Updated 22 September 2026 · 5 min read
Patrimonial value: the number behind your council tax bill, and how to challenge it
Three taxes are calculated from one figure most owners have never looked at. It can be re-assessed on request, free, every three years.
By ATLANTIC’s property tax team
The patrimonial value, known in Portugal as the VPT, is the figure the tax authority holds for your property. Your annual council tax (IMI) is a percentage of it, the additional council tax (AIMI) is charged on it, and it sets the floor for property transfer tax (IMT) when the property changes hands. It can also be wrong.
Where the number comes from
The VPT is not an opinion and not a valuation in the ordinary sense. It is the output of a formula, and the formula has six inputs.
A base construction value per square metre, set nationally. The area of the property. A coefficient for what the property is used for. A coefficient for its location. A coefficient for its quality and comfort — a lift, a garage, a swimming pool all move it. And a coefficient for its age.
The last of those is the one that matters most to an owner who has held a property for years, because it falls as the building gets older. A patrimonial value calculated when the property was new, and never revisited since, carries an age coefficient that stopped being accurate a long time ago.
You can ask for it to be recalculated
An owner may request a new assessment every three years, free of charge, by filing a form known as Modelo 1 through the tax authority’s online portal. No reason has to be given, and there is no fee.
It is one of the few places in Portuguese property tax where an owner can reduce a recurring bill by filling in a form.
And it can go the other way
A re-assessment recalculates every coefficient, not only the favourable one. If the area has improved since the last assessment, the location coefficient may have risen. If works were carried out and declared, the quality coefficient may have risen with them. Either can outweigh the fall in the age coefficient.
So the sequence matters: work out what the new figure would be before asking for it, not afterwards. The request cannot be withdrawn once the new value is set.
What it moves, and by how much
Council tax is charged annually at a rate each municipality sets, within a national band, on the patrimonial value. The additional council tax is charged on the same figure above €600,000. And when the property is sold, property transfer tax is charged on the higher of the price and the patrimonial value — so an inflated figure can raise the tax a buyer pays, which is a matter the seller discovers at the worst moment.
One figure, three taxes, and a form that can change it. It is worth an afternoon.
Key takeaways
- The patrimonial value is calculated by formula, and its age coefficient falls as the building gets older.
- A re-assessment can be requested free of charge every three years, using Modelo 1.
- It can also increase the figure — simulate before requesting, because the request cannot be withdrawn.
Sources: Código do IMI, artigos 38.º a 46.º e 130.º; Portal das Finanças.
Since this was written
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This article provides general information and does not constitute tax advice.