Greece's card-spending rule for income tax: the 30% test, the 22% charge, who is exempt, and what the 2027 bill extends

If you are tax resident in Greece, you must spend part of your income each year by card or other electronic means, or pay extra income tax on the gap.¹¹² The rule is set out in the 2026 instructions for the E1, the personal income-tax return, published by ΑΑΔΕ (Ανεξάρτητη Αρχή Δημοσίων Εσόδων, Anexartiti Archi Dimosion Esodon, AADE), Greece's tax authority.¹¹ ΑΑΔΕ set the 2026 E1 form itself by decision Α.1062/2026.⁷

The required electronic spending is 30% of your actual income (πραγματικό εισόδημα, pragmatiko eisodima: income actually earned, as opposed to deemed income) from wages, pensions, business and property, and it is capped at €20,000 of spending.¹¹ΕΛ Any shortfall is taxed at 22%.²ΕΛ A draft bill posted for public consultation on 18 October 2026 leaves this core rule unchanged.¹ It would extend to 2027 two related provisions: the double count for card-paid spending on doctors, dentists and other paramedical services, and a 30% income deduction for card-paid services in certain trades, capped at €5,000 a year.¹

A €20,000 income needs €6,000 of electronic spending; €1,000 short costs €220 in extra tax, by our calculation.¹¹²

How does the 30% rule work?

ΑΑΔΕ's instructions set the minimum electronic spending at 30% of actual income from salaried work and pensions, business activity and property, up to €20,000 of spending.¹¹ΕΛ Actual income here means any income in those categories, whether it is taxed on the normal scale, taxed separately or exempt from tax.¹¹ΕΛ The rule comes from article 15(6) of the ΚΦΕ (Κώδικας Φορολογίας Εισοδήματος, Kodikas Forologias Eisodimatos), the Income Tax Code, Law 4172/2013, and is explained in decision Α.1163/2020 of the Deputy Minister of Finance.²

If you spend less than the required amount, your income tax is increased by 22% of the difference between the required and the declared electronic spending.²ΕΛ The Taxrevenue Times, a Greek tax site, described the same 22% charge in January 2026.⁵ Spouses and civil partners each declare their own electronic spending.²

Some amounts are left out of the income on which the 30% is calculated.¹¹ ΑΑΔΕ lists maintenance paid electronically, income added through presumptive-income adjustments (τεκμήρια, tekmiria) and certain benefits.¹¹ Decision Α.1163/2020 also excludes the special solidarity contribution.² A 2021 amendment excluded further items, including severance pay, training allowances for the unemployed and COVID-19 emergency compensation.⁶

What counts as electronic spending?

Spending counts only if it is made in Greece or in another EU or EEA country.¹¹ The means of payment can be Greek or foreign, so a card issued abroad counts for spending in Greece, the EU or the EEA.¹¹ On our reading of ΑΑΔΕ's wording, card spending outside the EU and the EEA does not count towards the requirement.¹¹²

ΑΑΔΕ accepts these means of payment.¹¹

• Debit, credit and prepaid cards.¹¹²
• Credit transfers, direct debits and e-banking.¹¹
• E-wallets and PayPal.¹¹²
• Cash paid to a payment-service provider, at a counter or an easy-pay machine.¹¹²

Which spending is left out?

Spending counts if it falls in the 12 groups of the consumer price index, from food to "other goods and services", with three exclusions.¹²

• Rent (group 4).²
• Road tax, and the purchase of vehicles other than bicycles (group 7).²
• The purchase of boats and aircraft (group 9).²

Card-paid spending on doctors, dentists and other paramedical services counts double for tax years 2022 to 2026, and the draft bill would extend the double count to tax year 2027.¹³ Capital.gr gives the example of a €50 doctor's receipt counting as €100.⁸

When does the requirement fall to 20% or €5,000?

The required share falls from 30% to 20% if your payments of income tax, ΕΝΦΙΑ (ENFIA, the property tax), loan instalments and rent exceed 60% of your actual income.¹¹ The rent can be for a main or second home, business premises, or a child studying away from home.¹¹ The lower rate applies only if those payments were themselves made electronically.¹¹

If your bank accounts have been seized by 31 December of the tax year, the requirement is limited to €5,000 of spending.¹¹²

Who is exempt?

ΑΑΔΕ's instructions list these groups as exempt from the requirement.¹¹

• People who have turned 70 by the end of the tax year: for the 2026 return, that means born on or before 31 December 1955.¹¹²
• People with a disability rating of 80% or more.¹¹
• People under judicial guardianship.¹¹
• Tax residents of another country who must file a return in Greece.¹¹
• Civil servants posted abroad, and Greek tax residents who live or work abroad.¹¹
• Minors who must file a return.¹¹
• Conscripts doing compulsory military service.¹¹
• Permanent residents of villages with up to 500 inhabitants and of islands with fewer than 3,100, unless they are tourist places.¹¹
• People receiving the Ελάχιστο Εγγυημένο Εισόδημα (Elachisto Engyimeno Eisodima, the minimum guaranteed income).¹¹
• People in long-term hospital care, of more than six months.¹¹²
• Residents of care homes, and prisoners.¹¹

Exempt taxpayers claim the exemption in codes 023–024 of the E1.¹¹⁷

Does the rule apply to expats and retirees?

