15% IRC for Multinacionals and 21%for Smalland Medium-Sized Companies

While small and medium-sized companies pay 21% corporation tax, multinationals benefit from a 15% rate.
Articles 06/09/2024

Tiago Caiado Guerreiro, Lawyer and Partner in the Tax and Social Security Department, comments that the gradual reduction of the IRC rate to 15%, proposed by the PSD (also included in the Chega/Liberal Initiative Program), is a matter of mere justice, in addition to the country’s obvious fiscal competitiveness, and the need to attract productive investment and generate employment.

Tiago Caiado Guerreiro mentions that it is incomprehensible that large multinationals, some with stock market capitalizations greater than Portugal’s GDP, pay only 15% IRC, thanks to the European Union Directive that guarantees a minimum tax rate for these corporations, while small, medium-sized and micro-enterprises are obliged to pay 21%. He questions how parties and opinion makers can defend the interests of large multinationals and, at the same time, harm national companies.

He points out that this disparity between small companies and multinationals is unjustifiable, and he doesn’t understand how political forces oppose Portuguese companies while appearing to support multinationals.

The EU Directive, which establishes a minimum tax rate of 15% for multinationals, ultimately ensures that these large corporations never pay more than that.


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Practice Areas

  • Tax Law

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