How much does e-EFKA take from my salary every month in Greece in 2026?

As of 1 January 2025 (carried forward unchanged into 2026), social security contributions amount to 13.37 percent at the level of the employee and 21.79 percent at the level of the employer, totalling 35.16 percent. For a worker on the minimum wage of €920 gross, that means €123.00 is deducted from your salary each month for e-EFKA. Your employer separately pays €200.47 on top of your gross salary directly to e-EFKA. The monthly social security contribution cap for the primary social security fund (EFKA) is set at €7,761.94 from 1 January 2026 — above that threshold, no further contributions are owed for that month.

What happens if my employer did not register me with EFKA on my first day?

Registering the employee with EFKA on or before their first day of work is mandatory, and late registration is an independent violation under Greek labour law. For you as the worker, an unregistered period means gaps in your insurance record — which directly affects your future pension calculation, your entitlement to sick pay from e-EFKA, and your unemployment benefit rights. You should check your insurance history on efka.gov.gr immediately and report any gap to SEPE at sepe.gr.

Am I entitled to a Christmas bonus in Greece and how much should it be?

Yes, absolutely — and this is not optional. Greek law mandates a Christmas bonus worth one full month's salary, an Easter bonus worth half a month's salary, and a summer holiday allowance worth half a month's salary. These additional salary instalments are legal obligations, not discretionary bonuses. Christmas and Easter bonuses, as well as the holiday allowance, are subject to insurance contributions. If your employer has withheld or reduced these payments without a legal basis, you can file a claim with SEPE.

What are the income tax rates for workers under 30 in Greece in 2026?

This is one of the biggest changes in 2026. Workers under 25 pay 0 percent income tax on their first €20,000 of annual income. Workers aged 26–30 pay only 9 percent on the €10,000–€20,000 bracket instead of 20 percent. These reductions were introduced by Law 5246/2025 and took effect from 1 January 2026. The Special Solidarity Contribution has also been abolished for private-sector income and pensions, lowering the overall burden compared with older tables. If you are under 30, check that your employer's payroll software is applying the correct reduced rates — many workers in this age bracket are still being taxed at the old, higher rates.

How can I check whether my EFKA contributions are being paid correctly?

Log into efka.gov.gr using your Taxisnet credentials and access your Ασφαλιστική Ιστορία (Insurance History). This shows every contribution period that has been recorded against your AMKA number. You should confirm e-EFKA registration and the Employer Registration Number, and verify your AMKA, work authority and pension status. If you find months where your employer paid no contributions or paid on a lower base than your actual salary, contact SEPE. Failures can lead to arrears, interest, corrected or rejected declarations, KEAO recovery measures, and loss of social security clearance. The sooner you catch it, the easier it is to resolve.

Greece 2026: The EFKA Social Security Trap That Catches Every New Worker

You started your new job, signed the contract, and assumed someone somewhere was taking care of the paperwork. Here is what most people never find out: failure to register employees with EFKA before their first day can attract heavy penalties — and the worker is almost always the last to know it happened. In Greece, the e-EFKA social security system is not complicated because it is poorly designed. It is complicated because no one ever explains it to you properly.

The Hidden Cost of Not Knowing How EFKA Works

Let's be blunt. Right now, if you are a new worker in Greece, there is a very good chance money is being taken from your payslip that you do not fully understand. And there is an equally good chance that some of your legal protections are not being applied correctly.

The Greek social security system operates on a compulsory, contributory basis and is primarily administered by the Unified Social Security Fund (e-EFKA), which covers the vast majority of employees in both the private and public sectors. Employers and employees are required to make mandatory social security contributions, calculated as a percentage of the employee's gross remuneration. That sounds simple enough. But the gaps between what the law says and what actually happens on thousands of Greek payslips are where workers lose real money.

The problem is not one big mistake. It is a series of smaller ones — late registration, incorrect contribution bases, missing AMKA numbers, and bonus months calculated on the wrong salary. Each error costs you. And because most workers never check, most errors go uncorrected for years.

If your employer has not registered you with e-EFKA properly, or is calculating your contributions on a lower base than your actual salary, every month that passes is a month of lost pension entitlement, lost healthcare coverage, and potentially lost unemployment benefit. That is not a theoretical risk. It is happening to workers across Athens, Thessaloniki, and beyond right now.

What the Law Actually Says

The Greek social security system is primarily administered by the Unified Social Security Fund (e-EFKA). The legal foundation for e-EFKA is Law 4387/2016, which unified a fragmented network of dozens of separate insurance funds into a single body. What this means for you as a worker is straightforward: every person working under a private-sector employment contract in Greece must be registered with e-EFKA and must have contributions paid on their behalf from day one of employment.