The rule applies to anyone who is tax resident in Greece and does not fall into an exempt group, whatever their nationality.¹¹² A person who is tax resident in another country but files a Greek return, for example because they own a let property in Greece, is exempt.¹¹

Many retirees are exempt from the year they turn 70.¹¹² For a younger retiree who is tax resident in Greece, decision Α.1163/2020 counts pensions arising in Greece "and/or abroad" (in our translation), so on our reading a foreign pension taxed on the normal scale counts towards the 30% base.²

Retirees who moved to Greece under article 5Β of the Income Tax Code pay a flat 7% on their foreign income, and ΑΑΔΕ's FAQ describes that tax as paid «αυτοτελώς» (separately, in our translation).¹⁰ ΑΑΔΕ's E1 instructions say that income taxed «αυτοτελώς» still counts towards the 30% base, which suggests, on our reading, that a 5Β foreign pension may count too.¹¹ΕΛ ΑΑΔΕ does not mention 5Β in that passage, and its FAQ for foreign tax residents says nothing about electronic spending, so we treat this as an open question.¹¹¹⁰

Worked examples

These are our own calculations from the rule as ΑΑΔΕ and decision Α.1163/2020 describe it, and they are illustrations, not tax advice.¹¹² None of them depends on the income-tax scale.

• Employee on €20,000. The requirement is €6,000, by our calculation.¹¹ Spending €5,000 electronically leaves a €1,000 shortfall, which costs €220 in extra tax, by our calculation.²
• High earner on €90,000. Thirty per cent would be €27,000, so the €20,000 cap applies, by our calculation.¹¹ Spending €18,000 electronically leaves €2,000 short, which costs €440, by our calculation.²
• Retiree aged 66 with an €18,000 foreign pension taxed on the normal scale. On our reading, the requirement is €5,400, by our calculation.² Spending €4,000 by card leaves €1,400 short, which costs €308, by our calculation.²
• Doctors' bills. A person on €20,000 who spends €4,000 on general goods and €1,000 on doctors by card reaches €6,000, because the doctors' spending counts double, so no extra tax is due, by our calculation.¹³
• High rent and loans. A person on €24,000 who pays €15,000 electronically in rent, loan instalments, income tax and ENFIA spends 62.5% of income on them, by our calculation.¹¹ The requirement falls to 20%, or €4,800 instead of €7,200, by our calculation.¹¹

What does the 2027 bill change?

The draft bill does not change the core rule in article 15(6)(β) of the Income Tax Code, which sets the 30% requirement and the shortfall tax.¹ In the text we read, it changes the years «2022 έως και 2026» (2022 to 2026 inclusive) to «2022 έως και 2027» in two provisions.¹⁴

• Article 15(6)(δ), last subparagraph: the double count for certain health spending (doctors, dentists and other paramedical services) would cover tax year 2027. The list of spending that counts towards the requirement is not time-limited, and the bill does not change it.¹
• Article 15(7)(α): for tax years 2022 to 2027, 30% of card-paid spending on certain services in groups 4 (housing), 5, 7 (transport), 9 (recreation and culture), 10 (education) and 12 would be deducted «αναλογικά» (proportionally, in our translation) from taxable income, up to €5,000 a year.¹

The Υπουργείο Εθνικής Οικονομίας και Οικονομικών (Ypourgeio Ethnikis Oikonomias kai Oikonomikon), the Ministry of National Economy and Finance, describes the change as an extension of the incentives for electronic transactions to 2027.⁹ The ministry's introduction to the bill says these incentives «παρατείνονται και διευρύνονται» (are extended and widened, in our translation), but the article text we read shows only the change of year.¹ Capital.gr reported on 23 September 2026, before the bill was posted, that the deduction was set to be extended «και το 2027» (in 2027 too, in our translation).⁸ That matches the draft bill, but the 30% requirement and the 22% charge are standing law and are not part of the extension.¹²

Which services qualify for the 30% deduction?

The qualifying services are set by a joint ministerial decision (Κοινή Υπουργική Απόφαση, Koini Ypourgiki Apofasi, ΚΥΑ) numbered 35565/2022.³ They include:

• house repair and maintenance;³
• household cleaning;³
• taxis;³
• vets;³
• hairdressing and personal care;³
• childcare and in-home assistance;³
• legal services;³
• funeral services.³

Capital.gr's list of the trades covered also names plumbers, electricians, massage and gyms.⁸ The deduction reduces taxable income, not the tax itself.⁴ It is personal and cannot be transferred to a spouse.³ The 30% deduction does not apply to house-repair spending at all if the article 39Β tax cut for building-upgrade spending has been applied in the same tax year.³ Taxheaven, a Greek tax-news site, says the same service spending also counts towards the 30% requirement.⁴

Paying €3,000 by card for a house repair, a vet and a hairdresser would take €900 off taxable income, by our calculation.¹ The tax saved depends on your top tax rate, so we do not give a figure here. The €5,000 ceiling is reached at €16,666.67 of qualifying spending, and spending above that brings no further deduction, by our calculation.¹

How do you declare it?

ΑΑΔΕ pre-fills your electronic spending in codes 049–050 of the 2026 E1 form, for tax year 2025.¹¹ You can add qualifying electronic spending that ΑΑΔΕ's data has missed.¹¹

Key dates

• 18 October 2026: the draft bill was posted for public consultation.¹
• 1 November 2026, 22:00: the public consultation closes.¹⁹
• November 2026: the month in which the ministry aims to pass the bill; no date has been set for a vote.⁹
• 31 December 2026: the end of tax year 2026, and the date by which seized accounts cap the requirement at €5,000.¹¹
• Tax year 2027: the double count for certain health spending and the 30% deduction for card-paid services would apply if the bill passes as drafted.¹