Introduction
If you live in Germany and work remotely, you know the feeling: you earn well on paper, but between income tax, solidarity surcharge and social contributions, almost half of every additional euro never reaches your account.
But what if you could keep your German clients and income, move to the Mediterranean, and legally cut your income tax in half?
Welcome to our first Reality Check. In this series, we skip the tax theory and look at realistic scenarios instead. Today: a German freelance developer staying in Berlin versus relocating to Greece under the Article 5C tax regime.
One thing before we start: we deliberately use rounded, conservative figures. Every situation is different, and we would rather you be positively surprised by your individual calculation than disappointed. If you want your exact numbers, that’s what our free call is for.
The Scenario: Meet Jonas
A typical case we see at taxomade:
- Profile: Jonas, 34, married, one child.
- Job: Senior Software Developer, working remotely as a freelancer for German and international clients.
- Gross income: around €90,000 per year.
As an EU citizen, Jonas needs no visa for Greece — he can move, register, and start working under Greek rules right away. (This matters: for non-EU citizens the route into 5C looks different. We’ll cover that in a separate Reality Check.)
The Status Quo: Staying in Germany
In Germany, a large share of Jonas’s income falls into the top progressive brackets — the marginal rate reaches 42% well before €70,000, plus health insurance and other contributions on top.
The result: on €90,000, a freelancer like Jonas typically loses somewhere around 40% of his gross income to taxes and mandatory contributions, depending on his exact setup, church tax, and insurance choices. Add Berlin or Munich rent and childcare, and the room for actual wealth-building gets thin.
The Greek Solution: Relocating under Article 5C
Jonas moves with his family to Greece — Athens, Crete, wherever suits them. Because he has not been a Greek tax resident in recent years, and because he registers a new freelance activity in Greece, he qualifies for the Article 5C regime (the “50% tax break”).
The core of Article 5C is simple: half of his Greek business income is exempt from income tax — for up to 7 years. Only 50% of his income is taxed under the normal Greek progressive rates. His German and international clients simply receive invoices from his Greek freelance business instead.
On top of that, Greek social security for freelancers (EFKA) works very differently from German contributions: instead of a percentage of income, freelancers choose a fixed monthly contribution class — for most remote workers a few hundred euros per month, regardless of earnings. These contributions are also deductible from taxable income.
The result: under Article 5C, Jonas’s effective overall burden typically lands in the range of 15–20% — roughly half of what he carries in Germany.
The Verdict: What that means in real money
We won’t promise an exact figure — anyone who does is guessing. But the direction is clear:
- On an income around the €90,000 level, the annual saving under Article 5C is typically a solid five-figure amount in euros — every single year.
- Over the full 7-year duration of the regime, that compounds into a six-figure difference — before you even count the second effect:
- The cost of living. Rent, groceries, dining out and healthcare in Greece cost significantly less than in German cities. The same net income simply goes much further.
Lower taxes on one side, lower costs on the other — that combination, not either one alone, is what changes Jonas’s financial picture.
The Catch (What you need to know)
This is not a loophole. Article 5C is an official Greek government incentive designed to attract professionals — but it comes with real conditions:
- You must be genuinely new to Greek tax residency. The regime is for people who have not been Greek tax residents for most of the recent years before moving.
- You must take up a new activity in Greece. Simply living in Greece while keeping your old German registration does not qualify — and creates serious tax risks on the German side too. The clean route: deregister properly in Germany, register as a Greek freelancer, and invoice your clients B2B from Greece.
- Timing is critical. The 5C application must be filed within a fixed deadline in your first year of Greek tax activity. Miss it, and you wait — or lose the benefit entirely.
- First-year cashflow. Greek freelancers pay an advance payment towards next year’s income tax. It doesn’t increase your total tax, but it affects your cashflow in year one — plan for it.
- The German exit matters as much as the Greek entry. Tax deregistration, the question of remaining ties (Wohnsitz), and the Germany–Greece double taxation treaty need to be handled properly, or Germany may still consider you taxable.
- The paperwork must be right. You need a Greek tax number (AFM), the correct registrations, and a flawless 5C application submitted to the Greek tax authority (AADE).
All figures on this page are simplified, rounded illustrations based on the tax rules as of 2026. They are not tax advice, and your individual result will differ. That’s the honest version — and it’s exactly what we calculate precisely for you before you commit to anything.
How taxomade Can Help
You don’t need to fly to Greece to start, and you don’t need to fight Greek bureaucracy alone. taxomade handles the entire transition — from securing your tax number remotely, to filing your Article 5C application, to ongoing monthly bookkeeping in English or German. Every filing is handled by our licensed Greek accountants and lawyers.
Want to know your exact numbers under Article 5C? Talk to us today — the first consultation is free.