Greece non-dom tax regime (Article 5A) in 2026: the EUR 100,000 flat tax and the new deadlines

The Greece non-dom tax regime is an optional flat-tax election under Article 5A of the Greek Income Tax Code (Law 4172/2013) that lets a person who moves their tax residence to Greece pay a fixed EUR 100,000 a year on all of their foreign-source income, however large, for up to 15 tax years, provided they invest at least EUR 500,000 in Greece.

In short: The Greece non-dom regime charges EUR 100,000 a year on all foreign income, plus EUR 20,000 per added relative, for up to 15 tax years. It requires no Greek tax residence in 7 of the prior 8 years and a EUR 500,000 Greek investment. Since 25 June 2026, applications close on 30 September and payment is due in December.

The rules changed this summer. Article 94 of Law 5313/2026 amended Article 5A with effect from 25 June 2026, and the Independent Authority for Public Revenue (AADE) issued a new procedure, Decision A.1147/2026 of 17 July 2026 (Government Gazette B’ 4431/20.7.2026, corrected in B’ 4838/4.8.2026). Much of what is published about the regime still describes the old timetable. This guide sets out the current position, with figures verified on 26 October 2026, and shows where the regime does and does not make financial sense.

Key facts at a glance

Table 1: Greece non-dom regime (Article 5A, Law 4172/2013), statutory terms. Figures checked 26 October 2026 against AADE Decision A.1147/2026 and PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries, Greece (last reviewed 8 September 2026).

What changed in 2026, and what is commonly reported wrongly?

The Greece non-dom regime has applied since tax year 2020, originally under AADE joint decision A.1036 of 26 February 2020. For six years its timetable was settled: apply by 31 March and pay the EUR 100,000 by the end of July.

The Greece non-dom application deadline is commonly reported as 31 March, with the tax payable by the end of July. The actual position, since 25 June 2026, is an application deadline of 30 September and payment by the last working day of December, because Article 94 of Law 5313/2026 amended Article 5A and AADE Decision A.1147/2026 replaced the 2020 procedure. Guides published as recently as October 2026 still give the 31 March date.

The 2026 changes, in summary:

• The Article 5A application deadline moved from 31 March to 30 September, of either the year you arrive or the following year.
• The 2 July cut-off now decides which year you may apply for. Arrive in Greece by 2 July and you may apply for that year or the next; arrive after 2 July and your first possible regime year is the following one.
• The annual EUR 100,000 payment moved from the end of July to the last working day of December, in a single instalment.
• AADE must decide within 60 days of the application and no later than the last working day of November, so the decision always arrives before the payment falls due.

The new procedure also covers applications that were still pending on 25 June 2026 and 2026 assessments that had not been paid when it took effect (A.1147/2026, article 9).

Who qualifies for the Greece non-dom regime?

Article 5A is open to an individual of any nationality who transfers their tax residence to Greece and meets two cumulative conditions (A.1147/2026, article 3):

1. Prior non-residence. You were not Greek tax resident in seven of the eight years before the move. AADE checks this against its own records. Documents are needed only where those records do not show your foreign residence, and the standard proof is a certificate of tax residence from your previous country.
2. Investment. You, a relative, or a company in which you hold the majority of the shares invest at least EUR 500,000 in Greece, completed within three years of the application.

Becoming Greek tax resident is a separate question, decided only under Article 4 of the Income Tax Code, and A.1147/2026 says so expressly. The Greece non-dom regime does not make you tax resident; you must be resident on the ordinary tests. Under Article 4, an individual is Greek tax resident if their permanent or principal residence, habitual abode or centre of vital interests is in Greece, or if they are present in Greece for more than 183 days in any twelve-month period (AADE, tax residence guidance).

“Relative” has a defined meaning: a spouse or registered civil partner, and relatives in the direct ascending or descending line. Each relative added to the Greece non-dom regime pays EUR 20,000 a year and does not have to make a separate investment. Minor unmarried children who live with you are treated as sharing your tax residence and are covered at no charge; at 18 they can apply to join in their own right for the years that remain.

What counts as the EUR 500,000 investment?

The Greece non-dom investment must total at least EUR 500,000 and be made in real estate, businesses, transferable securities, or shares or interests in legal entities based in Greece (A.1147/2026, article 3(1)(b)). It can be made by you, by a relative, or through a company you control by majority.

Four practical points matter more than the list:

• The money has to be in Greece when you apply. The Article 5A application must be accompanied by proof that the minimum investment amount has been transferred to an account with a financial institution established in Greece.
• An earlier investment can count. An application can be made from the start of the investment or up to three years after it was completed (A.1147/2026, article 4(6)).
• The three-year clock runs from the application, not from arrival. Once the investment is complete, you have six months to ask AADE to confirm completion. If it is already complete when you apply, the confirmation request goes in with the application.
• Failure is retrospective. If the investment is not completed within three years, AADE removes you from the regime back to your first year and taxes your worldwide income under the ordinary rules, with tax on foreign income of not less than EUR 100,000 for each year. Lump sums already paid reduce that liability but are not refunded (A.1147/2026, articles 5(7) and 8(2)).

