Greece reduces property taxes

At the Thessaloniki International Fair in early September, the Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras announced an expected tax reduction for property buyers and owners.

Corporate tax — reduced from 29% to 25%

Starting from 1 January 2019, the corporate tax rate will be reduced from 29% to 25% for four years. This is relevant to those who have registered real estate to legal entities and lease their properties: the rental income tax will become lower.

VAT — reduced from 24% to 22%

Starting from 1 January 2021, the VAT rate will be reduced from 24% to 22%. This news is relevant to the buyers of newly-built properties: buyers pay a 24% VAT on new-builds with permits issued after 1 January 2006, (for properties built before 2006 only the title deed transfer tax — 3.09% of the property value — applies).

Real estate tax — reduced by 30–50%

The decision to gradually reduce the real estate tax — by 50% for inexpensive and by 30% for mid-priced properties — will be made by the end of the year. The reduction will be introduced in two steps: in early 2019 and early 2020. By doing so, the Greek government is trying to ease the tax burden on most of the population and increase the taxes for the owners of expensive real estate. The real estate tax in Greece is paid annually and has two components. The main part currently ranges from €0.001 to €13/m². The precise amount is determined by a number of factors: area, notional property value established in a particular municipality, building date and so on. Individuals pay the additional part of the tax on properties of at least €200,000 in cadastral value at rates from 0.10% to 1.15% depending on the property price. For legal entities, the additional levy is fixed at 0.55% of the property's cadastral value.