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Agreement Between The United States And Greece
Agreement Between The United States
And Greece
Contents
Introduction 1
Coverage and Social Security taxes 2
Certificate of coverage 3
Monthly benefits 5
A Greek pension may affect your U.S. benefit 7
What you need to know about Medicare 7
Claims for benefits 8
Authority to collect information for a certificate coverage
(see pages 3-4) 9
Contacting Social Security 9
Introduction
An agreement effective September 1, 1994,
between the United States and Greece
improves Social Security protection for people
who work or have worked in both countries. It
helps many people who, without the agreement,
would not be eligible for monthly retirement,
disability or survivors benets under the Social
Security system of one or both countries. It also
helps people who would otherwise have to pay
Social Security taxes to both countries on the
same earnings.
The agreement covers Social Security taxes
(including the U.S. Medicare portion) and Social
Security retirement, disability and survivors
insurance benets. It does not cover benets
under the U.S. Medicare program or the
Supplemental Security Income program.
This booklet covers highlights of the agreement
and explains how it may help you while you
work and when you apply for benets.
The agreement may help you, your
family and your employer
• While you work—If your work is covered
by both the U.S. and Greek Social Security
systems, you (and your employer, if you are
employed) would normally have to pay Social
Security taxes to both countries for the same
work. However, the agreement eliminates
this double coverage so you pay taxes to
only one system (see pages 2-4).
SocialSecurity.gov
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Agreement Between The United States And Greece
• When you apply for benets—You may
have some Social Security credits in both
the U.S. and Greece, but not have enough
to be eligible for benets in one country or
the other. The agreement makes it easier
to qualify for benets by letting you add
together your Social Security credits in
both countries. For more details, see the
section on “Monthly benets” beginning on
page 5.
Coverage and Social Security taxes
Before the agreement, employees, employers
and self-employed people could, under certain
circumstances, be required to pay Social
Security taxes to both the United States and
Greece for the same work.
Under the agreement, if you work as an
employee in the United States, you normally
will be covered by the United States, and you
and your employer will pay Social Security
taxes only to the United States. If you work as
an employee in Greece, you normally will be
covered by Greece, and you and your employer
pay Social Security taxes only to Greece.
On the other hand, if your employer sends you
from one country to work for that employer or an
afliate in the other country for ve years or less,
you will continue to be covered by your home
country and you will be exempt from coverage
in the other country. For example, if a U.S.
company sends an employee to work for that
employer or an afliate in Greece for no more
than ve years, the employer and the employee
will continue to pay only U.S. Social Security
taxes and will not have to pay in Greece.
If you are self-employed and reside in the United
States or Greece, you generally will be covered
and taxed only by the country where you reside.
NOTE: In addition to retirement, disability
and survivors benets, Greek Social Security
taxes cover several other programs, including
health insurance and maternity benets,
unemployment and worker’s compensation
benets and family allowances. As a result,
workers exempted from Greek Social Security
coverage by the agreement pay no Social
Security taxes for these programs and generally
cannot receive benets from them. If the
agreement exempts you from Greek coverage,
you and your employer may wish to arrange for
alternative benet protection.
Summary of agreement rules
The following table shows whether your work is
covered under the U.S. or Greek Social Security
system. If you are covered under U.S. Social
Security, you and your employer (if you are an
employee) must pay U.S. Social Security taxes.
If you are covered under the Greek system, you
and your employer (if you are an employee)
must pay Greek Social Security taxes. The next
section explains how to get a form from the
country where you are covered that will prove
you are exempt in the other country.
Your work status Coverage and taxes
You are working in Greece:
For a U.S. employer who:
• Sent you to work in Greece for ve years or less U.S.
• Sent you to work in Greece for more
than ve years
Greece
• Hired you in Greece Greece
For a non-U.S. employer Greece
For the U.S. government you are a:
• U.S. national U.S. (either Social Security or
federal retirement program)
• Greek national Greece
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Your work status Coverage and taxes
You are working in the U.S.:
For an employer in Greece who:
• Sent you to work in the U.S. for ve years
or less
Greece
• Sent you to work in the U.S. for more than
ve years
U.S.
• Hired you in the U.S. U.S.
For a non-Greek employer U.S.
For the Greek government you are a:
• Greek national Greece
• U.S. citizen U.S.
