Buying property

Madeira has its own IMT table, and a non-resident buyer does not get it

Checked August 27, 2026 By Nuno M. Tavares, in Funchal 9 min read
Funchal cityscape rising up hillsides from the harbor, seen across the bay from offshore

The short answer

IMT on Madeira housing is charged against the region's own bracket tables, every threshold a quarter above the mainland equivalent. Since 25 May 2026 that ladder no longer reaches a buyer who is not tax-resident in Portugal: article 17 of the Código do IMT charges a flat rate on housing instead, refundable in two defined situations.

Uplift of the Madeira brackets over the mainland

25%

Applies to every threshold and every deductible parcel. The rates themselves are unchanged, so the effect is a lower tax on the same price.

Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira, 2026 · check it · read August 26, 2026

IMT nil band on the mainland, permanent own residence

€106,346

Article 17, paragraph 1, subparagraph a) of the Codigo do IMT, at the 2026 thresholds. Shown for comparison with the regional figure.

Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira, 2026, mainland · check it · read August 26, 2026

IMT nil band in Madeira, permanent own residence

€132,933

Top of the exempt band in Tabela IV. In Tabela VI the same threshold is the top of the entry band, charged rather than exempt.

Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira, 2026 · check it · read August 26, 2026

Top of the second band, Madeira housing tables

€181,838

Same threshold in Tabela IV and Tabela VI.

Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira, 2026 · check it · read August 26, 2026

Top of the third band, Madeira housing tables

€247,934

Same threshold in Tabela IV and Tabela VI.

Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira, 2026 · check it · read August 26, 2026

Top of the fourth band, Madeira housing tables

€413,174

Same threshold in Tabela IV and Tabela VI, and the same figure as the Tabela V exemption ceiling.

Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira, 2026 · check it · read August 26, 2026
20 more sourced figures on this page

Top of the fifth band, Tabela IV (permanent own residence)

€826,228

Above this the tax stops being marginal and becomes flat on the whole value.

Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira, 2026 · check it · read August 26, 2026

Top of the fifth band, Tabela VI (not a permanent own residence)

€792,414

Lower than the Tabela IV equivalent. This and the entry band are the only two places the two tables differ.

Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira, 2026 · check it · read August 26, 2026

Threshold above which IMT is flat on the whole value, Madeira

€1,438,566

Same figure in Tabela IV and Tabela VI.

Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira, 2026 · check it · read August 26, 2026

IMT exemption ceiling, first permanent home, buyer aged 35 or under

€413,174

Tabela V. Conditional on the acquisition being a first permanent own residence.

Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira, 2026 · check it · read August 26, 2026

IMT entry rate, housing that is not a permanent own residence

1%

Tabela VI. Charged from the first euro; this table has no exempt band.

Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira, 2026 · check it · read August 26, 2026

Second band rate, Madeira housing tables

2%

Marginal within the band, with a deductible parcel applied at the counter.

Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira, 2026 · check it · read August 26, 2026

Third band rate, Madeira housing tables

5%

Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira, 2026 · check it · read August 26, 2026

Fourth band rate, Madeira housing tables

7%

Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira, 2026 · check it · read August 26, 2026

Fifth band rate, Madeira housing tables

8%

The last marginal band. Above its ceiling the tax becomes flat on the entire value.

Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira, 2026 · check it · read August 26, 2026

Flat rate in the upper window, Madeira housing tables

6%

Applied to the whole value, not to the excess.

Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira, 2026 · check it · read August 26, 2026

Top flat rate, Madeira housing tables

7.5%

Applied to the whole value above the top threshold. Identical to the mainland top rate.

Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira, 2026 · check it · read August 26, 2026

IMT on rustic land

5%

Flat rate under article 17, paragraph 1, subparagraph d) of the Codigo do IMT. Not affected by the regional bracket uplift, which applies to the housing tables.

Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira, 2026 · check it · read August 26, 2026

IMT on other urban property and other onerous acquisitions

6.5%

Flat rate under article 17, paragraph 1, subparagraph e) of the Codigo do IMT.

Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira, 2026 · check it · read August 26, 2026

IMT rate on housing bought by an acquirer who is not tax-resident

7.5%

Article 17, paragraph 10 of the Código do IMT, added by article 6 of Decreto-Lei n.º 97/2026, de 20 de maio. The paragraph reads that the rate "é sempre de 7,5 %" on an urban building or autonomous fraction destined exclusively for housing, with no exemption or reduction applied. It replaces the bracket table rather than sitting inside it.

