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As in many countries, the cost of maintaining real estate in Greece consists of several components. If you leave out the costs of utility bills and management, then the tax remains. And he in Greece in some cases consists of two. This is the main tax, the amount of which is not fixed and varies depending on the location of the property, its value, the age of the house, and so on. And an additional tax if the property costs from €300,000.
When buying Greek real estate, you will have to pay a tax on the transfer of ownership. But in the future, the owner is waiting for annual state fees.
On January 1, 2014, the law on a single tax on real estate. The tax consists of the main and additional.
Basic tax (applies to all types of real estate):
The amount of the main tax depends on a combination of various factors: the location of the property, the year of construction, area, floor, cadastral value.
For example, for an apartment of 70 sq.m. on the ground floor of a house built 15 years ago, in one of the districts of Athens, the tax will be about €230 per year.
It's kind of like a luxury tax. It is only levied on real estate worth more than €300,000. The tax rate depends on the value of the property:
In the total assessment of real estate for additional tax, it does not include land outside of populated areas. It also excludes buildings over 100 years old that are classified as protected monuments or works of art, and the sites on which they are located.
Exempted from real estate tax large families(the number of dependent children is from three people), as well as families in which the father / mother / child has a disability of 80% or more.
50% discount is given to:
The amount of municipal tax (on garbage disposal, street cleaning, etc.) varies from 0.025% to 0.035% of the property price and depends on the location and area of the property. These fees are included in your electricity bills.
When you have decided how much you have to pay the state, you need to prepare for the procedure itself. To pay real estate taxes in Greece, you need to issue a tax identification number. The tax comes in the form of receipts sent out by the tax office.
You can pay tax from abroad Bank transaction or in cash through the post office. In addition, an authorized lawyer can deposit money on behalf of the property owner.
The size utility bills depends on the specific object and its location.
Electricity costs depend on the total area of the property, the amount of taxes and the amount of consumption. The cost of electricity also depends on consumption, but there is an inverse progression here: the more you use, the cheaper it is. For households, tariffs start at €0.0946 per kWh.
Electricity bill comes every two months. Additional fees are added to the electricity fee: excise tax, 5% duty, municipal taxes and fees, real estate tax and ERT public television fee. Read more about them on the website of the State Energy Company (in English).
Heating through the use of individual thermal boilers and diesel fuel costs €0.104 per kWh of thermal energy.
In the cold season, due to heating, depending on the type of heating devices, the cost of electricity or gas can increase significantly.
The frequency of receiving water bills varies by region. This can be once a year, quarterly or monthly. Approximately 75% of the cost of water will have to be paid for drainage. This is in addition to payments for consumed water. As for tariffs, the more water you use, the more expensive one cubic meter costs. Water supply for households costs from €0.45 per m3 to about €4 per m3, depending on the volume of consumption. The payment cannot be less than €0.7.
On the islands, water is always more expensive than on mainland Greece.
The centralized gas system is found only in large cities such as Athens and Thessaloniki. Tariff - €0.08 per kWh. In addition, the bill, which comes every two months, includes a service fee of € 8-10.
Unlimited Internet up to 25 Mbps plus a landline phone will cost €20-25 per month. Separately home phone with unlimited tariff - €18 per month. Mobile phone with a tariff with unlimited calls - € 15-20 per month.
Between residents of an apartment building or residential complex are divided general expenses, which average €200-400 per year. This is a standard figure for apartments in ordinary houses without a large private territory with many swimming pools, gyms and so on. In large complexes with their own developed infrastructure, maintenance fees can reach up to €1000-2000 per year.
Owners of Greek property in Greece are required to report to tax authorities. First, within a month after the transaction, you must submit an E9 declaration (on property). And then the foreigner must annually fill out an E1 tax return (on income). In Greece, an income statement is submitted even if the income is zero.
You can fill out and submit declarations yourself. But to make your life easier, you can turn to specialist accountants. The cost of filing one declaration is from €50. Usually, such services are provided by companies involved in the sale of real estate and its management.
Real estate insurance in Greece is optional and is carried out at the request of the owner. In practice, many owners prefer to save money on this, since the crime rate in the country is low.
But if the property is purchased with mortgage loan, then you can not do without insurance. Insurance for the amount of the mortgage loan is mandatory. In this case, the average annual payment for an apartment is approximately €350.
In the standard case, the cost of the policy depends on the type of real estate, cost, area, number of storeys, year of construction and insured events included in the contract. On average, full insurance for an apartment will cost €50 per year, for a villa - from €1,500 per year.
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Typical apartment in a house in Halkidiki
Apartment in Halkidiki with an area of 65 sq. m with a sea view worth €70,000. A family of three lives for 3 months a year.
Total expenses per year: €1020-1035
Since Greece is a popular tourist destination, the demand for rental property here is consistently high. This is especially true for the most successful tourist locations. You can rent out your home on your own or with the help of management company. Residential apartments are rented long-term, on average starting from €200 per month. The average yield from renting out housing is 3-4% per annum.
