Do I have to file at home while living in Greece?
Residence decides it, and residence is a question of facts rather than of where your post arrives. The one exception is US citizenship, which carries the filing obligation with the person wherever they go. So the first thing we establish is which system still claims you.
Is there a treaty between my country and Greece?
Treaty networks change with each protocol and each multilateral-instrument position, so we confirm the treaty in force for your specific year with the issuing authority rather than relying on a published summary. Where there is none, unilateral relief and domestic law do the work instead.
I own property in Greece. Where is the rent taxed?
Rent from immovable property is almost always taxable where the property is situated, frequently by withholding on the gross amount, with your home country taxing the same income and giving credit. A net-basis election, where one exists, is usually the difference between tax on profit and tax on turnover.
I inherited a flat in Greece — do I owe anything before I sell?
Obligations can begin well before any income does. Greek property passes through transfer formalities of its own, and those run on a separate track from income tax: they attach to the transfer and the registration rather than to anything the property earns. So an heir who has received nothing and let nothing can still have steps to take. At home, meanwhile, the question is whether the holding itself has to be disclosed once acquired. Deal with the transfer first, then the reporting, then income — that is the order the paperwork actually arrives in.
Does inherited Greek property have to go on my home return?
Inheriting is not usually income, but holding foreign property can carry a disclosure obligation at home that begins when you acquire it. That is a reporting question rather than a tax bill, and it is the one most often missed, because nothing has been received and nothing feels as though it has happened. Two things should be settled now rather than later: what the property was worth when it came to you, and what you spend on it from here. Both become the starting point for any gain when it is eventually sold.
I am retiring to Greece — does my pension stay taxable at home?
Not automatically, and not automatically the other way either. Pensions are dealt with expressly in most treaties, and the answer can differ between a state pension, an employer pension and a private arrangement, so they are taken one at a time. Greece has also operated regimes aimed at people arriving to retire, which carry conditions of their own. What none of that survives is an unsettled residence position: until the home country accepts that you have left, it will continue to treat the pension as its own. Residence, then treaty, then any regime — in that order.
I have Greek citizenship but never lived there — do I file?
Citizenship on its own is not what creates a Greek filing obligation; residence and Greek-source income are. What citizenship often brings instead is property, a share received through an estate, or a registration that has sat untouched for years — and those can carry obligations. So the useful question is not whether you are Greek but what is held and registered in your name, and since when. That is a short exercise, and it usually explains whatever letter prompted the question in the first place.
Who taxes the rent if I let out my Greek house?
Greece taxes income arising from property in Greece, and a home-country resident is taxed on income from everywhere, so the rent is generally reported in both places with relief for the Greek tax. The practical problems are rarely about that principle. They are about evidence: what was actually received, in what currency, which expenses are allowable in each country, and whether the Greek tax has been paid in a form a home credit can rest on. Keep one record of receipts and expenses that both returns can be built from.
Why do Greek formalities start before the property earns anything?
Because the transfer of property and the taxation of its income are separate systems. Registration, transfer formalities and the paperwork around an estate attach to the change of ownership itself, while income tax only arrives once the property is let or sold. An heir therefore has a sequence of steps to complete in a year when they have received no money at all, which is exactly why those steps get postponed. Delay is usually expensive in effort rather than in tax, because the later steps cannot be taken until the earlier ones are done.
Who qualifies for the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion?
A US citizen or resident with a tax home outside the United States who meets one of two tests: bona fide residence in a foreign country for an uninterrupted period including a full tax year, or physical presence abroad for a qualifying number of days in a twelve-month window. The day count and the exclusion cap both come off Form 2555 for the year in question. Failing both tests does not end relief — the foreign tax credit is the alternative. See Form 2555.
Should I claim the foreign tax credit or deduct the foreign tax instead?
The credit is usually worth more, because it reduces tax rather than income, and because unused amounts carry over. The deduction can win in narrow cases — where the limitation would waste most of the credit and you have no prospect of foreign income later to absorb it. The choice is all-or-nothing for the year and it interacts with your carryovers, so it is a decision to model rather than to default. See exclusion against credit.
