TEPAI — the Greek Cruising Tax

What it costs, who pays it, and the reductions most brokers get wrong.

Reviewed by Adrian Sneed, Charter Broker at Sneed Charters — a family brokerage arranging crewed yacht charters in the Mediterranean since 1992.

What it is

TEPAI — ΤΕ.Π.Α.Η., the Fee for Recreational and Daily Tour Cruise Ships — applies to private and professional leisure vessels and professional day boats over 7.00 metres overall in Greek territorial waters. Flag is irrelevant: Greek, EU or non-EU, the charge is the same.

A vessel of exactly 7.00 metres is not liable; the band opens above it. Vessels out of the water — on hardstanding or in a yard — are not liable, and neither is a vessel outside Greek territorial waters.

What it costs

The per-metre rate counts from the first metre, not from the twelfth. That creates a sharp step: a yacht of exactly 12.00 metres pays €33 a month, and one of 12.01 metres pays €96.08. Length is taken to two decimal places from the vessel’s own documentation.

A correction worth making, because it is repeated across broker sites: the €8 per metre does not apply to all vessels over seven metres. Between 7 and 12 metres the flat band amounts apply.

The reductions — and the twelve-metre catch

There are three reductions, and they stack where more than one applies. Two of them are only available above twelve metres, which is the detail most sources miss.

The 25% has teeth attached. If the condition later fails — the owner takes the yacht out privately — the entire reduction must be voluntarily repaid before the end of the period. Not repaying it is itself a penalisable violation. For an owner running a yacht in mixed private and charter use, that is a real and often unbudgeted cost.

How it is paid

Payment is through the e-TEPAI application on the tax authority’s portal, which issues a payment code in the e-Paravolo revenue category with an RF reference. It can be settled through banks, the e-Paravolo app, a port authority, a tax office, customs, by card, or by transfer from abroad.

The deadlines are simple. If you are entering Greek waters, pay before entry or on the day of entry at the latest. If the vessel is already there, pay before the beginning of each month. You may pay several months at once. The annual one-off, for the 10%, is only accepted in December or January.

Three things catch people out:

• It is charged for the whole calendar month regardless of how long you are actually in Greek waters. Arrive on 28 September and you pay September in full.
• There is a three-day grace into the following month. A month’s payment covers the stay up to the first three days of the next one.
• There are no refunds. Not for early departure, not for overpayment, not for paying by mistake. The legislation provides no refund mechanism at all.

Proof has to be aboard: the RF payment code and the collection receipt, or the equivalent duplicate from whichever authority took the payment, plus the port body’s certificate if the 20% reduction is being claimed.

Who is liable

For professional vessels: the shipowner, its operator, or their legal representative. For private vessels: the shipowner, holder or user. All of them are jointly and severally liable for both the fee and any fine.

Note that a charterer is not named as a liable person. On a crewed commercial charter, TEPAI sits with the owner or operator side.

Does it come out of your APA?

Legally it is the yacht’s liability, not the charterer’s. Commercially, whether it is absorbed in the rate, invoiced separately, or drawn from the APA is an allocation between the parties, and we could not find an authoritative source establishing a market convention either way. We are not going to invent one. Ask for it to be stated explicitly in the charter agreement; on a 50-metre yacht it is €400 a month before reductions, which is small against the charter fee but should not appear as a surprise.

Exemptions

• Arrested or seized vessels — and the exemption continues even if freedom of navigation is granted.
• Laid-up vessels, for the period of that status. For professional vessels the fee is still due for the full months in which the lay-up begins and ends.
• Certified immobilisation, for private vessels, declared to the port authority and requiring the nationality document or navigation permit to be deposited. The certificate is issued once a year per vessel.
• Traditional vessels, classified under the 2015 or the November 2024 ministerial decision.

Penalties

The enforcement is what makes it serious rather than the amount. The port authority withholds the vessel’s maritime documents and imposes a sailing ban until both the fee and the fine are paid. Payment is due within ten days of detection, after which the debt passes to the tax office for collection. A yacht held alongside in the middle of a charter week is a far bigger problem than €1,100.

What changed in 2025 and 2026

In substance, nothing. TEPAI was moved into a consolidated Code of Indirect Taxes by Law 5177/2025 in February 2025, where it now sits as Article 52 of Book Nine, and the tax authority republished its guidance in January 2026 citing that new basis. Every rate, reduction, exemption and fine is unchanged from the 2017 provision that created the regime.

Two things to be aware of. The tax authority’s own landing page still cites the older 2013 law while its FAQ cites the 2025 code — the landing page simply has not been refreshed. And a separate 2026 law amending Greek tonnage tax has nothing to do with TEPAI, despite being cited as though it does.

We have also seen a “TEPADAH” or “TEPADAH Plus” cruising tax described in the charter press, calculated on gross tonnage and charter duration. We could find no primary source for any such tax. TEPAI is calculated on length and calendar months only, and we would treat those references as garbled until someone produces the legislation.

Frequently asked questions

See also our Greece yacht charter guide, our Mediterranean yacht charter guide, and the superyacht charter page for the 35-metre e-Charter Permission rules.