Daily rent brings more - in the season, a two-bedroom apartment can be rented for €80-150 per day.
To rent a property, regardless of the term (short-term or long-term), it is necessary to conclude a lease agreement between the owner and the tenant. And then carefully pay taxes on profits.
The tax rate depends on the size rent:
If you are not going to live in your Greek house permanently, then property management can be entrusted to the management company. A real estate agency can recommend a company, as well as offer its maintenance services.
In Greece, there is a large selection of specialized property management companies that deal with the maintenance of real estate and the search for tenants. Representatives of these companies conduct a detailed price analysis for a particular object, promote it on the rental market, and subsequently monitor the condition of housing, collect fees from tenants.
The cost of services of companies for long-term lease is 8-10% of the rent. For example, if an apartment is rented for €250 per month, then the company receives one monthly fee per year. With a short-term lease, the manager takes higher percentage– 20% of profit.
Despite all the difficulties, the decade-long crisis in Greece is slowly coming to an end. But prices in the country are still at a low level, which is good news. According to Numbeo's Cost of Living Index, the country ranks 31st in the world.
At the end of 2017 average salary in the country before taxes amounted to just over €1,000. The amount is noticeably lower than in many European countries. But the prices for goods and services here are among the most attractive.
famous resort city
The protracted crisis and the fall in housing prices in Greece have finally come to an end, and there has even been some stabilization. Yes, at the end of 2017, a slight decrease in prices was recorded - by 1.2% - but the demand for real estate is growing. And both from the side of the Greeks, and from the side of foreign buyers. That only reinforces the positive forecasts of market development from international experts.
When reselling real estate in Greece, by law, you must pay a capital gains tax of 15%.
Note! There is one very important "but" here. This tax appeared only a few years ago and has never been levied! Since a moratorium was imposed on the law, which has been extended for several years in a row. Therefore, in fact, Greece does not yet pay any sales taxes.
After completion of all necessary procedures, a record of the transaction is made in the State Land Cadastre, approximately 1% of the value of the object is spent on registration. For the services of a notary and a lawyer, you will need to pay another 2% of the value of the object. Realtor services are paid by both the seller and the buyer. Therefore, another 2% - 2.5% of the transaction amount must be recorded as expenses. But, usually, all of the above, except for the realtor's fee, is paid by the buyer.
We thank Vadim Dolmenidis from Greece Invest for his help in preparing the material.
Text: Ekaterina Kholodova
Photo: Pixabay, website object database
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ATHENS, January 1 - RIA Novosti, Gennady Melnik. From January 1, 2018, Greece introduces new tax for tourists - from 0.25 to 4 euros per night in a hotel, depending on its class.
The government hopes to increase the revenue side of the budget, in which tourism occupies a significant share, by more than 80 million euros through the new fee. However, hoteliers and tour operators believe that the new tax will hit the industry, reducing demand, reducing turnover and losing thousands of jobs.
In Greece, tourism provides about 20% of GDP, 1.3 million people are employed in the tourism industry. This year, according to forecasts of the Ministry of Tourism, about 30 million tourists will visit Greece, each of them left an average of 600 euros in the country.
The law that every tourist visiting Greece will pay extra for hotel accommodation was adopted back in May 2016, but it was decided to introduce the tax from January 1, 2018.
The "accommodation tax" is charged daily from the tourist for the use of a hotel room, rented apartment, furnished apartment.
Five-star hotel guests will be charged an additional 4 euros per night, four-star hotels - 3 euros, three-star hotels - 1.5 euros, and from hotels with one or two "stars" - 0.5 euros.
For renting one or two furnished rooms in an apartment or apartment, the fee will be 0.25 euros, for three rooms - 0.5 euros and for four-room apartments - 1 euro.
The fee was introduced along with a package of other tough measures to stabilize the Greek economy, which has been in deep crisis since 2009. International lenders set the condition for the allocation of the next tranches of loans to the country to pursue a policy of "belt tightening" and the adoption of austerity measures.
According to the Ministry of Finance, the new tax was supposed to give the budget an additional 84 million euros.
However, hoteliers and tour operators do not agree with this assessment. In their opinion, the very concept of such a tax is wrong, and in the face of fierce competition in the tourism market, it can reduce the attractiveness of Greece.
A study commissioned by the Chamber of Hellenic Hoteliers, Grant Thornton, says the "accommodation tax" will be the biggest blow to the competitiveness of the Greek tourism product, both in terms of price and quality, and in terms of employment. In the medium term, the damage to the Greek economy from its use and reduced demand from tourists is estimated at 435 million euros, which is almost five times the possible financial benefit. As a result, the introduction of a new fee will lead to the loss of almost 6.2 thousand jobs,
Although the fee will not exceed 4 euros per room per night, it will affect the level of fees. In a global market where prices are compared online, every euro counts, experts say.
