Moving to Greece from Denmark: Tax and Setup Guide (2026)

Danes moving to Greece are mostly freelancers with Danish clients, remote employees, ApS owners and retirees. This guide covers the Danish exit and points you to the right Greek setup.

The short answer

• Your home decides: full Danish tax liability usually ends only when you sell, give notice on or let out your Danish home for at least three years.
• Report the move to your municipality before you leave, then contact Skattestyrelsen so it can decide your tax liability.
• Exit tax on shares: holdings worth DKK 100,000 or more are taxed as if sold on the day you leave; within the EU you can defer without security.
• The 1989 treaty is in force: unlike Spain and France, Greece still has a treaty with Denmark.
• Danish pensions: folkepension stays taxed in Denmark; labour-market and private pensions are taxed in Denmark only if you are a Danish national.
• Social security follows your work: freelancers working from Greece join EFKA.
• Article 5C (50% exemption for 7 years) and Article 5B (7% on all foreign income for 15 years) are open to Danish movers who qualify.

1. Ending full Danish tax liability

You are fully taxable (fuldt skattepligtig) in Denmark while you have a home there. According to Skattestyrelsen, full liability generally ends only when you sell your home, give notice to your landlord, or let it for at least three years on a lease you cannot terminate. A holiday home used only for holidays does not count.

Without a home, you become fully taxable again after six consecutive months in Denmark; short holiday trips abroad do not necessarily break the count.

If you move abroad for more than six months, you report the move to your municipality digitally before you leave; you do not need your Greek address yet. About a week after you are deregistered from the Folkeregister and have left, contact Skattestyrelsen: only it decides your tax liability. Keep a NemKonto, because refunds are paid only to it.

In Greece, you become tax resident with your main home or centre of life here, or after 183 days in 12 months. If both countries claim you, the treaty’s tie-breaker decides, broadly along OECD lines: permanent home first, then centre of vital interests.

2. Exit tax on shares and the year you leave

If your shares have a market value of DKK 100,000 or more when your full liability ends, Denmark taxes the gain as if you had sold them on the day you leave (section 38 of the Share Gains Tax Act). All shares count towards the threshold. The rule normally applies only if you were taxable in Denmark for at least seven years in total.

You can defer the tax without interest. Moving within the EU, no security is required. While a deferred balance remains, you file form 04.065 by 1 July every year; miss it and the tax falls due. Selling the shares triggers payment; dividends and loans from the company trigger repayments of the deferred balance. Crypto holdings are also treated as sold at market value on the day you leave; deferred tax on crypto carries interest, and at least 1/7 is payable each year.

If you close an enkeltmandsvirksomhed, you deregister it on virk.dk, file a final VAT return, tick “Virksomhedsophør” in your preliminary income assessment so B-tax stops, and report the result up to the closing date, including gains on assets you took out or sold. If you used the business tax scheme (virksomhedsordningen), profits saved in it are taxed as personal income when the business closes or your full liability ends; plan the timing with your adviser.

If you run a Danish ApS alone from Greece, its place of effective management, and under the treaty its tax residence, can move here, which can trigger Danish exit taxation for the company. Dividends from the ApS carry Danish dividend tax, and your salary for work done in Greece is taxed in Greece and insured with EFKA. Agree the structure with your Danish adviser before you deregister. For a new Greek company, see setting up an IKE.

3. The 1989 tax treaty

Denmark terminated its treaties with Spain and France in 2008–2009, but not the one with Greece. The convention signed in Copenhagen on 18 May 1989 (BKI no. 41 of 1992, ratified in Greece by Law 1986/1991) entered into force on 18 January 1992 and applies from 1 January 1993. Since 2022 it is modified by the OECD multilateral instrument. As of October 2026 it is in force.

Its pension article is unusual. Article 18 gives pensions to the country you live in, unless you are a national of the paying country: a Danish national’s Danish pensions are then taxed only in Denmark. Social security payments are taxed only in the paying country.

4. How your income is taxed

5. Freelancers and remote workers

You close your enkeltmandsvirksomhed (CVR, VAT, B-tax), register as a sole trader in Greece and invoice from there.

• Danish business clients are invoiced without VAT under the reverse charge, private clients with Greek VAT; the Danish small-business VAT threshold no longer applies (VAT with foreign clients).
• Social security: under EU Regulation 883/2004 you are insured where you work, so with EFKA, from about €150 per month for new freelancers (EFKA guide). A Danish A1 from Udbetaling Danmark, valid for up to two years, only helps for temporary work abroad or if you also work substantially in Denmark.
• Greek routine: VAT returns monthly for the first 24 months for new businesses with simple books, then quarterly on request, myDATA for every invoice, e-invoicing for invoices to Greek and non-EU businesses from 2 November 2026, with a transition to 31 January 2027; invoices to Danish clients are not covered (e-invoicing), and a tax advance halved only in your first year with business income.

