Greece taxes income at up to 44%. Yet it also runs three generous regimes for people who move their tax residence there: half your Greek earnings exempt for 7 years, a flat 7% on foreign income for pensioners, or a flat €100,000 a year for wealthy investors.
This guide covers Greek personal tax for people moving to or living in Greece in the 2026 tax year, which is the calendar year.
The key question is simple. Which regime fits you, and can you apply in time? Each has a deadline, and missing it can cost you a year of the benefit.
What's changed: Law 5246/2025 cut income tax for income earned from 2026. The middle rates fell by two points, a new 39% band covers income from €40,000 to €60,000, and the 44% rate now starts at €60,000 instead of €40,000. Parents and under-30s pay lower rates. Applications for the 50% exemption are now made online through myAADE.
📋 Greece tax at a glance for 2026
Topic | Details |
|---|---|
Tax system | Worldwide income for residents; Greek income only for non-residents |
Top income tax rate | 44% above €60,000. The first €10,000 is taxed at 9% |
All-in on a US$100k salary | About 22% with the Article 5C exemption, or about 40% without it (about €87,000, no children, including 13.37% social security) |
Foreign income | Taxed for residents, with a credit for foreign tax, unless you're in the 7% or €100,000 regime |
Dividends, interest, capital gains | Dividends 5%, interest 15%, gains on shares 15% (0% on listed shares if you hold under 0.5%) |
Crypto gains | No specific rules yet (a 10% tax on gains is proposed, not law) |
Residence at a glance | Getting in: easy (over 183 days in any 12 months, or your main home in Greece). Leaving: paperwork heavy, because you have to apply and prove you've moved |
Double tax treaties | 58 countries on the tax authority's list |
The three regimes for new tax residents
Why do so many pensioners and professionals pick Greece? Because Articles 5A, 5B and 5C of the Income Tax Code let new residents swap the normal rules for something much lighter. Under all three, other Greek income is taxed normally.
Image 1 — Greece's regimes for new tax residents: 50% exempt, a flat 7% or a flat €100,000
Article 5C: half your Greek earnings exempt
You qualify if you meet all four conditions:
you weren't Greek tax resident in 5 of the 6 years before you move
you're moving from an EU or EEA country, or from a country that has a tax cooperation agreement with Greece
you work in Greece for a Greek employer or the Greek permanent establishment of a foreign company, or you run your own business in Greece
you declare that you'll stay in Greece for at least two years
For 7 tax years, half of your Greek salary or business profit is exempt from income tax. The regime can't be extended, and it ends early if you stop working for more than 12 months or move your tax residence abroad.
Watch the deadline. Start work by 2 July and you apply by the end of that year, with the exemption covering that year. Start after 2 July and the application covers the following year, and is due by the end of that year. Working remotely as an employee of a foreign employer with no Greek establishment doesn't qualify.
Article 5B: 7% for foreign pensioners
If you receive a pension from abroad, you can pay a flat 7% a year for 15 tax years on all your foreign income, including dividends, interest and rent.
You must not have been Greek tax resident in 5 of the last 6 years.
You must move from a country that has a tax cooperation agreement with Greece.
You apply to the tax authority, AADE, by 31 March of the tax year.
You pay the 7% every year. If you don't pay the full amount for a year, you lose the regime from that year.
Article 5A: €100,000 flat for investors
You pay €100,000 a year for up to 15 years and that settles all Greek tax on your foreign income, whatever its size. Each relative you add pays €20,000 a year.
You must not have been Greek tax resident in 7 of the last 8 years, and you must invest at least €500,000 in Greek property, businesses or securities within three years of applying. You apply by 31 March.
You can't hold 5A and 5B together, but either can be combined with 5C.
👉 AADE: tax incentives for new tax residents under Articles 5A, 5B and 5C (guide, November 2025)
👉 AADE: questions and answers on applying for Article 5C (in Greek)
When you become tax resident in Greece
You're Greek tax resident if your permanent or main home, your habitual abode or your centre of vital interests (your personal and economic ties) is in Greece.
There's also a day count. If you're in Greece for more than 183 days in total in any twelve-month period, you're resident from your first day. This isn't a calendar-year test, so a stay that straddles two years still counts. Stays purely for tourism or medical treatment of up to 365 days are left out.
How you stop being resident
Leaving Greece doesn't end your tax residence on its own. You have to apply to AADE and prove that you now live somewhere else.
You apply by the last working day of the first ten days of March in the year after you leave.
You send the supporting documents, including a tax residence certificate from your new country, by the last working day of the first ten days of September that year.
AADE has two months to rule on your file.
