Greece

Standard deductions

The income tax is reduced based on certain expenditures for annual personal living.

More specifically, as of 1 January 2020, the maximum amount of tax reduction (applicable to salaried and pension income) is EUR 777 for income up to the maximum of EUR 12,000 for a single person or for a married person with no dependants.

The maximum amount of tax deduction is increased by EUR 33 for a married person with one dependant (i.e. to reach a total tax deduction of EUR 810), by EUR 123 for a married person with two dependants (i.e. to reach a total tax deduction of EUR 900), by EUR 243 for a married person with three dependants (i.e. to reach a total tax deduction of EUR 1,120), by EUR 563 for a married person with four dependants (i.e. to reach a total tax deduction of EUR 1,340), and by an additional EUR 220 for each additional dependant.

For salaried and pension income above EUR 12,000, the amount of tax deduction is reduced by EUR 20 for every EUR 1,000 of income.

With effect from 1 January 2020, the amount of expenditure required to be paid by electronic means is amended, and, instead of the applicable progressive computation, it should be equal to 30% of the actual income from salaried employment, pensions, and business. The amount of the annual expenditure is limited to EUR 20,000.

Nevertheless, the abovementioned rate will be limited to 20%, instead of 30% of the income, should payments for income and real estate tax as well as for loans to financial institutions and rentals exceed 60% of the taxpayers' actual income.

Note that the purchases of goods and receipt of services may include the majority of categories of goods and services, such as accommodation, food, clothing, car expenses, telecommunications, education, etc. In addition, said expenses should be incurred either in the Greek territory or in any European Union (EU) territory.

Personal deductions

Certain expenses are deducted from the gross income to reach taxable income. These deductible expenses, provided for by specific provisions of the Greek ITC, mainly include the following:

• Social security contributions mandatory by law.
• Donations and grants of specific instances and to restrictively listed bodies and organisations. The income tax reduction amounts to 20% of the value of donations to the extent that the total amount of donations during a tax year exceeds EUR 100,00 and do not exceed 5% of the taxable income.

Foreign taxpayers who qualify as non-Greek tax residents may enjoy the tax reliefs of Greek tax residents provided that they maintain their residence in an EU or European Economic Area (EEA) country and (i) generate at least 90% of their worldwide income in Greece or (ii) are able to prove that their taxable income is so low that they would be entitled to tax relief in their country.