Steps in order: AFM, freelancer setup, freelancer taxes 2026.

Employees who keep a Danish contract and work permanently from Greece are taxed in Greece on those workdays and fall under EFKA, so the employer must register in Greece. Many switch to freelancing instead (5C for EU remote workers).

6. Retirees

• Tax: folkepension and ATP stay taxable in Denmark, where you have limited tax liability and pay an average tax rate. Labour-market and private pensions follow Article 18: Denmark only if you are a Danish national, Greece only if you are not. Once full liability ends, you can apply with form 07.058 to stop Danish tax on your pension returns.
• Payment: Udbetaling Danmark keeps paying folkepension when you live in the EU. Report your Greek address, and answer the yearly life certificate (leveattest) by the deadline when asked, or payments stop.
• Health: with a Danish public pension and once deregistered from the Folkeregister, and if you do not work in Greece, you apply to Udbetaling Danmark for form S1 and take it to EFKA to register for Greek care. Your yellow sundhedskort stops working; with S1 you can order the blue EU card.
• Article 5B: if you receive a foreign pension and were not Greek tax resident in 5 of the previous 6 years, your foreign income is taxed at 7% for 15 years, unless a tax treaty exempts it. Move by 2 July and you can apply by 31 October of that year; move later and it starts the following year (A.1192/2026). Income the treaty leaves to Denmark alone (folkepension and other social security payments, and for Danish nationals all their Danish pensions) is not taxed in Greece, so the 7% does not reach it. Where both countries may tax, such as Danish rent or dividends, Danish tax is credited against the 7% up to the Greek tax on that income, and any excess is not refunded (A.1192/2026, art. 5). 5B pays off mainly when most of your income is not Danish, or when you are not a Danish national and your labour-market pension is taxed only in Greece (7% flat tax).

Børne- og ungeydelse requires you to be fully taxable in Denmark and the child to stay there, so it generally ends when the family moves. Tell Udbetaling Danmark straight away.

7. Article 5C: the 50% exemption

If you were not Greek tax resident in 5 of the previous 6 years, Article 5C exempts 50% of Greek employment or business income for 7 years. You need a Greek employer, a Greek establishment of a foreign employer, or your own sole proprietorship in Greece (an IKE does not count, nor does a salary from your Danish ApS). Start by 2 July and you apply by 31 December of that year; later, by 31 December of the next. AADE allows it alongside 5A or 5B. Digital Nomad Visa holders are not eligible (5C vs DNV).

How we can help

We prepare and file the Greek side: tax and business registration, the 5C or 5B application, and your returns as part of our ongoing bookkeeping. The Danish exit stays with your Danish adviser; we share the Greek documents they need. Send us a message for a free check.

Frequently asked questions

When does my Danish full tax liability end if I move to Greece?

When you give up your home in Denmark: sell it, give notice on your rental, or let it for at least three years on a lease you cannot terminate. A home kept available keeps you fully taxable. Without one, six consecutive months in Denmark make you fully taxable again. If both countries claim you, the 1989 treaty decides, starting with your permanent home.

Is there a tax treaty between Denmark and Greece?

Yes. The convention signed in Copenhagen on 18 May 1989 has been in force since 18 January 1992 and applies from 1 January 1993, modified by the OECD multilateral instrument from 2022. Unlike its treaties with Spain and France, Denmark has not terminated it; it is in force as of October 2026.

Is my Danish pension taxed in Greece or in Denmark?

Folkepension and other Danish social security payments are taxed only in Denmark, and Denmark also taxes ATP (non-Danish nationals should confirm their ATP treatment with Skattestyrelsen). Labour-market, private and civil service pensions are taxed only in Denmark if you are a Danish national, and only in Greece if you are not.

Do I stay in the Danish social security system if I freelance from Greece?

No. Under EU Regulation 883/2004 you are insured where you work, so a freelancer living and working in Greece joins EFKA. A Danish A1 from Udbetaling Danmark only helps for temporary work abroad, for up to two years, or if you also work substantially in Denmark.

Can I use the Greek 50% tax break (Article 5C) when moving from Denmark?

Yes, if you were not Greek tax resident in 5 of the previous 6 years and take a job with a Greek employer or register as a sole trader in Greece. Digital Nomad Visa holders are not eligible.

Rules as of October 2026 (Danish Withholding Tax Act ss. 1–2, Share Gains Tax Act s. 38, Denmark–Greece tax treaty 1989, EU Regulation 883/2004, Greek Income Tax Code art. 5B/5C, A.1192/2026).