The Tax Authority lost the appeal, with the Central Administrative Court of the North maintaining the first instance decision and determining that all properties in the former parishes of Sé, São Nicolau, Miragaia and Vitória are exempt.
The Central Administrative Court of the North (TCAN) decided that properties located in the former parishes of Sé, São Nicolau, Miragaia and Vitória, in Porto, benefit from exemption from Municipal Property Tax (IMI), contradicting the interpretation of the Tax and Customs Authority (AT).
According to reports, the case originated from a lawsuit filed by a company that contested the IPTU charge for the year 2011, in the amount of about 16 thousand eurosreferring to buildings located in the former parishes of Sé and São Nicolau. AT argued that the exemption should only apply to properties located within the area specifically delimited by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, arguing that not all of the territory of the former parishes is part of this listed area.
However, the TCAN judges rejected this interpretation. In the ruling, the court concludes that the properties in question are part of the set of the Historic Center of Portolisted by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site and nationally recognized as a National Monument. For this reason, it considered that the buildings covered automatically benefit from the exemption provided for in the Tax Benefits Statute.
The decision also highlights that no individual classification is required of each property for the exemption to be applied, as long as the buildings are integrated into protected areas covered by the heritage classifications recognized by law. The court adds that communicating the classification to the tax authorities is the responsibility of cultural heritage entities, not the owners.
The Tax Authority appealed the initial decision of the Porto Administrative and Fiscal Court, alleging errors in the assessment of the evidence and in the interpretation of the law. However, the TCAN maintained the understanding of the first instancealso relying on previous decisions of the Supreme Administrative Court and the court itself, handed down in similar cases involving properties located in the Historic Center of Porto.
The sentence is seen as another step towards consolidating jurisprudence into a dispute that has been going on for around two decades between owners, municipalities and tax administration. The controversy gained a new dimension in 2020, when legislative changes raised doubts about the maintenance of automatic exemption from IMI in classified historic centers.
