The vast majority of taxable values of properties are out of date. From the 1st of January 2004, the Local Tax Departments will be updating the values of all properties; obviously this will take a long time to carry out. However, any property which is sold after the 1st of January 2004 will automatically be re-valued and the Portuguese Valuation Commissioners have advised that the new taxable values for both IMT and IMI purposes will be between 80% and 90% of the property’s market value. Note: the annual tax applied in 2004 can differ from area to area but must be between 0.4 and 0.8% of the taxable value, but 5% for offshore – see above.