Good to know
Good to Know
- The IKE (Private Capital Company) is by far the most common and cheapest structure for foreign founders in Greece — it needs only a symbolic €1 in share capital and can be set up without a notary if you use the standard template statute.
- Getting your Greek Tax ID (AFM) is the real gatekeeper step — nothing else (company filing, bank account, VAT) can move forward without it, so non-EU founders should arrange a power of attorney to a Greek lawyer/accountant before they even plan travel.
- There is no local-partner or sponsor requirement — 100% foreign ownership is allowed in almost all sectors, and you can be the sole director of your own Greek company.
- Owning a Greek company and being allowed to live/work in Greece are two separate things: non-EU nationals can own a company entirely from abroad, but need a separate residence/business permit if they want to physically move to Chania and run it day-to-day.
- Bank account opening is usually the slowest real-world bottleneck for foreign, non-resident founders — budget several weeks for KYC checks, and expect an in-person or video verification requirement at most Greek banks.
- In Chania itself, the local Chamber of Commerce and Industry runs the regional GEMI one-stop-shop desk, so you have the option of an in-person contact point locally rather than dealing purely with the national online portal.
- Chania/Crete does not get the reduced-VAT treatment that some Aegean islands (Leros, Lesvos, Kos, Samos, Chios) enjoy — the full 24% standard VAT rate applies to businesses here.
- Most solo foreign freelancers start as a sole proprietor (Ατομική Επιχείρηση) for simplicity, then convert to an IKE later if the business grows — conversion is possible but requires formal restructuring, so it's worth thinking ahead about which route fits your plans.
- An IKE needs only €1 in minimum capital and is the most commonly chosen structure by foreigners incorporating in Greece, mainly because it combines low capital requirements with limited liability.
- Non-EU nationals need a residence permit/visa that specifically allows self-employment or business ownership before they can register either as a sole proprietor or as the owner of a Greek company — this is a legal prerequisite, not just paperwork.
- Greek corporate tax deadlines are strict and unforgiving of late filing — the 80% advance-tax prepayment obligation for companies (55% for freelancers) means you should budget for cashflow beyond just the headline tax rate.
Business Tax And Structure Options
- Scope Note
- Covers business-level tax mechanics for a foreign-owned company or self-employed activity operating from Chania, Crete, and the practical choice between freelancer/sole-proprietor status and forming a company.
- National Framework Note
- Greece has no separate municipal or regional corporate income tax — Chania-based businesses are taxed under the exact same national rules as anywhere else in Greece; there is nothing city-specific about the tax rate itself.
Corporate Tax Ike Ae EPE
- Standard Cit Rate
- Flat 22% corporate income tax (CIT) on net profits for companies (IKE, EPE, AE, branches of foreign corporations). Banks under the deferred-tax-asset regime pay 29%.
- VAT
- Standard VAT is 24%, with reduced rates of 13% and 6%. Crete/Chania is NOT one of the Aegean islands (Leros, Lesvos, Kos, Samos, Chios) that get a 30% VAT reduction — the full 24% standard rate applies here.
- Losses
- Tax losses carry forward for five consecutive tax years to offset future profits; losses are forfeited if ownership changes by more than 33% within a tax year, and no loss carryback is permitted.
- Dividend Withholding
- Dividend withholding tax is 5%, giving a combined effective tax burden on fully distributed profits of roughly 25.9% (22% CIT plus 5% WHT on the distributed remainder).
- Tax Residency Trigger
- A company is a Greek tax resident (taxed on worldwide income) if it is incorporated under Greek law, has its registered office in Greece, or its place of effective management is in Greece. Non-resident companies are taxed only on Greek-source income.
- Business Levy Note
- The old flat annual 'Telos Epitideymatos' business levy has been abolished for freelancers/sole proprietors from 2025 onward, but it still applies to legal entities such as IKE companies, historically ranging roughly €650–€1,000/year ($743–$1,143).
Registration Mechanics
- Registry
- All companies register through the General Commercial Registry (GEMI) and receive a Tax Identification Number (AFM) from AADE.
- Timeline
- Registration typically takes 3–10 business days through the digital one-stop shop.
- Foreign Ownership
- Foreign investors can own 100% of a Greek company. There is no mandatory Greek-resident director requirement, but one legal representative must be appointed; banks may still ask for a local resident director when opening a business bank account.