Diário da República, in force 25 May 2026 · check it · read August 27, 2026

Date the non-resident flat rate took effect

25 May 2026

The decree was published on 20 May 2026 and fixes no special commencement for the IMT amendment, so the general rule applies and it entered into force on the fifth day after publication. Portuguese IMT simulators publish the same date.

Diário da República, in force 25 May 2026 · check it · read August 27, 2026

Window to become tax-resident and reclaim the difference

2 years

Article 17, paragraph 10, subparagraph b) of the Código do IMT. Residence is tested under article 16 of the Código do IRS, so it turns on residence and not on nationality. The clock runs from the date of acquisition.

Diário da República, in force 25 May 2026 · check it · read August 27, 2026

Monthly rent ceiling for the letting route out of the flat rate

2.5 times the 2026 national minimum monthly wage

Article 17, paragraph 10, subparagraph c) of the Código do IMT, which points at article 2, paragraphs 2 and 3 of Decreto-Lei n.º 97/2026. The decree states the multiple rather than a euro amount, and allows the limit to be updated by portaria, so the multiple is what is published here.

Diário da República, in force 25 May 2026 · check it · read August 27, 2026

Minimum time the property must be let under the letting route

36 months

Article 17, paragraph 10, subparagraph c) of the Código do IMT. The months need not be consecutive, but they must fall inside the first five years after the acquisition, and the lease itself must be signed within six months of it.

Diário da República, in force 25 May 2026 · check it · read August 27, 2026

Deadline to apply to the tax authority for the refund

6 months

Article 17, paragraph 12 of the Código do IMT. The period runs from the date the acquirer becomes resident, or from the date the qualifying lease is signed, and not from the deed. Nothing is refunded automatically.

Diário da República, in force 25 May 2026 · check it · read August 27, 2026

IMT rate where the acquirer is domiciled in a listed low-tax jurisdiction

10%

Article 17, paragraph 4 of the Código do IMT, in the wording given by Lei n.º 75-B/2020, de 31 de dezembro: the rate "é sempre de 10 %", with no exemption or reduction. Paragraph 10 is expressed without prejudice to paragraph 4, so where both would bite this one governs.

Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira, 2026 · check it · read August 27, 2026

IMT is the municipal tax on onerous transfers of immovable property, and on a Madeira purchase it is almost always the largest single line after the price. Property in the Autonomous Region is not assessed against the mainland table. It has its own, and the difference runs in the buyer's favour.

There is now a second half to that sentence, and for a buyer who is not tax-resident in Portugal it is the more important half. Since 25 May 2026 a buyer who is not tax-resident in Portugal is taken out of the bracket tables altogether on a housing purchase and charged a single flat rate. The regional advantage described below is real, and it is worth nothing to that buyer until they qualify for one of two ways back.

The tables are the ones in force for 2026, taken from the instruments themselves rather than from a summary of them. The flat rate above is recent enough that a source predating it will not mention it at all, which is the difference worth checking before trusting any figure on this subject.

The brackets sit a quarter higher, so the tax comes out lower

Every threshold in the regional tables, and every deductible parcel used in the computation, is 25% above the mainland equivalent. The rates themselves are unchanged. Because the ladder moves up while the rates stay put, the same purchase price falls into a lower band in Madeira than it would in Lisbon, and the tax is smaller.

The clearest illustration is the bottom of the permanent-residence table. On the mainland the exempt band ends at €106,346. In Madeira it runs to €132,933.

This is one of the few Madeira-specific rules that takes a cost away rather than adding one, which is unusual enough to say plainly: most of the regional differences on this island run the other way.

One caveat travels with all of it, and it is the next section: since 25 May 2026 a buyer who is not tax-resident in Portugal is charged a flat rate on housing instead of being put on this ladder at all.

The flat rate for non-residents, which replaces all of this

Everything above and below describes a ladder. Where the buyer is not tax-resident in Portugal, the ladder does not apply.

Decreto-Lei n.º 97/2026, de 20 de maio, rewrote article 17 of the Código do IMT and added a paragraph 10. In force since 25 May 2026, it provides that the rate is always 7.5% on the acquisition of an urban building, or an autonomous fraction of one, destined exclusively for housing, with no exemption or reduction of any kind, whenever the acquirer is not resident. It does not add a band to the table. It replaces the table.

That cuts against the rest of this page, so it is worth stating plainly: the regional uplift is a change to thresholds, and this provision does not use thresholds. A non-resident buying a flat in Funchal and a non-resident buying the same flat in Lisbon now pay the same rate on it. Residence, not nationality, is the test, and it is tested under article 16 of the Código do IRS.

The three situations it does not reach

Paragraph 10 lists them, and they are narrow.

