Circular Letter No. 35,170 of July 1, 2022 discloses the instructions for the fulfillment of the obligations and formalities established in Ordinance No. 331-E/2021, of December 31, regarding the payment of the contribution on single-use packaging.
We highlight the following:
- The contribution applies to single-use packaging for ready-to-eat meals, even if the meals have not been prepared at the point of sale of the final consumer;
- The chargeable event is the production, import and intra-community acquisition (acquisition from another member state of the European Union) of single-use packaging, including acquisition from the Autonomous Regions of the Azores and Madeira.
- The taxpayers of the contribution are the producers and importers of single-use packaging that have their registered office or permanent establishment in mainland Portugal, as well as the purchasers of the same packaging from suppliers that have their registered office or permanent establishment in the Autonomous Regions of the Azores and Madeira or in another member state of the European Union, that hold the status of authorized warehouse keeper and initially place such packaging in a tax warehouse.
- The acquisition of the status of authorized warehouse keeper, as well as the establishment of the tax warehouse, depends on an application to the competent customs office, upon presentation of the respective filled-out form, available in the customs area of the “Portal das Finanças”.
- However, the contribution on single-use packaging is only payable, in mainland Portugal, at the time of release for consumption, which corresponds to the sale of packaging by taxpayers.
- The release for consumption of single-use packaging (the act by which the taxpayer voluntarily declares to the administration the elements that allow the calculation and payment of the contribution) must be formalized:
- through the processing of the e-DIC (electronic Declaration of Introduction into Consumption) with assessment of the contribution;
- through the import customs declaration, in the import act, in the case of release for free circulation and consumption.
- The e-DIC with payment of the contribution must be processed quarterly, until the 5th day of the month following the end of each quarter of the calendar year in which the releases for consumption occurred. This is a globalized release for consumption, which allows the declaration, through a single e-DIC, of all releases for consumption (i.e., sales of packaging) that occurred during the reporting quarter.
- The tax assessment is notified electronically and automatically by the 15th day of the month of globalization (month following the quarterly reporting period), through a message made available in the taxpayer's reserved area on the excise duty platform at the “Portal das Finanças”, without prejudice to the rules for notification through the public notification service associated with the single digital address with a mention of the tax assessed and payable, in relation to the releases for consumption that occurred in the previous quarter.
- The payment of the contribution must be made by the 15th day of the second month following the calendar quarter to which the assessment relates;
Finally, the contribution on single-use packaging applies as of July 1, 2022, for plastic or multi-material packaging containing plastic, and as of January 1, 2023, for aluminum or multi-material packaging containing aluminum.