"The tax itself is stupid. It is wrong from the outset. Four euros a day for a five-star hotel. Let's figure out what a five-star hotel means? There is a hotel that costs almost a thousand euros a day, and there is a hotel in Athens that you can rent and for 80 and 100 euros. It is strange that a tourist who pays a thousand euros per day will pay the same tax as a tourist who rented a room for 100 euros," Dimitris Haritidis, managing director of TEZ TOUR Greece, told RIA Novosti. .
According to him, in some countries there is a tourist tax, which is immediately included in the price of the room, and the tourist does not see it, and there are no such problems. In Cyprus, such a fee is 1% of the cost of the tour, accommodation, it is included in the price, and the hotel then makes deductions to the state. There is such a fee in Italy, Spain.
"In Greece, the new fee will be paid by the tourist on the spot, when leaving the hotel," Haritidis said, adding that the fee will be charged per room, not per person.
Haritidis stressed that each tour operator is obliged to warn the tourist when buying a tour that the price does not include a tourist tax, and to name the amount. This is mandatory information, it should be in every contract, he added.
Haritidis also noted that so far the new fee has not affected the growth in sales of tours for the next year. "On the contrary, there is a huge increase in early booking sales from Western countries and from Russia," said a spokesman for the travel company.
“The entire tourism world tells the state that there will be damage, and the state responds - we see an increase in bookings, and so far we don’t see any damage,” he said.
Haritidis expressed hope that the collection will still be cancelled.
“The government said that this fee is temporary, it will be in the 2018-2019 season, and then it will be removed. Although I don’t believe it,” the expert noted.
It is very interesting. The fact is that Article 53 of Law 4389/2016 does not clarify the concept of “apartments”, but refers to the definitions of Law 4276/2014, where there are definitions, but very complex and vague. Law 4276/2014 in turn refers to the definitions in article 46 of Law 4179/2013, where things are still more vague and complicated.
As a result, under tourist tax NOT Eligible: Campsites, hostels, tourist accommodations, condo hotels, traditional accommodations residential complexes (rented apartments), fully self-catering accommodations (e.g. villas or detached houses).
If the hotel managed to register as such an object, then its guests are exempt from tourist tax. See the screenshot below, click to enlarge.
Some hotels include the tax in their rates to make it more convenient for guests.
There is another "loophole" in the law, which some hotels successfully use. Article 53 of law 4389/2016 expressly states that you do not need to pay a tourist tax if the accommodation service is provided free of charge. That is, hotels bill guests only for food or entertainment, and the accommodation service is nominally free, respectively, there is no need to pay tourist tax.
Then you should make sure that the tax is included in the price of the tour. Most tour operators do have it turned on, but don't relax. There are tour operators that do not include, thereby visually reducing prices. When buying a tour, ask the travel agent a direct question: “Is the tourist tax included in the tour price?”
If enabled, then relax. If it is NOT included, then prepare money according to the tariffs that we cited at the beginning of the article.
On most booking sites, prices do NOT include tourist tax. However, in most cases, postscripts are made. See the screenshot below, click to enlarge.
If there are no postscripts and there is no information about inclusion, then prepare a predetermined amount, it will definitely be required. An additional payment may be required directly at the hotel, or in advance - when paying for the reservation online.
After payment, be sure to ask for a check, keep this check until the end of your stay. There were cases when tourists were required to pay twice - the first time when checking in, the second time when checking out. This can happen simply by mistake of the staff, or maybe with malicious intent.
Important warning! There are booking sites where the prices for hotel accommodation do not include VAT (the VAT rate in Greece for hotels is 13%). Of course, booking.com and other reputable booking sites don't have this, but less popular booking sites do. Be carefull!
For example, in Italy the size of the accommodation tax varies from 2-7 euros per day, in Spain from 0.45-2.25 euros, and in Montenegro - 1 euro per day. In Serbia, the accommodation tax is 50-140.00 depending on the category of tourist destination.
The official answers of the Greek authorities to some questions:
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The payment of accommodation tax is introduced in hotels of 1-5 stars, as well as in other residential premises (apartments, rooms, separate villas), which receive guests on one or several days. In the camps, and in particular in certain categories, accommodation tax is not paid.
The residence tax is calculated as a fixed amount per day and per unit of accommodation, such as a room, but not per person.
The tax amount depends on the type of accommodation:
The residence tax is paid at the time of departure - immediately before departure. The owner or manager of the accommodation or hotel will give you a receipt that includes: date of issue, name of the person to whom the accommodation was issued, dates of stay, commission amount.
No. The fee is paid per accommodation unit per day, regardless of the number of people.
No. If the stay is extended within a few hours, this does not count as an additional stay and does not imply an obligation to pay a fee. However, if the length of stay is such that it ultimately results in the charge of an additional day of use of the room, then the accommodation tax will be charged.
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