Exceptional legal regime for the redemption of savings plans without penalty until December 31, 2024

 Law no. 19/2022 of 21.10, as amended by Law no. 82/2023 of 29.12.2024, which approved the State Budget for 2024 (hereinafter the "Law"), establishes the following in its article 6 under the heading "redemption of savings plans without penalty", with effect from October 1, 2022, and until December 31, 2024:

1. Without prejudice to the provisions of paragraphs 1 to 4 of article 4 of Decree-Law no. 158/2002, of July 2 (Legal Regime of Savings Plans, hereinafter "LRSP"), until December 31, 2024 the value of retirement-savings plans (PPR - planos poupança-reforma), education-savings plans (PPE - planos poupança-educação), and retirement/education-savings plans (PPR/E - planos poupança-reforma/educação) can be redeemed up to the monthly limit of the SSI (Social Support Index) by the participants of these plans. Thus, during the period of application of this exceptional regime, there is no penalty in the reimbursement of those savings plans.
2. During 2023, the partial or total redemption of the value of the savings plans referred to above is permitted when paying installments on credit contracts secured by mortgage on property destined for the participant's own permanent home, as well as for installments of credit for the construction or improvement of property for own permanent homes, and deliveries to housing cooperatives in own permanent home solutions, whereby the participant is exempt from the obligation of a minimum of five years' permanence for mobilization without the penalty set out in 21.4 of the Tax Benefits Statute, and in the situations referred to in paragraphs b), c) and d) of 4.1 of the LRSP.
3. The provisions of the previous paragraph are also applicable, as of January 1, 2024, for the purposes of early repayment of the credit agreements referred to therein, up to the annual limit of 24 IAS, corresponding to 12,222.24 eur in 2024, cf. Ordinance no. 421/2023, of December 11, of 509.26 Eur.
4. The amount redeemed is determined, with the necessary adaptations, in accordance with the legislation and respective regulations applicable to savings plans and funds, depending on their nature, for that redemption, and in accordance with the provisions of the constitutive documents

Through Circulated Official Letter no. 20251 dated February 7, 2023, the Tax and Customs Authority also clarified that:

1. The reimbursement without IRS tax penalties, as per no. 1(6) above, may occur before the minimum immobilization period of 5 years established in nos. 2 and 3 of article 4 of LRSP, as long as they refer to amounts subscribed by the date of the entry into force of this Law, that is, by September 30, 2022.
2. Redemptions requested under number 1 of article 6 of the aforementioned Law do not preclude a taxpayer from requesting a redemption under the terms of article 4 of the LRSP. For this purpose, the taxpayer must comply with the legal requirements defined therein (in particular, the time criterion) and the IRS tax penalty will be applied.
3. The regimes foreseen in paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 6 of the Law apply cumulatively.
4. The monthly limit of the SSI is calculated per taxpayer and not per the policy or financial institution in which one of the savings products in question is subscribed. Therefore, it is only possible to request a monthly reimbursement up to the value of the SSI, and this monthly limit may result from more than one policy.
5. When applying to the financial institution for redemption, taxpayers must declare that the amount redeemed (alone or together with other policies) does not exceed the monthly SSI limit.

In 2024, through Circular Letter no. 20267, dated February 26, 2024, replaced by the one dated March 1, 2024, the Tax and Customs Authority introduced a new understanding regarding the situations in which redemption is possible under paragraphs 2 and 3 of article 6 of the Law, which results in the following:   

6. In the case of Article 6(2) of the above Law, only the redemption of subscriptions made up to December 31, 2022 can benefit from the exceptional regime;

7. In the case of Article 6(3) of the above Law, only the redemption of subscriptions made until June 27, 2023 can benefit from the exceptional regime.

No refund commissions will be charged by BBVA Mediación, Operador de Banca - Seguros Vinculado, S.A, the entity marketing retirement savings plans (PPR) under this exceptional and temporary scheme.

You can redeem your PPR under this exceptional legal regime until 31/12/2024, in person at a BBVA branch or by e-mail, following the steps below:

1. Fill in the applicable redemption request template, i.e:

• Redemption request form requested under Article 6(1) of the Law (up to the monthly limit of the IAS);  
• Redemption request form requested under Article 6(2) of the Law (payment of installments for covered loan agreements);
• Redemption request form requested under Article 6(3) of the Law (early repayment of credit agreements covered by the annual limit of 24 IAS).

You can look through the Frequently Asked Questions at the bottom of this page to clarify any doubts.

2. If the redemption request is made under articles no. 2 or no. 3, you must obtain the following documents before submission, where applicable:

• Civil Registry Certificate proving that the savings plan is a joint asset of the couple, taking into account the matrimonial property regime, in the case of joint ownership of the credit agreement covered; and/or
• If the credit agreement has not been signed with BBVA, a statement issued by the Other Credit Institution with information on the credit agreement.

3. Submit the redemption request in person at a BBVA branch or by e-mail to resgateppr.pt@bbva.com.

Once the duly completed and instructed redemption request has been received, it will be processed within the legally and contractually established deadlines.

The retirement savings plans (PPR) products covered by this regime are:

• BBVA Estratégia Capital PPR
• BBVA Estratégia Acumulação PPR
• BBVA Estratégia Investimento PPR
• CVI PPR
• M3 Capital PPR
• M3 Acumulação PPR
• M3 Investimento PPR
• BBVA 2025 RSP Bonds
• BBVA 2027 RSP Bonds

Information updated on March 1, 2024.