Opening a company in Greece, expanding into the Greek market, or already trading here and looking for an accountant who works in English — this page sets out what is involved and where we can take the work off your desk.
We are a chartered accountancy and tax practice in Athens, advising businesses in Greece since 2008. We work with Greek small and medium-sized enterprises and with international owners and companies operating in Greece.
To talk it through, call +30 210 8239877. First conversation is a free 15-minute discovery call.
Business accounting and tax advisory for companies
Our team offers business accounting and tax advisory services to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The accounting needs of your business will vary with its size and requirements, but every business needs accurate, timely and dependable financial information to make informed decisions.
Beyond meeting statutory requirements, we use the annual cycle as an opportunity to look at your financial and management systems. We discuss the numbers with you, identify challenges and opportunities, and help implement the solutions we agree.
In practice that means:
- Monthly or quarterly bookkeeping and management accounts
- VAT returns and other periodic tax filings
- Payroll and employer obligations
- Annual financial statements and the corporate income tax return
- Tax planning across the year rather than in the last week of it
Setting up a business in Greece
Company formation in Greece is a sequence of registrations rather than a single act. The usual path is:
- 1. Choose the legal form. The common options are the sole trader (ατομική επιχείρηση), the general or limited partnership (Ο.Ε. / Ε.Ε.), the private company (Ι.Κ.Ε.), the limited liability company (Ε.Π.Ε.) and the société anonyme (Α.Ε.). The right one depends on liability, number of shareholders, capital and how you intend to draw income.
- 2. Obtain a Greek tax number (AFM) for every founder, shareholder and director, including those resident abroad. This is normally the first blocker for international clients and we handle it on your behalf.
- 3. Prepare and file the incorporation documents — the statutes or articles of association, filed through the electronic one-stop shop.
- 4. Register with GEMI, the General Commercial Registry, which issues the company's registration number.
- 5. Register the company with the tax authority (AADE) for corporate income tax and, where applicable, for VAT.
- 6. Register with e-EFKA for social security — for the owners or managers as well as for any employees.
- 7. Join the relevant Chamber of Commerce.
- 8. Open a Greek business bank account.
- 9. Set up bookkeeping and myDATA, the tax authority's platform to which invoicing and accounting data must be transmitted.
We can act for you at each of these steps, including where you are not yet in Greece.
There is a Greek-language page covering company formation in more detail at /enarxi-epicheirisis-stin-ellada/ (in Greek), and one on obtaining a tax number at /ekdosi-afm/ (in Greek).
Registering for tax and VAT
Once the company exists it has obligations from day one. Registration with AADE establishes the company's tax profile: its activity codes, its VAT status, its filing frequency and the credentials used to file.
Getting the activity codes right at registration matters more than it looks — they determine VAT treatment and which returns you are expected to file. We would rather set them correctly at the start than correct them later.
Ongoing compliance: bookkeeping, payroll and reporting
Greek compliance runs on a fixed calendar of filings. What a business typically carries:
- Books and records kept to the standard required for its category
- myDATA transmission of invoicing and accounting data
- VAT returns at the frequency set on registration
- Payroll, employment contract filings and e-EFKA contributions
- Withholding taxes on salaries and on certain payments to third parties
- Annual financial statements, published where the legal form requires it
- The corporate income tax return
We take on as much or as little of this as you want, from full outsourced bookkeeping to a review of what your in-house team produces.
Foreign companies operating in Greece
If you already have a company abroad, you have a structural decision before an accounting one: a Greek subsidiary, a branch of the foreign company, or activity that may create a permanent establishment in Greece without you intending it.
The choice affects where profits are taxed, what you file in Greece, how you are treated under the relevant double taxation treaty, and what your Greek obligations look like on an ongoing basis. We advise on the options and then run whichever structure you choose.
Audit, assurance and corporate advisory
Alongside compliance we support businesses on audit and assurance, corporate structuring, and transactions — including growth-stage funding, shareholder changes and acquisitions.
Legal and notarial support
Legal work — company statutes, commercial contracts, property and litigation — is delivered by our partner law firm, Expat Law (expatlaw.gr). We have no in-house legal department, and we say so plainly: you get a specialist lawyer rather than an accountant giving legal opinions. We coordinate the two sides so you are not managing them separately.
Moving to Greece yourself?
If you are relocating to Greece as well as trading here, there are personal tax regimes worth knowing about before you arrive — including Article 5C, a partial income tax exemption for individuals who transfer their tax residence to Greece for salaried employment or business activity here. That is a personal matter rather than a company one, so it lives on our Expats in Greece page, with a Greek-language version at /arthro-5g-epanapatrismos/.
How we work
We start with a free 15-minute discovery call. You tell us what you are trying to do; we tell you what it involves, what we would handle, and what it would cost. No obligation, and no charge for that first conversation.
There is no online booking system — we arrange the call by phone or email so that a person, not a calendar, matches you to the right member of the team.
Talk to us
Phone: +30 210 8239877 — the quickest way to reach us.
WhatsApp / Viber: +30 690 7788191
Email: info@logistismou.gr
Our office is at Sepolion 44, 104 45 Athens (Attiki Square metro). Contact details and directions: /epikoinonia/ (in Greek).
Related: Expats in Greece · Expert Greek Tax Returns – E1, E2, E3