals), IRC (for companies) or IVA (for either). It is possible that the AL activity was initiated this year and the owner may not have any bookings yet, meaning that none of these declarations are available. In this case, it is recommended to create one PDF file with the receipt from the registration of the AL business activity at Finanças (Comprovativo de Início de Atividade), a copy of the specific civil responsibility insurance for AL’s, and possibly also a copy of the AL registration number.
The activity confirmation can be done online, offline or by giving a power of attorney to a third party. Let’s take a detailed look at all these options:
CONFIRM AL ACTIVITY ONLINE
The online process is done from the Balcão Único Eletrónico, available on the ePortugal portal at the link below:
It is necessary to have a Portuguese Cartão de Cidadão, with the PIN for digital signatures or, for foreigners, the Chave Móvel Digital (Digital Mobile Key). If you are not Portuguese, and do not have the Chave Móvel Digital (CMD), it has to be requested personally at the nearest Loja do Cidadão. The CMD is available for everyone, residents and non-residents, Portuguese and foreigners. All you need is your passport, NIF and your mobile phone, and it is arranged in minutes.
You need to sign in to the ePortugal portal and then follow the steps to confirm the activity. The system asks if the property is your primary residence (Habitação Própria e Permanente) and if you confirm it asks if you rent for more than 120 days. If you say No, the form is completed and you don’t need to submit any documentation – all you have to do is tick the box to declare that you rent for less than 120 days. If you say Yes, you need to submit the documentation by uploading the PDF file mentioned previously.
After a while, you should receive an email from the Câmara confirming that the process has been completed, even if you selected the option to indicate that the AL is not active for more than 120 days.
CONFIRM THE AL ACTIVITY IN PERSON
In this case, you should prepare all the documentation mentioned previously, together with your ID, NIF and AL number(s), and visit the local Câmara Municipal. Tell the staff that you want to confirm the AL activity – they should by now know how to conclude this process.
CONFIRM WITH POWER OF ATTORNEY
If you are not able to complete the process online, or visit your local Câmara personally, you will have to give power of attorney to a lawyer or accountant to be able to do this for you. This person can send you a PoA document that you can print, sign and return by courier. Some municipalities require a fully registered power of attorney document, in which case the process has to be done by a lawyer. Some municipalities accept a simple signed document authorising your accountant to take care of the process.
