Greece extends the suspension of VAT on new buildings to 31 December 2025

What changed in detail

Law 5162/2024 was published in ΦΕΚ Α΄ 198 of 5 December 2024. Its Article 89 amends paragraphs 1 and 2 of Article 70 of the VAT Code (Law 5144/2024), the transitional provision on new buildings.

• In paragraph 1, “until 31.12.2024” becomes “until 31.12.2025”. On the application of a taxable builder of buildings for sale, VAT on the properties in Article 8(1) and (2)(a) of the Code (new buildings with their land, and transfers of bare ownership, easements or usufruct over them) is suspended until 31 December 2025, and property transfer tax is charged instead.
• The suspension covers all of the builder’s unsold properties. The builder files a list of the unsold properties and the tax attributable to each with the application.
• Where the builder works under an antiparochi (land-for-flats) arrangement, the construction contract with the landowner is not subject to VAT while the builder is under the suspension.
• In paragraph 2, suspensions already granted and valid to 31 December 2024 are extended to 31 December 2025.

Article 89 is not among the provisions given a later start date, so it applied from publication on 5 December 2024.

What it means

This extension is spent: its end date, 31 December 2025, has passed. It was followed by Law 5246/2025, art. 12, which moved the date to 31 December 2026 from 1 January 2026, so builders with a suspension had no gap between the two.

The suspension is not automatic despite the word “compulsorily” in the text: it applies only once a builder applies, and then to all of its unsold stock rather than to selected units. A builder that takes it charges property transfer tax on its sales instead of VAT, so the VAT position on its construction costs needs to be settled before it applies; the list of unsold properties filed with the application carries the tax amount to be settled for each.