Law 5313/2026: The New Framework for Foreign Investment Funds, Management Companies and Carried Interest 

Law 5313/2026 (Government Gazette Series I No. 102/25.06.2026), enacted on 24 June 2026, establishes a clear framework for the activity of foreign investment funds and the relocation of management companies to Greece. The core of the reform sits in Articles 95-97, complemented by two further provisions that complete the picture: Article 8(11) (deductibility of carried interest as a business expense) and Article 94 (simplification of the HNWI and foreign-pensioner regimes). Article 98, although numerically adjacent, concerns a matter entirely unrelated to investment funds. 

Article 95: A New General Exclusion from Permanent Establishment 

Article 95 amends subparagraph (a) of paragraph 4 of Article 6 of the Greek Income Tax Code (“GITC”) — the provision listing activities that do not constitute a permanent establishment (“PE”). Alongside the existing exclusion for the storage, display and delivery of goods, the law now adds the use of a facility “solely for the purpose of regulatory compliance and supervision by competent authorities.” 

This is a general provision — it applies to any business, not only investment structures — but its practical weight is clearly greatest for managers and funds that maintain an office in Greece purely for regulatory-compliance purposes, without carrying on their core business there. It applies as from the 2026 tax year onwards (Article 137(9)). 

Article 96 and Article 8(11): The New Carried Interest Regime 

Article 96 inserts a second sentence into paragraph 9 of Article 42 GITC: carried interest paid under a contractual entitlement to employees of Greek legal entities — which provide services to affiliated (within the meaning of Article 2(g) GITC) managers of Alternative Investment Funds (“AIFs”), whether established in the EU and subject to the AIFMD (Directive 2011/61/EU) or equivalent managers established in third countries, subject to the conditions discussed below in relation to Article 97 — is now taxed as capital gain rather than as employment income. 

The amended Article 43 GITC sets the general capital-gains rate at 15%, while introducing a special 5% rate for carried interest, provided that, cumulatively: 

• the individual enters into an employment relationship with the Greek legal entity and, on that basis, transfers their tax residence to Greece under the Article 5C GITC regime; and 

• the Greek legal entity incurs expenses in Greece of at least €3,000,000 per tax year (pro-rated if the relevant period within the year is shorter than 12 months). 

The favourable rate applies for a total of 7 tax years from the year in which the Article 5C application is submitted, and any portion of the remuneration attributable to a period before the transfer of tax residence and the commencement of the employment relationship is not taxed in Greece at all. These provisions apply for tax years from 1 January 2026. 

The deductibility of carried interest as a business expense is not established by Article 96 itself, but by a separate provision — Article 8(11), which adds paragraph 11 to Article 47 GITC: legal entities and other entities within the meaning of Article 45 GITC may deduct the carried interest they pay to their employees, provided that an equal amount has been recognised as income from business activity. Article 96 merely sets the effective date of that deduction (expenses from 1 January 2026 onwards). Note that paragraph 10 of the same Article 8 addresses an entirely different matter — tax incentives for the “Build to Rent” programme — and has no connection to carried interest. 

Article 97: Tax Treatment of AIFs and a “Safe Harbour” — With a Distinction Between Funds and Managers 

Article 97 fully replaces Article 56 of Law 4706/2020 and is the densest provision in the package. 

Who falls outside Greek income tax. The law confirms that EU AIFs (AIFMD) remain subject to the provisions of Article 7 of Law 2992/2002 that keep them outside the scope of income tax. The same treatment is now expressly extended to equivalent third-country investment vehicles, subject to two conditions: their registered seat must not be located in a “non-cooperative jurisdiction within the meaning of Article 65 of the Greek Income Tax Code” — not merely outside an EU list, but by express reference to Article 65 GITC — and they must be supervised, directly or through their manager, by an authority accredited with IOSCO. 

The “safe harbour” for funds, entities and investors. Paragraph 2 defines, in narrow and explicit terms, which activities are protected: “management, the delegation of management or part thereof, and portfolio management, and only these” — not “investment activities” in general — do not constitute the exercise of place of effective management in Greece within the meaning of Article 4(4) GITC, and therefore do not, by themselves, trigger Greek tax residence. This protection covers the AIFs themselves (EU and third-country, under the same non-cooperative-jurisdiction/IOSCO conditions), the foreign legal persons and entities in which those funds hold, directly or indirectly, a participation of at least 95% (holding/investment vehicles), and their unitholders. Paragraph 3 further excludes the application of the tax-residence presumptions of Article 4(3)-(4) GITC specifically in respect of their activities as AIFs. Paragraph 4 adds that the provision of these services by Greek legal entities does not, by itself, constitute a permanent establishment (Article 6 GITC) for the AIFs, their entities, or their unitholders. 

Separate protection for managers. Paragraph 5 is a distinct provision with a different set of beneficiaries: it provides that portfolio-management and advisory services rendered by Greek legal entities, in the ordinary course of their business, to the AIF managers themselves (EU managers or equivalent third-country managers, under the same conditions) do not constitute a permanent establishment for those managers. In other words, the article contains two independent layers of protection: one shields the fund, its entities and its investors from the risk of tax residence/PE; the other, separately, shields the managers themselves from PE risk when they receive services from a Greek provider. 

Two-speed entry into force. The second sentence of paragraph 1 (the extension of the income-tax exclusion to third countries) applies for tax years from 1 January 2025. The third sentence of paragraph 1 and paragraphs 2 to 5 (place of effective management, PE protection for funds/entities/investors, PE protection for managers) apply for tax years from 1 January 2026. 

Article 98: Unrelated to the Fund Package 

Despite its numerical proximity, Article 98 has no connection to investment funds. It amends the annual turnover threshold (€2,000,000) for the optional VAT cash-accounting regime, by reference to the turnover definition in Article 44(2) of the VAT Code. This is a purely technical adjustment for small businesses, unrelated to the rest of the package. 

Article 94: Simplification for HNWIs and Foreign Pensioners 

Article 94 amends Articles 5A (high-net-worth individuals) and 5B (foreign pensioners) GITC, introducing three procedural changes common to both regimes: 

• The single application deadline of 31 March is removed from the statute; the deadline will instead be set by decision of the Governor of the Independent Authority for Public Revenue (“AADE”). 

• Payment of the flat-rate tax (€100,000 for HNWIs; 7% on foreign-source income for pensioners) is moved from the last business day of July to the last business day of December. 

• The deadline by which the Tax Administration was required to approve or reject the application (by the end of June) is likewise removed from the statute and delegated to an AADE regulatory decision — this is not an abolition of the taxpayer’s payment deadline, but a delegation of the administrative timeline out of the primary legislation. 

Article 94 is not among the exceptions listed in Article 137, and therefore takes effect under the general rule of paragraph 1 — from the publication of the law, i.e. from 25 June 2026. 

Why It Matters 

Taken together, Articles 95-97 remove the principal institutional obstacle that kept international investment funds and managers away from Greece: the risk of being inadvertently drawn into Greek tax jurisdiction through the presence of management or compliance personnel. Combined with the more favourable carried interest regime (Articles 96 and 8(11)) and the simplification of the HNWI/pensioner regimes (Article 94), the reform targets both the capital itself and the professionals who manage it. 

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Ν. 5313/2026: Το πλαίσιο για αλλοδαπά επενδυτικά κεφάλαια, εταιρείες διαχείρισης και carried interest