Greece income tax 2026: the new scale, and 183 days counted over any 12 months

Greece changed its income tax scale for tax years from 2026 on, adding a band and lowering the rates in the middle, and it rewards children directly in the rate. Without a dependent child, income from employment, pensions and business is taxed at 9% up to €10,000, 20% to €20,000, 26% to €30,000, 34% to €40,000, 39% to €60,000 and 44% above. Residency is the other half of the matter. Article 4 of the Income Tax Code makes you a resident if your permanent or principal residence, habitual abode or centre of vital interests is in Greece. It also makes you resident if you are present for more than 183 days in total during any twelve-month period, in which case residency applies from your first day of presence. Residents are taxed on income arising in Greece and abroad, non-residents on Greek income alone. Note the 183 days are not tied to a calendar year, and they are the reason a split autumn and spring stay still counts.

The 2026 scale, and what children do to it

Wages, pensions and business income, no dependent child, tax years 2026 onward. Lower rates apply by number of children and under age 30.

The Ministry of Economy and Finance sets out the full grid for tax years 2026 onward, and it is unusual in one respect: having children changes the rate itself rather than only giving a credit.

Age changes it too. Up to 25, the first two bands, up to €20,000, are at zero. From 26 to 30, the second band is 9%, or zero with four or more dependent children. The tax on wages and pensions then falls by a reduction of €777 with no dependent child, €900 with one, €1,120 with two, €1,340 with three, €1,580 with four and €1,780 with five, plus €220 for each further child. That reduction shrinks by €20 per €1,000 of wage and pension income above €12,000.

A worked figure, our own reading of those rules: an employee over 30 with no child and €35,000 of taxable wages owes €900, €2,000, €2,600 and €1,700 across the bands, or €7,200. The €777 reduction falls by 23 times €20, or €460, leaving €317. Tax comes to €6,883. Business profit uses the same scale, added on top of wages and pensions, but those reductions do not apply to it.

Income outside that scale

Withholding on dividends, interest and royalties exhausts the liability for individuals on that kind of income. The rent bands are the Ministry's for tax year 2026 onward, which added a 25% step; up to 2025 the middle band ran at 35% from €12,001 to €35,000. Capital gains on real estate are suspended until 31 December 2026, according to the Ministry. Taxpayers also face an electronic payment requirement: expenses paid by electronic means equal to 30% of actual income, up to €20,000 of expenses. Then there is a test that surprises new arrivals, the alternative minimum based on presumed income. Your homes, cars and other living costs can produce a presumed income, and you are taxed on it when it is higher than the income you actually report.

Residency: any twelve months, from day one

Those two features set Greece apart in this table. The window is any twelve-month period, so there is no reset at New Year. And the effect runs backward: once you pass day 183, the AADE says you are resident from your first day of presence, not from day 184. Income earned abroad during those first months can be drawn in. Keep in mind the wording changed between official sources. The sheet Greece gave the OECD speaks of being constantly present for over 183 days, including short periods abroad, while the AADE's current page says cumulatively during any twelve-month period. We follow the AADE, the tax authority, and our counter sums separate stays. We flag the older wording because you may meet it quoted elsewhere.

There is one carve-out. People in Greece exclusively for tourist, medical, therapeutic or similar private reasons are outside the 183-day test, provided their stay does not exceed 365 days, short periods abroad included. Run past that and the exception ends. This helps only with the day test: it says nothing about a home or centre of interests in Greece, which remain sufficient on their own. Greek consular, diplomatic and public officials, and civil servants serving abroad with Greek nationality, are resident regardless of days.

The Ministry notes incentives for people who transfer their tax residence to Greece, under articles 5A, 5B and 5C of the Code, under conditions. We did not read the conditions of those articles, so we state nothing about them beyond their existence. Check them directly before planning around one.

Testing a split year with your own dates

A single total for 2026 misleads you here. Take a stay from September to December and then January to early March: each calendar year looks light, yet the twelve months hold more than 183 days. Our tests use just that case. The stay from 1 September 2026 to 1 March 2027 is 182 days, below the threshold, and to 3 March it is 184, reached. Enter your stays below, and the counter looks for the busiest twelve-month period across all of them. The default shows two stays adding up to 190 days, which is enough. Travel days count as days here because the texts we read do not exclude them, not because they explicitly include them. When the result is close, the Taxlag app can keep that rolling count as you move.

What the counter cannot do is measure the other routes. A main home in Crete is enough even at 40 days. It also does not tell you whether a treaty moves you back: if your other country claims you too, read dual tax residency. For a side-by-side look, see the country table; Portugal uses a similar 12-month logic, while Spain looks at the calendar year.