The proposed amendment was rejected this afternoon in a specialty vote by the Committee on Budget, Finances, and Public Administration, where the government’s bill to reduce 2025 IRS rates from the 1st to the 8th income brackets was discussed and approved.
The PS initiative only garnered support from its own bench and Livre, with the IL abstaining. The remaining parties in the committee (PCP, BE, and PAN) were not present. The vote coincided with a session of the Assembly of the Republic.
Sofia Pereira, PS deputy and JS leader, confirmed that the bench will request a plenary vote in the Assembly of the Republic for PSD, CDS-PP, and Chega to “reconsider” their positions.
The PS seeks to ensure that a young worker up to 35 years old can benefit from the IRS Jovem while also continuing to request the salary bonus payment from the Tax Authority, which represents a tuition refund.
This incentive was created by António Costa’s government in 2023, allowing young workers until the age of 35 to request the state for a tuition refund as recognition for completing their bachelor’s or master’s degrees.
However, the PS believes the government is employing a “drawer veto” by not paying the bonus, as stated by socialist deputy António Mendonça Mendes during the initiative’s debate, referencing that applications for the bonus have yet to open.
PS deputy Miguel Costa Matos also pointed out that legislation stipulates applications annually until May 31, yet in 2025, “have not even opened.”
Prior to voting, a PSD deputy justified their vote against the PS proposal, considering it “ludicrous” and “useless,” asserting “accessibility to this salary bonus is in place.”
“The AD government did not revoke” the salary bonus legislation, stated Hugo Carneiro, suggesting the PS, by explicitly stating in law that the bonus is cumulative, “creates a problem,” causing “interpretive doubt that prior” the two measures could not be used simultaneously.
Regarding this year’s absence of bonus applications, as mentioned by the PS, the PSD deputy affirmed, “The government, when deemed appropriate, during 2025, will announce what’s necessary on this matter.”
The salary bonus is paid annually by the Finance Ministry, upon young people’s access request, for a duration equivalent to the academic study cycle that granted the degree.
For a bachelor’s degree, 697 euros is paid, and for a master’s, 1,500 euros (in an integrated master’s, bachelor’s corresponding years warrant 697 euros and master’s the same 1,500 euros).
The IRS Jovem is a special tax regime allowing taxpayers to benefit from reduced IRS over a period through partial exemption on a percentage of annually earned income. This exemption varies over time, with the fiscal incentive potentially lasting ten years, provided beneficiaries do not exceed 35 years of age.
