With its sun-soaked islands, welcoming culture, affordable cost of living, and growing digital nomad visa program, Greece has become a top destination for expats, retirees, and remote workers.
In this guide, we’ll walk you through everything you need to know about relocating to Greece from a personal tax perspective, including tax residency, income tax, special tax regimes and tax return obligations.
TaxPilot recommend that you organize your affairs in good time to get ahead and make the most of favorable tax treatment while making sure you’re meeting your tax return obligations.
Greece follows a residence taxation model. If you are resident, you will pay tax worldwide incomes. If you are non-resident, you will pay tax on local incomes only.
if you spend more than 183 days in Greece during any 12 month period.
if your personal, economic and social ties are located in Greece during the tax year.
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Providing that you have been non-resident for 5 years prior to relocation, you relocate from an EEA country or country that Greece has a double taxation agreement with, you are employed by a Greek entity or an entity with a PE in Greece and you live in Greece for at least 2 years, you can exempt 50% of your employment income from Greek taxation for up to 7 years. Greece can be a very tax efficient place to live and as such, Global Tax Consulting recommends seeking personalized tax planning advice to take advantage of the special tax regime.
50% exempt from Greek taxation.
Applied for 7 years.
Tax on property and share sales
Tax on value of owned assets
Tax on assets passed to heirs
Tax to contribute to state welfare
If you receive incomes overseas while you are living in Greece, you may find the source country, as a starting point, continues to tax the income which may cause double taxation unless you are using special tax regime.
Double taxation agreements can be used to mitigate double taxation and receive tax free income. As such, the more double taxation agreements a country has, the better, as agreements will ensure you’re not taxed twice and even better, ensure your income is tax free.
At present, Greece has 58 double taxation agreements signed.
