Fiscal Organisation 1Finance offices
Fiscal Organisation
Original title: Organização Fiscal
Describes the fiscal and customs administration of the Funchal district: the Finance Directorate and its departments, the municipal finance offices and their classes, the Funchal Customs House and its changing dependence, and the Fiscal Guard posts around the islands.
1Finance offices
The city of Funchal is home to the Finance Directorate (Direcção de Finanças), which consists of two departments: the District Finance Department (Repartição Distrital de Finanças) and the Tax Inspection Department (Repartição da Fiscalização de Impostos), formerly the Tax Inspectorate (Inspecção de Impostos). This latter department, once autonomous, now depends, like the District Department, on the Director of Finance.
The district of Funchal is of the 1st class, and the Director of Finance must therefore hold the rank of head of services. The Director of Finance has in the past been called Inspector of the Treasury (Inspector de Fazenda), Treasury Delegate (delegado do tesouro) and Inspector of Finance.
Each municipality (concelho) has a municipal tax office and a section of the tax inspection service. The municipality of Funchal is of the 1st class, that of Calheta of the 2nd, those of Ponta do Sol and Santa Cruz of the 3rd, and the rest of the 4th class.
2Customs and Fiscal Guard
The Funchal Customs House, which today reports directly to the Directorate-General of Customs (Direcção Geral das Alfândegas), was for some time merely a branch office of the Customs House of Ponta Delgada (the Azores) and later a branch of the Customs House of Lisbon. It was the decree of 21 April 1892 that granted it the autonomy it now enjoys. The decree of 29 December 1887, which divided the country into three districts – Lisbon, Porto and Ponta Delgada – and made Funchal a branch of the last of these, was received with general displeasure in this city, and perhaps for this reason it remained in force only briefly.
Decree no. 4560 of 8 July 1918 established clearance posts on Porto Santo, in Câmara de Lobos and in Machico, but this provision has not yet been put into effect.
The Funchal Customs House has Company no. 1 of the Revenue Guard (Guarda Fiscal, customs and excise corps), with the following sections: Funchal, Machico and Porto Santo. The revenue posts of the Cais do Lazareto, the Cais da Alfândega (Customs House Quay), Ponta da Cruz, the Praça de São Pedro, Ribeira Brava, Câmara de Lobos, Ponta do Sol, Calheta, Paul, Porto Moniz, São Vicente and Ajuda belong to the Funchal section; those of Machico, Reis Magos, Santa Cruz and Porto da Cruz to the Machico section; and that of Porto Santo to the Porto Santo section. See Customs Houses (Alfândegas) and Royal Treasury Board.
In this article
Time
Years mentioned · 03-
A decree divided Portugal into three customs districts, making Funchal a delegation of Ponta Delgada, to general displeasure in Funchal.
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A decree raised the Funchal customs delegation to an autonomous full customs house.
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Decree no. 4560 created customs clearance posts in Porto Santo, Câmara de Lobos and Machico, though not yet implemented.
Place
Places mentioned · 20
Abroad
- Cais da Alfândega
Funchal. Fiscal Guard post of the Funchal section.
Fiscal Guard post of the Funchal section.
- Cais do Lazareto
Funchal. Fiscal Guard post of the Funchal section.
Fiscal Guard post of the Funchal section.
- Calheta
Second-class fiscal municipality with a Fiscal Guard post.
Calheta is a town and municipality in western Madeira, created by royal charter of 1 July 1502. It later became the seat of a countship granted to the captains of Funchal and was reorganised as a concelho in 1835.
- Câmara de Lobos
Planned customs clearance post and Fiscal Guard post.
Parish west of Funchal. The Elucidário traces its name to Zarco's discovery voyage and describes its churches, chapels and collegiate chapter, early settlers, fishing community and renowned vineyards. It also records the parish's localities, boundaries, levadas and population.
- Funchal
Seat of the Finance Directorate and a first-class municipality.
The capital of the archipelago and seat of the principal captaincy, where settlement began; it was made a vila c.1451–52. Its bay, the widest in the archipelago, lies between Ponta do Garajau and Ponta da Cruz and offers sheltered anchorage, though its harbour had never been studied oceanographically. The Elucidário discusses it as a health resort with climate data and records the January 1906 disturbances, the Danish prince's visit in May 1846 and recent volcanic cones in the area.
- Lisbon
Portugal. Customs house of which Funchal was later a delegation.
The Portuguese capital, seat of the Relação court and of the Misericórdia whose privileges and statutes were extended to Funchal. Henrique Franco de Sousa studied at its Royal Academy of Fine Arts, and Luiz José Baiardo moved there in 1821.
- Machico
Planned customs post and seat of a Fiscal Guard section.
The parish of Machico was the landing place of the discoverers Zargo and Tristão Vaz and the seat of the captaincy of Machico; the parish was founded c. 1450. The Elucidário covers its clergy and stipends, chapels, historical events, mineral springs, localities, population and notable natives.
- Paul do Mar
Calheta. Fiscal Guard post.
Paul do Mar is a parish on Madeira's south-west coast, created in 1676 from Estreito da Calheta. It is a fishing port watered by the old Rabaçal levada, where malvasia is grown and trachoma was reported to be very frequent. It had the Santo António fortress, a band, and salt works from about 1865 that were later abandoned for lack of profit.
- Ponta da Cruz
Funchal. Fiscal Guard post of the Funchal section.
This Ponta da Cruz is a headland in São Martinho regarded as the western limit of Funchal bay. It was once the site of a small redoubt and lies near a fish-canning factory.
- Ponta Delgada
Portugal. Azorean customs house of which Funchal was once a delegation.
Ponta Delgada is an Azorean city, district and port, ranked second among the ports of the Adjacent Islands; its customs house once had Funchal as a delegation. It was the birthplace of Gaspar Frutuoso, holds the corrected copy of Saudades da Terra and Agrela's genealogy manuscript, and is linked to several figures who studied or held office there.
- Ponta do Sol
Third-class fiscal municipality with a Fiscal Guard post.
Town and municipality of Ponta do Sol on Madeira, an early sugar-producing centre raised to a town in 1501. The Elucidário traces the changes in its municipal territory and its role as seat of a judicial district (comarca).