When can you apply for Article 5A, and when do you pay?

The Greece non-dom timetable now turns on one date, 2 July, and two deadlines: 30 September for the application and the last working day of December for payment. Table 2 works through three arrival dates.

Table 2: Earliest Article 5A regime year by date of arrival in Greece, applying AADE Decision A.1147/2026, articles 4 and 5. Prepared by Citizenship360, 26 October 2026.

The consequence most guides miss is the gap this creates. A person who arrives after 2 July cannot have the regime for their arrival year at all, so any part of that year in which they are already Greek tax resident is taxed under the ordinary rules on worldwide income. Someone who arrives on 1 November 2026 will not make their first EUR 100,000 payment until 31 December 2027, about 14 months later, and their regime, kept for the full term, will run from tax year 2027 to tax year 2041. For anyone with a large foreign gain in prospect, such as the sale of a company, the arrival date therefore matters as much as the decision to elect.

Two further rules complete the timetable. You may revoke the election for any year by applying by 30 September of that year. And if any year’s EUR 100,000 is not paid in full, you leave the regime from that year onwards and are taxed on worldwide income under the ordinary rules (A.1147/2026, articles 5(7) and 6).

At what income level does the EUR 100,000 flat tax pay off?

The Greece non-dom flat tax only saves money if ordinary Greek tax on the same foreign income would exceed EUR 100,000. Where that point falls depends almost entirely on the kind of income, because Greece taxes different income at very different rates.

For foreign salary, pension or business profits taxed on the Greek general scale, the Article 5A break-even is about EUR 249,300 a year. The 2026 general scale charges 9% on the first EUR 10,000, then 20%, 26%, 34% and 39%, producing EUR 16,700 of tax on the first EUR 60,000, with 44% above that (PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries, Greece, last reviewed 8 September 2026). EUR 100,000 less EUR 16,700 leaves EUR 83,300, which at 44% is reached after a further EUR 189,318 of income; EUR 60,000 plus EUR 189,318 gives roughly EUR 249,300. That is a Citizenship360 calculation for a single person on the general scale, before any foreign tax credit and ignoring the reduced scales for families with children.

For foreign dividends, the Article 5A break-even is about EUR 2 million a year. Under the ordinary rules Greece taxes dividends at a flat 5%, so EUR 100,000 of Greek tax corresponds to EUR 2,000,000 of dividends, and more once ordinary credit for foreign withholding tax is taken into account (PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries, Greece, income determination). Interest is taxed at 15%, which puts that break-even nearer EUR 667,000.

The honest conclusion is that, for many investors whose income is mostly dividends, Article 5A is not a tax-rate decision at all. Its value lies elsewhere: no reporting of covered foreign income in Greece, no need to justify imported funds against the deemed-income rules, exemption from Greek inheritance and gift tax on movable assets abroad, and a fixed, predictable annual cost. For a founder expecting a large one-off gain the arithmetic can change completely in the year of sale, but whether a gain is foreign-source, and whether the country you are leaving can still tax it, has to be checked on the facts.

Does a Greek Golden Visa give you Article 5A?

The Greek Golden Visa and the Greece non-dom regime are separate applications under separate laws, decided by different authorities. The Golden Visa is a residence permit: it gives a non-EU national the right to live in Greece. Article 5A is a tax election: it changes how a Greek tax resident’s foreign income is taxed. Holding a Golden Visa does not, of itself, make you Greek tax resident, and residence for tax purposes is still decided under Article 4 of the Income Tax Code.

Since the September 2024 reform (Article 64 of Law 5100/2024), the Greek Golden Visa real estate threshold is EUR 800,000 in the highest-demand areas, including Attica, Thessaloniki, Mykonos and Santorini, and EUR 400,000 elsewhere. If you plan one investment to do both jobs, check it against each set of rules independently: a EUR 400,000 property can meet the Golden Visa test without reaching the EUR 500,000 Article 5A figure, and the Article 5A paperwork, including proof of transfer to a Greek financial institution, is its own. Our complete guide to the Greece Golden Visa sets out the permit rules in full.

How does Greece Article 5A compare with Italy and Portugal?

Greece is not the only European country offering wealthy new residents a predictable tax position. Table 3 sets Article 5A against Italy’s flat tax for new residents and Portugal’s IFICI regime, the successor to NHR.

Table 3: Greece Article 5A, Italy Article 24-bis TUIR and Portugal IFICI compared, for individuals moving in 2026 or later. Figures checked 26 October 2026 against AADE Decision A.1147/2026, Italian Law 199/2025 and PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries, Portugal (last reviewed 3 October 2026).

On these numbers Greece is the cheapest of the three flat-tax routes by a wide margin: EUR 100,000 a year against Italy’s EUR 300,000 for anyone moving from 2026 onwards. Portugal works differently. IFICI is not a lump-sum regime and applies only to people carrying out qualifying professional activities, so a retired investor living on portfolio income will often not qualify for it at all. Our guide to Portugal tax for Golden Visa investors and IFICI explains who qualifies, and our Italy investor visa and flat tax guide covers the Italian option in depth.

