EDP dams sales tax fund for implementation

ANDm causa is a fund created with the law of the State Budget for 2021 (OE2021) in order to assume the revenue from taxes of the transfer of the concession of the dams Miranda do Douro, Picote, Bemposta, Baixo Sabor, Sorcerer and Tua, which EDP sold at the end of 2020 to a consortium led by French electric Engie (Movhera company).

The fund was created at the initiative of the PSD, when the Social Democrats were in the opposition and the PS led the government, but to this day neither the then executive of António Costa, nor the two executives of the PSD and CDS-PP of Luís Montenegro regulated it.

The final version of the OE2021 provided for the object and management of this instrument to be defined by decree-law within 90 days of the sale, after hearing the municipalities where the hydroelectric uses are located.

The financial guardianship of the current government does not explain the reason for the delay and has not responded to Lusa on what point the regulation is at or what steps she has taken in this direction.

It also did not clarify whether the Minister of Finance, Joaquim Miranda Sarmento, or the Secretary of State for Tax Affairs, Cláudia Reis Duarte, made written contacts, meetings or interactions with the Tax and Customs Authority (AT) for the Government to ensure the timely operation of the fund.

It is not known when the government expects the fund to become operational and if this will happen when the Portuguese State receives revenue from the business.

The issue of tax collection returned to the public debate in early August, after the Miranda Land Movement warned of the risk of expiry of the settlement of EUR 335.2 million of IMT, Seal Tax and IRC that the Public Prosecutor considered to be missing in relation to the deal between EDP and Engie's consortium in 2020.

The legislation provides for the transfer of these revenues to the fund, as well as half of the revenue from new concessions, rents for dealers to municipalities, also the IMI of dams and the participation of municipalities in VAT and IRC revenue.

The OE2021 also provided that, as long as revenues are not being transferred to the municipalities, “the State shall ensure that they are transferred to the fund on the date on which it is made to the municipalities that are the current owners or, when the tax is not being settled, on the date on which it would be, if that liquidation was being carried out”.

In a parliamentary question sent to the government on 12 August, not yet answered, the PS bench questioned the Minister of Finance on the risk of expiry and wondered how the executive plans to ensure the transfer of revenue to the municipalities while the fund is unregulated.

The Public Prosecutor filed the criminal suspicions around the business at the end of October 2025, but concluded that the State had to receive 335.2 million, and ordered AT “to collect the missing taxes that were not paid”.

The provisional calculation was, at the time, 120.9 million related to Stamp Tax, 99.6 million to IMT and 114.7 million to IRC, with the former director-general of the tax office, Helena Borges, said on 21 January 2026 in parliament that AT would proceed with liquidation after the prior hearing of the companies and make the final calculation.

The newspaper ‘Public’ reports today that AT has already started the liquidation process, having notified the companies involved to pay a part of the Stamp Tax.

Asked by Lusa about the collection, EDP refused to confirm whether it has already been notified, referring to information from three months ago, when it noted that in April it received an inspection report with “proposed corrections in IRC and Stamp Tax” (two of the three taxes claimed by the tax authorities).

At the time, he confirmed that he will contest the liquidations judicially. Regarding the IMT, he said nothing.