portutax.com
Presents the closed regime as open“the NHR regime is expected to be available for new applicants in 2026”
Page dated January 26, 2026 · Not linked, on purpose.
What we found
- The 5 % corporate rate is real and it is a jobs instrument. The statute caps how much income the rate may touch, by headcount — from 2,73 M€ at one or two jobs to 205,50 M€ above a hundred. Almost nothing written about the regime mentions the cap.
- Portugal’s Non-Habitual Resident regime closed to new entrants on 1 January 2024. Of three prominent pages we read on the checked date, one still tells a 2026 reader it is “expected to be available”.
- The median full-time wage in the region was 1 406,81 € a month in 2024. Median housing in Funchal was 3 346 € per square metre in the third quarter of 2025. Both numbers come from the same statistics office.
- The most recent published figure for tourism’s share of regional gross value added is for 2019. Everything else on this page is from 2024 or 2025. That gap is not our omission — it is the state of the record.
The economy in numbers
One row per figure, each with the office that published it and the period it covers. Where a figure is older than the rest, it says so.
Overnight stays, all tourist accommodation
12,9 M
Tourist accommodation revenue
887,1 M€
Regional GDP
7,5 mil M€
GDP per head, national average = 100
107,2
Tourism’s share of regional gross value added
16,2 %
This is the newest published figure, not a current one. Nothing more recent exists.
Resident population
259 440
Ageing index, older people per 100 young
178,7
Average monthly earnings, full-time
1 406,81 €
Median housing price, region
2 512 €/m²
Median housing price, Funchal
3 346 €/m²
Median price paid by buyers resident abroad for tax
3 523 €/m²
Renewables share of electricity generated
36,4 %
| Overnight stays, millions | Value |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 11.2 M |
| 2024 | 12 M |
| 2025 | 12.9 M |
The two numbers to hold together
Average full-time earnings of 1 406,81 € a month, and a median square metre in Funchal at 3 346 €/m². Buyers whose tax residence is abroad paid 3 523 €/m² per square metre in the same quarter, against 2 456 €/m² for buyers resident in Portugal. All four figures are from the regional statistics office.
Renewables share of electricity generated
Renewables reached 36,4 % of electricity generated in 2025, the highest since the series began in 2009. The remainder is thermal generation on imported fuel.
The tax regime that brings companies here
Read from Artigo 36.º-A do Estatuto dos Benefícios Fiscais rather than from a brochure. Entities licensed in the Madeira Free Zone between January 1, 2015 and December 31, 2026 are taxed at 5 % corporation tax until December 31, 2033.
What you have to actually do
Activity has to begin within 6 months — 12 for industry, shipping and air transport. Then one of two routes: create between 1 and 5 jobs in the first six months and invest at least 75 000 € in fixed assets within 2 years, or create 6 or more jobs in the first six months and face no investment floor.
The ceiling nobody quotes
The rate is not the whole benefit. The statute caps the taxable income the rate may be applied to, and the cap is set by how many jobs you created. This is what makes the regime an employment instrument rather than a discount.
| Jobs created | Maximum taxable income at the reduced rate |
|---|---|
| 1–2 | 2,73 M€ |
| 3–5 | 3,55 M€ |
| 6–30 | 21,87 M€ |
| 31–50 | 35,54 M€ |
| 51–100 | 54,68 M€ |
| > 100 | 205,50 M€ |
The approval window, and what we could not confirm
The extension to 2033 was approved nationally on November 20, 2025 and published by the centre’s own managing company on November 26, 2025. Companies must be licensed by the end of 2026 to reach it.
What the European Commission has published about this scheme is a decision of December 4, 2020 concluding that the previous regime had not been implemented in line with the approved conditions, with recovery of the aid concerned.
We could not verify a published Commission decision authorising the extension to 2033. That is a statement about our search on July 27, 2026, not a statement that no such decision exists — but anyone planning around the 2033 date should ask for it in writing.
The regime that ended, and the one that replaced it
Portugal’s Non-Habitual Resident regime closed to new entrants on January 1, 2024. A transitional window for people already in motion ended on March 31, 2025. Neither date is in the future.
Its successor is IFICI, under Artigo 58.º-A do Estatuto dos Benefícios Fiscais, regulated by Portaria n.º 352/2024/1, de 23 de dezembro and amended by Portaria n.º 52-A/2025/1, de 25 de fevereiro. It taxes qualifying Portuguese-source employment and business income at 20 % for 10 consecutive years, and registration must be filed by 15 de janeiro of the year after you become resident.
The difference that decides most cases: the successor is limited to listed research, innovation and qualified-employment activities, and pensions are outside it. Income from low-tax jurisdictions is taxed at 35 %. A retiree who was sold the old regime is not being offered the same thing.
Three pages we read, and what each of them said
Read on July 27, 2026. Hosts are named and deliberately not linked — naming a page as out of date and then sending you to it would defeat the purpose.
getgoldenvisa.com
Live instructions for a deadline long past“Applying for NHR Until March 31, 2025”
Not linked, on purpose.
countrytaxcalc.com
Right conclusion, wrong date“the Portuguese government closed the original NHR program to new applicants on December 31, 2024”
Not linked, on purpose.
The tech bet
Startup Madeira runs the region’s incubation and acceleration programmes from the university campus in Funchal, along with the digital-nomad programme, an innovation hub and a retreat. The research agency ARDITI sits alongside it. Those are the bodies; the numbers below are the only published ones we found.
The Digital Nomad Village, verified
Still operating at Ponta do Sol. The free working space is at Centro Cultural John dos Passos, Villa Passos, Rua Príncipe D. Luís 3, 9360-218 Ponta do Sol, open 09:00 to 18:00, and has run since February 1, 2021.
