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Calculadora Capital

Portuguese Surface Right Value

Portuguese tax law splits a property’s value between the owner of the building and the owner of the land.

The full property value is the taxable property value or the contract price, whichever is higher. The land value only matters for a perpetual right, because that is what article 13(f) of the CIMT applies its 20% to.

Surface right
€230,000.00
Ownership of the land
€20,000.00
Surface right as a share of the property92.00%
Land as a share of the property8.00%

The sum follows paragraphs (d) to (j) of article 13 of the CIMT and returns the taxable value of each right, not the tax. The IMT rates and the stamp duty headings are in their own calculators, and the compensation at the end of a fixed-term right follows the rules on unjust enrichment, which depend on the facts.

An educational estimate from the figures you enter. It does not replace the tax authority’s own valuation or advice from a lawyer.

Video: how to use the calculator

Two paragraphs, two different bases

This is where almost every published summary slips, and the difference is worth tens of thousands of euros on an ordinary building. Article 13(f) of the CIMT says that the value of the land, where the surface right is perpetual, corresponds to 20% of the value of the land. Note the word land: it is 20% of the ground, without the building standing on it. Paragraph (g) then obtains the surface right by deducting that figure from the full property value, so the surface holder ends up with the whole value of the building plus 80% of the value of the ground. Paragraph (h), which deals with a fixed-term right, instead applies its deduction to the full property value, that is to the land and the building together. The two bases coincide in only one case: when the land is still undeveloped and is itself worth the full property value. In every other case a perpetual right leaves the landowner far less than a long fixed-term one, which has a counter-intuitive consequence: on land that is already built on, a perpetual right is worth more to the surface holder than a 40-year one.

The five-year period is indivisible

Paragraph (h) requires 10% to be deducted for each indivisible five-year period, according to the time the right still has to run. The word indivisible does real work and is the second source of wrong sums: you do not pro-rate. A right with 22 years left counts five five-year periods, not four point four, so the deduction is 50% and not 44%. Any term between one day and five years counts as one period. The count rises in five-year steps, which means signing for 21 years instead of 20 changes the tax valuation of the right, while signing for 24 instead of 21 changes nothing at all. The deduction stops at 80%, which is reached at exactly 40 years, and it is the same convention the Code uses in paragraph (a) for a temporary usufruct, computed in our usufruct value calculator.

The annual payment is valued separately

Article 1530(1) of the Portuguese Civil Code allows the surface holder to pay, as the price, either a single sum or an annual payment, perpetual or for a fixed term, and paragraph 3 makes clear that those payments are always in money. Where such a payment exists, article 13 of the CIMT capitalises it in a paragraph of its own: paragraph (d) values the pension payable by the surface holder at eight tenths of its annual amount times the number of years it must run, subject to a limit of 20. We read that limit as a cap on the number of years counted, so a fixed-term payment is never worth more than 16 times the annual amount, and we say so rather than imply it. That reading is the only one consistent with paragraph (e), which values any perpetual payment at 20 times the annual amount: if the cap applied to something else, a fixed-term payment could end up worth more than a perpetual one of the same amount, which makes no sense.

What the calculator does, and what it leaves out

The calculator applies paragraphs (f) to (j) of article 13 of the CIMT and returns the value of each of the two rights, the percentage each represents and, where you enter an annual payment, its capitalised value under paragraph (d) or (e). What comes out is the taxable base rather than the tax: the transfer-tax brackets live in our IMT calculator and the stamp duty headings in our stamp duty calculator, because the same value serves both and which applies depends on whether the transfer is for consideration or a gift. Also left out is the determination of the taxable property value itself, which has its own calculator, and the compensation owed to the surface holder when a fixed-term right expires: article 1538(2) requires it to be computed under the rules on unjust enrichment, which depends on the facts, and the same provision lets the contract exclude it altogether.

Worked example

Picture urban land worth 100,000 EUR with a building on it, the full property being valued at 250,000 EUR. If the surface right is perpetual, ownership of the land is worth 20,000 EUR, that is 20% of the 100,000 EUR of land, and the surface right is worth the remaining 230,000 EUR, which is 92% of the property. If the right is for a fixed term with 30 years left, the sum changes base: six indivisible five-year periods give a 60% deduction from the full property value, so the land is worth 100,000 EUR and the surface right 150,000 EUR. With 40 years left the deduction hits its 80% ceiling and the surface right rises to 200,000 EUR, the most a fixed-term right can be worth, and still less than the 230,000 EUR of the perpetual right, because there the 20% applies to the land alone. If the contract provides for an annual payment of 1200 EUR to the landowner for 30 years, that payment is worth 19,200 EUR, because paragraph (d) counts at most 20 years: 0.8 times 1200 EUR times 20.

Frequently asked questions

How is the value of a surface right calculated in Portugal?
It depends on whether the right is perpetual or for a fixed term. If perpetual, you take 20% of the land value away from the full property value, and what remains is the surface right (article 13(f) and (g) of the CIMT). If for a fixed term, you deduct 10% from the full property value for each indivisible five-year period the right still has to run, up to a maximum of 80%, and that deduction is the value of the surface right (paragraphs (h) and (i)).
Why is a perpetual right worth more than a 40-year one?
Because the two rules do not share a base. In the perpetual case, the 20% left to the landowner applies only to the value of the LAND. In the fixed-term case, the maximum 80% deduction applies to the full property value, that is the land plus the building. On land worth 100,000 EUR carrying a building that takes the whole to 250,000 EUR, the perpetual right leaves the landowner 20,000 EUR and a 40-year right leaves 50,000 EUR. Only when the land is still undeveloped do the two sums agree.
Does a 22-year right count as 22 years?
No. Paragraph (h) speaks of indivisible five-year periods, so 22 years counts as five periods and the deduction is 50%, not the 44% a pro-rata would give. Any term up to five years counts as one full period. The count rises in steps, which means the difference between a 20-year and a 21-year contract changes the valuation, while the difference between 21 and 24 years changes nothing.
Who pays the property tax on land with a surface right?
Article 8(2) of the CIMI is explicit: in cases of usufruct or of a surface right, the tax is payable by the usufructuary or by the surface holder once construction of the works begins or the planting is completed. Before construction starts, the tax remains payable by the owner of the land. That is one reason why the date construction begins is usually written into the contract.
What if the surface holder pays an annual rent to the landowner?
That payment is valued separately. If it is for a fixed term, article 13(d) of the CIMT gives it a value of eight tenths of the annual amount multiplied by the number of years it must run, subject to a limit of 20, which we read as a cap on the number of years counted. If it is perpetual, paragraph (e) applies and it is worth 20 times the annual amount. A payment of 1200 EUR a year is worth at most 19,200 EUR as a fixed-term payment and 24,000 EUR as a perpetual one.
Is this figure the tax I will pay?
No. What the calculator produces is the taxable value, that is the base the tax is charged on. For a transfer for consideration, the IMT rates then apply, and they are in our IMT calculator. For a gift, the headings of the General Stamp Duty Table apply, and they are in our stamp duty calculator. Article 13 of the CIMT only settles how you arrive at the value of each right.
Are the calculator’s figures exact?
The percentages are those of paragraphs (d) to (j) of article 13 of the CIMT as currently in force, and they are not annual Budget figures, so they do not change from year to year. The result is an educational estimate from the figures you enter and does not replace the tax authority’s own valuation or advice from a lawyer. If you do not know the taxable property value, check the property tax register entry or use our taxable property value calculator.

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Author: Thorben Rasmus Idel · Reviewed by: Nahar Geva · Last reviewed: 2026-08-15