You are self-employed and you:
• Reside in the U.S. U.S.
• Reside in Greece Greece
If this table does not seem to describe your situation and you are:
• Working in the U.S. Write to the U.S. address on page 10
for further information.
• Working in Greece Write to the U.S. address on page 10
for further information.
NOTE: As the table indicates, a U.S. worker employed in Greece can be covered by U.S. Social Security
only if he or she works for a U.S. employer. A U.S. employer includes a corporation organized under the
laws of the United States or any state, a partnership if at least two-thirds of the partners are U.S. residents,
a person who is a resident of the U.S. or a trust if all the trustees are U.S. residents. The term also includes
a foreign afliate of a U.S. employer if the U.S. employer has entered into an agreement with the Internal
Revenue Service (IRS) under section 3121(l) of the Internal Revenue Code to pay Social Security taxes for
U.S. citizens and residents employed by the afliate.
Certicate of coverage
A certicate of coverage issued by one
country serves as proof of exemption from
Social Security taxes on the same earnings in
the other country.
Certicates for employees
To establish an exemption from compulsory
coverage and taxes under the Greek system,
your employer must request a certicate of
coverage (form USA/GR 1) from the U.S.
at this address:
Social Security Administration
Ofce of International Programs
P.O. Box 17741
Baltimore, MD 21235-7741
USA
If preferred, the request may be sent by FAX to
(410) 966-1861. Please note this FAX number
should only be used to request certicates
of coverage.
No special form is required to request a
certicate but the request must be in writing and
provide the following information:
• Full name of worker;
• Date and place of birth;
• Citizenship;
• Country of worker’s permanent residence;
• U.S. Social Security number;
• Name and address of the employer in the
U.S. and Greece; and
• Date the employment began.
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In addition, your employer must indicate if
you remain an employee of the U.S. company
while working in Greece or if you become an
employee of the U.S. company’s afliate in
Greece. If you become an employee of an
afliate, your employer must indicate if the U.S.
company has an agreement with the IRS under
section 3121(l) of the Internal Revenue Code to
pay U.S. Social Security taxes for U.S. citizens
and residents employed by the afliate and, if
yes, the effective date of the agreement.
Your employer can also request a certicate
of U.S. coverage for you over the Internet
using a special online request form available
at www.socialsecurity.gov/coc. Only an
employer can use the online form to request a
certicate of coverage. A self-employed person
must submit a request by mail or fax.
To establish your exemption from coverage
under the U.S. Social Security system, your
employer in Greece must request a certicate of
coverage (form GR/USA 1) from the local Greek
agency (fund) that collects your Social Security
taxes in Greece.
The same information required for a certicate
of coverage from the United States is needed
to get a certicate from Greece except that you
must also show:
• The Greek fund to which your Greek
contributions are paid; and
• Your Greek Social Security number rather
than your U.S. Social Security number.
Certicates for self-employed people
If you are self-employed and would normally
have to pay Social Security taxes to both the
U.S. and Greek systems, you can establish your
exemption from one of the taxes.
• If you reside in the United States, write to the
Social Security Administration at the address
on page 10; or
• If you reside in Greece, write to the Greek
fund to which you normally pay your Greek
Social Security taxes.
Be sure to provide the following information in
your letter:
• Full name (including maiden name for a
married woman);
• Date and place of birth;
• Citizenship;
• Country of permanent residence;
• U.S. and/or Greek Social Security number;
• Nature of self-employment activity;
• Dates the activity was or will be
performed; and
• Name and address of your trade or business
in both countries.
Eective date of coverage exemption
The certicate of coverage you receive from
one country will show the effective date of your
exemption from paying Social Security taxes in
the other country. Generally, this will be the date
you began working in the other country.
Certicates of coverage issued by Greece
should be retained by the employer in the
United States in case of an audit by the IRS. No
copies should be sent to IRS unless specically
requested by IRS. However, a self-employed
person must attach a photocopy of the
certicate to his or her income tax return each
year as proof of the U.S. exemption.
Copies of certicates of coverage issued by
the United States will be provided for both the
employee and the employer. It will be their
responsibility to present the certi cate to the
Greek authorities when requested to do so. To
avoid any difculties, your employer (or you,
if you are self-employed) should request a
certicate as early as possible, preferably before
your work in the other country begins.
