Buying notional pension years in Greece: 2026 costs and e-EFKA's new online decisions

Self-employed people and farmers in Greece who are short of pension years can buy some of them back. Since 8 October 2026, the decision on that purchase arrives online, together with the bill and a payment code ¹.

The fund in question is e-ΕΦΚΑ, the Ηλεκτρονικός Εθνικός Φορέας Κοινωνικής Ασφάλισης (Ilektronikos Ethnikos Foreas Koinonikis Asfalisis, e-EFKA), Greece's national social-insurance fund ¹. The application itself is still filed at a local e-ΕΦΚΑ office ¹. This guide explains what can be bought, what it costs in 2026 and what the new process means for the payment dates.

What does buying notional pension time mean?

Greek law lets insured people count certain periods when they were not working or insured, such as studies, military service or gaps between jobs, as insurance time ⁴⁶. In Greek these are called πλασματικά έτη (plasmatika eti), or notional years ¹³. Many of these periods count only once the person has paid for them, which is the buyback (εξαγορά, exagora) ⁴⁸.

For non-salaried insured people (μη μισθωτοί, mi misthotoi), meaning freelancers and traders (ελεύθεροι επαγγελματίες, eleftheroi epangelmaties), the self-employed (αυτοαπασχολούμενοι, aftoapascholoumenoi) and farmers, the legal basis is article 34, paragraph 1(c), of law 4387/2016, as replaced by article 30 of law 4670/2020, according to e-ΕΦΚΑ ¹. e-ΕΦΚΑ also names article 53, paragraph 1, of law 4921/2022, for non-salaried people who have not completed the minimum insurance needed for a pension ¹.

Time bought in this way counts towards both parts of a Greek pension, the national pension and the contributory (ανταποδοτική, antapodotiki) pension, according to e-ΕΦΚΑ's answers to frequent questions ⁸. Time recognised without payment, and used only to qualify, counts for the national pension only ⁸.

What changed on 8 October 2026?

From 8 October 2026, the first functions of a new e-ΕΦΚΑ e-service, «Αναγνωρίσεις Χρόνου Ασφάλισης» (Recognitions of Insurance Time), came into use for non-salaried insured people ¹. e-ΕΦΚΑ announced it in general document 3017504, dated 9 October 2026 and posted on Διαύγεια (Diavgeia), the government's transparency portal ¹². The service covers freelancers, the self-employed and farmers ¹.

What is new is the delivery of the outcome, not the application. In the first phase, applications are filed "as before" (our translation), at e-ΕΦΚΑ's local service units, and are then handled within the system ¹. Greek outlets reported the same limit ¹¹¹²¹⁴.

Once an application is decided, e-ΕΦΚΑ issues an approval or a rejection and sends an alert to the email address the person has registered with it ¹. The person then logs in with TAXISnet credentials, the codes used for the Greek tax portal, to read the decision ¹³. With an approval comes an information note (Ενημερωτικό Σημείωμα, Enimerotiko Simeioma) giving the total buyback amount, the payment method (lump sum or instalments), and a unique RF payment code ¹³.

The note also shows the lump-sum amount with any discount "if the conditions are met", the monthly instalment, and the due date of the lump sum or of the first instalment ³. The decision can be viewed and printed, with the stamp and signature of the issuing unit's director, but not edited ³.

When does the payment clock start?

Opening the decision online is not just reading it. According to e-ΕΦΚΑ's user manual, logging in and retrieving the decision records the date of service, and that act starts the due dates for payment on the person's account ³ΕΛ.

Opening an e-ΕΦΚΑ buyback decision online counts as formal service of the decision and starts the payment due dates. ³

Under article 34 of law 4387/2016, the first instalment is due by the end of the month after the decision is notified ⁴. Late instalments carry late-payment interest ⁴. By our reading of the manual and the law together, a decision opened on any day in October 2026 would put the first instalment due by the end of November 2026 ³⁴. The note itself states the exact due date in each case ³.

The route, according to the manual, is: the link in the email, then e-ΕΦΚΑ's identification page, the «Μη Μισθωτός» (non-salaried) tab, TAXISnet, the general menu, «Αναγνωρίσεις Χρόνου Ασφάλισης» and finally «Αποφάσεις» (Decisions) ³.

What periods can be bought?

Article 40 of law 3996/2011 lists the main periods ⁶:

• military service;
• parental leave;
• periods on sickness or unemployment benefit, up to 300 days each;
• unpaid educational leave, up to two years;
• studies for one higher-education degree only;
• studies towards a qualification at secondary technical and vocational schools, after the age of 17;
• gaps in insurance, each at least one full calendar month;
• pregnancy and maternity;
• strikes;
• apprenticeship, up to two years.

