10
Greek Business Law
A Handbook for Businesses and Legal Practitioners
Issues in Civil Law
3. Real Property
a tax registration number in Greece; (ii) limited liability companies or partner-
ships that declare the individuals who own the participating companies, pro-
vided that these individuals have been awarded with a tax registration number
in Greece. Under these conditions, companies having their registered place of
business outside the European Union are also exempt from the tax, provided
that an agreement of mutual administrative assistance against tax evasion has
been signedwith the country of their registered office.
3.4.4. Extraordinary duty on real estate (E.E.T.I.D.E. or E.E.T.A)
Apart fromtheabovementionedyearlypaid taxes, another extraordinarydutywas
temporarily imposed by Statute 4021/2011 called“E.E.T.I.D.E.”which was intended
to reduce the State deficit. This duty was determined by applying a fixed amount
of tax per square meters (determined by the zone price calculated for each build-
ing, taking intoaccount the ageof thebuilding) on thenumber of squaremeters of
the real state. This duty was intially imposed for years 2011 and 2012 but following
Statute 4152/2013 a similar extraordinary duty called“E.E.T.A”was imposed for real
estate owned on 1.5.2013 covering the period from 1.5.2013 until 31.12.2013. This
duty isdetermined inthesamemanner as theE.E.T.I.D.E.
3.4.5. Capital gains tax
According to the Greek Income Tax Code (arts 41 and 43), as of 1.1.2014, capital
gains arising from the sale of real estate sold after 1.1.2014 is taxed at a rate of
15%, with no further tax obligation. The tax is calculated on the capital gain re-
alized by the seller at the time of the sale of the real estate.
3.5. Restrictions in real estate property
Transfer of ownership and granting of real rights in real estate property may be
prohibited, limited or subject to a special permit of the authorities, under spe-
cial laws. In particular, such restrictions and prohibitions are foundmainly in the
following cases:
(a) “Border Areas”
- The acquisition of real rights in certain regions of Greece,
which are designated as “border areas”, is permitted only to individuals
and legal entities that are Greek or have their citizenship or place of busi-
ness within the EU or the EFTA, under the prerequisite of a prior authori-
zation by the Greek State; in the event of border areas, the buyer will re-
quire a permit from the Greek State before purchasing the real estate.
(b) “Forest Areas”
- The Greek Constitution prohibits the alteration of use of
forests, except where rural development or other uses imposed for the
public interest prevail for the benefit of the national economy.
