Payroll tax withholding in Greece (ΦΜΥ): how your monthly tax is worked out
Greek employers withhold income tax, known as ΦΜΥ, from every salary payment by turning the month’s pay into an annual figure and applying the full-year rules.
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Under article 60 of the Greek Income Tax Code, the tax withheld from your salary (ΦΜΥ, foros misthoton ypiresion) is calculated by annualising the payment: the monthly gross is multiplied up to a year, employee social security is deducted, the 2026 scale and the article 16 tax reduction are applied, and the annual tax is divided across the year’s payments. With fourteen payments, a monthly gross of €2,100 becomes €29,400 a year and €25,469 of taxable income after the 13.37 % e-EFKA contribution. The annual tax is €3,814, so €272.46 is withheld from each payment. Withholding is an advance, not the final bill: if you arrive mid-year, hold two jobs or have not told payroll about your children, the annual return will show a refund or extra tax. Back pay and extra remuneration outside regular pay are withheld at a flat 20 %. Enter your salary below to see your own figure.
The tax withheld from your pay
Tax withheld per payment
€154
| Annual taxable (× 14) | €19,405 |
| Annual tax | €2,152 |
| Average rate | 11.09 % |
The annualisation rule
Article 60(1) says that monthly employment and pension income, including benefits in kind, daily wages and lump sums, is subject to withholding under the article 15 scale and the article 16 reduction “after first being converted to an annual figure”. The exact method of conversion is set by a decision of the Finance Minister, as paragraph 3 of the same article provides. Our calculator follows the method used in the Ministry of Labour’s worked examples: fourteen payments a year.
For €2,100 gross a month, the arithmetic runs as follows. Fourteen payments make €29,400. The employee contribution of €3,931 is deducted, leaving €25,469. The scale produces €4,322 of tax, the employee tax reduction removes €508, and the remaining €3,814 is split into fourteen equal parts of €272.46.
Withholding per payment at eight salaries
| Monthly gross | Withheld, no children | Withheld, 1 child | Withheld, age up to 25 | Annual tax, no children |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| €920 | €25.33 | €14.89 | €0.00 | €355 |
| €1,300 | €96.55 | €79.52 | €0.00 | €1,352 |
| €1,700 | €175.43 | €151.48 | €0.00 | €2,456 |
| €2,100 | €272.46 | €241.57 | €65.31 | €3,814 |
| €2,600 | €402.50 | €365.14 | €195.36 | €5,635 |
| €3,200 | €589.62 | €552.26 | €382.48 | €8,255 |
| €4,500 | €1,041.79 | €1,009.75 | €834.64 | €14,585 |
| €6,000 | €1,594.17 | €1,565.60 | €1,387.03 | €22,318 |
Amounts are per payment for an employee over 30, fourteen payments a year, unless the column says otherwise. The youth column shows how the 0 % rate on the first €20,000 wipes out withholding on most entry-level salaries. Remember that payroll can only apply the child and youth rates if it has the information; the next section shows what happens when it does not.
Why payroll and your tax return disagree
The employer sees one salary, at one moment, and assumes it lasts all year. It knows nothing about a second job, rental income or freelance work. Three situations account for most of the gaps that newcomers to Greece run into, and none of them means payroll got it wrong.
Arriving or leaving mid-year. Someone who starts in September on €2,100 a month is withheld at the full-year rate. Over roughly 5 payments, including the pro-rata Christmas bonus, about €1,362 is withheld, whereas the tax on that Greek income alone is about €42. The annual return refunds the difference. This simplified example leaves aside any income earned abroad earlier in the year, which may also have to be declared.
Two employers. A main job at €1,900 and a weekend job at €600 are each taxed as if they were the only one. Each employer starts from the lowest band and deducts the full reduction; the smaller job, on its own, pays €0. On the return the incomes are combined, the reduction counts once, and €2,063 becomes payable.
Children not declared. If payroll does not know about your dependent child, it withholds as for a childless employee: €3,814 a year on €2,100 instead of €3,382. The €432 comes back with the return, months later. Declaring the child to payroll fixes it from the next payment.
Two employers: what the tax return will show
Extra tax due on the return
€2,050
| Withheld by employer 1 per year | €1,085 |
| Withheld by employer 2 per year | €0 |
| Actual annual tax | €3,135 |
14 payments from each employer, over 30, no children.
A raise during the year
When pay changes, payroll simply annualises the new figure. An employee moving from €2,100 to €2,400 gross sees withholding rise from €272.46 to €345.23 per payment, because the calculation now assumes the higher salary for the whole year. The months before the raise were withheld on the old basis and the months after on the new one, so the year’s total usually lands close to the final tax. Any small difference is settled on the return.
Twelve payments instead of fourteen
Some contracts, especially at senior level, spread the annual salary over twelve equal payments. The annual tax is identical; only its division changes. On €29,400 a year, withholding is €272.46 per payment over fourteen and €317.87 over twelve, on a larger monthly salary. The guide to fourteen salaries a year explains how to compare the two kinds of offer.
Flat rates in article 60
Two kinds of payment skip the annualisation. Back pay, and extra remuneration that is not part of regular pay, are withheld at a flat 20 % whatever year they relate to. Net pay of day workers on fixed-term engagements shorter than a year is withheld at 5 %. Both are advances, credited against the tax on your annual return.
The Christmas and Easter bonuses and the leave allowance are statutory, recurring pay. In our calculation, as in the Ministry of Labour’s minimum-wage examples, they are part of the fourteen payments and share the annual tax equally with the monthly salaries.
Checking your own payslip
Multiply your monthly gross by fourteen, subtract 13.37 % for e-EFKA, find the tax on the income tax brackets, subtract the employee tax credit and divide by fourteen. If the ΦΜΥ line differs by more than a few euros, check whether payroll has your correct age and number of children. Or let the main Greek salary calculator do it in one step.