The Greek employee tax credit in 2026: €777, and where it runs out
Every employee and pensioner taxed in Greece gets a reduction in income tax under article 16 of the Income Tax Code: €777 a year without children.
Checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy
The Greek employee tax credit, formally the tax reduction of article 16 of the Income Tax Code, is €777 a year for a taxpayer with no dependent children, €900 with one, €1,120 with two, €1,340 with three, €1,580 with four and €1,780 with five, plus €220 for every further child. It is subtracted from the tax calculated on the scale and can never exceed it. Once taxable income from salaries and pensions passes €12,000, the credit loses €20 for every €1,000, which makes it vanish at €50,850 without children and at €68,000 with two. Parents of five or more keep it in full at any income. In everyday terms it acts as a tax-free threshold: a single employee pays no income tax up to about €8,630 of taxable income. On a €45,000 package, only €237 of the €777 remains. Check your own figure below.
How much tax reduction you keep
Article 16 reduction
€657
| Reduction actually used | €657 |
| Scale tax | €2,500 |
| Tax left | €1,843 |
How much credit is left at each income
| Children | Full credit | At €20,000 | At €30,000 | At €40,000 | At €50,000 | Zero at |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | €777 | €617 | €417 | €217 | €17 | €50,850 |
| 1 | €900 | €740 | €540 | €340 | €140 | €57,000 |
| 2 | €1,120 | €960 | €760 | €560 | €360 | €68,000 |
| 3 | €1,340 | €1,180 | €980 | €780 | €580 | €79,000 |
| 4 | €1,580 | €1,420 | €1,220 | €1,020 | €820 | €91,000 |
| 5 | €1,780 | €1,780 | €1,780 | €1,780 | €1,780 | never |
Incomes are taxable income from salaries and pensions, after social security, for the calendar year. Up to €12,000 everybody gets the full amount. Above it, the same €20 per €1,000 is taken off whatever the starting point, so the larger credits of parents last much longer. The last column is where the credit reaches zero; from five children onwards it never does.
The taper, step by step
Take a single employee with €30,000 of taxable income. That is €18,000 above the threshold, or 18 blocks of €1,000, each costing €20. The credit falls by €360 to €417. At €50,850 the cuts add up to the full €777 and nothing is left.
Over that whole stretch, each extra euro of income costs 2 % more tax than the band rate suggests, because the credit is shrinking at the same time. In the third band, the real marginal rate for a single employee is 28 %, not 26 %. Once the credit is gone, the marginal rate drops back to the plain band rate.
Where your tax reduction runs out
The reduction reaches zero at
€50,850
| Full reduction | €777 |
| Reduction at your income | €417 |
| Lost because of income | €360 |
Three common misreadings
The first is treating the credit as an amount of income that escapes tax. It is subtracted from the tax itself, so €777 of credit is worth exactly €777, whatever your band. The second is measuring the €12,000 threshold against gross salary. It applies to taxable income, after the e-EFKA contribution, and that includes the holiday bonuses and the leave allowance. The third is assuming children only raise the starting amount. Because the taper runs at the same pace for everyone, children also push back the point where the credit runs out: from €50,850 with none to €91,000 with four.
Capped at the tax you owe
The credit cannot push your tax below zero. When the scale tax is smaller, the credit is limited to it and the remainder simply lapses. That is common at low pay: a parent of one earning the minimum wage of €920 has €11,158 of taxable income and €900 of scale tax, against a credit of €900. The same goes for workers up to 25, who pay no tax on the first €20,000 and so have nothing for the credit to reduce until they pass that limit; see the guide to tax for workers under 30.
How it shows up in your pay
Greek payroll applies the credit every month. Under article 60, your employer annualises your pay, computes the scale tax, subtracts the credit and spreads the result over the year’s payments. On a €45,000 package, the remaining credit of €237 is worth only €17 per payment, against €56 for someone who keeps the full amount. If payroll does not know about your children, it uses the €777 figure and the difference comes back with the annual return.
Two jobs at once are a classic trap. Each employer subtracts the full credit from its own share, but on the return your incomes are added together and you get one credit, already tapered. The page on payroll tax withholding works through an example.
Large families and pensioners
Parents of five or more children get two advantages: a bigger credit, starting at €1,780, and no taper at all. Pensioners receive the same amounts as employees, and if they also work, the taper is measured on salary and pension income combined. Self-employed profits are added to salary to find the band, but article 29 excludes them from the credit.
All amounts here are calculated by the same engine as the main salary calculator, which applies the credit exactly as payroll does. The effect of children on the band rates themselves is covered in the guide to the tax reduction for children.