According to the Article 14 'Taxation of dividends and profits distributed by Legal Persons' Act 3943, as published in the Official Gazette of the Greek Republic on March 31, 2011, profits distributed by Greek resident companies in the form of fees to members of the board, managers and staff except salary and dividends to physical or legal persons, whether they are paid for in cash or shares, are subject to a withholding tax rate of twenty five percent (25%).

The provisions of this section do not apply, if the dividends are paid to a company in another member–state of the European Union, which is a shareholder of the Greek resident company paying the dividends, provided that certain minimum conditions are met. This exception is consistent with the European Parent-Subsidiary Directive (EU Parent Subsidiary Directive), which provides that there should be no withholding taxes on dividends paid from a subsidiary to a shareholder company resident in a different member - state of the European Union, which owns more than 10% of the subsidiary’s shares.

For questions, comments and selection of topics that might interest you please contact the author of the column:

Charilaos Hadjiioannou, BSc, ACA