If you or your employer request a certicate of
coverage, you should read the Privacy Act and
Paperwork Reduction Act statements at the end
of this booklet.
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Agreement Between The United States And Greece
Monthly benets
The following table shows the various types
of Social Security benets payable under the
U.S. and Greek Social Security systems and
briey describes the eligibility requirements that
normally apply for each type of benet. If you
do not meet the normal requirements for these
benets, the agreement may help you to qualify
(see page 7).
This table is only a general guide. You can get
more specic information about U.S. benets by
using the contact information on page 10.
You can get more detailed information about the
Greek system by writing to the Greek address
on page 10 or by visiting the website of the
Social Insurance Institute (Idryma Koinonikon
Asfaliseon) at www.ika.gr.
Under U.S. Social Security, you may earn up to
four credits each year depending on the amount
of your covered earnings. The amount needed
to earn a work credit goes up slightly each
year. For more information, see How You Earn
Credits (SSA Publication No. 05-10072).
Under the Greek system, credits are measured
in days. To simplify the information in the table,
U.S. requirements are shown in years of credits.
Retirement or old-age benets
United States Greece
Worker—Full benet at full retirement age.*
Reduced benet as early as age62. Required work
credits range from one and one-half to 10 years
(10 years if age 62 in 1991 or later).
Worker—Full benet payable at age 65 to men and
age 60 to women with at least 4,500 days (15 years)
of contributions. Reduced benets are payable
at age 60 to men and age 55 to women. Workers
who meet certain other requirements (e.g., women
with dependent children, workers in hazardous
occupations or who have over 10,000 days of
contributions) may receive benets at earlier ages.
*The full retirement age is 66 for people born in 1943-1954 and will gradually increase to 67 for people born
in 1960 or later.
Disability benets
United States Greece
Worker—Under full retirement age* can get
benet if unable to do any substantial gainful work
for at least a year. One and one-half to 10 years
credit needed, depending on age at date of onset.
Some recent work credits also needed unless
worker is blind.
Worker—Full benet payable at any age if earnings
capacity is reduced at least 80 percent by an
impairment expected to last for a year or more.
Partial benet payable to workers with at least
50 percent loss of earnings capacity. Must have
300-4,500 days of contributions depending on age at
time of disability and on the cause of the disability. If
less than 4,500 days of contributions, some recent
contributions are also needed.
*The full retirement age is 66 for people born in 1943-1954 and will gradually increase to 67 for people born
in 1960 or later.
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Family benets to dependents of retired or disabled people
United States Greece
Wife—Full benet at full retirement age* or at any
age if caring for the worker’s entitled child under age
16 (or disabled before age 22). Reduced benet as
early as age 62 if not caring for a child.
Wife—No provision. However, supplement paid to
pensioner for a non-working wife.
Husband—Same as wife. Husband—No provision.
Divorced spouse—Full benet at full retirement
age.* Reduced benet as early as age 62. Must be
unmarried and have been married to worker for at
least 10 years.
Divorced spouse—No provision.
Children—If unmarried, up to age 18 (age 19 if in
an elementary or secondary school full time) or any
age if disabled before age 22.
Children—No provision. However, supplement paid
to pensioner for unmarried dependent children under
age 18 (age 24 if full-time student at university or
college) or any age if disabled before age 18.
*The full retirement age is 66 for people born in 1943-1954 and will gradually increase to 67 for people born
in 1960 or later.
Survivors benets
United States Greece
Widow—Full benet at full retirement age* or
at any age if caring for the deceased’s entitled
child under age 16 (or disabled before age 22).
Reduced benet as early as age 60 (or age 50
if disabled) if not caring for child. Benets may
be continued if remarriage occurs after age 60
(or age 50 if disabled).
Widow—Benet payable at any age if the deceased
worker was entitled to retirement or disability benets
or met specic contribution requirements. Marriage
must have lasted at least six months (two years if
the deceased worker was receiving retirement or
disability benets). Both the contribution requirement
and marriage requirement may be waived for certain
reasons such as a work-related accidental death.
Widower—Same as widow. Widower—Same as widow if disabled and
dependent on worker.
Divorced widow(er)—Same as widow(er) if
marriage lasted at least 10 years.
