To convert an existing contractor in Greece, agree the employee package and have the proposed employer accept the worker, terms and start date before committing to the supplier contract’s end. Complete employment admission before employee work begins, then track first payroll through its declarations and statutory payments.
The handoff connects worker acceptance, employing-entity or EOR readiness, and the services contract’s requirements. Greece’s statutory extras and treatment of earlier service can change the agreement; a November start also brings a partial Christmas bonus.
Rules checked 19 October 2026.
What changes when a contractor becomes an employee in Greece?
The existing worker moves from supplying services to working under an employment relationship. Record the last supplier service date and the employee start separately from the dates money changes hands. A final invoice can be paid after employment begins if it clearly covers earlier services.
Establish status, work rights and the employment route
Check the past relationship before promising a new service date. Greece has a rebuttable employment presumption for personal services, exclusively or mainly for the same employer, for nine consecutive months. This gives no nine-month exemption: actual direction and dependence matter earlier too.
Where the facts suggest existing employment, determine earlier rights and correction obligations alongside the prospective arrangement. A new contract or probation clause does not reset that history.
Establish two gates:
- The worker’s permission. The example uses a Greek citizen. For a third-country national, verify permission for employment in this role; freelance permission is insufficient evidence.
- The employer’s route. A Greek employing entity can operate the direct-hire sequence below. A foreign employer needs its Greek registration and tax position established before committing to that sequence. An EOR proposal must identify the actual employer and legal arrangement.
If the proposed arrangement constitutes temporary agency work, obtain proof of operating entitlement and assignment eligibility. Its authorization clock is three months from a complete dossier, subject to earlier clearance. Permitted activities are temporary employment and specified ancillary exceptions. The Labour Code prohibits strike replacement and restricts assignments after same-specialty economic dismissals within three months or collective dismissals within six. Assignments including renewals exceeding 36 months become indefinite employment with the user; continued or renewed placement after lawful expiry without 23 calendar days’ separation has the same consequence, subject to a narrow hotel/catering social-event exception. Have the provider resolve these constraints for the actual role; an EOR label does not settle them or corporate-tax exposure.
Agree the offer, start date and treatment of existing rights
Prepare a written package for both worker acceptance and employing-party approval. For an ordinary five-day role, the normal schedule is 40 hours weekly, eight daily. The salaried national minimum is €920 gross monthly from 1 April 2026, subject to higher collective terms and statutory service increases.
Annual leave accrues from commencement. The leave allowance is capped at half a monthly salary, payable with leave pay when leave begins.
For a genuine former contractor, specify which contractual benefits agreed service recognition enhances. A first payslip does not guarantee immediate health coverage: e-EFKA’s current capacity rules contain insured-days conditions. Confirm existing capacity, private-plan effective dates and any agreed bridge for a gap.
After ten days’ work, sickness wage protection can preserve up to half a month’s wages in the first employment year, subject to first-three-day reduced pay and compulsory-insurance offsets. This differs from insured cash benefits and private cover.
Before authorizing supplier notice, obtain the employer’s or EOR’s acceptance of the package, rights/service basis, applicable work permission, coverage assumptions, payroll inputs and achievable start. The client and contractor supply the actual services agreement, notice provisions, last-service date, final-invoice obligations and existing IP records. Agree who owns each action and who confirms readiness. This is an operating gate: responsibilities depend on the contracts and provider agreement.
Keep earlier IP in the supplier closeout
Under Greek copyright law, general employee works initially belong to their creator; necessary economic powers pass to the employer absent contrary agreement. Employee software made in executing employment or instructions has a different automatic economic-rights rule, also subject to contrary agreement. Neither transfers earlier contractor deliverables automatically. Obtain any needed assignment from their actual owner. Employee inventions require separate statutory analysis.
From 1 November 2026, enacted pay-transparency rules require early initial pay/range and applicable collective-term disclosure, before contracting where no interview occurs, and prohibit employment salary-history questions. Check recruitment steps spanning that commencement date.
Compare the old invoice with the employee package
There is no universal invoice-to-salary ratio. Start with actual fees excluding VAT and reimbursed expenses, then compare annual employee gross cash. Here, twelve €4,000 service fees are compared with a €3,000 monthly base for a full qualifying employment year: constant salary, no other recurring remuneration, no excluded absences, the leave-allowance cap reached and no superior terms.
The bonus remuneration basis includes the leave-allowance share, producing the 25/24 factor here. Salary during paid leave is already in the twelve base months; the extra allowance is counted once. Check whether twelve fees would really have been earned during time off. Use this difference to negotiate the offer, then calculate take-home pay from the worker’s actual position. For the wider employer budget, use the Greece hiring-cost guide.
The November starter does not receive that full-year total. If employment runs from 2 November through 31 December 2026 with no excluded absences, 60 calendar days produce an illustrative Christmas bonus of €789.47: 2/25 × €3,000 × 60/19 × 25/24. First-period salary and prorated leave allowance need their own calculations.
Complete the country conversion steps
- HR identifies the worker, supplier and employer. Assess historic status, permission, collective terms and route. Review the actual supplier contract, including notice, consent and disputes.
- The employing party and worker accept the package. Resolve the offer-table decisions and agree a start compatible with supplier notice. Give a named person authority to confirm readiness before releasing notice.
