Hi,

Can anyone tell me the current tax laws of playing online poker in Portugal?

Are winnings only taxed if you state it's your profession? Or are they not taxed at all?

I've came across a couple of sources on 2p2 suggesting it's not taxed, but I don't know if any laws have been changed in recent years.

Thanks!

No one ever answered that???

So here's the situation. I was considering moving there from France when that horrible regulation hit us there.

There are actually (YET) no laws, notaxes so you can go there, connect to PS or whatever room, play, wire your money on a Portugese bank account if you need etc no problem.

The government is currently asking himself what to do with online poker, but as they are dealing with much bigger problems like a huge financial crisis, it might take some time.

Most likely it will end up like Germany, where you play the PS.com player pool trough the .eu software.

It's actually one of the top spot where a player (at least with a EU passport) can go. EU citizens can stay there undefinitely without questions asked. If you come from the rest of the world, you are either a tourist (can stay as long as your visa says), or you have to go trough immigration process. In the last case, without a recognized employer that justifies why he hires you and not a EU citizen, it might be hard to stay.

If you make it, you enjoy standard european quality of life at mexico prices, under the sun and on some of europe's most beatifull beaches.

If your only concern is to find the country that is most likely to never forbid or create weird regulations or ask a dollar out of your winnings, UK is THE no + spot, but life's Monaco expensive (at least in London).

Hope this helps

and to be more specific with the .eu pokerstars software, it's not taxed in the EU countries that use it (germany, finland, sweden etc...), because it's europe based

Supposedly it will be regulated until the end of the year, but no one know what will happen. There's a lot of pressure from Santacasa and local casinos to close down the market, we'll see.

ATM you can play wherever you want, withdraw to a Portuguese bank, use Neteller/Skrill, etc, with no problems.

Hope it doesn't change!!

probably will be regulated. the general problem in the eu, outside of eg. ireland that has worse weather, higher costs but, as in the uk, has no poker tax and allows all sites and one can basically stay as long as one wants as long as earning a living. some like malta or gibraltar but i find them small or 2nd rate and limited as smaller and sites that operate from there figure to be out of reach. eu was a nice place, plus had the us players, but then it all changed and is ever getting worse.

Thanks a lot for the responses guys!

I'm actually a UK SNG grinder and I'm moving to Albufeira in Algarve to live in around 2 weeks for hopefully at least half a year so fingers crossed the laws don't change!

RE Hilips:"Supposedly it will be regulated until the end of the year" - you mean, supposedly it WONT be regulated until the end of the year, right?

RE Babaz: So take Spain for instance where they play on the Spanish Pokerstars, players will have to pay tax because of the regulation and fact it's only Spanish players? But any country playing on the .EU version won't ever encounter tax, is that correct, or just LIKELY the case?

Thanks again guys,

Much appreciated

No Mikey, it will be regulated until the end of this year. That's the latest news, but who knows. We are in a big crisis here in Portugal, as you might know, and there are more important things to worry about. Maybe they forget about online poker for a while? Fingers crossed.

Btw, a lot of Spanish players moved to Portugal, since they regulate online poker. That's how good the regulation was in Spain.

If i were you, i would move here. Sun, beaches, better prices in everything (?) compared to UK, unregulated online Poker, etc. When and if online Poker gets regulated, you deal with that then.

i find them small or 2nd rate and limited as smaller and sites that operate from there figure to be out of reach.

Spanish players don't pay taxes on their winnings, nor do french players in France. Taxes are paid directly on the rake. Whatever you win in France or Spain is yours.

The reason why spanish people or we french move abroad is (mostly) because of the field. Less players, so less payouts on tourneys (biggest weekly tourneys are 50-100k), again because of the field the only high stakes SNGs or cash games players you will find are a few regs/pros, and when I say high stakes I should say "highest stakes available", as it can not legally exceed 25/50.

The list of why it sucks to play in France is actually endless.

If you want sun, go to Portugal or Malta, but again, in Europe, UK is the online poker heaven

Mikey, if you are there only 6 month don't worry, nothing will change that quickly...you will be able to play. Algarve is so cool, the food, the beaches, the girls, have fun mate.

How is the traffic on PokerStars.pt? (is it called so, the client?)

Good action on low and medium levels, including SNG, CG MTTs?

Hmm, not regulated means it is .com I guess.

You guessed right.

I know this is an old thread, but just wanted to say great thread, good info...
Am considering maybe making the move there some day, but nothing will happen this year for me, so no hurry.

But any update on the regulation laws or what?

The goverment reached the conclusion that he will have to spend a lot of money to regulate online gambling so is not worth it to go ahead at this time.

I've been to twenty countries in the last year alone and Portugal remains my favourite in the world.. Enjoy it! Go to Sagres when you get the chance op. Oh my, what a beach.

its taxed i believe!

Don't, then. It's not taxed at all. I've cashed out all my earnings from poker and I didnt pay a single cent of taxes. If you use e-wallets such as Skrill, you will not be taxed at all. Even if you withdraw to your bank, I dont think there are any fees (and if there are, its from the bank part).

It will not be taxed, at least, untill 2015. Government is not focused on it right now, and it takes **** loads of time to work on this stuff.

Come and enjoy Portugal, no worries at least for the time being.

gl

I live in the Algarve and grind SnGs on Stars on a daily basis. Never had any problems withdrawing to my bank account. With that said, I never withdraw more than an average wage at any given time.

As far as I know there's no new laws regarding online poker taxes expected for the near future.

If anyone is planning on making the move over here and you're the kinda person that enjoys the sun and nightlife (and all that comes with it ), then Albufeira is the place to be! There's a place called the strip (oura), that's literally a strip of bars, restaurants and clubs. A word of advice though, the police (GNR) over here don't mess around, especially when it comes to fights and "piss heads" causing trouble.

If anyone needs info. regarding the Algarve, let me know. Happy to help out if I can.

You will be setting a precedent as the first player in Portugal's history to turn a profit.
Jk calm down guys.

http://pokerfuse.com/news/law-and-re...ulation-12-11/

The head of the Portuguese gaming regulator Santa Casa da Misericordia de Lisboa has given an extensive interview in which he says that he is ready for the implementation of new gambling laws. [early 2014]

I can't read that article in Pokerfuse, but i can read the full interview in Portuguese.

He said if the government gives them (Santa Casa) the control for the exploration of sports betting, they are ready to start it. Which is not really surprising, since they have already the monopoly of gambling in Portugal.

But they aren't the only ones interested in it, and nothing as been decided, at least officially and publicly, how the legislation will work. The only thing we know is that the government has included online gambling legislation in their plans for 2014.

There are some rumors that they will not do anything at this time, because apparently is not worth it. I guess we'll see.

Just hoping Santa Casa doesn't take control of everything, or will be the end of online poker as we know it today.

Thanks that is what I was hoping for as I am in same position. Do you have a link to the Portuguese report so I can have a go with Google translate?

http://www.mdpoker.pt/noticias-poker...online-em-2014

Not sure if this is the article you want but it's the one I read. Google translator should do the job but if not I can translate it for you later, just let me know.

Basically, there's been a mention of it, yeah, but nothing set in stone. I personally can't see them going ahead with it.

lol what?