Greece requires the ERGANI notification to precede or coincide with the first day of work. An employer who begins a new hire's employment without an ERGANI record faces significant penalties. ERGANI is the Ministry of Labour's digital platform where your employment contract must be logged. If your employer skips this step — or does it a day late — that is already a violation. The consequences fall primarily on the employer, but as the worker, you are the one left with gaps in your social insurance record.

You need to confirm e-EFKA registration and the Employer Registration Number, and verify your AMKA (Social Security Number), work authority and pension status. Your AMKA is your social security identification number in Greece. Without it being correctly linked to your employer's e-EFKA account, your contributions may be logged against the wrong record — or not logged at all.

The Real Numbers for 2026

Not one is from memory.

Category	Figure	Source
Minimum gross monthly wage (white-collar)	€920 (effective 1 April 2026)	Ministerial Decision 8934/2026, FEK B' 1759
Minimum monthly wage on 12-payment basis	€1,073.33	Ministerial Decision 8934/2026
Minimum daily wage (blue-collar)	€41.09	Ministerial Decision 8934/2026
Employee e-EFKA contribution rate	13.37 percent of gross salary	e-EFKA / Ministry of Labour 2026
Employer e-EFKA contribution rate	21.79 percent of gross salary	e-EFKA / Ministry of Labour 2026
Total combined contribution rate	35.16 percent	e-EFKA 2026
Monthly e-EFKA contributions ceiling	€7,761.94 (from 1 January 2026)	PwC Tax Summaries / e-EFKA 2026
Income tax — first bracket (0–€10,000)	9 percent	Law 5246/2025, effective 1 January 2026
Income tax — second bracket (€10,000–€20,000)	20 percent	Law 5246/2025
Income tax — third bracket (€20,000–€30,000)	26 percent	Law 5246/2025
Income tax — fourth bracket (€30,000–€40,000)	34 percent	Law 5246/2025
Income tax — fifth bracket (€40,000–€60,000)	39 percent	Law 5246/2025
Income tax — top bracket (above €60,000)	44 percent	Law 5246/2025
Tax credit (no dependent children)	€777 (for income up to €12,000)	Ministry of Finance / OECD Taxing Wages 2026
Workers under 25 — income tax rate	0 percent on first €20,000	Law 5246/2025, effective 1 January 2026

The Ministerial Decision was published on 27 March 2026 in FEK B' 1759 and took effect on 1 April 2026, raising the gross statutory minimum monthly salary to €920 for white-collar employees and the gross minimum daily wage to €41.09 for blue-collar workers.

The standard headline package is 21.79 percent employer and 13.37 percent employee up to the 2026 monthly ceiling of €7,761.94. The employer total comprises main pension 13.33 percent, supplementary pension 3.00 percent, healthcare 4.05 percent, unemployment 1.20 percent, insolvency 0.15 percent, and social-policy contribution 0.06 percent.

What do these numbers mean in practice? If you earn the minimum wage of €920 gross, your employer deducts €123.00 in e-EFKA contributions from your salary (13.37 percent of €920), leaving you with a gross figure before income tax of €797.00. On top of that, your employer pays an additional €200.47 in employer-side contributions directly to e-EFKA — money that never appears on your payslip but that represents the real cost of employing you. The €200.47 figure is the employer's contribution for a full-time employee receiving €920. Use the EuroDuty salary calculator to see exactly what your take-home should be at your specific salary level.

What Your Employer Will Never Tell You

This is where workers get caught out — not by malice necessarily, but by a system that defaults to silence. Here are the things most employers will not walk you through on your first day.

First: the 14-payment year. In Greece, your annual salary is legally paid in 14 instalments, not 12. You are entitled to a Christmas bonus (Δώρο Χριστουγέννων) worth one full month's salary, an Easter bonus (Δώρο Πάσχα) worth half a month's salary, and a summer holiday allowance worth another half month's salary. Employers in Greece must pay two additional salary instalments each year under the holiday allowance regime. These are not discretionary bonuses; they are legal obligations. If your employer frames these as "if we have a good year" benefits, that is wrong. They owe you these payments by law. If they have not been paying them, you can claim what is owed retroactively.

Second: the contribution ceiling is a right, not just a limit. The principal social security contributions are calculated at a rate of 35.16 percent of gross salary, of which 13.37 percent is borne by the employee and 21.79 percent by the employer. These rates apply to monthly income up to a cap of €7,761.94; no social security contributions are due on any amount exceeding this threshold. If you earn above this ceiling, your employer must stop deducting social security contributions on the excess. Many workers earning higher salaries never notice when their employer continues deducting past the cap.

