Every autumn, a certain kind of email circulates among retirees: "Greece will tax your pension at 7%". It is true. It is also incomplete, and the missing parts can cost you more than the saving. Greece's 7% flat tax for pensioners is a real regime with a real deadline, and the 2026 rules changed the date that most websites still quote.
What is Greece's 7% flat tax for pensioners?
Greece has three regimes to attract new tax residents, in articles 5A, 5B and 5C of the income tax code. The pensioner one is 5B. If you qualify, you pay 7% on all your foreign-source income, each year, for 15 tax years from the year of your application. Your Greek income stays taxed normally and you still file your return every year with all income, Greek and foreign.
Tax paid abroad on that income can be deducted within the limit of the Greek tax, where your tax treaty also lets the other country tax it; any excess is not refunded. Income that a tax treaty exempts or taxes differently stays outside the 7%. The regime does not set aside tax treaties. To understand whether you become resident at all, read tax residency in Greece.
Who qualifies for the 7% regime?
- You must have been non-resident in Greece for 5 of the 6 years before you apply.
- You must come from a country that has an administrative cooperation agreement in tax matters with Greece, meaning an international convention allowing the exchange of all the information needed to apply tax law. The AADE checks this itself. Within the EU, the directive on administrative cooperation covers it.
- You must transfer your tax residence to Greece. For Swiss and British pensioners, both the UK (since 1 October 2011) and Switzerland (since 1 January 2017) are, like Greece (since 1 September 2013), parties to the multilateral convention on mutual administrative assistance in tax matters (OECD status at 1 September 2026), and both have a tax treaty with Greece. The condition therefore looks satisfied, but the AADE records it in its decision. British citizens also need a Greek residence permit; see moving to Greece from the UK.
What is the deadline and how do you apply?
The rules come from AADE decision A.1192/2026, in force since 24 September 2026.
- Deadline: 31 October of the year the regime is to apply to. If you settled by 2 July, you may choose the year of arrival or the next year. After 2 July, it is the next year. You can complete your file until 30 November.
- Where: the AADE department handling these regimes (the individuals' tax centre of Attica, or the one in Thessaloniki), through the My Requests application on myAADE, by registered post or in person.
- Answer: within 60 days, at the latest on the last working day of December.
- Payment: every year, in one payment, at the latest on the last working day of December. No instalments, no offset against a tax credit. If you do not pay in full, you leave the regime and are taxed normally on your worldwide income.
If you miss 31 October, the application slips by a year, and it is lost if you go beyond the year following your arrival.
What documents do you need?
- A document from your pension fund (or another body) proving that you receive a foreign pension.
- For each of the 6 preceding years where the AADE does not already hold your foreign tax residence, a tax residence certificate from your country, or the bilingual tax treaty application form stamped by your tax authority. Otherwise your tax notice or return, or a statement from another public authority proving your settlement abroad.
- Foreign documents are apostilled, or exempt under EU regulation 2016/1191, and translated. The bilingual treaty form is exempt.
What are the traps?
- The 7% covers all foreign income. Foreign rents, dividends and interest are included. If you have a large portfolio, run the numbers.
- Civil service pensions. Depending on your treaty, a public pension may stay taxable only in the paying country, so the gain may be small.
- Outdated deadlines. Many sites still say 31 March.
- Leaving the regime is final. You can withdraw before 31 October of the target year, but you can never return.
- Combining regimes. 5A and 5B cannot be combined. 5A or 5B can be combined with 5C if you meet the conditions of each.
- Committing too fast. The regime commits you for up to 15 years.
What else does a retiree need to arrange?
The tax regime is only one piece. You also need residence registration, a tax number, and healthcare. The full path is in how to retire in Greece and the order of steps is in the moving to Greece checklist. Compare the result with your cost of living in Greece before you commit.
How does Greece's 7% flat tax for pensioners work in practice?
The flat rate replaces the normal Greek scale only for your foreign-source income. The normal scale is progressive and comes with a tax reduction for pensioners, while the 7% applies to every euro of foreign income, rents and dividends included. So the saving depends on how much you receive and what kind of income it is.
Two caveats change the picture. First, a tax treaty may leave your pension taxable in the paying country, and the flat tax does not set treaties aside. Tax already paid abroad on that income is deducted within the limit of the Greek tax. Second, a modest pension can already pay little under the normal scale once the pensioner reduction applies. Compare both on your own figures, using the AADE rules for the year you target.
What happens each year under Greece's 7% flat tax for pensioners?
Each year you file your return and declare all your income, Greek and foreign. The Greek-source income is taxed on the normal scale. The foreign-source income is covered by the 7% charge, paid in a single payment by the last working day of December. If you miss the payment or pay only part of it, you leave the regime and are taxed on your worldwide income at the normal rates.
The regime runs for 15 tax years from the year of your application, and you can leave it by applying before 31 October of the target year, but you cannot come back. Combine this with your plan for retiring in Greece rather than deciding the tax in isolation.
Who should avoid the 7% flat tax?
Retirees whose main income is a public-service pension that the treaty leaves to the paying country gain little. People with large foreign investment income may find the 7% on everything costs more than expected. And anyone who is unsure whether they will stay should remember that the regime commits you for years. The choice between flat tax and the normal scale is a calculation, not a reflex. Before you apply, have a tax adviser or an accountant in Greece check your file and confirm the result for your own pensions.