Greek tax and foreign bank accounts: what AADE receives every year, and what changes for crypto

Greek tax residents with bank or investment accounts in other EU countries are not hidden from Greece's tax authority. Since tax year 2016, financial institutions in the EU have reported such accounts' year-end balances, interest, dividends and sale proceeds, and the data is sent to Greece every year.³ Crypto-asset service providers must also report, on transactions from 1 January 2026.⁵

In a press release on 13 October 2026, ΑΑΔΕ reported what Giorgos Pitsilis had said about the scale of this system.¹ He is the governor of ΑΑΔΕ (Ανεξάρτητη Αρχή Δημοσίων Εσόδων, Anexartiti Archi Dimosion Esodon, the Independent Authority for Public Revenue). ΑΑΔΕ is hosting the 25th meeting of the Automatic Exchange of Information Peer Review Group (APRG) of the OECD Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes in Athens from 12 to 15 October 2026.¹² In his opening speech, Pitsilis said that tax authorities cannot do their job if information stops at national borders.¹ΕΛ

Is the 171 million figure about Greece?

No. Pitsilis said that in 2024 alone, information on more than 171 million financial accounts, holding assets of almost €13 trillion, was exchanged internationally under the Common Reporting Standard (CRS).¹ΕΛ The 171 million figure is the worldwide total for all jurisdictions taking part, published by the Global Forum in its 2025 Annual Report on 2 December 2025.²

ΑΑΔΕ's press release of 13 October 2026 gives no figures for Greece. It does not say how many accounts Greece receives data on, how many audits followed, or how much tax was collected.¹

What do foreign banks report about Greek residents?

The EU rules on this are Directive 2014/107/EU, known as DAC2. Greece wrote them into its law with law 4378/2016, published in the Government Gazette (ΦΕΚ, Φύλλο Εφημερίδας της Κυβερνήσεως, Fyllo Efimeridas tis Kyverniseos) Α' 55 on 5 April 2016. That law amended law 4170/2013.³ For each reportable account, the institution reports the holder's name, address, country or countries of residence, tax identification number(s), date and place of birth, and the account number.³

The institution also reports the balance or value of the account at the end of the calendar year.³ For custodial accounts it reports gross interest, gross dividends and gross proceeds from the sale or redemption of financial assets. For deposit accounts it reports gross interest paid or credited.³

The DAC2 rules cover tax years from 1 January 2016 onwards. The data is exchanged every year, within nine months of the end of the calendar year.³ By our reading of the law, the first exchange, covering 2016, took place by September 2017.³

Most countries outside the EU take part through a separate route. Greece joined the OECD's Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement on automatic exchange of financial account information (the CRS MCAA), which it ratified with law 4428/2016.¹³⁴

What changes from 2026?

The standard itself has been revised. Greece signed the addendum to the MCAA on 19 November 2024 and ratified it with law 5272/2026 (ΦΕΚ Α' 12, 30 January 2026), whose main provisions apply from 1 January 2026.⁴ The revised rules extend reporting to specified electronic-money products, central bank digital currencies and some crypto-assets.⁴

According to ΑΑΔΕ, about 80 jurisdictions have joined the revised standard, with 2027 as the general horizon for exchanges to begin.¹ΕΛ

How will crypto-assets be reported?

Crypto-assets have two dedicated sets of rules. Greece ratified the OECD's Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework (CARF) with law 5273/2026 (ΦΕΚ Α' 13, 30 January 2026), whose main provisions apply from 1 January 2026.⁵ Pitsilis mentioned both the amended CRS and CARF in his speech.¹

Under law 5273/2026, crypto-asset service providers report each user's name, address, tax residence, tax identification number and date of birth.⁵ For each type of crypto-asset, they report the amounts, units and number of acquisitions, disposals, transfers and retail payments.⁵ ERTNews, the public broadcaster's news service, summarised this as purchases and sales, swaps between crypto-assets, and transfers to and from external wallets.⁶

The EU version is DAC8 (Directive (EU) 2023/2226), which applies from 1 January 2026.⁸ Greece transposed DAC8 with law 5301/2026, published in ΦΕΚ Α' 74 on 15 May 2026.⁷ According to the European Commission, the first exchange of DAC8 data, covering 2026, will take place by 30 September 2027.⁸

What does Greek law require of residents with accounts abroad?

Under article 3 of the Income Tax Code (Κώδικας Φορολογίας Εισοδήματος, Kodikas Forologias Eisodimatos, law 4172/2013), Greek tax residents pay tax on taxable income arising in Greece and abroad.⁹ Under article 4, you are a Greek tax resident if your permanent or main home, habitual residence or centre of vital interests is in Greece.⁹ You are also resident if you spend more than 183 days in Greece in total in any 12-month period, in which case you are resident from your first day in Greece.⁹ This does not apply if you are there only for tourist, medical, therapeutic or similar private purposes and your stay does not exceed 365 days.⁹

Foreign tax paid or withheld abroad is credited against Greek tax only up to the Greek tax due on the same income, according to ΑΑΔΕ decision Α.1062/2026, which sets the E1 income tax return for tax year 2025 (filed in 2026).¹⁰ Check the current E1 instructions for the codes to use before you file.

Does ΑΑΔΕ check this data against tax returns?

According to Capital.gr on 16 July 2026, ΑΑΔΕ aimed to check at least 10% of foreign-authority data on interest earned by identified individuals against 2020 returns by 31 July 2026.¹¹ Capital.gr also reported a target of checking at least 50% of information from foreign tax authorities against returns for tax year 2021 by 31 October 2026.¹¹ Newpost.gr reported the same percentages and dates, citing the tax administration's operational plan, but described the July target as covering foreign data in general, not only interest.¹² Capital.gr did not name its source, and we could not read the plan ourselves.¹¹