Greece Golden Visa

Local tax picture

Greece uses a resident tax regime, which means tax residence matters more than the visa label. The visa itself does not create tax residency, and the structured facts do not specify a day-count trigger; the tax status deadline is also not specified. For a person living on foreign ETF dividends, offshore rental income, or pension distributions, the key question is whether Greek residence is actually established under local tax rules, because once you are a Greek tax resident the country can tax worldwide income under its resident framework. Remote salary and self-employment income are not given any special carve-out in the visa facts.

Capital gains on foreign investments are not publicly specified in the visa facts, so there is no safe shortcut answer here for FIRE investors selling index funds from a foreign brokerage. The program does not disclose a remittance basis or a named preferential regime attached to this visa in the provided facts, so the conservative reading is: once you become a Greek tax resident, assume the local resident regime applies unless a separate Greek tax advisor confirms an exemption or special treatment for a specific asset class.

Local filing mechanics are not disclosed in the facts. The visa materials also do not disclose a tax treaty status with the United States; that means no treaty-based assumption should be built into an exit plan or dividend strategy from this page alone.

For US Citizens and Green Card Holders

- FEIE (Form 2555) covers earned income only: remote work, consulting, and self-employment income up to the 2024 limit of $126,500. - FEIE does not cover dividends, capital gains, pension distributions, or Social Security, which is the main issue for passive-income and FIRE holders. - With 0 days per year required for the visa itself, the Physical Presence Test is not driven by Greece; if you spend 330 days in a 12-month period outside the U.S., that test can support FEIE for earned income, but it does nothing for portfolio income. - FTC (Form 1116) only helps when Greek tax on a covered income stream exceeds the U.S. tax on that same stream. If your Greek tax rate on foreign dividends or gains is zero or below the U.S. rate, the FTC will not shelter the U.S. liability. - FBAR (FinCEN 114) applies if your foreign financial accounts exceed $10,000 at any point in the year, separate from FATCA Form 8938.

A Greek residence permit often comes with local banking and tax-registration chores even when the visa itself does not say so in the facts, so a US CPA who handles FEIE, FTC, FBAR, and Form 8938 plus a local Greek tax advisor for residency and filing is the right year-one stack. The $1,500–$3,000 spent on that setup can be cheaper than one missed FBAR filing or a bad residency/tax assumption.