Discussions

I am currently going through one of the most frustrating experiences of my life. I am dealing with a serious legal issue and feel that my lawyer has possibly been paid off.  Moreover, the lawyer has all my personal documents.I have made numerous attempts to message and call - I am just being ignored.Has anybody had such an experience? Is there anything I can do to at least get my documents back. Is there an organization that can help me? A bbar association?Any advice is truly appreciated.

We are in Canada. My (greek parents)mom inherited a condo in Greece from my deceased father. She has AZ & I am her legal guardian and have legal authority to sell on her behalf. If she passes away before the condo will go to myslef and two siblings. One sibling doesn't want to be involved and is giving me his share. The other sibling doesn't want to pay anything but prefers not to sell. I can't afford paying as I am already caring for my mom.  The condo needs extensive repairs, taxes, etc that I can't pay. Want to sell to other family members who will renovate, rent out and give mom portion of rent for her care..   Is there a lawyer who can help me with the paper work that I know is complicated in Greece. Any thoughts on this...help!! 

Wonder if anyone has any advise   My mother, based in the UK, a greek expat, has a savings account in greece, and needs now to withdraw the money. I understand that they might be a 'block' to transfering money out of the uk ?? She has family in Greece that could use her card to start withdrwing money, but would this help? how then though would the money be sent to the UK?      

My very aged dad needs an AMKA and AFM to unblock his Greek pension. He is now very infirm and can't travel so I'm planning to do this on his behalf. I gather I need to provide an "official statement of Law 1599/1986" declaring I represent him but I have no idea what this looks like or where I can get one. I'm based in the UK and would prefer if I could sort this out in a single visit, and soon. Grateful for any pointers.

Hello Looking for info in what is required to get the a VAT for a non resident thank you

I have a son who is married to a Greek women. He currently works in the UK, he is thinking of running a triclye-cafe obviously selling coffee. What scares the living daylights out of him is how much NI contributions (EKA etc) is he likely to pay? his turnover is only likely to be under a thousand Euros each month. Please, please don't forward links to solicitors, accountants in Greece. Have you any personal advice from your own experience. Would he need a street traders license, if so what kind of work insurance would he need to pay, and how much. I know this type of license would be issued by Athens, the question has to do with how much insurance is he likely to pay each month. Yes I know Greece is in a state of flux at the mo, and I know there are planned changes to the law.  A guy selling coffee from a byclye what type of work insurance would he need and how much aproxiamately would he need to pay every month. Please again refrain from sending links to Greek professiionals.     Many thanks. Clive.

I have recently bought a property in Greece as a second home. Can anyone advise if I need to set up a will in Greece for its disposal when I die, or can it be covered in my UK document? Many thanks P McColl

Hi everyone,My partner and I have just moved to Greece and are looking for help on how to set ourselves up in terms of tax, company, self employed, etc But it is different for each of us but we both have AFM / tax numbers.1) Me: We live in Greece, but I am working for a UK based company and my role is based in the UK. My manager has simply allowed me to work from home which now happens to be in Greece. The work I do is all for the UK and no services or products or anything is connected to Greece.My employer pays me into my UK bank account and deducts the tax and National Insurance (Social security/health). From their point of view nothing has changed and HR won't do anything differently.So if I am living in Greece I need to pay Greek tax. But how do I do this without paying twice? My employer won't fill out any forms so it needs to be something I can do.Is it possible to pay UK taxes and GR taxes and then claim back from UK once I've proved that I've paid taxes in GR too?2) Partner: My partner is going to be working as a photographer. The money that he will make will not be too much for the first few years. He will be making about 15000 EUR per year and about 10000 EUR profit.Now, is there such a thing as a freelancer in Greece? What tax does he need to pay?What about health insurance? I've heard this is about 500 EUR every 2 months which is a lot when he makes so little.Or should he setup a business? Could he set up a UK company and pay himself a small salary every month?Thanks for all your help 

hello   is it possible for a uk citizen to move to greece and to immediately start claiming benefits? 

Has anyone applied for a Certificate of Registration / Residence Certificate (Βεβα?ωση Eγγραφ?ς Πολιτ?ν Ευρωπα?κ?ς ?νωσης) recently? My husband needs to get this certificate in order to be able to work, but we're not sure where to go to get it? Help please!

