THE TAXATION OF COOPERATIVES INCOME IN PORTUGAL

Abstract

Co-operatives are subject to corporate tax. According to the income tax act, the taxable base of cooperatives is formed by “profit” which includes cooperative surplus. This is the first issue analyzed in this paper. On the other hand, cooperatives
benefit from a generous exemption regime, organized in two groups based on cooperative activity. For the first group of cooperatives, the exemption depends on the condition that the cooperative is predominantly mutualistic oriented. For
the second group there is no such requirement, being the scope of the exemption limited by the concepts of “operations with third parties” and “activities unrelated to the cooperative aim”. The paper analyzes the cooperative tax regime, focusing
on tax exemption requirements and the conceptual basis behind them