Cláusula de salvaguarda (IMI safeguard clause)
Cláusula de salvaguarda do IMI IMI safeguard clause
The safeguard clause caps the yearly rise in the IMI charged on urban property, or part of it, used as the owner's own permanent home. Each year's charge cannot exceed the previous year's plus the greater of two amounts: a fixed sum, or one third of the difference between the tax on the taxable value set at the current valuation and the tax that the previous valuation would have produced.
In practice
This is the answer to «why did my IMI jump»: after a fresh valuation the taxable value can rise sharply, and the clause spreads that rise over several years instead of charging it all at once.
It does not apply where the taxpayer changes during the year the tax relates to, except on gifts and inheritances to a spouse, descendants or ascendants — so a new buyer does not inherit the seller's safeguard. It also only covers a home the owner actually lives in, not a second home or a let. The fixed sum and the conditions are set out in the IMI Code.