Imagine knowing your tax bill before the year begins. Not estimating it, not modelling three scenarios. Knowing it. One number, fixed, whatever the markets do and whatever you sell. For a certain kind of internationally successful person, that certainty is worth more than any headline rate, and it is exactly what Greece now sells.
The Greece non-dom regime lets you pay a flat €100,000 per year on your entire foreign income, no matter how large, for up to fifteen years. Not €100,000 plus tax on the rest. €100,000 full stop, on everything you earn outside Greece: dividends, capital gains, interest, foreign business profits, all discharged by that single figure. And you get to live on the Aegean while you do it, with Santorini, Mykonos and the quiet coves of the Peloponnese as your permanent address rather than your holiday.
This is not a loophole or aggressive planning. It is a published statute, Article 5A of the Greek Income Tax Code, built to attract exactly the people most of Europe has spent the last five years driving away. Below: how Greek tax normally works, how the €100,000 regime changes the maths, the 7% version for pensioners, and how non-EU citizens get in through the Golden Visa.
Taxes in Greece: The Normal Rules First
To understand why the non-dom regime is such a departure, you have to see what it replaces.
Greece taxes ordinary residents on their worldwide income, on a progressive scale that runs from 9% at the bottom to 44% at the top. It is not a low-tax country by default. A resident on a substantial income reaches that 44% ceiling quickly, and it applies to foreign and domestic income alike, dividends and capital gains included.
For most people, that is simply what living in Greece costs. The non-dom regime exists for the minority for whom it would cost a great deal more, and who can bring enough capital into the country to justify a different deal.
What Is the Greece Non-Dom Regime?
The Greece non-dom regime is a special tax status, under Article 5A of the Income Tax Code, that allows high-net-worth individuals who move their tax residency to Greece pay a flat €100,000 a year on all their foreign income instead of normal progressive rates.
The mechanics are simple by design.
| Greece Non-Dom Regime (Article 5A) | |
|---|---|
| Flat tax | €100,000 per year on all foreign-source income |
| Covers | Dividends, capital gains, interest, foreign business income, all of it |
| Duration | Up to 15 years |
| Investment required | €500,000 in Greek real estate, business or securities, within 3 years |
| Eligibility gate | Not a Greek tax resident for 7 of the previous 8 years |
| Family members | €20,000 per year each |
| Foreign assets | Outside Greek inheritance and gift tax |
| Foreign income reporting | No obligation to declare it |
The €100,000 is a flat charge, not a rate. Whether your foreign income for the year is €400,000 or €40 million, the figure is the same. That is the entire point: it converts an uncapped percentage into a fixed cost, and for large incomes a fixed cost is a shrinking effective rate.
One boundary matters. The regime covers foreign income only. Any Greek-source income, rent from a Greek property, salary for work performed in Greece, is still taxed under the normal 9% to 44% scale. The regime caps what comes from outside, not what you earn inside.
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Is the Greece Non-Dom Regime Worth It?
It is worth it above roughly €300,000 of annual foreign income, and not worth it below that. At that level, the flat €100,000 is about the same as you would pay under normal progressive rates.
The reason is simple: €100,000 is a fixed cost, not a percentage. Below about €300,000, normal tax comes to less than €100,000, so paying the flat fee would mean overpaying. Above it, normal tax would run past €100,000 and keep climbing, while the flat fee stays put, so the more you earn, the more you save.
So the profile is specific. Someone with a large, globally-sourced income, dividends from companies abroad, gains from an international portfolio, profits from businesses outside Greece, who wants that whole picture capped at a predictable figure. For that person, the saving runs into six figures a year, and the certainty is worth as much as the saving.
Key Points
- The Greece non-dom regime caps foreign income at a flat €100,000 per year
- It runs for up to 15 years and cannot be extended
- It requires a €500,000 investment in Greece, completed within three years
- You must not have been a Greek tax resident for 7 of the last 8 years
- Family members join for €20,000 each per year
- Foreign assets fall outside Greek inheritance and gift tax
- The regime only makes financial sense above roughly €300,000 of foreign income
- Greek-source income is still taxed on the normal 9% to 44% scale
Greece Tax for Retirees: The 7% Regime
Retirees who move their tax residency to Greece can pay a flat 7% on all their foreign income, pensions included, for up to fifteen years. It suits a different person entirely from the €100,000 regime, and it is worth knowing about. There is no €500,000 investment requirement, and the eligibility gate is lighter: you must not have been a Greek tax resident for five of the previous six years, and you must come from a country that has a tax treaty with Greece.
It is a genuinely attractive number. A foreign pension, foreign dividends, foreign rental income, all taxed at a flat 7%. For a retiree with meaningful assets abroad and a Mediterranean retirement in mind, few countries in Europe come close. This regime and the €100,000 one cannot be combined; you elect the one that fits your profile.
How Non-EU Citizens Qualify: The Golden Visa Route
Here is the part that trips people up. The tax regime and the right to live in Greece are two separate things, and you need both. EU and EEA citizens settle freely and elect the regime directly. Everyone else, an American, a Brit after Brexit, a Gulf or Asian investor, first needs a legal basis to reside in Greece, and for most that basis is the Greece Golden Visa.
The two fit together neatly. The non-dom regime requires a €500,000 investment; the Golden Visa is itself a property investment. Size a single purchase at €500,000 or more and it does both jobs at once, clearing the visa threshold and satisfying the regime’s investment test. One investment, structured so it counts twice.