- Finance verifies existing setup and worker inputs. Check employer AFM, AME and filing authority; obtain matching worker AFM/AMKA, insurance history and payment details securely. Qualifying IKE formation normally creates an AME automatically; verify the actual formation path and record, correcting any missing number. Already certified TaxisNet users need not register again. Confirm delegate access and the actual insurance package, including whether supplementary cover belongs in e-EFKA or TEKA.
- HR completes admission and workplace readiness. ERGANI II replaced the old system on 16 February 2026. Submit before work, with the prescribed worker-signed attachment or MyErgani acceptance. Complete the schedule workflow, applicable Digital Work Card setup, qualified technical-safety support, written risk assessment and induction.
- The agreed closeout owners execute the supplier exit. Use valid notice or mutual agreement, reconcile the final invoice and deliverables, and coordinate access with the confirmed employment start.
- Payroll pays and documents employment. Apply start-period calculations, deductions and benefits. Deliver an itemized payslip at settlement; salary does not continue the independent supplier’s VAT invoicing. Transmit the employer’s myDATA payroll entry, type 17.1, by submission of the related withholding-tax return and retain its registration identifier, MARK.
- Finance reconciles filings and payments. Obtain accepted APD insurance and wage-tax declarations and separate payment credits. Where TEKA applies, finalize e-EFKA reporting first, then its separate APD and remittance. Assign the bonus cycle and annual earnings documentation to a named owner.
A worked Athens cutover
Assume an existing Greek IKE hires its first worker: a Greek citizen working and taxed in Athens, in an ordinary five-day office role, following genuine independent services. Last services are Friday 30 October 2026, with no weekend work; employment starts Monday 2 November. Monthly salary is paid on 30 November and 31 December. The employer uses ordinary monthly withholding and common-business e-EFKA reporting; TEKA membership is a worker-specific check.
Before start, confirm employing-party acceptance, valid supplier exit, registry/access checks, worker inputs, admission and workplace readiness. Later payroll deadlines do not postpone those gates. Dates marked “internal” are operating targets.
The Code allows one week for its core written-information group and one month for the remaining group. Supply the full package before start; retain delivery evidence for both.
The published APD calendar, contribution rule and AADE tax clock are separate controls. The tax adjustment rule produces the weekend rolls shown. This case pays wages in their accrual month; unpaid wages also engage the salary-return accrual rule.
If TEKA covers the worker, its special Christmas-bonus payment deadline remains to be confirmed; do not apply the e-EFKA February exception automatically. The ordinary November TEKA dates are shown above. Separately, check the January 2027 APD calendar and tax-year-2026 annual certificate decision when available. The 2026 child-camp levy uses August workforce data, so this first-November-hire example has no such 2026 assessment.
Close the contractor engagement and verify first payroll
Keep two reconciliations with the owners agreed for this case.
Supplier closeout: match final fees, earned milestones or commissions, expenses, accepted deliverables and IP records to the actual contract. Record later invoice-payment dates and equipment/access changes. Ending this engagement does not require closing a supplier business that serves others.
First payroll: match start date, gross pay, employee deductions, net bank payment and payslip; keep employer contributions separate. Verify coverage/benefit effective dates and exclude duplicate invoices for employee work. Retain accepted filings, myDATA registration and separate tax/insurance credits. Assign annual earnings-certificate follow-through to the responsible accountant.
A prospective conversion does not prove that earlier tax, insurance or employment liabilities have been resolved.
Two conversion situations to plan for
An ordinary planned conversion. A genuine Athens contractor accepts the package, but the employer has not confirmed private-plan eligibility. The client obtains the current cover end date; the employing party confirms statutory capacity and the plan start or an agreed bridge. They fix the cutover only after resolving that gap and valid supplier notice, then execute admission and the November/bonus calendar.
Earlier work may already be employment. A person has served mainly one company for 14 consecutive months under its direction. Assess earlier employment and corrective liabilities before presenting November as the beginning of service rights. Determine opening entitlements from that assessment; probation cannot reset them. Complete prospective admission and supplier-account reconciliation as well.
Both situations are hypothetical. Different work permission, collective terms or insurance membership can change the sequence.
Questions about converting contractors in Greece
Can the invoice simply become the salary?
Use annual amounts. In the illustration, €48,000 of fees compares with €42,187.50 employee gross cash, before deductions and extra employer costs. Change the assumptions before negotiating a different package.
Must contractor years count as employee service?
Establish actual historic employment and applicable prior-service rules. Have the employing party accept the opening entitlement basis and document any additional recognition for specific benefits.
Can work start while ERGANI admission is pending?
The employment-start announcement must precede work. If admission cannot be completed, change the agreed start and coordinate the supplier exit; do not put the person to work as an unadmitted employee.
Does a November starter receive a Christmas bonus?
Yes. The 2 November example produces €789.47 under its stated assumptions. Plan the bonus payment, reporting and contribution tasks alongside ordinary salary.
Is paying the first salary enough to finish the conversion?
Keep the case open until the relevant declarations are accepted, statutory payments are credited, benefits are operating as agreed and supplier closeout is reconciled.
For an EOR-led conversion, bring Borderless AI the current services agreement, proposed package, worker details and target date. Our EOR service covers contracts, payroll and benefits administration. Confirm the specific Greek employing arrangement, admission readiness and division of closeout responsibilities before committing to the cutover.
