Millions of households will see, in practice, the scope of the new permanent tax reductions, which come into effect this year, through the property tax clearance statements posted today, as well as with the new income declaration forms E1 whose submission begins tomorrow. These are four interventions affecting property owners, employees, families and freelancers, with the common denominator being the reduction of burdens on property, deemed expenses and minimum taxable income.
Four interventions for tax relief
The changes are activated at a time when households are counting the cost of inflation and energy pressure, due to the economic impacts of the war in the Middle East. They come in addition to the already implemented reductions in tax withholdings, following changes to direct taxation that took effect from the beginning of the year, based on which millions of public and private sector workers have been seeing increases in their net salary from January onwards each month.
Specifically, from today and in the coming days citizens will notice the following tax reliefs:
1. 50% reduction in property tax for primary residences in rural areas.
On Sunday, the posting of new property tax clearance statements for 2026 is completed. About 7 million property owners across the country will see the amount they need to pay by March 31 for the Unified Real Estate Tax (either as a lump sum payment or as the first of up to 12 monthly installments they are entitled to) by logging in with their personal codes to the myAADE platform of the Independent Authority for Public Revenue.
The most significant change for this year concerns properties located in approximately 13,000 small settlements across the country. For primary residences located in areas with populations up to 1,500 inhabitants (outside Attica) or up to 1,700 inhabitants in Evros, Western Macedonia and other border regions, property tax is reduced by 50% from this year. It will also be the last time their owners are burdened with property tax, as from 2027 the tax on these specific properties is abolished.
This measure affects over 1 million ownership rights, for primary residences with objective value up to 400,000 euros.
2. Reduction of deemed living expenses by an average of 30%
On Monday, March 16, the submission of tax returns begins. The main difference compared to last year is the reduction of deemed living expenses (objective expenses) for about half a million citizens, with the changes applying to 2025 income taxed this year. Specifically, deemed expenses for residences are reduced by 30% for homes located in areas with objective zone prices up to 2,799 euros per sq.m., while for homes in areas with zone prices from 2,800 euros to 4,999 euros per sq.m., deemed expenses are reduced by 35%.
Additionally, deemed living expense amounts for passenger cars are reduced by up to 73.7%. This results from changing the calculation process for those registered from November 1, 2010 onwards, with deemed expenses now calculated based on CO2 emissions rather than engine displacement, and a special column has been added to table 5 of E1. Deemed living expenses for recreational boats will also be reduced, especially for newer ones, where deemed expenses are reduced by 30%.
Finally, deemed burdens for adult dependent children will be lighter, as those up to 18 years old or up to 25 years old who are studying or serving in the military and acquired any level of income during 2025 are excluded from the minimum deemed living expense of 3,000 euros.
The goal of these changes is to reduce tax burdens and rationalize the taxation system based on objective living expenses, as these changes are made after 20 years, relieving thousands of taxpayers from luxury living tax and high deemed expenses.
Moreover, reducing deemed expenses helps avoid the loss of property tax exemptions, as thousands of families will no longer appear to have high taxable income, as fictitiously calculated by the tax office for taxation purposes.
3. 50% reduction in minimum deemed income for freelancers.
The minimum deemed income resulting from objective taxation criteria for freelancers in settlements with up to 1,500 inhabitants is reduced by 50%, as well as for settlements up to 1,700 inhabitants in Evros, Western Macedonia and other border regions.
This reduction applies retroactively to income from the 2025 tax year. Until today, this reduction only concerned settlements with up to 500 inhabitants or municipal communities with up to 1,500 inhabitants.
4. Three-year tax exemption for new self-employed mothers.
An exemption from taxation based on minimum deemed income for self-employed new mothers is established and implemented for the first time. The exemption begins to apply retroactively from the 2025 tax year.A “preview” of income tax reductions can also be obtained by those who preview the clearance of their pre-filled declaration when they connect to the myAADE platform with their codes, even before finalizing their declaration submission.
Beyond the tax reliefs that lead to an indirect increase in household net income, from April 1st the minimum wage will be further increased, as announced. Additionally, the minimum wage increase will bring increases to unemployment benefits, maternity allowances, seniority allowances, overtime pay, and other benefits. Meanwhile, from the same month, salaries across the entire public sector increase proportionally to the minimum wage increase.
