Social & Financial Benefits

Social & Financial Benefits HCFA TEAM February 16, 2023

Tax Reductions

Reduction - Income Tax Exemption
Those patients with Cystic Fibrosis who have a disability rate of more than 67%, based on the opinion of the Health Committee of the Cystic Fibrosis Centre or those who protect persons with such a degree of disability, are entitled to a tax reduction of 200€ from their taxable income or from the tax. Patients who have a disability rate of 80% or more on their income tax return will also need to complete codes (905) or (906) for income tax exemption.

Based on the Ν. 4223/13 (Article 7) full exemption from the EN.F.I.A. is provided for taxpayers who themselves or their family members have a disability in a percentage greater than or equal to 80%, with a family income of up to 12.000€ plus 1.000€ for the spouse and each dependent member and a total building area of up to 150sq.m.

The same full exemption applies under the same conditions to taxpayers with three or more dependent children.

In addition, a 50% deduction from the EN.F.I.A. is granted to taxpayers with a family income of up to €9,000 plus €1,000 for the spouse and each dependent member and a total building area of up to 150sqm, provided that the total value of real estate does not exceed the amount of 85.000€ for a single person, 150.000€ for a married person and his/her spouse or a single-parent family with one dependent child and 200.000€ for a married person, his/her spouse and their dependent children or a single-parent family with two dependent children.

Cystic Fibrosis patients and parents of patients with a disability rate of 67% or more are entitled to an exemption from transfer tax on the purchase of their first home.

Disability card

Cystic Fibrosis patients with a disability rate of at least 50% are entitled to be issued a Disability Card at https://karta.epan.gov.gr/.

It can be issued as a printable document (like vaccination certificates) or in digital form in the Gov.gr Wallet application, so that the beneficiary can have the Card on his/her mobile phone or on a plastic digital card.

The Disability Card does not include the sensitive personal data of the beneficiary, such as the disease and the percentage of disability, apart from the special markings provided (disability scale marking and marking of the need for an attendant). Grade I is given to those with a total disability of 50% to 66%, grade III to those with a total disability of 67% to 79% and grade III to those with a total disability of 80% or more.

Holders of a Disability Card can, upon presentation of the card:

  • be given priority in public services and receive all necessary facilities
  • use it as a document instead of a disability certification certificate for the data it contains

* At the next stage, a personalized list of benefits will be gradually integrated into the Card. For each new benefit that will be incorporated into the Disability Card, the registered beneficiary will be informed of the contact details registered in the system.

Social Tariff PPC

The Social Household Tariff (SHT) of DEH is provided on the basis of the cleared tax return to persons with a 67% disability or persons with dependents with a disability of 67% or more, as shown in their cleared tax return in the previous year from the year of inclusion. These persons must have an annual family taxable real or imputed income, adjusted in the previous financial year from the year of membership (the financial year of membership), lower than the threshold applicable to the category of three-parent families, without the income reductions provided for in each case. Also the quarterly daytime consumption should be 200 kWh – 1.700kWh. Persons in this category are included in the Vulnerable Customers and are granted the Social Household Tariff.

The Social Household Tariff is also available to people on low incomes, those with three children and the long-term unemployed.

Applications for the Social Household Tariff are submitted online at www.idika.gr/kot.

Reduction or Exemption of Municipal Taxes

Persons with disabilities are entitled to a full exemption from municipal taxes/fees or a reduction of up to fifty percent (50%) by decision of the municipal or community council of the patient’s area of residence. The council may also set income criteria, based on the income tax statement. The documents that the beneficiary must submit to the municipality where he/she resides are:

  • Application
  • Photocopy of police identity card
  • Certificate of the KEPA Health Committee
  • Photocopy of the E1 tax return
  • A photocopy of the tax statement of the tax office
  • Photocopy of a PPC bill in the name of the beneficiary
  • Property contracts or lease contract

Government Gazette 114/8-6-2006, article 202, paragraph 3 ( Ν.3463/2006)

Exemption from circulation taxes

Based on the Ν. 4758/2020, Government Gazette A’ 242 (Article 72) patients with cystic fibrosis and transplant patients with a disability rate of 67% or more are entitled to exemption from road tax and registration fees. As regards minor patients, their parents are entitled to the exemption for one vehicle, up to the patients’ majority. This provision is applicable for the registration fees from the year 2021 onwards. Based on the implementing circular of the AAD (see here), beneficiaries will have to submit the following documents to the Tax Office of their region.

  1. An application, requesting exemption from traffic taxes under the provisions of article 16 of Law No. 1798/1988 (166 A), as in force.
  2. Responsible declaration of N. 1599/86, in which the person concerned declares that he/she has not appealed to the Secondary Health Committee of the CERC.
  3. Certificate of Disability Certification from a Primary or Secondary Health Committee of the KEPA.
  4. Medical certificate of the KEPA regarding the results of the examination of a person with disabilities for the granting of exemption from traffic fees under article 16 of Law No. 1798/88.
  5. Photocopy of identity card and registration certificate

For the issuance of the required medical certificate of the KEPA you need: a) to submit an online application to the KEPA here or b) send an email to the competent KEPA address in your area (the list of emails here) by attaching the application for exemption (model application form here), as well as the Certificate of the Health Committee of the Centre for Disability and the percentage of disability.