The second and third are cures, not exemptions, and the distinction costs money. The full amount is paid at the deed either way. Paragraph 11 then has the Autoridade Tributária cancel the difference between what was paid and what the ordinary rates would have produced, and paragraph 12 requires the application to be made within 6 months of becoming resident, or of signing the lease. Nothing is refunded automatically, and that deadline runs from the qualifying event rather than from the purchase.

What it does not touch

The paragraph names urban property destined exclusively for housing. Rustic land, other urban property and the other onerous acquisitions set out further down keep their own flat rates, so a non-resident buying a plot to build on is not caught by it. A ruin classified as other urban property rather than as housing sits outside it too, and the caderneta predial is what settles which.

The rate that outranks it

Paragraph 10 opens by preserving paragraph 4, which charges 10%, again with no exemption or reduction, where the acquirer has its tax domicile in a country, territory or region on the Portuguese list of clearly more favourable tax regimes. Where both would apply, paragraph 4 governs. An earlier version of this page said that paragraph could not be located at source. It has since been read, and the figure is above.

Fiscal representation, the other rule non-residents ask about, is not a tax rate at all and changed in 2022. It is covered in the step-by-step buying guide.

Where the uplift comes from, and the claim that gets it wrong

The legal basis is the artigo único of Lei n.º 21/90, de 4 de agosto, a national law that uplifts the article 17 bracket tables of the Codigo do IMT for the Autonomous Regions of the Azores and Madeira. The Autoridade Tributária publishes the resulting tables in an administrative instruction, and the 2026 instruction states expressly that Tabelas IV, V and VI were drawn up in conformity with that artigo único.

It is not a regional decree

The Madeira regional budget for 2026, Decreto Legislativo Regional n.º 8/2025/M, contains articles on personal and corporate income tax only. It has no IMT article. The regional decree whose number is sometimes cited alongside Madeira tax figures, Decreto Legislativo Regional n.º 1/2026/M, sets the region's own minimum wage and has nothing to do with property transfer tax.

Any source that attributes the Madeira IMT brackets to a regional decree has misidentified the instrument, even where it prints the right numbers. That matters for a practical reason rather than a pedantic one: a reader who is told the wrong instrument cannot verify the figure, and will not know where to look when it changes.

When it changes

The regional thresholds move when the mainland ones move. The mainland figures are updated by the state budget law, and the Autoridade Tributária publishes the corresponding tables for the Continente and for both Autonomous Regions together. The tables on this page carry the date of the 2026 instruction, which is the date to check against.

Tabela IV: a permanent own residence in Madeira

Rates are marginal within the bands, then flat at the top.

The two lines at the bottom of that list are not marginal bands. Once the value crosses into them the single rate applies to the entire acquisition, which is why the tax jumps rather than steps at those two points.

Tabela V: a first permanent home, buyer aged thirty-five or under

There is no IMT at all up to €413,174 where the acquisition is a first permanent own residence and the buyer is aged thirty-five or under. That threshold is the same figure as the top of the fourth band in the ordinary table, which makes the relief a substantial one on this island.

Two conditions travel with it, and both are easy to miss. It has to be a first permanent own residence, not simply the buyer's first purchase, and not a property that will be lived in some of the time.

Tabela VI: second homes, holiday homes, and anything bought to let

This is the table a holiday home, a second home or a property bought to let falls into, and it has no exempt band. The charge starts at 1% from the first euro.

The band edges are identical to the permanent-residence table except in two places: the bottom, where the exemption becomes a charge, and the top of the 8% band, which ends at €792,414 here against €826,228 in Tabela IV.

Outside housing the tax is flat: 5% on rustic land, and 6.5% on other urban property and other onerous acquisitions. A ruin on a hillside plot is frequently the second of those rather than housing, and that changes the rate.

How the computation actually works

Under article 17, paragraph 3, of the Codigo do IMT, where the value exceeds the first band it is split in two: a part equal to the top of the highest band it fits into, taxed at that band's average rate, and the excess, taxed at the marginal rate of the next band. The published tables express the same arithmetic in the shorter form used at the counter, as a rate applied to the whole value with a fixed parcel deducted afterwards.

Those deductible parcels are uplifted by the same 25% as the thresholds. An otherwise correct calculation that takes the Madeira thresholds and the mainland parcels produces a wrong answer, and it is a common enough mistake that both columns should be read off the same table.

The value the rate is applied to is the higher of the contract price and the rateable value on the caderneta predial, under article 12 of the same code. Every other line of the transaction is in what it costs to buy in Madeira.

Questions people actually ask

Is IMT higher or lower in Madeira than on the mainland?

