Payroll in Greece 2026: EFKA contributions, tax and 14 salaries

In Greece the employer withholds the employee's e-EFKA contributions (13.37% for most private-sector jobs) and income tax from each salary, and pays its own 21.79% on top. Pay comes in 14 instalments a year: twelve monthly salaries plus the Christmas bonus, the Easter bonus and the holiday allowance.

Payroll in Greece at a glance

Social security contributions

Contributions go to the single social security institution e-EFKA, which also collects the supplementary pension and the contributions for the public employment service (DYPA). The rate depends on the employee's insurance package; most private-sector employees are insured under the standard mixed package (KPK 101), whose rates have applied since 1 January 2025:

The total fell from 1 January 2025, when Law 5162/2024 cut the health care contribution by one percentage point to 6.10% (2.05% employee, 4.05% employer). Heavy and unhealthy occupations pay more: 16.82% and 23.94% under package 105.

Ceiling. Contributions are charged on monthly earnings up to a maximum insurable amount, which rose by 2.5% to €7,761.94 a month from 1 January 2026 (e-EFKA circular 5/2026). The bonuses are insurable earnings too.

Premium pay. The increases paid for night work, overtime and work on Sundays and public holidays to full-time employees are exempt from social security contributions under rules applied by e-EFKA since 2025.

Income tax on salaries

The tax reform law of late 2025 (Law 5246/2025) cut the rates on incomes from €10,000 to €40,000 by two percentage points and added a 39% band from 1 January 2026:

Young people. Employees up to 25 pay no income tax on income up to €20,000, and those aged 26 to 30 pay 9% instead of 20% on the €10,000 to €20,000 band.

Parents. The 20% band falls to 18% with one child, 16% with two and 9% with three; with four or more children income up to €20,000 is taxed at 0%.

Tax reduction. Employees are entitled to a reduction of the tax: up to €777 a year without dependants (€900 with one child, €1,120 with two), reduced by €20 for each €1,000 of income above €12,000, and never more than the tax itself.

Withholding. The employer takes the monthly salary after the employee's contributions, multiplies it by 14 to annualise it, applies the scale and the tax reduction, and withholds one fourteenth of the annual tax each month. The Christmas bonus carries the same amount again, and the Easter bonus and holiday allowance half each. The final tax is settled in the employee's annual income tax return.

Minimum wage, working time and mandatory pay

From 1 April 2026 the statutory minimum wage for full-time work is €920 a month for salaried employees (υπάλληλοι) and €41.09 a day for manual workers (εργατοτεχνίτες), up from €880 and €39.30, under joint ministerial decision 8934/27.3.2026 (Government Gazette B 1759).

Bonuses. Employees under private-law contracts are entitled to:

• a Christmas bonus equal to one monthly salary (25 daily wages for manual workers), in full when employed from 1 May to 31 December, otherwise pro rata;
• an Easter bonus equal to half a monthly salary (15 daily wages), in full when employed from 1 January to 30 April, otherwise pro rata;
• a holiday allowance (epídoma adeías) paid with annual leave, which part-time employees also receive.

Night work and work on Sundays and public holidays carry statutory premiums, and part-time employees asked to work beyond their agreed hours are paid 12% more for each extra hour.

Monthly payroll calendar and filings

1. 1Declare each hire digitally in ERGANI, the Ministry of Labour's information system. ERGANI II was set to replace the old environment on 16 February 2026; it also handles changes to employment terms and terminations.
2. 2Pay the salary monthly, and the bonuses on their dates.
3. 3Withhold income tax and declare and pay it to the tax authority (AADE) with its withholding return.
4. 4Submit the Analytical Periodic Declaration (APD) to e-EFKA during the month after the pay period. For 2026 the windows run, for example, from 1 February to 2 March for January salaries and from 1 November to 30 November for October; the APD for December 2026 is due between 1 January and 1 February 2027. The filing date is the date e-EFKA accepts the APD.

Worked example: €1,500 a month

A salaried employee aged over 30 earns €1,500 gross a month (€21,000 a year over 14 payments), is single, has no children and is insured under KPK 101.

The same employee aged 26 to 30 would pay 9% instead of 20% on the €8,192.30 above €10,000. In December the Christmas bonus of €1,500 is paid on top of the salary, with the same contributions and tax again.

Common mistakes

1. 1Using the 2025 tax scale (22%, 28% and 36%) after 1 January 2026.
2. 2Missing the age and child reductions, which change the tax from the first payroll of the year.
3. 3Forgetting to annualise over 14 payments, which overstates monthly tax.
4. 4Paying below €920 for salaried staff after 1 April 2026, or prorating the bonuses wrongly.
5. 5Charging contributions above the €7,761.94 ceiling, or on overtime premiums that are exempt.
6. 6Forgetting to declare hires, changes and terminations in ERGANI.

How Clientlly helps

Clientlly does not ship a built-in payroll profile for Greece. An administrator enters Greece's payroll rates once in the payroll tax settings: the income-tax bands, the personal allowance, the employee and employer contribution rates and the minimum wage. Clientlly then calculates gross to net and the employer contributions and produces payslips. The 14-payment annualisation, the €777 tax reduction and the reduced rates for young employees and parents should be checked for each employee.

Alongside payroll, the human resources module handles leave requests and approvals with a leave calendar and keeps HR documents, and attendance and time tracking records working hours, overtime and Sunday work.