Information - IKA

When building a house, or renovating, or extending or doing any building work in Crete or any part of Greece, the owner is responsible for paying IKA contributions, which are the equivalent of National Insurance contributions in the UK, for health cover and pensions.

When you apply for your building licence, the architect/engineer that you employ will give you an IKA schedule, which splits the work that you are having done into a number of days for each trade - concrete works, plastering, decorating etc. There is no IKA due on electrical or plumbing works as your electrician and plumber contribute to their own insurance scheme. You are responsible for lodging the relevant paperwork with your local office, declaring the number of days work carried out in the previous month by the 8th of the current month and paying the IKA due on this work by the end of the current month. If you fail to do so there are financial penalties at each and every stage, which get added to the overall bill

If you take the new build of a standard 100m² house as an example, there will be about 150 work days allocated to the building. At an average of 60 euros per day this adds 9000 euros to your construction cost. Depending on your construction methods for new buildings and extensions the workday allowance is approximately 1.5 days per m²

If you are carrying out renovation work that does not require a building licence there is always a temptation to ignore the IKA requirement, which is payable even on your own labour. This temptation should be avoided as penalties for evasion are quite steep and anyone can report you - a neighbour with whom you have fallen out or who is jealous of your home improvements, a disgruntled labourer....

Our building side pays the IKA on your behalf and supplies you with all the relevant paperwork, unless you prefer to undertake this task yourself. IKA is dealt with as a separate heading on our progress reports as the responsibility remains with you, even though we carry out the duties on your behalf.