Issuance of TIN / VAT of a foreign legal entity in Greece: procedure and documents

1. Introduction

When a company established in another Member State of the EU or in a third country, carries out taxable transactions in Greece, for which, on one hand is not required to have a permanent establishment there, and on the other hand is obliged to pay Greek VAT, then the company must register in Greece for VAT purposes.

Furthermore, for taxable transactions carried out internally in Greece by a company established in another EU member state and have their tax residency in Greece, so long as there is no obligation for permanent establishment in Greece, the foreign legal entity can choose:

• to either receive Greek VAT / TIN and fulfill its own tax obligations regarding VAT, ie VAT returns, payment of the relevant VAT, etc.,
• or to receive TIN/ VAT after appointing a tax representative to act on behalf of the entity

In the latter case, the tax representative is not only a tax representative of Article 8 of the Tax Procedure Code, but is also responsible for the submission of the tax declarations and the payment of the due VAT, as he bears joint and several responsibilities for the payment of the obligations related to the VAT of the company.

2. Process and documents 

2.a. For the appointment of a tax representative:

First of all, it should be noted that the tax representative of the foreign person must be the only one in Greece and must be appointed  before the operations are performed. In that way, the foreign company acquires Greek TIN/ VAT, but through their tax representative.

Conditions for appointing a tax representative:

• The representative must be an individual or legal entity, subject to tax (trader in the case of an individual)
• must have their registered office or permanent establishment or residence in Greece
• in case of an individual, they must be fully capable of legal transactions, in case of a legal entity
• they must operate legally,
• The individual/entity must accept their appointment as representative
• Has not infringed the provisions provided in article 2 par. 3 of. b’ by the Ministerial Decisions (ΥΑ) 1111374/9160/2152/ΠΟΛ 1281 ΦΕΚ Β’ 700/1993.

Supporting documents of the tax representative that are usually provided:

1. power of attorney of the foreign legal entity, in which its legal representative must explicitly state that it appoints the individual / legal entity who is a resident in Greece as the sole tax representative of the company in Greece. This document must have an Apostille / consular visa and be officially translated into greek.
2. a solemn declaration of the representative that they accept their appointment, with authenticity of his signature;
3. a copy of the article of association of the foreign legal entity,
4. forms M3, M7 and M9. It should be noted that in the form M3 the activity codes of the foreign legal entities in Greece (KAD) must be filled in.
5. authorization of the tax representative, in case the above procedure will be performed by a third party.

It is noted that the foreign legal entity can recall the tax representative at any time and will subsequently fulfill its tax obligations, in terms of VAT. In this case the entity is obliged to send a relevant declaration to the Tax Office A’ (first) of Athens and the former tax representative is obliged to submit a declaration of cessation of work to their Tax Office.

2.b. Procedure for granting TIN/VAT directly to a foreign legal entity

• A declaration of VAT return / commencement of operations is submitted by e-mail to the Tax Office of Athens which is associated with AADE.
• After the verification of the data of the declaration with the data of VIES, a statement of commencement is registered in the TAXIS Register and a TIN is granted. The above are notified to the interested party by e-mail.
• Within a few days, the TIN/ VAT is sent electronically.
• The next step is for the interested party to register the company as a user of the electronic services (myTAXISnet).

Documents for receiving TIN/ VAT directly in the name of the company:

1. VAT return / commencement of operations, electronically completed
2. authorization from the foreign legal entity, with Apostille and official translation in Greek, in case the above procedure will be performed by a third party.