The curtain rises today for the submission of tax returns by 6.6 million taxpayers, with the Independent Public Revenue Authority (AADE) launching the electronic portal, which citizens will be able to visit until July 15. Before clicking the final submission button, employees, pensioners, professionals and farmers should thoroughly check the codes of the E1 form concerning income, expenses, presumptions, uncollected rents, dependent children, students, hosted individuals, insurance contributions and donations, in order to either limit the final tax amount resulting from the assessment or avoid additional burdens.
Taxpayers who will receive a debit statement should know that income tax can be paid in eight monthly installments, with the first due at the end of July 2026. In case of lump sum payment, a discount from 2% to 4% is provided, depending on the time of submission of the declaration. Specifically, for declarations submitted by April 30, the discount amounts to 4%, for declarations by June 15 to 3% and for declarations by July 15 to 2%.
Tax returns: The codes that reduce your tax
In detail, the 13 key codes that reduce the tax bill are:
1. Presumptive expenses of freelancers: Codes 045–046 are activated for new mothers who practice professional activity, who are exempt from presumptions for the year of birth of their child and for the following two years. Also reduced by 50% are the amounts of minimum presumptive income for self-employed who have headquarters and main residence in settlements of 501–1,500 inhabitants or in settlements of 501–1,700 inhabitants in border areas of Epirus, Macedonia and Thrace. A 50% reduction also applies to self-employed who operate school canteens.
2. Dependent children: Employees should enter in table 8 the number and details of dependent children such as name, surname, year of birth, school or college, tax number, ID number in cases where they have been issued and social security number in order to gain the tax deduction. It is clarified that children are considered “dependent” provided that their annual actual or presumptive income did not exceed 3,000 euros within 2025 or 6,000 euros if they have a disability of 67% and above.
3. Electronic expenses: Codes 049-050 with the amounts of purchases for goods and payment for services are pre-filled by AADE based on data sent by banks but are not locked, which means that taxpayers have the opportunity to add expenses in case their value does not cover the limit of 30% of taxable income provided that they have the necessary receipts that prove the extra expenses. It is noted that expenses for doctors count double for covering the limit and the relevant amounts are recorded separately in a special table. If the 30% limit is not covered, they will be charged with a 22% penalty on the deficit of receipts. The following categories face no risk as they are exempt from the obligation to make expenses with electronic means of payment
4. e-receipts from 20 professions: Along with other receipts, expenses with electronic means of payment are declared for electricians, plumbers, hairdressers, gyms etc., for which an amount equal to 30% of the expenses is proportionally deducted from taxable income. However, the deductible income amount cannot exceed the total actual income with a maximum height of 5,000 euros annually. These specific expenses are recorded separately in a relevant table and concern exclusively the taxpayer as any excess amount cannot be used by the other spouse or member of a cohabitation agreement
5. Building upgrades: Codes 627-628 record the total amount of expenses for goods and services intended for energy, functional and aesthetic upgrading of buildings. The expenses reduce income tax equally distributed over a five-year period, up to the proportional tax for each tax year with a maximum total expense limit of 16,000 euros and provided they have been paid with electronic means of payment or through payment service providers
6. Insurance contributions: Insurance contributions paid by the taxpayer themselves are deducted from taxable income and declared in codes 351-352 (purchase of insurance time, amounts for professional insurance funds, etc.)
7. Tips: Tips up to the amount of 300 euros monthly received by employees optionally from company customers and recorded in codes 689-690 or 691-692 depending on whether there is electronic information are exempt from income tax.
8. People with special needs: Those with a disability of 67% and above should complete codes 001-002, 005-006 and 009-010 to gain an automatic reduction of income tax by 200 euros.
9. Donations to the state and charitable institutions: Codes 059-060 declare monetary donations to the state, to public bodies, to holy temples, holy monasteries, private law legal entities and other non-public bodies operating for charitable purposes, provided they exceed 100 euros during the previous year. Income tax is reduced by 10% of the donation amount but the deduction cannot exceed 5% of taxable income. Amounts for donations to charitable institutions are completed in codes 063-064 and reduce tax by 40% of their amount but cannot exceed 40% of the donor’s taxable income
10. Students: Student housing for children studying away from their permanent residence is declared as secondary by the parent who bears the presumption even if the lease is drawn up in the child’s name.
11. Hosted individuals: To be exempt from housing presumption, hosted individuals who are not dependent family members but have an obligation to file a tax return must declare the tax number of the taxpayer who hosts them, who in turn must complete codes 007-008 with the tax numbers of the hosted individuals, months of hosting and square meters of the residence. For children hosted in their parents’ residence, the presumption burdens the parents
12. Living standards presumptions: Living standards presumptions for residences, cars and recreational boats will be reduced by 30%, resulting in limiting or neutralizing tax for 480,000 taxpayers. Particularly important is the abolition of the minimum presumption of 3,000 euros for adult dependent children who have their own income.
13. Uncollected rents: Taxpayers, to avoid being taxed at rates of 15% – 45% for rental income they did not collect in 2025, must, by the deadline for filing the declaration, have issued a payment order or lease return order or court decision for eviction or rent award, or have filed (deposited and served) against the tenant an eviction lawsuit or rent award.
