Independent Contracting in Greece

There is no statutory maximum on how long a contractor relationship can run. Duration, however, matters if a service or project agreement runs for over nine months and is in fact concealing employment work done exclusively for the same company. That said, a long contract does not become employment on its own, but a long single-client relationship is likely to trigger a presumption that it may be.

An employer cannot work with an individual on a continuous role through multiple service contracts instead of employing them. Greece treats successive fixed-term arrangements as indefinite employment once they exceed three years in total, or after more than three renewals within three years, and the substance tests apply throughout.

“Contractor” is not a single status in Greece. It describes how an individual has registered to invoice a company, and individuals have a number of options here. Each option changes the tax treatment significantly. Most people work either as a sole trader, the classic freelancer arrangement, or through a company they own. The table below sets out the realistic options.

The most important distinction is between the sole proprietor and all the other options. Only the sole proprietor is taxed on the personal scale, and only they are exposed to the two freelancer-specific tax rules described below. Every company form is a separate legal entity taxed at the flat corporate rate, outside those rules. So the tax outcome genuinely depends on how the contractor is set up.

Regardless of the structure, the misclassification risk does not disappear. Putting a company in the middle does not turn an employee-in-substance into a contractor, and Greek authorities have flagged incorporating purely to sidestep the freelancer tax rules as something they will look through.

An employee works under a contract of service and holds the full set of statutory employment rights. A contractor supplies their services under a contract for services and holds none of them. The line between the two is not drawn by the agreement itself. Greek courts, the Labour Inspectorate and the social security fund (e-EFKA) all read the reality of the working relationship, and the label loses whenever it conflicts with the facts.

Greek courts look for personal dependence. The central question is whether the company has the right to direct how, where, and when the work is done, and to supervise it. If there is any form of direction and supervision, the relationship points to employment.

Factors that push towards employee status include instances where the individual:

• Works personally and cannot send a substitute
• Works exclusively or mainly for one company
• Follows your instructions on how, when, and where the work is done
• Works set hours or a set number of hours
• Is integrated into your team and uses your tools and systems
• Carries no real financial risk and no investment in their own business
• Is paid a fixed, regular amount rather than per project or result

Once a misclassification case is made, the burden is on the company to prove genuine independence.

Misclassification in Greece is expensive, and the exposure reaches back in time. Undeclared work carries a fine of € 10,500 per worker, escalating for repeat offences, and triggers retroactive social insurance registration. If a contractor is reclassified as an employee, the full set of employment rights attaches to the relationship as if it had been employment from the start, which means back taxes and social contributions, paid leave, notice, severance and the 14-payment salary structure. Social security contributions can be reclaimed years after the fact, with the clock running from when the work was done rather than from when it is discovered. Related breaches, such as below-minimum pay or permit issues for non-EU nationals, carry their own separate fines.

Greek Ministry of Economy and Finance, income taxation guide