How your US retirement income is taxed here.
These come straight from the same country data the Glidepath engine uses to calculate your tax. Not a marketing summary.
Models the Art. 5B pensioner regime (Law 4714/2020): a flat 7% on all foreign-source income - pension, gains, dividends, rental, and US Social Security - for 15 years. Having a foreign pension is only the entry ticket; the 7% then applies to everything, not just the pension.
Requires a qualifying foreign pension and not being Greek-resident 5 of the prior 6 years.
Paid as an annual lump sum by end of July; non-payment ends the regime and reverts to ordinary worldwide taxation.
Roth accounts are not tax-free in Greece. Greek law has no concept of an already-taxed retirement account, and the 1950 treaty offers no shield. So the plan taxes the full Roth withdrawal: 7% inside the Art. 5B regime (which flattens all foreign income), or the 9-44% scale outside it. Whether a lump-sum withdrawal from a self-directed US account even qualifies for the regime is still debated; a toggle models the favorable untaxed case.
Buying a Greek home adds ENFIA, the annual property tax, which the 7% regime does not waive. The real bill depends on zone price and size, so this plan charges an approximate value-based schedule of roughly 0.2-0.75% per year.
The plan models Greece's personal tax credit (income-tax code art. 16) at €777 a year, the amount for someone with no dependent children. It shrinks by €20 for every €1,000 of income above €12,000, and it applies on the standard 9-44% scale only, never inside the flat 7% regime. The credit grows with dependent children, which the plan does not ask about, and it is applied once against your combined household income rather than per spouse - so your real Greek bill can be a little lower than shown. Keeping the full credit also assumes you meet Greece's electronic-payments rule (art. 15 §6: card or online spending of about 30% of your income; a shortfall is taxed at 22%) - the plan assumes compliance and does not model the penalty.
What could change this.
After 15 years the 7% deal ends and you move to Greece's normal rates on worldwide income, a big jump in tax.
When: Year 16 after you move (15-year cap)
Compliance traps that catch US retirees here.
Investment products that look ordinary to locals can be tax traps for US citizens. These are the ones specific to Greece.
7% regime sweeps US Social Security and all foreign income into Greek tax
Expect to pay Greek tax on your US Social Security and every other kind of foreign income, not just your pension.
1950 income-tax treaty is obsolete; Social Security runs through the separate totalization agreement
The 1950 US-Greece tax treaty does not shield your Social Security; it has no Social Security rules.
Greek/EU investment-linked life-insurance and private-pension wrappers are likely PFIC traps
Greek and EU investment or insurance wrappers are usually PFIC tax traps for Americans, so many keep retirement savings in US-based accounts.
US state ties can collide with the 183-day residence rule
If you keep a US state home, that state may still tax the same income, on top of Greek and US federal tax.
Healthcare as a retiree.
FIP-visa retirees must hold comprehensive private health insurance valid in Greece; it is mandatory for the permit. They do not automatically join the public EFKA/ESY system, which normally needs a job or contributions. International or expat private policies are the practical norm, and private treatment is fairly cheap by EU standards.
Local comprehensive policies run about €60–250/month per person; a 55-year-old pays about €120–180/month on a local plan. International cover starts near €250/month and rises steeply after 60; many insurers decline first-time cover after 65. For an older US retiree on an international plan, about $4,800/year per person is a realistic mid-range; younger retirees pay less.
This models the non-EU FIP path, where private insurance is required, using a local-plan quote for someone around age 60. International plans run about €290/month at 60. A couple in their late 60s realistically spends €5,000-€10,000 a year all in.
The retirement visa route.
The FIP visa is Greece's long-stay permit for non-EU retirees who live on passive income. Holders cannot use the public health system, so private insurance is a condition of the permit.
- Passive income of at least €3,500/month (net) for the main applicant, from pensions or other non-work sources.
- Add 20% for a spouse and 15% for each child on top of that income floor.
- Comprehensive private health insurance valid in Greece, required at application and at every renewal.
- Permit renews every 3 years; permanent residency is possible after 5 years.
What could this cost you?
A fast, illustrative estimate for Greece - no login, nothing stored. Every country page carries its own, tuned to that country's tax treatment.
