Your November payslip is changing

Your November payslip should be slightly bigger. It's Wednesday, 30 September. Twenty-three degrees. Air quality: 26 (Good). Here's what you need to know.

🗞️ TOP STORY

THE INCOME TAX CUT WILL SHOW UP IN NOVEMBER PAY

When we covered the income tax cut earlier this month, the numbers weren't in yet. Now they are. On 17 September the government approved a bill cutting IRS, Portugal's personal income tax, with the cut backdated to January. If you're paid through a Portuguese payroll or draw a pension here, you should notice it in November, when new withholding tables come in, and again in December's subsídio de Natal, the Christmas bonus.

The rates fall in the first six of the nine brackets: by 0.3 percentage points in the first and sixth, and by 0.5 in the second to fifth. The top three rates don't move. Because IRS is progressive, though, higher earners still pay less on the part of their income that falls in the lower brackets, so almost everyone paying IRS gets something. The government puts the cost at €400 million and says more than 2.9 million households will benefit. Prime Minister Luís Montenegro says it's the fifth income tax cut under his centre-right governments, aimed at middle-class families.

Don't expect a windfall. In the government's own example, a single worker with no dependents earning €3,500 a month gross saves €171.50 over the year. Lower earners save less.

The timing is the fiddly part. The cut covers all of 2026, but ten months of pay have already gone out at the old rates. Employers will apply the new tables from November, which should push up net pay in November and December and lift the Christmas bonus. One tax lawyer has warned that not everything you've overpaid may come back this year; some of it could arrive with your 2027 tax refund instead.

It still has to go through parliament.

If you're on a Portuguese payslip or pension and pay IRS at the standard rates, look at your November and December net pay. If you're on NHR (the Non-Habitual Resident regime) or its replacement, IFICI (the tax incentive for scientific research and innovation), the flat rate on your qualifying income doesn't change, so this touches you less, if at all.

Bottom line: the saving is real but small, and November only happens if parliament passes the bill in time.

⚡ QUICK HITS

Four people walked into Lisbon airport's secure zone through an emergency door. On Tuesday morning an emergency door at Humberto Delgado airport was opened when it shouldn't have been, letting four passengers cross from arrivals into the departures area reserved for people who have already been screened. The PSP (the Public Security Police) moved in, and the non-Schengen departures border was temporarily closed. The PSP's borders unit says all four have been identified, but hasn't said who they are or why they went through. It's the second breach in two months. In July, passengers off a flight from Salvador were sent to a departure gate, and part of Terminal 1 had to be evacuated and everyone screened again. In April, a European Commission inspection report listed 14 serious flaws in the airport's control and security systems.

Turkish Airlines has winter fares to Turkey from €219 return out of Lisbon. The early-bird sale runs until 9 October, for travel between 1 November and 28 February, with Christmas and New Year blacked out from 18 December to 5 January. From Porto it's €209. Seats are limited and group bookings don't qualify. Once you reserve, you have a day to issue the ticket, so don't sit on a booking.

The government wants Portugal in the world's top 10 for tourism, but says it's chasing value, not visitors. Economy Minister Manuel Castro Almeida set the goal at the Portuguese Tourism Summit in Lisbon on Monday. Portugal is currently 11th in the World Economic Forum's 2026 Travel & Tourism Development Index. His pitch is to grow what tourism earns faster than the number of people who come, and recent figures fit: accommodation revenue up 4.9% against a 2.1% rise in overnight stays. Tourism directly produced 8.1% of the economy's gross value added last year, and €36.2 billion, or 11.8% of GDP, once indirect effects are counted. It's the same value-over-volume argument Lisbon used this week to justify its €25.8 million promotion budget.

🍽️ SPOT OF THE DAY

QUEST (SANTOS / CAIS DO SODRÉ)

Quest could be easy to miss. It sits on a narrow side street at Boqueirão do Duro 46, between Rua de São Paulo and Avenida 24 de Julho, and on weekend mornings the queue outside is usually how new people find it.

It's a specialty café and brunch spot with South African roots, and that shows on the menu. Rooibos makes its way into the coffee, and the avocado toast comes with chakalaka, the spiced South African relish, on the side. The room is bright, dogs are welcome, and on the savoury side the Quest burrito is the dish regulars keep ordering.

The cinnamon rolls are what made its name, though. Reviewers come back to the same few points: the rolls are huge, soft, generously filled, and in plenty of people's view the best in Lisbon. One says a single roll was enough for three people to share. The range runs well beyond the classic, with flavours like pistachio, tiramisu and apple crumble.

The news is that you no longer have to queue for them. The full range of rolls is now on Uber Eats, from €6.50 for the Classic to €8 for flavours like pistachio and tiramisu. Brunch dishes like the pancakes and the Quest burrito are on there too.

To coincide with this Spot of the Day, Quest has buy one, get one free on their cinnamon rolls through Uber Eats until 6 October. No code needed, it's applied in the app. It's on the Classic and Biscoff, with the other flavours full price, though the pistachio and tiramisu are worth a try while you're there.

Worth knowing before you order: delivery runs on Uber Eats' hours, 9am to 4pm, so get your order in before the afternoon. If you'd rather eat in, go earlier at weekends, when the queue builds.

→ Order a box and find them here ←

Insider tip: skip the weekend queue and have them delivered instead. They're big enough to share, but with buy one, get one free, you don't have to.

We only partner with businesses we think genuinely help our community. If this looks good to you, or if you know someone with a sweet tooth, every click and every share goes a long way to keeping this newsletter free every morning.

📅 WHAT'S ON

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