Real estate in Greece: mistakes that increase taxes

Errors in E1 declaration housing may increase τεκμήρια διαβίωσης (conditional living expenses), due to which the tax office calculates a higher income.

For property owners in Greece You should especially carefully check your housing information when filling out your tax return. Error, omission, or incorrect information on the form E1 may increase conditional living expenses – an indicator on the basis of which the tax office calculates the taxpayer’s expected income.

The housing in which the taxpayer lives is considered an element objective living expenses (αντικειμενική δαπάνη διαβίωσης) whether it is owned, rented or provided free of charge. For the tax authorities, it is important not only the right of ownership, but also the very fact of living in the property.

Although the estimated housing costs have been reduced to 35%this mechanism still remains a problem for thousands of taxpayers, especially those with low incomes. To the amount calculated for the main residence, car expenses, loan payments and the minimum objective amount of accommodation are added – 3,000 euros or 5,000 eurosdepending on marital status.

As a result, even a person with little actual income can face a higher tax bill if the return is completed incorrectly. The logic of the system is simple and ruthless: if you have a home, a car and a loan, the tax office may decide that you live richer than your real income shows. Very convenient – especially when the bank account for some reason does not agree with this conclusion.

Where do errors most often occur?

Particular attention should be paid table 5 forms E1which concerns objective living expenses for housing. Taxpayers who, during 2025 changed their main place of residence or sold the home in which they had previously lived.

Important to remember: own accommodation indicated only in the form E1namely in Table 5, associated with objective costs. It is not declared in the form E2. The exception applies, for example, to empty or incomplete objects, which are reflected differently and require separate verification.

Own accommodation

In the table 5.1 forms E1 When you select the field with the residential address, an additional table opens. In it you can select either last year’s picture of the real estate declaration, or data from the form E9.

The taxpayer must indicate the objects in which he lives himself and correctly classify them:

• main residence;
• first secondary housing;
• second secondary housing;
• other residential properties;
• independent auxiliary premises.

After filling in the data, you need to save the object and select an action “Transfer to declaration”. It is at this stage that errors often occur: the taxpayer may transfer the wrong object, leave old data or incorrectly indicate the status of the housing.

If accessory premises are not located in the same building as the main or secondary residence, their area and address are filled in the appropriate fields of the main or secondary residence. If we are talking about the use of independent auxiliary premises without data on the main or secondary housing, the area is indicated in the auxiliary premises field, and the appropriate option is selected in the use column.

If the desired property is not displayed in the system, you must select to enter a new property and fill in all real estate data manually.

Change of primary residence

If the taxpayer changed his primary residence during 2025you need to select the address field of the main residence, enter the data of another object, designate it correctly, save and select again “Transfer to declaration”.

After this, you need to select the last main residence and transfer it to the declaration again. The last main residence data will appear in the table 5.1aand the amount of objective expenses for the previous main residence will be transferred to the code 707 for the main taxpayer and in the code 708 for the wife.

At this stage, it is especially important to read the messages that appear as you enter data. Yes, this is one of those rare cases where a tax system pop-up window can be more useful than intuition.

Sale of real estate

If the property has been sold, in the table where the property is displayed according to the data E9 or last year’s declaration, next to each entry there is a deletion field. The sold item must be deleted and then selected “Transfer to declaration”.

If this is not done, the system may continue to account for the residence as if it were still in use by the taxpayer. As a result, the amount of objective living expenses may turn out to be higher than it should be. Simply put, you can pay more not for real estate, but for the tax system’s memory of it.

Data correction

If the property data is displayed incorrectly, it must be deleted and the property must be re-entered with the correct information. Such changes apply only to filling out the declaration E1 and do not change the taxpayer’s property picture in the system.

This is an important clarification: correcting data in the declaration does not replace a full change in information about real estate where it is required by other tax forms or registers.

Power outage

Turning off the power supply does not mean canceling the electrical connection number. The connection number (αριθμού παροχής) remains a unique number that is indicated on the electricity meter and connects a specific object to the power supply network.

Therefore, when filling out a declaration, you cannot proceed from the logic: “Once the power is turned off, the number is no longer there”. The connection number (is stored and must be taken into account where the form requires it.

The main conclusion for owners is simple: when filling out a real estate declaration, you need to carefully check the address, area, housing status, period of residence, data on the change of main residence, sale of the property and electrical connection number. One wrong tick can turn an ordinary declaration into a small tax quest, where the prize is an additional payment.

Source link