Greece Non-Dom Tax Regime: Three Inbound Options

Greece runs not one but three inbound tax regimes for individuals who transfer their tax residency to the country. Each targets a different profile: a €100,000 lump-sum tax on foreign income for high-net-worth arrivals, a 7% flat rate on all foreign-source income for retirees, and a 50% reduction on Greek employment and business income tax for skilled workers. All three sit alongside — not on top of — Greece's standard progressive schedule, so the choice depends on who the applicant is, where their income comes from, and how long they intend to stay.

Nothing here is legal or tax advice. Rates and eligibility rules are current as of 2026, but the Greek regimes have been refined repeatedly since they launched between 2019 and 2021; verify current-year detail with a Greek tax adviser before acting.

The three regimes at a glance

Each regime is actively elected, has its own filing deadline, and generally cannot be stacked with another for the same tax year. The three sections below unpack how each one actually works.

The €100,000 non-dom flat tax

Greece's HNWI regime, introduced in December 2019, was consciously modelled on Italy's flat tax for new residents and has been Greece's flagship response to inbound wealth relocation. The mechanics are simple: a qualifying resident pays a fixed €100,000 per year in Greek tax on all foreign-source income — dividends, interest, capital gains, rents, business profits, foreign pensions — regardless of amount. Family members can be added at €20,000 each per year for the duration of the regime.

Greek-source income sits outside the flat tax and is taxed at ordinary rates: 9% up to €10,000, then 22% to €20,000, 28% to €30,000, 36% to €40,000, and 44% above €40,000. A beneficiary who also earns Greek employment income faces the full progressive schedule on that piece.

Eligibility

• The applicant must not have been a recent Greek tax resident (the current legislation uses a multi-year look-back; verify the precise wording for the year of application with a Greek adviser).
• They must commit to at least €500,000 in qualifying Greek investments — real estate, business shareholdings, government bonds, or Greek securities — completed within three years of the election.
• The election is filed with the Greek tax authority (AADE) by the statutory deadline for the tax year the individual becomes resident.

Duration and exit

The regime runs for up to 15 tax years from the year of election, provided the investment condition stays satisfied. It ends earlier if the beneficiary loses Greek residency, fails to complete the €500,000 investment within three years, or misses an annual lump-sum payment. Payment discipline is not a technicality here: missing a €100,000 instalment is grounds for termination of the regime, not just a late-payment penalty on the year in question.

What the flat tax covers — and doesn't

The €100,000 discharges Greek tax on foreign-source income only. Foreign inheritance and gifts received by the beneficiary from foreign donors during the regime are also exempt from Greek inheritance and gift tax — a genuinely valuable feature that competes with Cyprus's zero inheritance regime. Greek-source income remains fully taxable at progressive rates, and no foreign tax credits are given against the €100,000 lump sum: the payment is a fixed cost, not a computed liability, so applicants moving from countries with heavy withholding on their foreign income should model the treaty position carefully before electing.

The 7% flat tax for pensioners

Introduced in 2020, this regime targets retirees drawing foreign pensions. A qualifying individual pays a flat 7% on all foreign-source income — not only pension income, but also foreign dividends, interest, rents, and capital gains — for 15 tax years.

Eligibility

• Must not have been a Greek tax resident for 5 of the 6 years preceding the transfer of tax residency.
• Must transfer residency from a country with a tax cooperation or administrative-assistance agreement with Greece — a wide but not universal list; the current version should be verified.
• Must be in receipt of a pension from a foreign source (public, private, or occupational). This is the practical gate: applicants without pension income cannot elect this regime.

How the arithmetic actually falls out

The 7% headline rate is applied to gross foreign income. A retiree with €80,000 a year in foreign pension income would owe €5,600 of Greek tax under the regime — versus roughly €22,000 under Greece's ordinary progressive schedule (9% to €10k, 22% to €20k, 28% to €30k, 36% to €40k, 44% above). For someone with €200,000 in mixed foreign investment income, the difference is sharper still: €14,000 flat, versus a computed bill that would push into the 44% top bracket.

Greek-source income remains taxable at ordinary Greek rates. Greece's standalone rates on dividends (5%), interest (15%), and securities capital gains (15%) are the numbers to compare against for anyone with meaningful passive income; in most cases the 7% flat rate on the foreign equivalent is cheaper, but not always — a retiree whose foreign income is mostly dividends already taxed at low treaty withholding may find that the standard system's 5% Greek dividend rate, after foreign tax credit, produces a lower net liability.

The 50% employment and business income break

The third regime, established under Law 4758/2020, is the least famous and arguably the highest-impact for working-age professionals. A qualifying new resident pays only 50% of the normal Greek income tax and solidarity contribution on Greek-source employment or business income for 7 years beginning in the year of the move.

Because Greece's progressive schedule tops out at 44%, the effective top rate under the 50% break is roughly 22% — competitive with Portugal's IFICI regime and materially below the top rates in most Western European economies. Greece's solidarity contribution has been suspended through 2025 and is expected to remain suspended, so the "50% off solidarity" component is currently dormant; verify the surcharge status for the year of application.

Eligibility

• Must not have been a Greek tax resident for 5 of the 6 years preceding the transfer.
• Must transfer residency and take up new employment with a Greek employer or start a new individual business in Greece.
• Must declare an intention to stay in Greece for at least 2 years.

Employment must be with a Greek entity — this is not a remote-work regime. A foreign-employed remote worker who wants Greek tax residency generally falls back on ordinary rates unless they restructure through a Greek employer, which brings its own social security and compliance implications.

