How to register as a freelancer (self-employed) in Greece (2026)

If you are searching for how to register as a freelancer in Greece, the structure is clear once you know the bodies involved: you register with the tax authority, declare what you do, sign up for social security, and start invoicing through a national e-bookkeeping platform. There is no company to incorporate and no share capital. This is the plain-English guide to the structure — the steps, the acronyms, and when you outgrow it.

”Self-employed” in Greece: the freelancer’s default

The Greek equivalent of setting up alone as a freelancer is the ελεύθερος επαγγελματίας (self-employed person / sole practitioner). Its defining features are the familiar ones across Europe:

• You are the business. No separate legal person, no share capital, minimal formation paperwork.
• Profit is your personal income, taxed under your personal return.
• Personal liability — there is no corporate veil between you and the business debts.
• Light accounting compared with running a company, though Greece layers on its own digital obligations.

That maps directly onto the sole trader / freelancer column in the cross-country picture in Sole trader vs OÜ vs freelance. It is the route most Greek solopreneurs start with, because the friction to begin is low.

Step one: an AFM and credentials with AADE

Everything in the Greek system hangs off your AFM (Αριθμός Φορολογικού Μητρώου) — your tax registration number. If you do not already have one, you obtain it from the Greek tax authority, AADE (the Independent Authority for Public Revenue). Alongside the AFM you set up online credentials for AADE’s services, since most filing happens digitally.

The AFM is the number AADE uses for everything you submit and the one that appears on your invoices. Getting it (and your login) is the practical prerequisite for every step that follows.

Step two: the start of activity and your KAD codes

This is the step that actually makes you self-employed. You file a start of activity (έναρξη εργασιών / έναρξη δραστηριότητας) with AADE — at the tax office (DOY) or online — declaring the activity codes (KAD) that describe what you do.

A KAD (Κωδικός Αριθμός Δραστηριότητας) is an activity code from the national classification. You declare one or more, and they define the scope of your work for tax and other purposes. Choose the KAD that genuinely matches what you do; you can usually add or change codes later as your work evolves, but getting the primary one right from the start avoids friction.

There is no minimum capital and the registration itself is inexpensive — the cost of being self-employed in Greece is the ongoing obligations, not the setup.

Step three: registering with EFKA for social security

Self-employment in Greece comes with social-security contributions, and these are not an afterthought — for many solos they are a significant part of the monthly cost. You register with EFKA, the unified social-security fund, which covers pension, health and related benefits.

Greece runs a system of contribution classes (categories) for the self-employed, with minimum-contribution rules, so your bill is not simply a flat percentage of profit. That makes EFKA something to understand and budget for deliberately rather than estimate loosely.

Step four: VAT (FPA), where it applies

Most professional activity in Greece is subject to VAT — FPA (ΦΠΑ, Φόρος Προστιθέμενης Αξίας) — and you typically register for it as part of your start of activity. Once registered, you charge VAT on your invoices, file periodic VAT returns and reclaim VAT on your business costs.

Some activities are exempt, and there may be a special small-business scheme for low-turnover operators, so confirm whether your specific KAD is VAT-liable and which rules apply. As ever, verify the current VAT rules and any thresholds with AADE rather than quoting a figure from memory. Once VAT is in play, the cross-border mechanics — and OSS for digital sales across the EU — follow the same EU pattern everywhere.

Step five: invoicing through myDATA

Here is the Greece-specific piece every new freelancer must know. Greece runs myDATA (my Digital Accounting and Tax Application), AADE’s e-bookkeeping platform, through which businesses transmit their invoices and accounting data. In practice your invoicing software or accountant reports your issued documents to myDATA, so the platform holds a live picture of your income and expenses.

This means invoicing in Greece is not a private spreadsheet exercise — your documents flow to AADE. Choosing invoicing tooling that integrates cleanly with myDATA from your first invoice is what keeps the whole obligation painless rather than a scramble. Sound banking helps here too — keeping business money separate from day one — which is covered in Banking for freelancers in Europe.

Keeping records

Whatever your turnover, you are required to keep proper records — invoices issued, expenses, receipts, bank statements — for the period the authorities require. With myDATA reporting and periodic VAT returns, clean records are not optional housekeeping; they are what your filings are built on, and what you need if AADE ever queries a return. Clean records from the first invoice are the cheapest insurance a freelancer buys.

When a company makes sense

Staying self-employed is the right call while income is modest and risk is low. You move to a company when you need limited liability, or when the tax and structure of a company start to favour you over personal income tax:

• A limited-liability company is a separate legal person from you, with its own filing obligations and its own corporate-tax regime. Your personal assets sit behind the corporate veil, and how you pay yourself becomes a deliberate decision.

Freelancers typically incorporate once profit is high and steady, liability exposure is real, or larger clients expect a company. It brings ongoing company accounting and more admin, so model the total cost — including an accountant — before switching. The solo-vs-company trade-offs are laid out in Sole trader vs OÜ vs freelance.

Where Greece sits in the EU picture

The Greek setup — an ελεύθερος επαγγελματίας registered with AADE, declaring KAD codes, paying EFKA contributions, charging VAT where it applies, and reporting through myDATA — is its own flavour of the same EU pattern: the lightest possible self-employed route, profit taxed close to you personally, and a company waiting when scale or liability demands it. The full sequence — legal setup, banking, VAT, presence and tools — is in How to start & run a one-person business in Europe. Not sure which country structure fits you? The free EU setup finder points you to the right route.

The takeaway

• Get your AFM and AADE credentials first — every later step hangs off your tax number.
• File the start of activity and declare your KAD codes — that, not a form labelled “freelancer,” is how you “become” self-employed.
• Register with EFKA and budget for its contribution classes and minimums — verify the current figures.
• Handle VAT (FPA) where your activity is liable, and report through myDATA from your first invoice — verify the current VAT rules with AADE.
• Step up to a company for limited liability once income, scale or risk justifies the heavier admin.

Pick the smallest structure that fits the business as it actually is — and add company machinery only when it earns its keep. The recurring admin is covered across the EU admin guide.

Part of the complete EU admin guide for solopreneurs.