Your monthly spending power in Greece (7% pensioner) on about $1M
These odds are about a withdrawal this size holding up over time - not about how far that amount goes here.
A lean lifestyle in Greece (7% pensioner)
Day to day, that looks like a small apartment in a lower-cost town, transit or one older economy car, cooking at home with the odd cheap meal out. For health, the public health system, with out-of-pocket costs a real worry.
As a US citizen, you keep filing US taxes wherever you live.
Greece (7% pensioner): 7% flat on foreign income (15 yrs)
This is a fast estimate, not the full simulation, and not financial advice. It only flags the tax question. The full plan works out what you'd actually owe on each side of the border. It also models real balances, every account type, and healthcare, year by year.
The terms you'll run into.
- ENFIA
- Greece's annual property tax on real estate (Eniaios Foros Idioktisias Akiniton). Every owner pays it yearly, priced by official zone values, size, and age of the property, with extra value bands once total Greek property passes roughly €300,000-500,000.
- Article 5B regime (7%)
- A Greek tax regime for new residents who have a qualifying foreign pension. You pay a flat 7% on all foreign income, not just the pension, for up to 15 years, paid once a year by the end of July.
- FIP visa (Financially Independent Persons)
- Greece's long-stay permit for non-EU retirees living on passive income. It needs a set monthly income plus private health insurance, renews every 3 years, and can lead to permanent residency after 5.
- EFKA / e-EFKA
- Greece's main social-security fund. Contributing to it through work is what normally opens access to the public ESY health system; FIP-visa retirees are not contributors, so they must show private insurance.
- ESY
- Greece's public health system: state hospitals and clinics, free or low-cost once you are enrolled. Enrollment runs through the EOPYY insurer and needs an AMKA (a social-security number).
- EOPYY (public health insurer)
- Greece's single public health insurer. It pays for care in the public ESY system and also contracts private doctors, labs, and clinics.
- AMKA (social-security number)
- Greece's social-security number. You need one, plus an EOPYY entitlement, to use the public ESY health system.
- AFM
- Your Greek tax number, needed before you can enter the 7% regime. To qualify you must become a Greek tax resident, not have been one for 5 of the prior 6 years, and apply by 31 March.
US terms that follow you to every country
- PFIC
- Passive Foreign Investment Company - the IRS label for almost any non-US fund, ETF, or pooled investment. Owning one triggers punitive US tax rates and Form 8621 paperwork. The single most common trap for Americans investing abroad.
- FBAR
- Foreign Bank Account Report (FinCEN Form 114). A yearly online filing that lists your non-US accounts once they total over $10,000. Not a tax - just a report - but penalties for skipping it are severe.
- FATCA
- A US law that makes foreign banks report American customers to the IRS. It is why some foreign banks refuse US clients, and why you may also file Form 8938 with your return.
- Form 8621
- The IRS form you must file for each PFIC you own. Complex enough that most preparers charge per form, per year.
- Form 8938
- The FATCA companion form filed with your US return, listing foreign financial assets above a threshold. Overlaps with, but does not replace, the FBAR.
- Forms 3520/3520-A
- US reporting forms for foreign trusts. Some foreign retirement and insurance wrappers count as trusts, dragging their owners into this heavy annual paperwork.
- UCITS
- The standard European fund format (an EU regulatory label). Fine for Europeans - but to the IRS, a UCITS fund is a PFIC.
- Totalization agreement
- A US bilateral deal that stops you paying Social Security tax to two countries on the same work, and lets work credits in each country count toward one benefit.
- Foreign tax credit
- The US mechanism that stops double taxation: tax you pay to your residence country offsets your US bill on the same income, dollar for dollar. You effectively pay the higher of the two totals - not both.
- Saving clause
- The clause in every US tax treaty that lets the US keep taxing its own citizens as if the treaty did not exist. It is why moving abroad never ends US filing.
- Foreign grantor trust
- The IRS classification some foreign pension and insurance wrappers fall into. It means the owner reports the trust personally, on Forms 3520/3520-A, every year.
Nothing on this page is invented.
Confidence: verified. Last verified July 17, 2026. Every figure above comes from one of the sources below - the same country data the full plan uses to compute your projection.
See the full country-by-country build sheet on the coverage page.