Next month, the extraordinary supplement will be paid to those who receive pensions of up to 1,527.78 euros and the new IRS withholding tables will be applied, which will leave more net income in taxpayers' wallets.

According to simulations carried out by EY for ECO, a Portuguese citizen with a pension of 1,500 euros, for example, can count on a total bonus of 280 euros, in the month in which the Government will present its State Budget proposal for next year to Parliament.

As regards the extraordinary supplement, this is a one-off payment whose value varies according to the overall amount of benefits received by each pensioner. The bonus will be 200 euros for pensioners with pensions up to 509.26 euros, 150 euros for pensioners with pensions above 509.26 euros up to 1,018.52 euros, and 100 euros for pensioners who earn more than 1,018.52 euros, up to a limit of 1,527.78 euros.

As previously reported by ECO, this supplement will be paid on 8 October to the majority of pensioners (i.e. those who receive their pension from Social Security), with a total of 2.4 million pensioners benefiting from this measure, which will cost the State 422 million euros.

But this will not be the only “bonus” that will reach the wallets of Portuguese retirees in October.

The Government has approved new withholding tax tables to reflect the reduction in IRS approved by Parliament. For two months, the rates to be applied to salaries and pensions will be much lower than usual, to retroactively compensate for the excess amount withheld since January.

In the case of salaries, the increase in net income provided by these new withholding tables will be felt in September. But in the case of pensions, as the September pensions were already being processed, the relief will only be felt in October, as the Ministry of Labour explained to ECO.

This means that in October the extraordinary supplement and the additional relief from withholding tax will coincide, exceptionally increasing the net income of pensioners.