The project publishes one number: more than 300 people through the working space. It is cumulative since 2021 and self-reported, and it is usually quoted as though it were annual. We could not find any official count of companies or of nomads resident in the region.
The stated direction
The published commitments, quoted with their dates and nothing added.
Plano de Desenvolvimento Económico e Social da RAM 2030 (PDES 2030), Decreto Legislativo Regional n.º 17/2020/M
The region’s economic and social development plan to 2030, adopted by regional decree. It organises itself around five policy objectives: a smarter and more competitive region, a greener one, a more connected one, a more social and inclusive one, and one closer to its citizens.
December 30, 2020 · IDR — Instituto de Desenvolvimento Regional, IP-RAM
Programa Madeira 2030 (FEDER 441 M€ + FSE+ 319 M€)
The cohesion-policy programme that funds much of the above, authorised by the European Commission with an envelope of 441 M€ from the regional development fund and 319 M€ from the social fund.
December 14, 2022 · Programa Madeira 2030 · 760 M€
Artigo 349.º do Tratado sobre o Funcionamento da União Europeia
Madeira is an outermost region under the Treaty, which is the legal basis both for the tax regime above and for the region-specific funding it receives. It is the reason the arithmetic of this island is not the arithmetic of a mainland region.
Programa Madeira 2030
Announced, and delivered
What was committed to, at what number and by when, against where each stands on the checked date. Where the current position could only be found in press reporting, the row says so.
Central and University Hospital of Madeira
Under wayThe design contract dates from 2007. Ground was broken in 2023. The first two construction phases were awarded at 18,86 M€ and 74,70 M€; the tender for the final phase carries a base price of 415 M€.
Atlantic CAM submarine cable
Under wayThe cable that carries the island’s connectivity to the mainland. Contracted in March 2024; the investment was reprogrammed upward by council resolution in 2025.
Current position from press reporting; no official page confirmed it on the checked date.
Porto Santo marina concession
DeliveredConcession formalised and running. The winning proposal was an annual payment of 212 000 €, over a fifteen-year term.
Ferry line to the mainland
Announced, not startedA regular passenger and vehicle line between the region and the mainland has been committed to repeatedly. We could not verify a contracted operator on the checked date.
Current position from press reporting; no official page confirmed it on the checked date.
Curral das Freiras cable car
In procurementA cable car, adventure park and zip line under a single concession. The figure has moved from the 2022 estimate; the current status could not be confirmed from an official page.
Current position from press reporting; no official page confirmed it on the checked date.
Madeira 2030 programme
Under wayAuthorised in December 2022. We could not verify how much of the envelope has been contracted or paid.
| Hospital construction contracts, millions of euros | Value |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 18.9 M€ |
| 2022 | 74.7 M€ |
| 2026 | 415 M€ |
Governance, as dated events
Public acts with dates, described by the office each one touched. No individual is named here, and no party.
A judicial-police search operation in the region; the holder of the office of President of the Regional Government was constituted arguido in a Public Prosecutor investigation into suspected corruption and related offences.
The holder of that office announced his resignation two days later, and submitted it three days after that without immediate effect.
After a censure motion and a dissolution, an early regional election was held; a new Regional Government took office in April 2025.
The Lisbon Court of Appeal found strong indications of corruption, undue receipt of advantage and qualified tax fraud in respect of three individuals — a former Vice-President of the Regional Government who later held the office of Mayor of Funchal, and two company directors — reversing a decision of the investigating judge from February 2024. The holder of the office of President of the Regional Government is not among the three.
On the checked date we could not locate either a charge or an archiving decision in the investigation in which the President of the Regional Government was constituted arguido. That is a statement about our search, not about the file.
Everyone referred to above is presumed innocent. Being constituted arguido is a procedural status that confers rights on its holder; it is not a finding of guilt, and this page takes no position on any of it.
Who to contact, each one fetched
Every address below returned HTTP 200 over https on July 27, 2026. Where an older address for the same body is still in circulation, it is named beside the working one.
- Direção Regional de Estatística da Madeira (DREM) (opens in a new tab)
Funchal
- Sociedade de Desenvolvimento da Madeira (SDM) — CINM (opens in a new tab)
Funchal · [email protected]
www.sdm.pt — redirects here
- Instituto de Desenvolvimento Empresarial, IP-RAM (IDE) (opens in a new tab)
Funchal · +351 291 202 170 · [email protected]
ideram.pt — no working host
- Startup Madeira (opens in a new tab)
Campus da Penteada, 9020-105 Funchal · +351 291 723 000 · [email protected]
- Digital Nomads Madeira Islands (opens in a new tab)
Ponta do Sol
- Empresa na Hora (opens in a new tab)
www.empresanahora.pt — no working host
- Espaço Empresa (opens in a new tab)
eportugal.gov.pt/espaco-empresa — redirects to a page that returns 404
- ARDITI — Agência Regional para o Desenvolvimento da Investigação, Tecnologia e Inovação (opens in a new tab)
Funchal · +351 291 721 220 · [email protected]
- Instituto de Desenvolvimento Regional, IP-RAM (IDR) (opens in a new tab)
Funchal
- Programa Madeira 2030 (opens in a new tab)
Asked for, and not listed
- The young entrepreneurs’ association. Its domain answered our checker with HTTP 403 on the checked date, so we could not confirm what it currently publishes. It may well be live in a browser; we do not list what we cannot fetch.
- The national business-counter page does not name a location on Madeira. An address for a business formalities centre in Funchal circulates on directory sites; we could not confirm it from an official page.
- We could not pin a stable official URL for the regional economy secretariat itself on the checked date. The business development institute above sits under it and is the operative contact.