Good afternoon to you all and welcome to this week’s Member Briefing, which once again includes more warnings of frauds and scams. It seems that they are never-ending and cover ever more aspects of our daily lives. This one even includes yet another new phrase, “smishing”! The one constant seems to be that they always prey on fear of being in trouble with the authorities, which of course no-one wants to get involved with. Our message as always is don’t click on things or reply to e-mails. If in any doubt at all, contact the organisation that is apparently sending you the message and confirm with them.
I wanted to take a moment in this week’s Briefing to pay tribute to one of our council members and in fact all of the Members who give their time freely to take part in the decision making for afpop. Often the commitment of those who give their time to deliberate on the Management and Fiscal councils (MC/FC), goes unnoticed. One of that number, Doug McAdam of the FC is standing down at the end of this month, after serving on the council for 15 years.
Members on both councils give their time freely and without compensation. Whilst expenses can be paid they have almost never been claimed, with council members volunteering their time and skills to helping to create the right direction for the Association. The fact that Doug has served for 15 years is remarkable and should be acknowledged with gratitude. So on behalf of the Members and I know also for my colleagues on the MC and FC, thank you Doug and to your long-suffering wife Sue, who has supported you so admirably.
Here is this week’s information:
AIMA bookings
You may have seen that AIMA (Agência para Integração Migrações e Asilo) has made a booking form available for appointments for change of details on the Residency cards or loss of the card: https://contactenos.aima.gov.pt/contact-form.
The form can be used if you have a Residency with a 9-digit number and if you want to inform AIMA about changes (alteração de dados) like your address/name or if you lost your card and want to request a new one (2a via):
• Change of details – You must attach a proof of the reason for the change
• Lost card – You must attach a police report
You will also need to submit a copy of passport and Residency card in the field provided.
AIMA also announced that EU citizens can use this contact form to apply for appointments for renewal of their Certificate of Residency (CRUE) or their Residency Card, however since the contact form only accepts Residency numbers with 9 digits, at present this does not work for EU citizens, as no CRUE has a 9-digit number and older versions of the Residency Cards (which are up for renewal now) don't have 9-digit numbers either.
We have written to AIMA about this problem and if we have more information, we will inform our Members in our next briefings.
IMI and IRC deadline extended
Due to problems encountered by the Tax Authority in issuing IMI notifications caused by the electricity blackout, the government has extended the first IMI payment deadline for this year to the end of June. The new dates are:
until 30th of June – 1st instalment
until 1st of September – 2nd instalment
until 2nd of December – 3rd instalment.
Although the 2024 IMI collection notifications that are being issued and sent include the month of May as the deadline, its payment can be made during the month of June, without any additional penalties.
More information about IMI is available in our Information Bulletin T02.
Also, considering the aforementioned temporary difficulties in accessing the Finance Portal and the proximity of the new deadlines for complying with tax obligations in terms of IVA, which affected the work of companies and accountants in completing the IRC income tax return (Modelo 22), the Government has also extended the deadline for complying with this obligation until 16th of June.
Alojamento Local insurance
We already mentioned in our previous briefings that Civil Liability insurance for Alojamento Local (AL) has always been mandatory. We have now received information from ALEP, the Alojamento Local association, that all AL owners must submit their insurance details on the Gov.pt platform. You can scroll down to select your district and municipality.
The submission of this required insurance will be used to verify active registrations. Those who haven't sent their insurance, risk having their AL status marked as inactive, and their registration could be cancelled. There is no legal deadline for submitting the insurance on the platform. Since the submission system has been available for several weeks now, it's highly recommended that you submit your insurance as soon as possible.
The insurance has to be renewed every year and proof needs to be uploaded to the Gov.pt platform after it has been renewed or changed. Be aware that municipalities can request proof of insurance at any time. If there's no response within three days, your AL registration may be cancelled.
False accident scam
PSP (Polícia Segurança Pública) is warning for a FALSE ACCIDENT SCAM. The victims are usually elderly people, who are being coerced into handing over monetary sums through intimidation and/or physical threats.
The most common modus operandi used by the suspects is to approach the victim when they are manoeuvring their vehicle, particularly in car parks at large shopping centres, claiming that the victim has hit their vehicle, requesting immediate compensation
Situations might also arise when there is no direct involvement of vehicles and instead the suspect claims to have been hit by a car, with damage which usually already existed before the alleged collision.
