Greece is on the verge of adopting a law introducing a 7% flat tax on the income of foreign pensioners.

The Greek Finance Ministry has submitted a new law to Parliament for approval, which provides for the introduction of a flat income tax rate of 7% for foreign retirees who transfer their tax residence to Greece. Parliament must debate the law by the end of July.

"The logic is very simple: we want pensioners to move to Greece, we have a wonderful country, a very good climate, so why not?" says Athena Kaliva, head of tax policy at the Greek finance ministry. “We hope that retirees who benefit from this attractive rate will spend most of their time in Greece, which will encourage investment in rental or property purchases.”

Alex Patelis, chief economic adviser to Athens Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, said the flat tax rate would apply to all foreign income, regardless of its form or source.

"A fixed rate of 7% will apply to any income - be it rent or dividends, as well as pensions."

However, the scheme will only be available to retirees from countries with which Greece has entered into an agreement to avoid double taxation.

As a reminder, Greece has also recently introduced a one-off tax rate of € 100,000 per year for those investing € 500,000 in Greece, which to date (according to the authorities) has successfully attracted about two dozen applicants.

To take advantage of the one-time tax rate, the following two conditions must be met:
(a) the taxpayer should not have been recognized as a tax resident of Greece for 7 of the 8 previous years,
(b) the taxpayer, his relatives or the legal entity in which they own the majority of the shares must invest in real estate, movable assets or shares of legal entities based in Greece, in the amount of at least EUR 500,000.
Condition (b) is not required if the taxpayer has received a residence permit in Greece in connection with investment activities.

Individuals who will use this method of taxation must pay a one-time tax of 100,000 euros per year, regardless of their level of income from foreign sources. For relatives, there is a one-time tax rate of 20,000 euros per year. The term of use of the scheme cannot exceed 15 tax years.

In addition, the taxpayer is exempt from inheritance tax and donations on any foreign assets in Greece.

The presentation - How to get a residence permit in Greece, Spain, Portugal for financially independent persons, can be viewed on our Youtube channel - https://youtu.be/HvfugYR6l2s.