Greek e-invoicing from 1 October 2026: What changes for restaurants and cafés

From Thursday 1 October 2026, every invoice a Greek restaurant or café issues to another business has to be issued electronically, through a licensed e-invoicing provider or through AADE's free apps. If a hotel asks for an invoice for event catering, or a company wants one for a business lunch, that invoice has to go through one of those channels.

Retail receipts you hand out at the table or with a takeaway order don't change. The change only covers invoices, and the most urgent part of it is a declaration in myAADE that needs to be in place.

This article is general information based on AADE decisions and pages as they stood on 16 September 2026. It isn't tax advice, so confirm your own situation with your accountant.

Which invoices are covered

The obligation is set out in decision A.1128/2025. It covers sales to businesses in Greece, sales to the public sector and sales to businesses outside the European Union. Credit notes count too, because any document that amends an original invoice is treated as an invoice.

For a restaurant or café, that mostly means invoices to hotels, offices ordering for their team and event organisers. Invoices to businesses in other EU countries aren't on the decision's list.

The rollout has two phases. Businesses with gross revenue above €1,000,000 in 2023 joined on 2 March 2026. Everyone else joins on 1 October, including sole traders, with no minimum revenue threshold.

How an invoice is issued now

The first route is an e-invoicing provider licensed by AADE (known as ΥΠΑΗΕΣ). AADE publishes the list of licensed provider software, so you can check in a minute whether yours is on it. Every invoice issued this way gets a MARK number from myDATA and carries a QR code for verification.

The second route is AADE's free apps: timologio on the web and myDATAapp on mobile. They can work for a handful of invoices a month, but you type each one in by hand, separately from the system you use at the till.

What no longer works is an accounting or ERP program that simply sends data to myDATA. AADE's e-invoicing FAQ says plainly that this isn't an accepted way to issue invoices. If you invoice from such a program, ask its vendor which licensed provider they work with.

One exception worth knowing: if the power or the internet goes down, AADE allows manual issuing with transmission afterwards. Agree the procedure with your provider in advance, so nobody is looking it up during a busy service.

The declaration in myAADE

All of this depends on a "Declaration of Start of Electronic Issuance" (Δήλωση Έναρξης Ηλεκτρονικής Έκδοσης Στοιχείων). Who files it depends on the channel you choose.

If you use a provider, the provider files it within 10 days of the start of your contract. You'll see it in the e-notifications (e-κοινοποιήσεις) section of myAADE and have 10 days to accept or reject it; if you do nothing, it counts as accepted. If the provider doesn't file it, the obligation passes to you.

If you use timologio, you file the declaration yourself and select "timologio", which also covers myDATAapp.

Either way, the start date must be 1 October 2026 at the latest. AADE's mandatory e-invoicing page shows the deadlines as 1/10/2026 and 12/10/2026. On 16 September, the counter on the same page showed 141,645 businesses with a declaration filed for B2B transactions.

Three months of transition, with one condition

From 1 October to 31 December 2026 you can keep issuing invoices the way you did before, whether from an ERP, by hand or on a computer. Those invoices still have to be transmitted to myDATA as usual.

The condition is the declaration. The transition period only applies if you have a timely declaration with a start date no later than 1 October. From 1 January 2027, only providers and AADE's apps remain.

What about your suppliers' invoices?

That obligation already applies. Since 2 March 2026, every business, yours included, must accept electronic invoices for purchases from other businesses in Greece. If your coffee or drinks supplier had revenue above €1,000,000 in 2023, it is already required to invoice you through a provider.

As the recipient, you choose how you receive them. Make sure they end up somewhere your accountant can see, so none get lost in an inbox.

Fines

After the transition period, an invoice issued any other way is treated as not issued at all. AADE's circular E.2004/2026 makes this clear and points to article 57 of the Greek Tax Procedure Code.

For an invoice with VAT, the fine is 50% of the VAT due. There is also a minimum per tax audit: €250 for businesses with single-entry books and €500 for double-entry books. Repeat offences raise the rate to 100% and then 200% of the VAT, with higher minimums.

During the transition period, using the old method isn't a violation, as long as the declaration was filed on time.

Will there be an extension?

As of 16 September 2026, none has been announced. Press reports in late August said professional bodies had asked for a delay to 1 March 2027, but there is no decision, and AADE's page still shows 1/10/2026.

If an extension does come, you'll simply be ready early. If it doesn't and you wait, you'll also lose the transition period.

What to do in the next few days

1. Ask your accountant which channel you'll use for invoices from 1 October and whether a declaration already exists in myAADE.
2. If you use a provider, open e-notifications in myAADE and confirm its declaration is there.
3. Check that your software is on AADE's list of licensed providers.
4. Tell your staff that a business invoice needs the customer's VAT number (ΑΦΜ) before the bill is closed.
5. On your first invoice after 1 October, check that it has a MARK number and a QR code.

How it works in Quickord

Quickord covers the whole e-invoicing process. Invoices are issued through a licensed provider on AADE's list, inside the same platform you use for orders. You find the company by its VAT number and the document reaches myDATA the moment it's issued.

We take care of the setup, so the only thing worth checking is the declaration in your myAADE e-notifications. If you can't find it or have any questions, contact us before 1 October. You can read more about the flow on the AADE and myDATA integration page, and about settings like document series and VAT rates in the practical AADE and myDATA guide for restaurants.

If you remember one thing, make it the start date on the declaration. With a timely declaration you have three months to settle the process. Without one, from 1 October every invoice to a business already has to come from a provider or timologio.