Greece extends tax return deadline to 24 July 2026 after accountants plead for more time

Announcement of a 9-day extension

On 10 July the Independent Authority for Public Revenue (AADĒ) confirmed it had moved the filing deadline for 2025 income tax returns of individuals and legal entities. The new deadline is Friday 24 July 2026 at 23:59:59. The original cutoff was 15 July. Governor Giorgos Pitsilis signed the decision after the Economic Chamber of Greece (OEE), the Panhellenic Federation of Tax Professionals (POFEE) and several regional unions asked for more time.

For the facilitation of taxpayers and with the aim of the smooth completion of the tax declaration submission process, taking into account the relevant requests submitted by the Economic Chamber of Greece, POFEE and other bodies, by decision of the Governor of AADĒ, Giorgos Pitsilis, the deadline for submission of income tax declarations of individuals and legal entities for tax year 2025 is moved to Friday 24 July 2026 and time 23:59:59.

The Ministry of National Economy and Finance, which oversees AADĒ, had been fielding requests from accountants' associations across the country. Groups in Attica, Thessaloniki, Imathia, Epirus, Aitoloakarnania and Thrace all wrote to the finance team, many asking for a longer extension until 30 July. The ministry gave nine extra days instead.

How many returns are already in

As of the announcement, nearly 6,200,000 initial income tax declarations from individuals had been submitted, along with about 300,000 from legal entities. The tax administration judged the remaining time sufficient for the process to wrap up smoothly.

Payment schedule and refunds

The first instalment of income tax is due by 31 July 2026. That applies whether the taxpayer pays in a single lump sum (which still carries the statutory discount) or in eight monthly instalments. The extension also stretches the window for filing amended returns without a penalty; once an amended return is filed, a fresh assessment is carried out and the tax is recalculated on the final figures. Tax refunds continue to be processed quickly. For filers without overdue debts or other pending issues, the money is usually credited within a few days of the submission; in other cases an automatic offset against debts to the State is applied first.

Why accountants clamoured for extra days

The bodies that petitioned the ministry flagged a cluster of technical and legislative obstructions. Data integration in the myDATA platform suffered delays of up to 48 hours, slowing down the pre-filling of the E3 form. The EFKA e-applications for non-salaried workers were unavailable from 7 to 13 July. Late circulars and delayed release of tax forms forced software houses to spend weeks adapting their packages, so accounting offices could only really start filing about twenty days after the official launch. Legislative changes mid-period added to the burden: two months into the submission window the government cut the minimum presumptive income for professional street-market sellers by 30%, and the IT systems needed to digest that change.

What comes after the deadline

Once the filing window closes, AADĒ will begin a round of cross-checks on specific tax codes. The authority has not detailed which codes will be scrutinised, but the process is a standard follow-up after the submission season ends.