Inheritance of foreign property to a Greek: consequences

If a Greek resident or a foreign resident inherits real estate or any other property located in Greece, Greek law will basically determine the process of transferring the property (movable or immovable) from the deceased to the heir.

Only if the deceased was a foreigner and not a Greek citizen, the law of his country of citizenship will determine who inherits what. But Greek law will still determine the process of transferring ownership of real estate located in Greece.

If the heir's assets are located outside of Greece, foreign law, i.e. the law of the country where the property is located, is usually applied in order to legally transfer the inherited assets to the heirs. Once this process is completed, the Greek resident will receive his/her share of the foreign inheritance, whether it is movable property and money or ownership rights to immovable property located in the foreign country.

The question that concerns many Greek tax residents who inherit foreign assets is whether they need to declare their share of the inheritance to the Greek tax authority and whether they need to pay inheritance tax to the state.

The main law governing this situation is the Code of Inheritance, Gifts and Gifts from Parents in Greece. From the combined application mainly of Articles 3 and 25, we conclude that a Greek taxpayer (i.e.

This means that if you are a tax resident of Greece and you inherit immovable property (plots, buildings, apartments, houses, etc.) located outside Greece, you do not need to file a Greek inheritance tax return because you do not have to pay Greek inheritance tax for inherited immovable property abroad.

However, you should consult with an accountant/tax advisor in Greece as to how you will declare the foreignreal estate property you inherited in your tax returns in Greece.

To put it another way, if the foreign inheritance you inherit consists of movable property and especially cash (money in a foreign bank account), it is very important to make the distinction whether or not the deceased was a tax resident of Greece for the last ten years before his death.

If the deceased, who left a balance in bank accounts in a foreign bank, was a foreign tax resident and not a Greek tax resident, for at least ten years or more before his death, the heir who is a Greek tax resident does not have to file an inheritance tax return in Greece, because the heir does not have to pay inheritance tax, regardless of the amount he received from abroad.

When the amount of the inherited share is transferred from the foreign bank account to the Greek bank account of the Greek tax resident heir, the Greek bank will know the origin of the money. The heir, who is a Greek resident, will provide the bank with copies of the main documents of the foreign inheritance, confirming the value of the inheritance and the value of the share that the heir received in Greece.

In case the deceased was a Greek tax resident for the last year or more, the Greek tax resident inheriting the foreign movable property must file an inheritance tax return with the Greek tax authority and is subject to inheritance tax, depending on the rates and categories of relatives.

A simple example: a child or spouse residing in Greece who inherits up to €150,000 each in a foreign bank account from a deceased person who was a Greek tax resident must file an inheritance tax return, but will not pay inheritance tax if they do not inherit anything else from that deceased person or if their joint share of Greek and foreign assets does not exceed €150,000. If the heir is a relative of the deceased but not a child or spouse, the exemption thresholds are lower than €150,000.

Needless to say, the above information is general. A professional should be consulted for precise advice on each individual case, as each case has its own particularities.