Article 34 also refers to notional periods in other laws, and to time spent practising as a lawyer under law 1090/1980 ⁴.

Time for children is set by article 39 of law 3996/2011: one year (300 days) for the first child and two years (600 days) for each further child up to the third ⁷¹⁰. That makes five years at most, by our calculation ⁷. For non-salaried people, both parents may apply for child time under the same conditions, according to ΜΙΤΟΣ (Mitos), the Εθνικό Μητρώο Διοικητικών Διαδικασιών (Ethniko Mitroo Dioikitikon Diadikasion), the national registry of administrative procedures ¹⁰. The registry says the application itself is free of charge and takes about a month ¹⁰. The buyback itself is paid for separately, at the rates below ⁴.

There is an overall limit. Notional time may not exceed seven years in total for pension rights established from 2014, and only if the person has at least 3,600 days, or 12 years, of actual or voluntary insurance ⁶⁸.

What does it cost in 2026?

For freelancers, the self-employed and farmers insured under the former ΟΓΑ, the Οργανισμός Γεωργικών Ασφαλίσεων (Organismos Georgikon Asfaliseon, OGA), the farmers' insurance fund, each month bought costs the main-pension contribution of the insurance category the person has chosen in the year the application is filed ⁴ΕΛ. This differs from the rule reported for salaried workers, described below ¹⁵¹⁶.

e-ΕΦΚΑ's circular 6/2026 sets the 2026 monthly contributions, after a 2.5% rise from 1 January 2026 ⁹. The yearly figures in the table are our calculation, at 12 times the monthly rate ⁹.

These are the pension-branch amounts only; the full monthly contribution, including health cover, is higher ⁹.

So a first-category freelancer applying in 2026 would pay €185.09 for each month bought, and €2,221.08 for a full year, by our calculation ⁴⁹. A first-category former ΟΓΑ farmer would pay €108.67 a month, or €1,304.04 a year, by our calculation ⁴⁹. e-ΕΦΚΑ's information note gives the exact figure for each person ³.

Lump sum or instalments?

The total can be paid in as many monthly instalments as there are months recognised ⁴⁶. It can also be paid as a lump sum with a discount, but the two laws we read set different discount rules, and we could not establish which applies in which case ⁴⁶. The information note shows the lump-sum amount and the discount e-ΕΦΚΑ applies ³.

If a person qualifies for a pension, or for a higher pension, before the buyback is paid off, a quarter of the pension is withheld each month until it is cleared ⁴⁶.

When must you apply?

A non-salaried person can apply to recognise notional time at any time before the pension application, or together with it, but not after it has been submitted, according to e-ΕΦΚΑ ⁸. The exception is where the time is needed to establish, not to increase, the pension because of an error ⁸. Non-salaried people who already draw a pension cannot buy time to raise it ⁸.

When people can retire is covered in our piece on Greek retirement ages.

Can someone short of a pension buy the missing days?

Article 53 of law 4921/2022 lets some people buy up to 150 days to qualify for a full old-age pension ⁵. The text we read limits it to people who reached 67 by 31 December 2022, have 4,350 to 4,499 days of actual insurance, have permanently stopped working and ended any actual or voluntary insurance, have not applied for a pension and receive no pension from any source in Greece or abroad ⁵. It is paid as a single lump sum, and people who have already recognised more than five years of notional time are excluded ⁵. newsit.gr mentioned 'specific age and insurance criteria' (in our translation) without spelling them out ¹². We found no amendment that opens it to younger people ⁵.

What about salaried employees?

The new service does not cover salaried employees ¹. e-ΕΦΚΑ says it will extend the service step by step until a joint service for salaried and non-salaried people goes live, but it gives no date ¹.

For salaried workers, aftodioikisi.gr and ipaideia.gr reported in April 2026 that a buyback costs 20% of gross earnings ¹⁵¹⁶. aftodioikisi.gr specifies the gross earnings of the month before the application ¹⁵. We have not checked that rule against a primary source. It is not the rule for the self-employed and farmers, whose cost follows their insurance category ⁴.

What should you do now?

1. File any application at your local e-ΕΦΚΑ office, as before ¹.
2. Check that the email address in your e-ΕΦΚΑ registry entry is correct, because the alert goes there ¹.
3. Plan the payment before you open the decision, since opening it starts the due dates ³.
4. Pay with the RF code shown in the information note ¹³.