For people leaving the United Kingdom, the backdrop is the replacement of the remittance basis with a four-year foreign income and gains regime from 6 April 2025 (ICAEW Tax Faculty), which has made a European flat-tax regime a live question for many former non-doms.

Who is Article 5A right for?

Our view is that the Greece non-dom regime is the strongest flat-tax offer in the European Union for a person with large, recurring foreign income who genuinely intends to live in Greece, and a poor fit for almost everyone else.

When we model Article 5A for clients, we start by splitting foreign income by type rather than by total, because the same EUR 1 million produces very different answers as salary, as dividends or as gains. For clients leaving the UK for tax reasons, Greece is usually the first jurisdiction we test, and the income mix, rather than the headline rate, decides most cases.

The downsides deserve equal weight:

• The EUR 100,000 is payable every year regardless of income, including a year in which income falls.
• Foreign tax already paid on covered income cannot be credited, so income taxed at source abroad can bear tax twice.
• Greek-source income, including rent from the investment property, is taxed separately at ordinary Greek rates.
• Failing to complete the investment in time unwinds the regime back to year one.
• The regime ends after 15 tax years and cannot be extended.
• The country you leave may still tax some income or gains; Greek approval does not settle that.

If you are weighing Greece against Portugal as a place to live rather than only as a tax position, our Portugal vs Greece Golden Visa comparison and our guide to retiring or relocating to Europe are the better starting points, and our liquidity event tax planning guide covers the sequencing questions for founders selling a business.

Frequently asked questions

Is the Greece non-dom regime still available in 2026?

Yes. Article 5A remains in force as at 26 October 2026, amended by Law 5313/2026 with effect from 25 June 2026. The 2026 application window closed on 30 September 2026; the next deadline is 30 September 2027, for tax year 2027.

Do you need to live in Greece to use Article 5A?

Yes. The Greece non-dom regime is only for people who transfer their tax residence to Greece under Article 4 of the Income Tax Code, which looks at your permanent home, habitual abode and centre of vital interests, or at presence of more than 183 days in a twelve-month period.

Can a spouse and children join the Greece non-dom regime?

A spouse or civil partner and relatives in the direct line can be added for EUR 20,000 each a year, without a separate investment. Minor unmarried children living with you are covered at no charge.

Does the EUR 100,000 flat tax cover Greek income?

No. Greek-source income is declared and taxed under the ordinary rules. The Article 5A flat tax covers foreign-source income only.

Can you claim credit for tax paid abroad under Article 5A?

Not against the EUR 100,000. Foreign tax on income covered by the regime is not offset against the Greek liability, which is why treaty and withholding positions need checking before you elect.

What happens if you change your mind about Article 5A?

You can apply to revoke the election by 30 September of any year, and you are taxed under the ordinary rules from that year. AADE Decision A.1147/2026 sets out limited routes back into the regime for the remaining years, depending on whether the investment was completed and whether you stayed Greek tax resident.

Is a Golden Visa property enough for Article 5A?

Only if it meets the Article 5A test on its own terms: at least EUR 500,000 in qualifying Greek assets, with proof of transfer to a Greek financial institution. An investment completed up to three years before the application can count.

This article is general information, not legal, tax or investment advice. Investment migration rules and tax rules change frequently and depend on your personal circumstances. Figures are correct as at the date shown and should be confirmed before you act. Speak to a qualified adviser, and contact Citizenship360 for guidance specific to your situation.

Figures verified 26 October 2026.

Sources

• Independent Authority for Public Revenue (AADE), Decision A.1147/2026 of 17 July 2026, procedure and conditions for Article 5A of Law 4172/2013, Government Gazette B’ 4431/20.7.2026, corrected in B’ 4838/4.8.2026, aade.gr. Checked 26 October 2026.
• Law 5313/2026, Article 94, amending Article 5A of Law 4172/2013 with effect from 25 June 2026, as recited in AADE Decision A.1147/2026, article 9. Checked 26 October 2026.
• AADE, Tax residence for natural persons (Article 4 ITC), aade.gr. Checked 26 October 2026.
• PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries, Greece, Individual: Other tax credits and incentives, and Taxes on personal income (both last reviewed 8 September 2026); Income determination. Checked 26 October 2026.
• PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries, Portugal, Individual: Other tax credits and incentives (last reviewed 3 October 2026). Checked 26 October 2026.
• Italian Law 199/2025 (2026 Budget Law), Article 1, paragraphs 25 and 26, amending Article 24-bis TUIR, as summarised by DWF, 7 January 2026. Checked 26 October 2026.
• Law 5100/2024, Article 64 (Greek Golden Visa thresholds), as summarised by the International Bar Association. Checked 26 October 2026.
• ICAEW Tax Faculty, New regime for taxing foreign income and gains, 2025. Checked 26 October 2026.