🇬🇷 Tax residency in Greece

Greece combines a 183-day rule with a centre of vital interests test. Spend more than 183 days a year in Greece and you are, in the normal case, a tax resident. But staying under the day count does not settle it: if your personal and economic life is really centred in Greece, the tax authority (AADE) can treat you as resident anyway.

What counts as vital interests is fact-specific. Owning a home in Greece weighs heavily. So does a spouse or minor children living there. A Greek-registered business is an economic anchor even if you manage it remotely. Someone at 100 days a year with a house, family, and a Greek company should expect a hard look at their residency status, because the test is where your deepest ties sit, not where you slept most nights.

Residency means worldwide taxation. Salary from a remote job, freelance income, investment gains, foreign rental income: all of it comes into the Greek net once you are resident. The top marginal rate is 44%, reached at a fairly modest income level by international standards, and social security contributions come on top for the self-employed. Coming from a low-tax base, the jump is substantial.

The counterweight is Greece's non-dom regime for foreign retirees: qualifying pensioners who move their tax residence to Greece can elect a flat 7% on their foreign-source income for up to 15 years. It is aimed at retirees relocating from abroad, it covers foreign income only, and Greek-source income stays under the normal progressive rates. Greece also operates separate incentive regimes for high-net-worth individuals and for employees relocating to Greek jobs, each with its own conditions; if any of these is the reason you are considering Greece, verify the current eligibility rules with AADE or a Greek adviser before moving, as the details change.

On treaties: Greece has income tax treaties in force with the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany, among others. They exist to prevent double taxation, generally through foreign tax credits: tax paid in Greece is credited against home-country tax on the same income. US citizens file US returns on worldwide income regardless of residence and use the credit rules to offset Greek tax. For other nationalities, relief depends on whether a treaty is in force between your home country and Greece; the official treaty list is where to confirm.

A local tax adviser makes sense when your facts are non-trivial: income from multiple sources or countries, Greek property, a Greek entity or local clients, or an election into the 7% retiree regime, where the qualification conditions are exactly the kind of thing you do not want to get wrong. In those situations the fee is small against the downside.

If you spend over 183 days in Greece or your home, family, and business anchor you there, expect worldwide taxation at progressive rates up to 44%, unless you qualify for a special regime such as the 7% retiree non-dom.

This information is for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal or tax advice.