Third: late or missing EFKA registration can destroy your benefit entitlement. Digital cross-referencing has made enforcement more effective. SEPE now routinely cross-checks Ergani II data against social security (e-EFKA) contribution records and tax authority (AADE) payroll filings. Discrepancies between these three systems trigger automatic audit flags. That means if there is a mismatch between what your employer declared in ERGANI and what they actually paid to e-EFKA, it will eventually be flagged. But the person who loses out in the interim is you — because healthcare access, sick pay, and future pension calculations all depend on a continuous, accurate contribution record.

Here is what you can do right now. First, log into the official e-EFKA portal at efka.gov.gr and check your insurance history (Ασφαλιστική Ιστορία). Every contribution your employer has ever made on your behalf should appear there. Second, verify that your AMKA number is correctly linked to your employer's account — you can check this through the AMKA portal at amka.gr. Third, if you find discrepancies, file a complaint with the Labour Inspectorate (SEPE) at sepe.gr, which has the authority to order your employer to correct records and pay outstanding contributions with penalties.

Greece vs The Rest of Europe

How does Greece compare with its European neighbours? Ministerial Decision 8934/2026 raised the Greece minimum wage to a gross monthly salary of €920 for white-collar employees, effective 1 April 2026. On a normalised 12-month basis that figure becomes €1,073.33 — because Greek salaries are paid 14 times per year and Eurostat adjusts for this. The Portuguese minimum wage is €920 per month (gross) from 1 January 2026, paid 14 times per year for an annual total of €12,880. So Greece and Portugal now share the same base monthly minimum wage of €920 — but the social security picture is different. Portugal's employer Social Security rate is 23.75 percent on top of gross salary, while the employee contribution is 11 percent. In Greece, the employer pays 21.79 percent and the employee pays 13.37 percent — meaning Greek workers carry a slightly heavier individual contribution burden than their Portuguese counterparts, even when the gross wage floor is identical.

Spain sits noticeably higher. Spain's minimum wage increased to €1,221 in February 2026, backdated to January 1, a 3.1 percent rise that benefits approximately 2.5 million workers. That is a €301 per month gap between the Spanish and Greek minimum wages — a difference of over €3,600 per year at the gross level. Greece has 6 progressive income tax brackets for 2026 under Law 5246/2025: 9 percent on €0–€10,000, 20 percent on €10,000–€20,000, 26 percent on €20,000–€30,000, 34 percent on €30,000–€40,000, 39 percent on €40,000–€60,000, and 44 percent above €60,000. The 2026 reform cut most brackets by 2 percentage points and introduced a new 39 percent band for incomes of €40,000–€60,000. Greece taxes personal income on a progressive scale from 9 percent to 44 percent under Law 5246/2025, effective from 1 January 2026. The reform is a genuine improvement — but Greece still has ground to make up on wages compared to Spain and northern Europe. Use the EuroDuty salary comparator to see exactly where your salary sits against the European average for your sector.

How to Claim What You Are Owed

Check your e-EFKA contribution history immediately. Go to efka.gov.gr, log in with your Taxisnet credentials, and navigate to your insurance record (Ασφαλιστική Ιστορία). Verify that contributions appear for every month you have worked. Any gap is a red flag.
Verify your ERGANI registration. Your employer must have filed your employment notification with the Ministry of Labour's ERGANI platform on or before your first day of work. The new employee notification must be submitted to the Ministry of Labour ERGANI platform before or on the first working day. This must happen before work begins. You can request confirmation of this from your employer in writing.
Confirm your bonus entitlements in writing. Ask your HR department or employer for a written breakdown of your Christmas bonus, Easter bonus, and summer holiday allowance. These are not optional. If they have not been paid in full, calculate what you are owed based on your monthly salary and file for recovery.
File a complaint with SEPE if contributions are missing. The Labour Inspectorate (SEPE) at sepe.gr accepts complaints online. SEPE has published its enforcement priorities, with undeclared work being a main target. Fines for undeclared employment are calculated per unregistered employee. Repeat violations attract multiplied penalties, and in serious cases the Labour Inspectorate can recommend temporary suspension of business operations.
Check late-payment penalties if your employer owes back contributions. Late payments trigger immediate penalties: 2 percent interest for the first month, then 1 percent for each additional month. These penalties compound monthly and are not negotiable. Your employer cannot simply pay missing contributions later without penalty — and KEAO (the Social Security Debt Collection Centre) actively pursues arrears.
Use official calculators to verify your net salary. The independent tax authority AADE (aade.gr) publishes official withholding tax tables. Cross-reference what is shown on your payslip against the official rates. If the numbers do not match, something is wrong.

Calculate your exact net salary and compare your rights across all 27 EU countries at EuroDuty — completely free.