Following a request for a preliminary ruling from the Portuguese Tax Arbitration Court (CAAD), on 6 February the CJEU sanctioned the ISV regime currently in force. According to the European Court, the discount on cylinder capacity and the environmental part of the ISV must be the same for all second-hand cars imported from the EU and must not exceed the amount of tax applied to similar domestic vehicles.
Currently, the Tax Authorities apply different tables, with smaller reductions in the environmental part, which results in illegal collection and generates more revenue for the tax authorities.
Therefore, taxpayers who bought a car under these conditions after 1 January 2021 might be entitled to a reimbursement of part of the tax paid, up to around 20% of the environmental component of the ISV, by filing an administrative claim before the Tax Authorities or a judicial claim in the tax courts, within four years of the tax assessment date.
Tax Department
Sofia Quental | Inês Grácio | Flávia Almeida | Catarina Amaral