What income the 50% break covers

Only Greek employment income or Greek business income earned under the qualifying activity is discounted. Foreign passive income — foreign dividends, interest, rents, capital gains — is taxed at Greece's ordinary rates. So this regime is not additive to the non-dom flat tax or the 7% retiree regime; a beneficiary of the 50% break with substantial foreign passive income pays full Greek rates on that piece, or needs to route it via a structure with its own analysis.

The Greek tax environment they exit into

All three regimes have finite durations. When they end, the beneficiary reverts to Greece's ordinary personal income tax system:

• Progressive 9–44% on employment, business, and pension income.
• 5% on dividends.
• 15% on interest and on capital gains from securities. Real-estate capital gains sit on a 15% regime that has been suspended — verify the current status before assuming zero.
• ENFIA annual property tax on Greek real estate. Greece has no general wealth tax.
• Inheritance tax between 1% and 40% depending on relationship and value, with a €150,000 exemption for close family.

The full Greek framework — corporate rate, VAT, and treaty position — is covered in the TaxAtlas Greece country profile.

Greece vs Italy's HNWI flat tax

Italy's flat tax for new residents was the direct model for Greece's €100,000 regime, and the two remain the natural comparators. But the 2026 Italian Budget Law materially widened the gap. From 1 January 2026, new Italian electors pay €300,000 per year — three times Greece's rate — plus €50,000 per additional family member (versus Greece's €20,000). Existing Italian electors are grandfathered at the rate they signed up under: €100,000 pre-August 2024, and €200,000 from August 2024 through the end of 2025.

The break-even calculus: at Italy's new €300,000 lump sum, the regime only pays off against Italian progressive rates (top ~43% plus regional and municipal surcharges) if foreign income sits above roughly €700,000 to €1 million. Greece's €100,000 threshold is much lower — the regime becomes rational for anyone with foreign income above roughly €300,000, and the €500,000 Greek investment requirement is often satisfied by real estate the beneficiary was going to buy anyway. The Italy flat-tax deep dive covers the Italian side in detail.

Italy still has one arithmetic advantage at very high income levels: the €300,000 is a hard ceiling regardless of scale, so an ultra-HNWI with €10M of foreign income pays the same €300,000 as one with €1M. Greece's €100,000 works the same way — but for the profile where Italy's €300,000 becomes a rounding error, Greece's €100,000 already was.

Greece vs Cyprus non-dom

Cyprus's non-domiciled regime is structurally different, and comparing them requires understanding that "non-dom" means different things in each country. Cyprus's regime is not a flat tax — it's a 17-year exemption from Special Defence Contribution (SDC) on foreign dividends and interest for individuals who are tax resident but not Cyprus-domiciled. Personal income tax still applies to other categories at the standard 0–35% schedule.

For someone with foreign passive income of a few hundred thousand euros a year — dividends, interest, a mix of investment flows — Cyprus is generally cheaper on the passive-income side, because the regime is an exemption rather than a fixed cost. For someone with foreign income measured in the millions plus a real desire to base themselves in the Mediterranean, Greece's €100,000 lump sum becomes cheaper in absolute terms once the passive base scales, and the accompanying inheritance shield is decisive for family-wealth planning. The Cyprus 2026 reform deep dive covers recent changes to SDC and corporate rates that materially affect this comparison — notably the reduction of SDC on dividends from 17% to 5% for profits earned from 1 January 2026, which softens the year-18 cliff considerably.

The other point of comparison is Cyprus's 60-day residency rule, which requires only 60 days of physical presence per year, provided the individual has employment, directorship, or business ties to Cyprus and is not tax-resident anywhere else. Greece's regimes all require the standard 183-day test — there is no reduced-presence path.

Common traps

• Election deadlines. Each regime has to be elected by a hard statutory deadline. Late applications are refused; there is no retroactive election path.
• Investment failure under the HNWI regime. The €500,000 Greek investment must be documented and completed within three years. Failing to do so cancels the regime and can trigger reassessment on foreign income that had been paid off with the €100,000 lump sum.
• No stacking. An individual cannot elect two Greek special regimes for the same tax year. Choosing between the 50% break (best for salaried arrivals) and the €100,000 flat tax (best for HNWIs with large foreign income) is a real decision.
• Foreign tax credits vs the lump sum. The €100,000 flat tax is a fixed cost. No credit is given for taxes paid abroad against it. Applicants moving from countries with high dividend withholding may find the standard progressive system plus foreign tax credits produces a lower net Greek liability at moderate income levels.
• Country-of-origin exit taxes. Leaving high-tax jurisdictions such as the UK or Germany can trigger exit taxes on unrealised gains before Greece is even in scope. See the TaxAtlas exit taxes guide for the general framework, and check home-country rules with local counsel.
• Reporting obligations still apply. Even under a special regime, the beneficiary is a Greek tax resident and files a Greek return. Reporting obligations for foreign accounts, real estate, and structures apply. The TaxAtlas residency guide covers the mechanics.

Where to go next

Full country detail for Greece — corporate rate, VAT, and treaty context — is in the Greece profile. For side-by-side comparison against Italy and Cyprus on rate schedules and wealth-tax treatment, use the compare tool. For the specific mechanics of Italy's raised HNWI flat tax, read the Italy €300k flat-tax deep dive, and for Cyprus's 2026 reform see the Cyprus reform explainer. Anyone considering the move from the UK should also look at the UK non-dom abolition analysis, which is the single largest driver of Southern European inbound demand in 2026. General questions on how residency mechanics interact with these regimes are covered in the FAQ.