Minimum Capital
IKE (Private Capital Company)
- Minimum Capital
- €1.00
EPE (limited liability company)
- Minimum Capital
- €4,500
AE (Société Anonyme)
- Minimum Capital
- €25,000
Annual Admin Fees Ike
GEMI Annual Fee
- GEMI Annual Fee
- €30
Chamber of Commerce Fee
- Chamber Of Commerce Fee
- €20
Filing And Payment Calendar
- Tax Year
- Normally the calendar year (1 Jan–31 Dec); a foreign-parent-aligned fiscal year is possible if more than 50% foreign-owned.
- Advance Tax
- Companies must prepay 80% of the current year's estimated tax liability, based on the prior year's return; newly established companies get a 50% reduction on this prepayment for their first three years of operation.
- Digital Filing
- All companies file through AADE's myAADE portal; e-invoicing and bookkeeping increasingly must tie into the myDATA digital reporting platform.
- Return Deadline
- Corporate tax return due by the last day of the sixth month after the tax year ends — commonly 30 June for calendar-year filers.
- Payment Schedule
- Tax is paid in six equal monthly installments starting from the end of the seventh month after year-end.
Freelancer Sole Proprietor Route
- How Taxed
- Business profits are taxed as personal income under the standard progressive scale (9% up to €10,000, 22% to €20,000, 28% to €30,000, 36% to €40,000, 44% above €40,000), reported annually via Form E3 alongside the personal Form E1 return, not via a separate corporate tax return.
- Advance Tax
- An advance tax prepayment of 55% of the business-income tax is required, offset against the following year's liability (lower than the 80% corporate advance rate).
- Legal Nature
- There is no separation between the individual and the business — the proprietor has full, unlimited personal liability for business debts, and the business has no separate legal personality.
- Structure Name
- Ατομική Επιχείρηση (Individual/Sole Proprietor Business) — the default registration for a solo freelancer in Greece.
- Anti Abuse Rule
- Greek tax authorities can challenge and re-charge tax where a freelancer closes their sole-proprietorship and opens a single-member company purely to sidestep imputed/presumptive income rules while doing the same work for the same clients.
- Social Security
- Freelancers must separately register with e-EFKA for mandatory monthly social security contributions, which are deductible from taxable income.
- VAT Registration
- VAT registration is generally mandatory once trading, though sole proprietors with annual turnover not exceeding €10,000 ($11,430) can opt into the special small-business VAT exemption regime.
- Eligibility For Foreigners
- Non-EU nationals must hold a residence permit or visa that specifically grants the right to conduct self-employed/entrepreneurial activity in Greece before they can register as a sole proprietor; EU citizens can register directly.
Practical Choice Freelancer Vs Company
- Tradeoff
- A company (IKE) brings materially more compliance: GEMI filings, formal bookkeeping, the legal-entity business levy, and a separate corporate tax return — costs that only pay off once turnover/profit is high enough that the tax-rate difference outweighs the added admin burden.
- When A Company Ike Makes Sense
- Liability protection (assets stay separate from the business), plans to raise investment or bring in partners, higher-risk activities, or a genuine intent to reinvest profits rather than distribute them all personally — since the flat 22% CIT can be more efficient than climbing to the 44% top personal bracket at higher profit levels.
- When Sole Proprietor Makes Sense
- Low administrative overhead, no minimum capital, fastest to set up (often under an hour via the government portal once eligible), and suitable for low-risk, low-turnover solo work — the typical starting point for most individual freelancers/digital nomads.
Typical Cost
Notary Fees If Required
- Amount Local Low
- €200
- Amount Local High
- €2,000
- Description
- Only applies to AE, EPE, or IKE with customised articles/in-kind contributions
Total Realistic Cash Outlay Lean Ike
- Amount Local Low
- €1,030
- Amount Local High
- €2,200
- Description
- Total out-of-pocket cost to incorporate a simple IKE as a foreigner, excluding the €1 symbolic share capital
Ae Total Cash Outlay Including Capital
- Amount Local Low
- €27,900
- Amount Local High
- €32,300
- Description
- For an AE, including the mandatory €25,000 paid-in share capital
Professional Legal Accounting Fees Typical For Foreigners
- Amount Local Low
- €1,000
- Amount Local High
- €3,000
- Description
- Most foreign founders hire a lawyer or accountant for the AFM, KAD activity codes, tax representation, bank KYC and translations
Common Entity Types
IKE (Ιδιωτική Κεφαλαιουχική Εταιρεία / Private Capital Company)
- Minimum Capital
- €1.00
- Notary Required
- No
- Notes
- Statute can be filed as a private document using a standard template via the e-YMS/GEMI one-stop-shop, with no notary needed if there are no in-kind contributions.