AADE's guide gives 31 December of that year as the absolute final date for both. Miss it and Greece can go on taxing your worldwide income.
👉 AADE: tax guide for Greeks abroad and non-residents (residence tests and transfer procedure)
Income tax rates for 2026
Salaries, pensions and business profits are taxed on one scale.
Greece income tax rates for 2026
Taxable income | No children | 1 child | 2 children | 3 children |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Up to €10,000 | 9% | 9% | 9% | 9% |
€10,001 to €20,000 | 20% | 18% | 16% | 9% |
€20,001 to €30,000 | 26% | 24% | 22% | 20% |
€30,001 to €40,000 | 34% | 34% | 34% | 34% |
€40,001 to €60,000 | 39% | 39% | 39% | 39% |
Over €60,000 | 44% | 44% | 44% | 44% |
Source: Article 15 of the Income Tax Code as replaced by Law 5246/2025, for income earned from the 2026 tax year.
Four or more children: 0% on the first €20,000 and 18% or less on the next €10,000.
Aged 25 or under: 0% on the first €20,000.
Aged 26 to 30: 9% on the band from €10,001 to €20,000.
Tax credit: employees and pensioners get €777 off their tax, or more with children. It shrinks by €20 for every €1,000 of income above €12,000.
Worked example
You have no children and take a job with a Greek employer in 2026 on €87,000 (about US$100k).
You pay 13.37% social security, which is €11,632. That leaves €75,368 of taxable pay.
With Article 5C, only half of that is taxed: €37,684. Your income tax is about €7,850.
Your all-in bill is about €19,480, or 22% of your salary. Without the regime, your income tax would be €23,462 and your all-in bill about €35,094, or 40%. Social security is charged on your full salary either way.
👉 Greek Ministry of Economy and Finance: income taxation guide with the scale for 2026 onwards
👉 Law 5246/2025: the 2026 income tax and rental income scales (in Greek)
Freelancing in Greece
Self-employed profit is taxed on the same scale as salaries, but without the tax credit. Social security is unusual: you don't pay a percentage of your profit, you choose one of six fixed monthly classes.
In 2026 the classes run from €260.77 a month in the first class to €685.87 in the sixth, including a €10 unemployment levy. In the first class you pay €3,129 a year, however much you earn.
On a profit of €87,000 (about US$100k), that works out as follows:
With Article 5C: half of your €83,871 profit after contributions is taxed. Income tax is €9,655, and the all-in bill is €12,784, or about 15%.
Without it: income tax is €27,203 and the all-in bill is €30,332, or about 35%.
Two traps to know about. First, the tax authority presumes a minimum profit for sole traders, built from the minimum wage, your payroll cost and your turnover, up to €50,000. Declare less and you're taxed on the presumed figure. Second, you pay an advance of 55% of this year's tax on business income towards next year's bill.
👉 e-EFKA: contribution classes for freelancers and the self-employed (in Greek)
Crypto, investments and pensions
How is crypto taxed in Greece? There's no clear answer yet. Greek tax law has no specific rules for crypto, and AADE's 2026 instructions for the tax return don't mention it. On 7 October 2026 the Ministry of Finance put a bill out for public consultation that would tax crypto gains at 10%. It still has to pass Parliament. Proposed, not law.
Investment income is taxed at flat rates, separately from the scale:
Dividends: 5%.
Interest: 15%.
Gains on shares and other securities: 15%. Gains on listed shares are tax free if you hold less than 0.5% of the company.
Rent: 15% up to €12,000, 25% from €12,001 to €24,000, 35% from €24,001 to €36,000 and 45% above that.
A foreign pension is taxed on the normal scale unless you're in the 7% regime or a treaty gives the taxing right to the other country. On a pension of €34,800 (about US$40k) the normal tax is about €6,811, against €2,436 at 7%.
Greece has no wealth tax, but it does tax property and inheritances. ENFIA is an annual tax on Greek property you own on 1 January. Inheritance tax depends on how closely you're related: a spouse (after five years of marriage) and minor children are each exempt on the first €400,000. Gifts to a spouse, children, grandchildren or parents are tax free up to €800,000 and taxed at 10% above that, as long as any money goes by bank transfer.
Social security
Employees in the standard private-sector scheme pay 13.37% of their pay to EFKA, the social security fund, and employers pay 21.79%. Those rates have applied since 1 January 2025. In 2026, contributions are charged on pay up to €7,761.94 a month.
The contribution is deducted before income tax is worked out. The self-employed pay the fixed classes described above instead.