Hello, I am a self-employed UK national. I have friends in Greece and visit frequently. My line of work allows me to work on projects away from home for long periods, so I am able to spend weeks at a time in Greece (months, if I wished) whilst continuing to work. Since I was visiting so often I decided to take advantage of the cheap rental prices in Athens and rent out a small apartment to use on my many visits. Unfortunately, I didn't research this very much - I assumed that as a UK National/EU citizen, I would be able to do this without any real fanfare. The landlord asked me for my tax reference number but I explained that my income and taxes were dealt with in the UK and that seemed to put the question off. But then I tried to get an internet connection/phone connected in the new apartment and cannot seem to do so without a tax number - and getting a tax number seems to mean I will have to do tax returns in Greece and probably employing a Greek accountant. Is this really necessary? I will not be earning money within Greece. I will not be doing anything but spending money in Greece. My accounts and business are all managed in the UK. Further to this, it also seems that I may have to get a residence permit - although I am not sure if I do or not, given that I am not living / working in Greece full time and simply rent an apartment for convenience. I have looked at articles, etc on Tax Numbers, Residency Permits etc but they do not specifically deal with my situation so I was hoping someone here might shed some light on this matter for me.   many thanks.

Good afternoon, I wanted to know what the average square metre price was here in Athens centre please?

I have a rather complicated fiscal and residential situation and I would like to clear things up. Can  anyone recommend an English speaking tax specilaist here please?

Hi , hoping someone local to Tolo could répond to this .... Researching for cheap est solution to healthcare insu rance for ex pats to be who are just a year short of receiving state pension .... So complicated hope someone out there can help 

Hi, I'm looking for an investment / Business opportunity in Greece so I can come and live there. The amount I have is at least 50,000 Euro. Any Tips? Thank you.

My partner and I are planning to move permanently to Greece this year and live in or around Kalamata. We have two children who will be going to a Greek school. Our only income is a Local Government Pension and I am wanting to know about the taxation arrangements. We will have assets in the UK following the sale of our house and I fully understand that any interest on that money will be taxed by the Greek government and have no issues with that. I will also be eligible for state pension in 4 years time, that too will be subject to Greek tax again no problem. I am interested maily in whether or not I will be taxed on my Local Government pension which will be taxed in the UK as a Government pension, will this also be subject to some taxation in Greece ? We plan to rent initially and not buy until we are sure where we want to live but plan to take up residency in Greece full time. I should also like to know any contact details for an accountant in the Kalamata area and what the likely charges would be to assist in filing tax returns. Any other help with this or matters of health insurance and moving would be greatly appreciated. I do have knowledge of Greek language and customs but will need assistance with technical issues like Tax returns etc. Many thanks in advance, Rob

I am not living in Greece any more but own a small plot  (700 sq m) of  undeveloped land. There is nothing there but bush and trees.  I have just received a notice for property tax  (to be paid before end of August) based on a valuation of  euros 244,000 which is astronomically high--I would be lucky to get a third of that if saleable at all.  How can I challenge a valuation?  Is there a number for non-residents?  Anybody else having problems with fantasy valuations?  Nicole

I live in Spain and the pensioners here are making an effort to change the chancellor's mind about the Winter Fuel Allowance. I have friends in other European countries who will also be effected by this and I feel that if we all pull together, the government will realise that we pensioners are not apathetic and that we are a force to be reckoned with. The British Government is going to stop winter fuel payments to people who live in warmer climates. In order to get these changes through  they rely on the apathy of us pensioners. They expect us to accept it saying, "well what can I do?" I believe that we can do a great deal but only if we do it together. There is a petition on the Brithish Government website, you can search for the winter fuel allowance petition on,  http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/ if 100,000 people sign it, there is a good chance that it will be discussed again in parliament. Another thing we can do is to bombard the chancellor with questions via public.enquiries@hmtreasury.gov.uk which should make them realise that we will not be ignored. Let us Make a stand on this....... The usually meek and mild F. W.

I heard today that Cyprus may be considering exiting the Euro. Would that have any knock-on implications for us here in Greece?

Hi, I wonder if someone would be able to help me please. I am a UK citizen and my wife is Latin American and we are hoping to start planning to move to one of the Greek Islands, most likely Santorini or Corfu. I have been contacting the Greek Embassy here and the UK Embassy in Greece but have not been getting any answers or replies and its been a long time I've been trying to contact them. I need to know financially what is required of us to gain residency there e.g. £24,000 in our bank account? more or less? I am aware we will need to speak Greek but do they require its fluent or basic Greek? And anything else that anyone thinks we need to know. I have read the page on here abuot it so its just what I have wrote above that I really need to know. Thank you all for your time and attention, Kind regards, George Panayi