Authorities with access to electricity and water data in order to aggravate IMI – Express

In order to apply an IMI rate aggravated, municipalities will spent to access data from electricity, gas, water and telecommunications, allowing them to also know if a dwelling is or is not vacant, says the “Jornal de Notícias” Wednesday.

according to the new law, which came into force in March, when the State Budget for 2016 for the purposes of the rate of municipal tax on real estate, “the telecommunications companies, gas, electricity and water must send to municipalities by October 1 of each year, a yearly updated list of the absence of contracts or low consumption per urban building or autonomous fraction. ”

With this measure, the Tax Authority and Customs can triangulate the data and see if a property is in the name of the owner or a third party if there is a lease or rent communication log. If inconsistencies are detected, the owners will be called to clarify the situation.

This change will also have much impact on the tax authorities. The supervisory authority of the State can detect undeclared incomes and escapes the tax. The fight against parallel incomes is one of the priorities of the plan to combat fraud and tax evasion.