Parking card for disabled persons

Cystic Fibrosis patients and transplant patients with a disability rate of 67% or more are entitled to an AMEA blue parking card. For the AMEA blue parking card version, the car does not need to be wheelchair accessible. Disabled parking card holders are entitled to:

  • park their vehicle in wheelchair spaces
  • a private parking space with signs for disabled persons outside their home (with an application to the Municipality where they live)
  • exemption from the ring road and free transit in the centre of Athens
  • exemption from paying tolls
  • 50% discount on the ferry tickets of their vehicle

Government Gazette A’ 242, article 72 (Law 4758/2020)

For the issuance of a disabled parking card in a vehicle owned by the beneficiary patient, the following documents must be submitted to the competent Transport Service of the place of residence:

  1. Application
  2. Photocopy of your car licence (does not need to be a disability licence)
  3. Photocopy of Driving Licence
  4. Certificate of Disability Certification from a Primary or Secondary Health Committee of the KEPA
  5. Medical certificate from the KEPA stating that they are beneficiaries of article 16 of Law 1798/88
  6. Certification of residence (PPC – OTE bill, etc.)
  7. Two photos
  8. A declaration that the Parking Card will be used in the specific vehicle and only to serve the needs of the disabled person and when the disabled person is in the vehicle (in case the beneficiary does not have a driving licence).

According to a circular issued by the Ministry of Transport (here), in the case of a disabled person who is unable to travel in a vehicle registered in his/her name, the following documents must be submitted to the competent Transport Service of the place of residence:

  1. Certificate of Disability Certification from a Primary or Secondary Health Committee of the KEPA.
  2. A medical certificate from KEPA stating that they are beneficiaries of article 16 of Law 1798/88.
  3. A copy of the registration certificate of a private car, which will serve the disabled person’s travel needs and which will be owned by either parents, children or his or her spouse, as the case may be.
  4. A copy of the registration permit and a copy of the leasing contract concluded by the entitled persons (disabled persons, parents, children, spouses).
  5. A copy of the registration certificate, a copy of the leasing contract concluded by the company in which the entitled persons work, as well as a certificate of the legal representative of the company that the car has been granted to them for use under the employment contract they have concluded.
  6. An affidavit stating that “the use of the Parking Card will be made in the specific vehicle that has been registered and which will be driven exclusively by a parent or a child, or the spouse, depending on the ownership of the vehicle and only for the purpose of serving the needs of the disabled person and when the disabled person is in the vehicle”.

The validity of the parking card is based on the expiry date of the KEPA Disability Certification Certificate.

Patients who need to convert their driving licence to a disability licence should:

  1. ask for an opinion from the treating doctor, which will be the same as the CEDAW opinion,
  2. with the opinion of the attending physician, request from a contracted pathologist a medical certificate with the code 107 (there is a time limitation on the administrative validity of the categories of the license, for medical reasons, required for its issuance) and a validity period of the license for a limited period of time (usually 15 years),
  3. request a medical certificate from a certified ophthalmologist,
  4. have two simple colour photographs,
  5. with the above documents, visit the branch of the Ministry of Transport in their area and pay a fee in order to be issued a disability driving licence, which now requires renewal every few years compared to the 40 years for a non-disability licence.

Mobility Card for people with disabilities

Those with a disability rate of more than 67%, regardless of the insurance provider, are entitled to a Disabled Persons’ Mobility Card, based on the opinion of the KEPA Health Committee. Their annual income, individual or family income, based on the tax return, should not exceed a certain amount (determined by the Ministry of Health).

It is granted by the KEPs and provides free travel by public transport as well as a 50% reduced fare on domestic long-distance bus routes of the KTEL if the beneficiaries reside permanently in one of the Regional Units of the country. The beneficiaries and the supporting documents for the year 2024 here. 

Athena card

Those patients who reside in Attica can issue the Ath.ena card for free travel on buses (including airport express routes), trolleybuses, metro (including to/from the Airport), trams, suburban railway, trams, urban suburban railway. For Athe.ena card version press here.

Toll exemption

Disabled parking card holders are entitled to exemption from paying the toll upon presentation of the card. An exception is the Attiki Odos tolls, where no exemption is provided, while the Rio-Antirrio Bridge tolls are subject to a 5€ discount. For the issuance of an electronic card on the Aegean Motorway, the application is made here, while for the issuance of a Fast Pass on the New Road and the Central Road here.

Discount on Ferry Tickets

Cystic Fibrosis sufferers with a disability rate of 80% are entitled to a 50% discount on individual ferry tickets. Also, upon presentation of the Parking Card for disabled persons, they are entitled to a 50% discount on the ferry tickets for their vehicle.

FEK, B’, 1129/2014

Free entrance to museums

Cystic Fibrosis patients with a disability rate of 67% or more are entitled to free admission to:

  • museums
  • archaeological sites
  • monuments of the country

Social Tourism

Patients with Cystic Fibrosis, who are registered in the Special Registry of Unemployed Disabled Persons of the DYPA (formerly OAED) are entitled to participate in the DYPA Social Tourism Programme.

The accommodation of beneficiaries and their beneficiary members in tourist accommodations in Greece that participate in the programme and are included in the “Register of Providers” of DYPA, as well as their ferry travel to them, is subsidised.

The application shall be made here.

More information about the Programme here.

Discharge of the draft

Patients with Cystic Fibrosis are considered unfit for military service (I5) and are immediately discharged, as they are considered to have a serious health problem that does not allow them to fulfil their service, but requires their dismissal. Conscripts called up for enlistment are examined by the Special Recruitment Board of the Recruitment Centre or the Exemption Committee to which they are referred by it, in order to determine their ability to fulfil their military obligations. In order to establish the condition, the relevant medical opinions and certificates are submitted. More information here and at www.stratologia.gr.