👉 e-EFKA Circular 4/2026: maximum insurable earnings from 1 January 2026 (in Greek)
👉 e-EFKA Circular 38/2024: employee and employer contribution rates from 1 January 2025 (in Greek)
Double tax treaties
Does Greece have double tax treaties? Yes. AADE lists treaties with 58 countries, including the UK, the United States, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Canada, Cyprus, India and the UAE. The treaty with Sweden ended in 2022. The 7% regime doesn't override a treaty, so check which country taxes each pension.
👉 AADE: double tax treaties signed by Greece
The digital nomad visa
Non-EU remote workers can get a Greek digital nomad visa if they work for employers or clients outside Greece and have a steady income of at least €3,500 a month. For employees, that means net pay after tax. The amount rises by 20% for a spouse or partner and 15% for each child.
The visa lasts up to 12 months and you can't work for a Greek employer. Before it runs out, you can apply for a digital nomad residence permit if you still meet the conditions.
The visa carries no tax break. Stay more than 183 days in any twelve months and you're Greek tax resident, taxed on your worldwide income at the normal rates.
👉 Greek Ministry of Migration and Asylum: Migration Code, Article 68 on digital nomads (in Greek)
Who is Greece good for?
Ratings are relative to the 150+ countries TaxPilot covers, based on 2026 rules and the all-in cost including social security.
☑️ Who is Greece good for? Tax ratings for expats in 2026
Expat profile | Greece rating | Why |
|---|---|---|
Employees | Moderate | About 22% all-in on a US$100k salary with the Article 5C exemption, which most new arrivals with a Greek employer can claim for 7 years. Without it, about 40%. |
Freelancers (self-employed) | Good | About 15% all-in on US$100k with the Article 5C exemption and the lowest social security class. Without the exemption, or once the 7 years end, the bill is about 35%. |
Retirees | Good | A flat 7% on a US$40k foreign pension plus US$20k of foreign investment income under Article 5B, for 15 years. Without it, about 16%. Greece has inheritance tax, with reliefs for close family. |
Crypto gains | Moderate | Greece has no crypto tax law yet, so the treatment of a gain is unclear. A bill put out for consultation in October 2026 would tax gains at 10%, which would rate Good if it becomes law. |
Investment income | Good | About 5% on a US$1m portfolio: 5% on dividends, 15% on interest, and no tax on gains from listed shares where you hold under 0.5% of the company. Other share gains are taxed at 15%. |
Digital nomad visa | Good | Non-EU remote workers earning at least €3,500 a month can get a visa for up to 12 months, then apply for a residence permit. There's no tax exemption for holders, so you're taxed normally once you're resident. |
Filing and deadlines
Adult tax residents file an annual return, form E1, online through myAADE, covering Greek and foreign income. The return for 2025 income was open from 16 March to 15 July 2026. The return for 2026 income is filed in 2027, normally in the same window.
Tax is paid in eight monthly instalments, with the first due by the last working day of July.
Pay in full by that date and you get a discount: 4% if you filed by 30 April (extended to 15 May in 2026), 3% if you filed by 15 June and 2% if you filed by 15 July.
Non-residents file only if they have income from Greek sources.
👉 AADE: instructions for the E1 income tax return, tax year 2025 (in Greek)
Frequently asked questions
What is the 7% tax for pensioners in Greece?
Under Article 5B, people with a foreign pension who move their tax residence to Greece can pay a flat 7% a year on all their foreign income for 15 tax years. You must not have been Greek tax resident in 5 of the last 6 years.
Who can get the 50% tax exemption in Greece?
Under Article 5C, new residents who take a job with a Greek employer or start a business in Greece pay income tax on only half of that income for 7 tax years. You must not have been Greek tax resident in 5 of the last 6 years.
What are the income tax rates in Greece in 2026?
For income earned in 2026, the rates are 9% up to €10,000, 20% to €20,000, 26% to €30,000, 34% to €40,000, 39% to €60,000 and 44% above that. Parents pay lower rates on some bands.
When do you become tax resident in Greece?
You're resident if your main home, habitual abode or centre of vital interests is in Greece, or if you spend more than 183 days there in any twelve-month period.
How is crypto taxed in Greece?
Greece has no specific crypto tax rules yet, so the treatment of a gain is unclear. In October 2026 the Ministry of Finance put out a draft law that would tax crypto gains at 10%, but it isn't law yet.
Important information
This article is general information and does not constitute tax, legal, immigration or financial advice, and does not create a client relationship. Tax outcomes depend on travel history, income sources, treaty status and the law applying to the relevant year. Rates, thresholds and regimes change, and some measures described may be proposed rather than enacted; this article reflects our understanding as at the date of publication. Obtain advice from a suitably qualified professional before acting or refraining from action.
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