Lower, on the same purchase price. Every threshold in the regional tables sits 25% above the mainland equivalent while the rates stay the same, so a given price falls into a lower band. The exempt band for a permanent own residence ends at €106,346 on the mainland and at €132,933 in Madeira.

Does a Madeira regional decree set the IMT brackets?

No. The uplift is national: the artigo único of Lei n.º 21/90, de 4 de agosto, which covers both Autonomous Regions, applied to the article 17 tables of the Codigo do IMT and published each year by the Autoridade Tributária. The Madeira regional budget for 2026 carries articles on income tax only and contains no IMT article. Sources that attribute the brackets to a regional decree have the instrument wrong.

Do non-residents pay more IMT in Portugal?

Yes, since 25 May 2026, and the gap is large. Paragraph 10 of article 17 of the Código do IMT charges a flat 7.5% on urban property destined exclusively for housing where the acquirer is not resident, with no exemption or reduction, in place of the bracket table. Two routes give the difference back: becoming tax-resident in Portugal within 2 years of the acquisition, or letting the property for housing at a moderate rent on a qualifying lease. Both are claimed from the Autoridade Tributária afterwards, not applied at the deed. Paragraph 4 outranks both, at 10%, where the acquirer is domiciled in a listed jurisdiction.

Does Madeira's lower IMT table help a non-resident buyer?

Not while they remain non-resident. The regional advantage is an uplift of the thresholds in the bracket tables, and the flat 7.5% charged on housing under paragraph 10 does not use thresholds, so there is nothing for the uplift to move. It becomes worth something again if the buyer becomes tax-resident within 2 years and reclaims, because the refund is measured against the ordinary rates, which in Madeira are the regional ones.

What rate applies to buying land in Madeira?

Rustic land is taxed at a flat 5%, and other urban property and other onerous acquisitions at a flat 6.5%. Those flat rates sit outside the banded housing tables, so the regional uplift does not change them. A derelict building on a plot is often classified as other urban property rather than as housing, and the caderneta predial is what settles which.

Which value is the tax charged on?

The higher of the contract price and the valor patrimonial tributário recorded on the caderneta predial, under article 12 of the Codigo do IMT. Stamp duty on the acquisition uses the same base, and both are set out in what it costs to buy in Madeira.

Where this came from

  1. Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira: Oficio Circulado n.o 40129/2026, de 6 de janeiro — IMT tables for the Continente and the Autonomous Regions. info.portaldasfinancas.gov.pt/pt/informacao_fiscal/legislacao/instrucoe Read August 26, 2026.
  2. Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira: Codigo do IMT, consolidated text (arts. 12.o and 17.o). info.portaldasfinancas.gov.pt/pt/informacao_fiscal/codigos_tributarios/ Read August 26, 2026.
  3. Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira, Região Autónoma da Madeira: Taxas e beneficios fiscais — Continente and RAM columns side by side. at.madeira.gov.pt/ficheiros/RAM-TaxasBeneficios.pdf Read August 26, 2026.
  4. Região Autónoma da Madeira: Decreto Legislativo Regional n.o 8/2025/M — Orcamento da Região Autónoma da Madeira para 2026 (income tax articles only, no IMT article). at.madeira.gov.pt/Ficheiros/Diplomas/DLR/ORAM2026.pdf Read August 26, 2026.
  5. Diário da República: Decreto Legislativo Regional n.o 8/2025/M, DRE record. diariodarepublica.pt/dr/detalhe/decreto-legislativo-regional/8 Read August 26, 2026.
  6. Diário da República: Decreto Legislativo Regional n.o 1/2026/M, de 3 de fevereiro — the regional minimum wage decree, cited here only to show what it is not. files.diariodarepublica.pt/1s/2026/02/02300/0001400015.pdf Read August 26, 2026.
  7. Diário da República: Decreto-Lei n.º 97/2026, de 20 de maio — medidas de desagravamento fiscal para o fomento de oferta de habitação (artigo 6.º altera o artigo 17.º do Código do IMT). files.diariodarepublica.pt/1s/2026/05/09700/0001400040.pdf Read August 27, 2026.
  8. Diário da República: Decreto-Lei n.º 97/2026, de 20 de maio — DRE record. diariodarepublica.pt/dr/detalhe/decreto-lei/97-2026-1124493227 Read August 27, 2026.
  9. Autoridade Tributária e Aduaneira: Código do IMT, artigo 17.º — tabela das taxas, including n.º 4 and n.º 10. info.portaldasfinancas.gov.pt/pt/informacao_fiscal/codigos_tributarios/ Read August 27, 2026.

Read next