Rent Refund: The second chance and the deadlines for correcting errors

Βιβλία•1 Δεκεμβρίου 2025 στις 11:29•5′ ανάγνωση

The tax administration is offering a second chance to potential beneficiaries of the rent refund measure after the issues observed right after Friday’s payments.

This comes as it stresses that “it is not possible to grant support for rents that have not been declared and that the accurate recording of the actual rental expense is a basic prerequisite for the correct implementation of the measure and for the protection of citizens’ interests.”

Essentially, following what has occurred in recent days — mistakes and misunderstandings regarding “pending payments” — the Minister of National Economy and Finance clarified that “AADE will grant an extension, will provide a second chance, a second opportunity for every citizen until 30/12 to submit a corrective declaration and declare the amount of the annual rental expenditure for 2024 in their E1.”

This is because, among other omissions, many citizens failed to declare the annual rental expense, recording instead only the monthly amount in the relevant forms. According to the Ministry of National Economy and Finance and AADE, in some cases the lower payments resulted from incorrect or incomplete declarations of the annual rent expenditure by tenants.

In essence, the tax administration clarified that the support is calculated based on the annual rent expenditure for 2024, as declared in the E1 form, either for the primary residence (codes 811–816) or for student housing for dependent children (codes 817–822). It is noted that the support applies exclusively to amounts declared as actually paid and confirmed through cross-checking with the electronic lease data.

A significant number of those who received a small benefit either shared the rent with other co-contracting parties on the lease or rented a home for only a few months in 2024, meaning that one-twelfth of the annual expense corresponded to the small amount received.

Example: A taxpayer rented an apartment from September 1, 2024, with a monthly rent of €200. Therefore, their annual expenditure was for only four months, i.e. €800, and the corresponding support—equal to one-twelfth of the annual expenditure—amounted to €67.

How to calculate the amount of the rent refund

The rent refund is calculated as 1/12 of the annual rent expenditure declared in the tenant’s E1 tax return for tax year 2024 (filed in 2025).

According to the Ministry of National Economy and Finance, the following maximum refund limits apply:

€800 for a tenant without children
€850 with one child
€900 with two children
+€50 for each additional child

The cap applies only if the declared annual rent exceeds these thresholds; otherwise, the 1/12 rule based on actual expenditure applies. For student housing, an additional amount of up to €800 per student residence is added.

It is worth noting that under the relevant Joint Ministerial Decision (JMD), in cases of marital separation, the child-related increase applies to both parents, without limitations related to the 1/12 of the annual rent. The JMD’s wording gives the impression that the child supplement is added directly to the €800 ceiling. However, AADE states that the support is calculated as 1/12 of the annual rent expenditure, with a maximum of €800 plus €50 per child, but without exceeding 1/12 of the expenditure. In practice, this means that the child supplement does NOT apply in cases of low rent.

Full data cross-check

According to the Ministry of National Economy and Finance, the tenants’ declarations are cross-checked with:

the electronic lease agreement
the landlord’s tax return

If the amount declared in the tenant’s E1 is higher than both the electronic lease and the landlord’s declaration, the system will use the higher amount between the electronic lease and the landlord’s declaration — the most favorable option for the tenant.

In all cases, the support cannot exceed 1/12 of the amount declared by the tenant in the E1. The E1 declaration reflects the annual amounts paid by the tenant.

Deadlines

According to the Ministry:

The first step is to submit an amended E1 declaration by 30 December 2025 for codes 811–816 (primary residence) and 817–822 (student housing).

Taxpayers must check whether the actual annual amount paid for rent has been recorded.

After cross-checks, beneficiaries will receive any additional amounts.

Payment cycles:

Amendments submitted by 12 December → payment by 30 December 2025

Amendments submitted by 30 December → payment by 15 January 2026

Where can citizens seek for support

Starting Tuesday, 2 December, beneficiaries may call AADE’s 1521 helpline for clarifications.

Anyone who believes they submitted incorrect data in the E1 should file an amended declaration immediately to be included in the next payment cycle.

The refund is deposited automatically into the IBAN registered with AADE, with no application required.

Those who have not yet declared an IBAN should do so immediately for supplementary payments to be issued.

Special cases – Supporting documents until 31 December

As provided in Article 8 of A 1132/2025, in special cases, supporting documents may be submitted via the “My Requests” service on the myAADE platform until 31 December of the payment year, in order to complete the benefit process.

The IBAN

One of the major errors that caused missing payments was beneficiaries not having registered an IBAN with AADE. Citizens are urged to register it immediately for payments to be completed.

Low payments (€20–30)

According to AADE’s data: