Greece

Living in Greece, and being taxed by Greece

These are decided by different authorities, under different rules, on different clocks. The one people get wrong is the second.

A golden visa or a private-means permit lets you live in Greece. The Income Tax Code decides separately whether Greece taxes you, and it is generous to itself: a permanent home, a habitual abode, or your centre of vital interests is enough on its own, with no day count involved. Passing 183 days in any twelve-month period makes you resident retroactively, from your first day in the country. Once resident, Greece taxes your worldwide income unless you have separately elected into the pensioner regime, which is its own application with its own deadline.

What the Greek state publishes

• The 7% regime is open only to someone who was not a Greek tax resident in five of the six years before the move, and who transfers their tax residence from a state with an administrative cooperation agreement in force with Greece.

• Greece treats you as a tax resident once you have been present for more than 183 days in any twelve-month period, counted from your first day in the country.

• A Greek tax resident is taxed on worldwide income, with a credit for foreign tax that cannot exceed the Greek tax attributable to that income.

• An investor residence permit carries no right of access to any form of employment, and reselling the property during the permit's validity revokes it.

• Article 64 of Law 5100/2024 set the golden visa floor at EUR 400,000 outside the prime areas, and EUR 800,000 across Attica, Thessaloniki, Mykonos, Santorini and every island over 3,100 people.

• The EUR 250,000 threshold survives in two cases only, each limited to a single property: a purchase whose main spaces change use to residential, and a listed building bought for restoration or reconstruction.

• The EUR 3,500 monthly figure rises by 20% for a spouse or partner and by 15% for each child.

What an expert actually does, and when

Moving to Greece is four different jobs for four different people, and the order matters more than the choice of any one of them. Here is the sequence, what each person settles, and what to hold them to in writing.

1. First

   A cross-border tax adviser in the country you are leaving

   Before you sell anything, move your family, or claim to have left

   This is the one whose answer can make the rest of the plan pointless, so it is worth knowing before you spend anything on the rest. A residence permit somewhere else is not the same thing as having stopped being tax-resident where you are.

   What only they can settle

   • →Whether and when your tax residence at home actually ends
   • →Which ties (home, family, accounts, memberships, company control) have to be dealt with, and in what order
   • →What you owe on the way out, and what you can elect or defer
   • →Which transactions to complete before you go rather than after

   Ask for it in writing. A written residence and departure-date memo, with the tax on leaving set out asset by asset, and a list of the evidence your position depends on.

2. Second

   An immigration lawyer in the destination

   Six to twelve months before you intend to move

   Routes look interchangeable from outside and are not. Which one you qualify for depends on evidence you may not have gathered yet, and gathering it is often the long pole.

   What only they can settle

   • →Which route your actual income, work history, and assets satisfy
   • →Which authority handles each stage, and whether your entry status has to change first
   • →What proof each requirement takes, and what is missing today
   • →How a partner and children are included, and when

   Ask for it in writing. A route recommendation with the eligibility tested against your documents, plus a dated checklist of what is still missing.

3. Third

   Document authentication and translation

   Only after the lawyer has frozen the list

   Ordering apostilles and translations before the list is settled is the most common way to pay twice. Certified documents also expire, so starting early can be worse than starting late.

   What only they can settle

   • →Which authentication chain each document needs, in its issuing country
   • →What has to be translated, by whom, and to what standard
   • →The order to obtain things in, so nothing expires while waiting for something else

   Ask for it in writing. Authenticated originals and accepted translations, tracked so you know where every document physically is.

4. Fourth

   Local advisers where you land

   Once your status is approved

   Approval is not the same as a working life. Banking, health cover, and a tenancy each have their own requirements, and several of them want the paperwork from the earlier stages.

   What only they can settle

   • →What banking will require of you, and what to prepare before you ask
   • →Which health cover satisfies the local requirement
   • →What a lease commits you to, and what your obligations are on registering it
   • →What you now have to file locally, and when

   Ask for it in writing. A working household: identity documents, an address, cover, banking, and a calendar of what renews when.

OmniFlag is not a law firm or a tax adviser. Experts are retained independently and their engagement letter defines what they advise on, what they file, and what they deliver.

What nobody puts on the Greece brochure

• The non-dom regime is not a mid-tier option and is often quoted as though it were. Article 5A costs a lump sum of EUR 100,000 every year for fifteen years, and it is only open to someone who has also invested at least EUR 500,000 in Greek real estate, businesses or securities.

• The golden visa buys residence and no economic life. The permit gives no access to any form of employment, and selling the property while the permit is valid revokes it for the seller.

• The 7% election has one date and no second chance in a given year. Miss 31 March and the earliest the regime can begin is the following tax year, while your worldwide income is taxed normally in the meantime.

• Greek is not optional outside the cities and the tourist economy, and the bureaucracy runs in it. Athens and Thessaloniki are workable in English; a village on a small island is not.

  Indicator, not law · OmniFlag assessment

What people get wrong about Greece

Each of these is something a confident search result will tell you. Each is wrong, and the rule that corrects it is named.

• Commonly believed
  “The Greek golden visa starts at 250,000 euros.”

  What the rule says
  It did until 1 September 2024. Article 64 of Law 5100/2024 raised the general floor to EUR 400,000, and to EUR 800,000 across Attica, Thessaloniki, Mykonos, Santorini and every island over 3,100 people. EUR 250,000 survives only for a property whose use changes to residential, or a listed building bought for restoration, one property in each case. The Ministry of Migration's own English golden visa page still shows the old flat figure, so seeing it there is not confirmation.

  Minimum property investment for a golden visa (Housing Policy Portal)

• Commonly believed
  “Getting the golden visa is how I get the 7% pension rate.”

  What the rule says
  They are unrelated instruments decided by different authorities. The permit is granted by the Ministry of Migration and gives residence rights. The 7% rate is an election under article 5B made to the tax authority, open only to someone drawing a foreign pension who was not a Greek tax resident in five of the previous six years, and it must be applied for by 31 March. Holding one has no bearing on qualifying for the other.

  Article 5B, persons and eligibility conditions (AADE)

• Commonly believed
  “I can stay under 183 days and Greece will leave my worldwide income alone.”

  What the rule says
  The day count is one of several tests, not the only one. A permanent or principal residence, a habitual abode, or your centre of personal and economic relations in Greece each makes you a tax resident on its own, with no day count involved. And when the 183 days are exceeded in any twelve-month period, residency applies from the first day of your presence rather than from the day you crossed the line.

  Tax residence for natural persons, article 4 ITC (AADE)

Common questions about Greece

Does the 7% regime cover more than my pension?

Yes. Article 5B applies the rate to all of your income obtained abroad, so rents, dividends and gains earned outside Greece fall under it alongside the pension. Drawing a foreign pension is the entry condition rather than the limit of what is covered.

How long does the 7% rate last?

Fifteen tax years, starting from the year after the application is submitted. After that the ordinary Greek rules apply to your worldwide income.

Can my partner and children come on the private-means permit?

Yes, and the income bar rises with them: 20% more for a spouse or partner, and 15% more for each child, on top of the EUR 3,500 base.

Can I work while holding a golden visa?

No. The investor permit expressly carries no right of access to any form of employment. If you intend to earn in Greece, this is the wrong route.