When it comes to car damage, while still with the victim, the fraudster might simulate a telephone call to a repair shop, reporting the damage and pretending to receive a quote, which he then passes on to the victim.
Always be alert and the PSP urges you to report any crimes you become aware of.
SNS 24 smishing scam
The Shared Services of the Ministry of Health (SPMS) has issued a warning about fraudulent SMS messages falsely claiming to be from the SNS 24 Line. These messages ask recipients to make payments via ATM (Multibanco) within five days.
This deceptive scheme, known as 'smishing,' uses the SNS 24 name to manipulate recipients into making improper payments.
The SPMS advises anyone receiving such a message to avoid making any payment, refrain from responding, and delete the message. The SPMS confirmed that measures are already being taken by the relevant authorities.
Additionally, the SPMS reminded citizens that services provided by the SNS 24 Line (808 24 24 24) are completely free.
Food bank collection (BACF)
As we advised Members in the April edition of UPDATE magazine, the first of the Banco Alimentar food collections will take place on the weekend of 30th of May to 1st of June. Their collections will take place across the country in supermarkets over that weekend and you will be able to identify the staff by their blue tabards.
Anyone who might like to volunteer can do so by visiting the BACF website, www.bancoalimentar.pt and clicking on the tab “Quero Ser Voluntário” (I want to volunteer) and completing the form. It’s in Portuguese but very simple to follow and you can choose if you want to volunteer in the supermarket or at the distribution centre and when you click on ENVIAR at the bottom, your details will be recorded.
Please don’t be put off if you don’t speak Portuguese, as many of the people you’ll come into contact with will be from the foreign resident community.
Bathing season
There are 605 beaches suitable for swimming this summer, 20 are already open and another 55 will open by the end of the month. The others open from June.
The municipality of Cascais is once again the first to open the bathing season in mainland Portugal.
With more than 400 Portuguese beaches with a blue flag in 2025 that meet a set of requirements for environmental quality, safety, well-being, support infrastructure, information for users and environmental awareness. Distinguished beaches and marinas are authorised to display the flag offered by FEE (Environmental Education Foundation) during the summer season. It can therefore be considered a symbol of quality assurance for a beach or marina.
Please see HERE the complete list of places awarded with a blue flag.
You can also view live and in real time all the changes in the state of the sea and the beach through the livecam network.
Land clearance reminder
The final date for land clearance is 31st of May. After that time the local authorities can start clearing any land still not done and send the landowner the invoice for the work.
More information on the website: https://portugalchama.pt/en/cleaning (please note that the deadline on the website has not been changed yet).
AFPOP Presents…
Unfortunately, interest in our proposed presentations on breast wellness was not as big as we anticipated and sadly we had to take the decision to cancel the events, scheduled for the 9th of May and 9th of June in Lagos and Tavira, but we intend to try again after the summer.
We apologise for the inconvenience and hope you can join us if we are able to hold the event later.
New Fiscal Council member
We are pleased to welcome a new member to the Fiscal Council (FC). Nigel Jenkins has been co-opted to the FC to replace Doug McAdam, who is stepping down after 15 years on the council. Nigel’s business background and also his involvement with two owners’ associations will no doubt be a great benefit to his new role on the Fiscal Council.
Our sincere thanks to Doug for his sterling service to afpop for the last 15 years and our best wishes to him and Sue for the future.
Satellite Offices
If you need advice or assistance, wish to introduce a new Member to the Association, need to renew your subscription or just have a general query, please pass by and see us. We ask you to make an appointment and to inform us about your enquiry, so staff can come prepared to assist you. Please contact the afpop office to make an appointment on 282 458 509 or info@afpop.com.
The next dates of the Satellites are:
Lagos – Monday 26th of May between 10h00 and 12h30 (premises of MediLagos on R. José Ferreira Canelas, which is behind the Câmara building)
- Almancil - Tuesday 27th of May between 10h00 and 12h30 (premises of MEDAL Seguros)
Disclaimer
afpop considers in good faith that all the information provided is true and accurate after having endeavoured to so confirm to the best of its ability. However, afpop is not qualified to render any technical advice, recommendation or information, nor is it under any legal duty to do so. Therefore, afpop declines any responsibility for possible damages arising directly or indirectly to members or non-members from alleged incorrect or misleading advice, recommendation or information and strongly advises all members to seek always the services of qualified practitioners and/or professionals for any technical matters, such practitioners and/or professionals being exclusively responsible for possible damages arising from their activity, including their technical opinions that may be inserted in our publications.