Compared
Beckham Law vs Greece’s 50% exemption for new residents: seven years in Greece or six in Spain?
Spain’s impatriate regime compared with Greece’s regime for people who move there to work (article 5C): half of Greek employment or business income exempt for seven years, who qualifies since the 2025 change, the application cut-off, worldwide taxation of foreign income, and which profile each one suits.
Javier López Founder · holds the Beckham regime · not a lawyer
Greece introduced a regime for people who move there to work in 2020, alongside its lump-sum regime for wealthy new residents. The worker regime is simple: half of your Greek employment or business income is exempt for seven years. Against Spain’s flat 24% for six years, the comparison on salary favours Greece more often than not. The comparison on everything else favours Spain.
Side by side
| Spain (art. 93 LIRPF) | Greece (art. 5C) | |
|---|---|---|
| Mechanism | Flat 24% on employment income up to €600,000, 47% above; no allowances | 50% of Greek-source employment or business income exempt; the rest at ordinary progressive rates up to 44% |
| Duration | Up to six tax years | Seven tax years |
| Who qualifies | Any employee, posted worker, remote employee of a foreign employer, director, ENISA entrepreneur, start-up professional | People transferring residence to work for a Greek employer or Greek branch, or self-employed in Greece, declaring they will stay at least two years; since Law 5222/2025 the position no longer has to be newly created |
| Prior non-residence | Five tax years | Five of the six previous years |
| Where you come from | Anywhere | An EU or EEA country, or one with an administrative cooperation agreement with Greece |
| Foreign non-employment income | Outside Spanish tax | Taxed on a worldwide basis, with credits |
| Self-employed | Excluded, except the ENISA and start-up routes | Business income eligible |
| Application | Modelo 149 within six months of Social Security registration | Work starting by 2 July: apply by 31 December that year; later: by 31 December of the following year |
| Wealth-type taxes | Wealth tax on Spanish assets; large-fortunes tax above €3 million | No general wealth tax; ENFIA on Greek property |
Foreign rules summarised as we understand them in September 2026; confirm the Greek side with a local adviser. Eligibility and deadlines checked against PwC, Greece, other tax credits and incentives, reviewed 8/9/2026; KPMG Greece, tax updates, 6/8/2025. The 44% top rate, the worldwide taxation with foreign tax relief, the deemed-income rules, ENFIA and the absence of a net wealth tax are checked against PwC’s pages on personal income taxes, income determination, foreign tax relief, other taxes and net wealth tax rates, all reviewed 8/9/2026.
Where Greece wins
The salary rate and the duration. Exempting half of the income and taxing the rest progressively lands, for typical expatriate salaries, below Spain’s 24%, and it lasts seven years rather than six. Self-employed people with a Greek business are eligible, where Spain excludes ordinary self-employment. Greece has no wealth tax.
Where Spain wins
Scope and foreign income. Spain covers remote employees of foreign companies, posted workers keeping a foreign contract, and directors, with no requirement of a Greek employer. Under the Spanish regime, foreign dividends, gains and rents are outside Spanish tax during the regime, and there is no foreign-asset reporting. Greece taxes worldwide income from day one and applies deemed-income rules (tekmiria) that can catch people with a lifestyle above their declared income.
The fine print on both sides
- Greece requires work for a Greek employer or branch, or a business in Greece. Since Law 5222/2025 the position no longer has to be newly created, which opens the regime to transfers into existing roles; remote work for a foreign employer without a Greek presence may still not fit.
- Greece’s origin condition: you must come from an EU or EEA country or one with a cooperation agreement. Spain has no such condition.
- Spain taxes all employment income including days worked abroad and gives no allowances; at moderate salaries or with dependants the ordinary IRPF can win.
- Neither gives a clean treaty residence certificate for home-country withholding; Spain’s position is the weaker one.
- Both deadlines are final. Spain’s six months run from a date most people overlook; Greece’s cut-off is 31 December of the year you start, or of the following year if you start after 2 July.
Which one for whom
- A job with a Greek employer, salary is most of your income, and seven years appeals: Greece, on the numbers.
- Remote employee of a foreign company, posted worker or director: Spain; Greece’s regime is not designed for you.
- Income or assets outside employment: Spain, clearly.
- Self-employed with local clients: Greece; Spain excludes you unless you fit the ENISA or start-up routes.
Run the Spanish side with our calculator and diagnosis; have the Greek side confirmed by a local adviser, including the deemed-income rules.
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Frequently asked questions
What does Greece’s regime for new residents actually do?
For people who transfer their tax residence to Greece to work for a Greek employer or the Greek branch of a foreign company, or to work self-employed there, it exempts 50% of the Greek employment or business income for seven years. The rest is taxed at ordinary progressive rates. Foreign income is taxed normally on a worldwide basis.
Which one is cheaper on salary?
Usually Greece, on salary alone: half exempt and the rest at progressive rates lands below a flat 24% for typical expatriate salaries. Spain’s edge is on everything else: foreign income outside Spanish tax, foreign employers and remote work covered, no Greek employer needed.
Does Greece cover remote employees of foreign companies?
The Greek regime is built around work for a Greek employer, a Greek branch or a business in Greece, generating Greek-source income. Remote employment for a foreign company without any Greek presence sits awkwardly in it; Spain’s telework route covers that profile explicitly.
What are the deadlines?
Spain: Modelo 149 within six months of Social Security registration. Greece: if work starts by 2 July, apply by 31 December of that year; if it starts later, by 31 December of the following year. Both are lost if missed.
Want to know where you stand?
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General information, not tax or legal advice. The regime has cumulative requirements and a 6-month deadline with no extensions; whether it fits you depends on your full situation. Foreign rules are summarised as we understand them in September 2026 and change often. Confirm the other country’s side with a local advisor before deciding.
More in this series
See all →Portugal IFICI
Portugal’s successor to the NHR is cheaper and longer, but only for listed activities. Spain takes any employee.
Italy impatriati
On salary alone Italy’s 50% exemption often beats a flat 24%. Spain wins on foreign income, duration and having no qualification test.
Netherlands 30% ruling
A tax-free slice inside the ordinary Dutch system, or a flat 24% outside it. The ruling is shrinking; the Spanish regime is not.