Greece Offers 5% Tax to Lure Hedge Fund Executives

Greece introduced a tax regime in June that taxes qualifying hedge fund and private equity executives at 5% on bonuses and carried interest, down from the standard 15%. Finance minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis met with billionaire hedge fund manager Chris Rokos shortly before Rokos announced he had moved his tax residency from the UK to Greece.

The regime requires a qualifying fund to spend at least €3 million a year in Greece. Officials designed the incentives to encourage funds to establish substantive operations in the country rather than only change the tax residence of individual staff. Conversations have taken place with several large hedge funds and with Gulf-based investment groups about setting up operations in Athens.

Vasilis Karatzas, an adviser to Kyriakos Pierrakakis who helped design the regime, noted: “Greek officials had already held discussions with several large hedge funds about establishing operations in the country.”

Rokos Capital Management is expected to open a small Athens presence initially that could eventually employ about 50 people. RCM declined to comment.

Other preferential tax arrangements for new residents are already available. Since 2019, qualifying individuals can pay a flat annual tax of €100,000 on foreign income and gains, and foreign assets are exempt from Greek inheritance tax. A separate 5C regime can provide a 50% exemption on qualifying employment income for seven years for certain foreign executives.

Greece currently has fewer than a dozen licensed hedge fund managers, most of them focused on Greek assets. Officials continue to hold talks with international fund managers about potential operations in Athens.