Mind the figure, though. The Golden Visa floor is €400,000, but the regime needs €500,000, so a €400,000 property earns you residency and leaves you €100,000 short of the tax break. If the flat tax is the goal, buy for the higher number from the start.
One caveat. The Golden Visa carries no minimum stay, but the regime requires you to genuinely become a Greek tax resident, which means more than 183 days a year in the country. You cannot hold this tax break at arm’s length. For the residency side in full, see our guide to the Greece Golden Visa.
Do You Qualify? A Ninety-Second Test
Answer these five honestly.
1. Is your foreign income comfortably above €300,000 a year? Below that, the flat €100,000 costs more than it saves. This regime rewards large incomes specifically.
2. Have you avoided Greek tax residency for seven of the last eight years? This is the hard eligibility gate. If you have been resident in Greece recently, you do not qualify yet.
3. Can you invest €500,000 in Greece, within three years? Real estate, business or securities all count. If you are non-EU, a single €500,000 property can serve this and your Golden Visa at once.
4. Are you willing to actually live in Greece, more than 183 days a year? The regime requires genuine tax residency. This is not a paper move.
5. If you are non-EU, do you have a residence basis, or a plan to get one? EU and EEA citizens settle freely. Everyone else needs the Golden Visa or an equivalent permit first.
Five yeses makes you a strong candidate. A no on question 1 usually means the regime is not for you yet. A no on question 5, if you are non-EU, is simply the first thing we would solve.
Greece vs Italy: The Non-Dom Comparison That Matters
The natural comparison is Italy, and in 2026 Greece wins it on price. Italy runs the same idea, a flat annual charge on foreign income, but it raised that charge to €300,000 for new residents in 2026, three times the Greek figure, with family members at €50,000 each against Greece’s €20,000. For most large foreign incomes, Greece is simply the cheaper door to the same outcome.
The backdrop makes the point sharper. Britain abolished its own non-dom status in 2025, and Portugal has retired the NHR regime that once made it the continent’s tax darling. Regimes are closing or getting pricier everywhere, and Greece, holding steady at €100,000, has become one of the most cost-effective flat-tax homes in Europe. It is no coincidence that demand has risen sharply.
Final Thoughts
Most of Europe is moving in one direction, and Greece in the other. Britain has dismantled its non-dom status, Italy has tripled its fee, Portugal has retired the NHR regime that once made it the continent’s tax darling. Into that retreat, Greece has planted a flag: a fixed €100,000, a Mediterranean address, and fifteen years of knowing your number in advance.
It will not suit everyone. The regime is built for a particular person, with a large foreign income and a genuine willingness to live in Greece rather than merely file there. For them, few things in European tax planning are as clean as trading an uncapped 44% for a flat, predictable certainty. Get the structure right, and Greece offers a number you can count on, under a sky you will want to wake up to.
One honest caveat. The only EU regime that arguably beats Greece’s is Cyprus, which charges 0% on foreign dividends and interest, with no €100,000 fee, only the GESY health levy of 2.65% (capped near €4,770 a year). Where Greece pulls ahead is breadth: its flat charge caps everything, capital gains and foreign business profits included. Which one wins depends entirely on your numbers.
How TaxMove Helps You
A flat tax looks like the simplest thing in the world on paper, and that is precisely why people get it wrong. The €100,000 is fixed. Everything around it is not.
We handle the whole structure, in sequence:
- We check the regime is right for you before anything else. Above €300,000 of foreign income it usually pays; below it, it usually does not. We run your actual numbers before you commit to a move built on the assumption that it does.
- We structure the €500,000 investment. Where it goes, how it is held, and, for non-EU clients, how a single €500,000 property can satisfy both your residence permit and the regime’s investment test at once.
- We time the exit from your current residency. Leaving your existing tax residence cleanly is as important as arriving in Greece. Get the timing wrong and you can be taxed twice, or lose the regime before it starts.
- We manage residency and the election together. The permit, the transfer of tax residency, and the non-dom filing are one coordinated process, not three disconnected errands.
One team, one plan, from the first question to the first year under the flat tax. Whether Greece genuinely beats your current setup is not a question a calculator answers on its own, and it is exactly where we begin.
Book your free initial consultation and we will run it with you, before you commit a single euro. Your Move Starts Here.
Frequently Asked Questions About the Greece Non-Dom Regime
What is the Greece non-dom regime?
A flat-tax regime under Article 5A of the Greek tax code. You pay €100,000 a year on all foreign income, whatever its size, for up to 15 years, instead of normal progressive rates.
How much does the Greece non-dom regime cost?
€100,000 per year on foreign income, plus €20,000 per year for each family member included. Greek-source income is taxed separately at normal rates.
Who qualifies for the Greece non-dom regime?
Individuals who have not been Greek tax residents for seven of the last eight years and who invest at least €500,000 in Greece within three years.
Does the Greece non-dom regime require me to live in Greece?
Yes. You must become a genuine Greek tax resident, which in practice means spending more than 183 days a year in the country.
Can non-EU citizens use the Greece non-dom regime?
Yes. Non-EU citizens need a residence basis first, usually the Greece Golden Visa. Size a single property at €500,000 and it covers both the visa and the regime’s investment requirement.
Is there a non-dom regime for pensioners in Greece?
Yes. Retirees can elect a flat 7% rate on all foreign income, including pensions, for up to 15 years, with no investment requirement.