- Description
- The default choice for small businesses, freelancers-turned-companies, and most foreign founders.
EPE (Εταιρεία Περιορισμένης Ευθύνης / Limited Liability Company)
- Minimum Capital
- €4,500
- Notary Required
- Yes
- Notes
- Older LLC form, largely superseded by the IKE for new foreign-owned SMEs.
AE (Ανώνυμη Εταιρεία / Société Anonyme)
- Minimum Capital
- €25,000
- Notary Required
- Yes
- Notes
- Used for larger ventures or businesses planning to raise capital publicly; requires a notarial deed and a small Hellenic Competition Commission duty of 0.1% of capital.
Timeline
- Bank Account Opening
- Often the real bottleneck for non-residents — banks' KYC/AML checks commonly take 2–4 weeks.
- EU National Ike Best Case
- As little as 1–2 weeks if documents (AFM, statute, bank KYC) are prepared in advance.
- Typical Range Including Afm And Bank
- 3 to 6 weeks is a realistic full range once AFM issuance and bank account KYC delays are factored in.
- Non EU Founder Needing Residence Permit
- Roughly 2–3 months in total when a residence/business visa process is also required to live in and actively manage the company in Greece; the corporate filing itself (GEMI) is usually only 1–3 business days once a clean application is submitted.
Core Steps
Core Steps
- 1. Obtain a Greek Tax Identification Number (AFM) for each foreign shareholder/director — EU nationals can often do this remotely via AADE's myAADE Live video service; non-EU nationals typically grant a notarised, apostilled power of attorney to a Greek lawyer or accountant to apply on their behalf at the Tax Office for Foreign Residents (DOY Katoikon Exoterikou) in Athens.
- 2. Choose the legal structure (IKE is the standard pick for foreign SMEs/freelancers) and reserve the company name through the GEMI online registry.
- 3. Draft the Articles of Association (Katastatikó) — a private, notary-free template for an IKE with no in-kind contributions; a notarial deed is mandatory for an AE, and often for an EPE or any in-kind capital contribution.
- 4. File the incorporation application electronically through the e-YMS / GEMI one-stop-shop portal (businessportal.gr / gov.gr), including the statute, identification documents, and proof of a registered business address in Greece (lease or property deed).
- 5. Receive the GEMI registration number and the company's corporate AFM from AADE — legal personality begins at this point.
- 6. Register for VAT (mandatory above the small-business threshold or for intra-EU trade) and enrol in myDATA, Greece's mandatory digital e-invoicing/bookkeeping platform, through the AADE Taxisnet portal.
- 7. Open a Greek business bank account and deposit the share capital (as little as €1 for an IKE); banks run their own KYC/AML checks, which is usually the slowest step for foreign, non-resident founders.
- 8. Confirm registration of the company's legal representative with the Greek social security system (EFKA), and file beneficial-ownership (UBO) details with the GEMI register.
- 9. Non-EU founders who intend to reside in Greece and actively run the business must separately apply for a residence permit (e.g. a Type D national visa for business/investment activity, converting to a residence permit after arrival).
Official Links
Jurisdiction Note
Company incorporation rules are set at the national (Greek) level, not by the city of Chania. In practice, a founder based in Chania files through the same national digital systems (GEMI/e-YMS, AADE) used everywhere in Greece, but can also deal in person with the local Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Chania, which operates the regional GEMI/one-stop-shop desk for company registrations in the prefecture.
Local Partner Or Sponsor Mandate
- Status
- None
- Details
- There is no local-partner, sponsor, or minimum local-shareholding requirement in Greece. A non-resident individual or foreign company can hold 100% of the shares in a Greek IKE, EPE, or AE and can sit as the sole director. EU/EEA citizens have full freedom of establishment and the same rights as Greek nationals. Non-EU nationals can own and incorporate a Greek company entirely from abroad, but if they want to physically live in Greece or actively manage the business on the ground, they must separately obtain an appropriate residence/work permit — this is an immigration requirement, not a corporate-ownership restriction.
AI-generated estimateData refreshed July 2026
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Data last updated July 2026 · Verify anything important.