Divorced widow(er)—No provision.
Children—Same as for children of retired or
disabled worker.
Children—Up to age 18 (age 24 if full-time student
at university or college) or any age if disabled before
age 18.
Other family members—Under certain conditions,
dependent parent age 62 or older.
Other family members—If there is no entitled
widow, widower or orphan, benets may be payable
to dependent grandchildren and parents.
Lump-sum death benet—A one-time payment
not to exceed $255 payable on the death of an
insured worker.
Funeral grant—None. However, a one-time
sickness insurance payment may be payable
to the spouse or to the person who paid the
burial expenses.
*The full retirement age is 66 for people born in 1943-1954 and will gradually increase to 67 for people born
in 1960 or later.
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How benets can be paid
If you have Social Security credits in both the
United States and Greece, you may be eligible
for benets from one or both countries. If you
meet all the basic requirements under one
country’s system, you will get a regular benet
from that country. If you do not meet the basic
requirements, the agreement may help you
qualify for a benet as explained below.
• Benets from the U.S.—If you do not have
enough work credits under the U.S. system
to qualify for regular benets, you may be
able to qualify for a partial benet from
the United States based on both U.S. and
Greek credits. However, to be eligible to
have your Greek credits counted, you must
have earned at least six credits (generally
one and one-half years of work) under the
U.S. system. If you already have enough
credits under the U.S. system to qualify for a
benet, the United States cannot count your
Greek credits.
• Benets from Greece—Social Security
credits from both countries also can be
counted, when necessary, to meet the
eligibility requirements for Greek benets.
To be eligible to have your U.S. and Greek
credits counted, you must have at least
300 days of coverage credited under the
Greek system.
How credits get counted
You do not have to do anything to have your
credits in one country counted by the other
country. If we need to count your credits under
the Greek system to help you qualify for a
U.S. benet, we will get a copy of your Greek
record directly from Greece when you apply for
benets. If Greek ofcials need to count your
U.S. credits to help you qualify for a Greek
benet, they will get a copy of your U.S. record
directly from the Social Security Administration
when you apply for the Greek benet.
Although each country may count your credits
in the other country, your credits are not actually
transferred from one country to the other. They
remain on your record in the country where you
earned them and also can be used to qualify for
benets there.
Computation of U.S. benet under
the agreement
When a U.S. benet becomes payable as a
result of counting both U.S. and Greek Social
Security credits, an initial benet is determined
based on your U.S. earnings as if your entire
career had been completed under the U.S.
system. This initial benet is then reduced to
reect the fact that Greek credits helped to
make the benet payable. The amount of the
reduction will depend on the number of U.S.
credits: the more U.S. credits, the smaller the
reduction; and the fewer U.S. credits, the larger
the reduction.
A Greek pension may aect your
U.S. benet
If you qualify for Social Security benets
from both the United States and Greece
and did not need the agreement to qualify
for either benet, the amount of your U.S.
benet may be reduced. This is a result of a
provision in U.S. law that can affect the way
your benet is gured if you also receive a
pension based on work that was not covered
by U.S. Social Security. For more information,
ask for Windfall Elimination Provision
(Publication No. 05-10045). If you are outside
the United States, you may write to us at the
address on page 10.
What you need to know
about Medicare
Medicare is the U.S. national health insurance
program for people age 65 or older or who are
disabled. Medicare has four parts:
• Hospital insurance (Part A) helps pay
for inpatient hospital care and certain
follow-up services.
• Medical insurance (Part B) helps pay for
doctors’ services, outpatient hospital care
and other medical services.
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• Medicare Advantage plans (Part C) are
available in many areas. People with
Medicare Parts A and B can choose to
receive all of their health care services
through a provider organization under Part C.
• Prescription drug coverage (Part D) helps
pay for medications doctors prescribe for
medical treatment.
You are eligible for free hospital insurance at
age 65 if you have worked long enough under
U.S. Social Security to qualify for a retirement
benet. People born in 1929 or later need 40
credits (about 10 years of covered work) to
qualify for retirement benets.
Although the agreement between the United
States and Greece allows the Social Security
Administration to count your Greek credits to
help you qualify for U.S. retirement, disability
or survivors benets, the agreement does
not cover Medicare benets. As a result, we
cannot count your credits in Greece to establish
entitlement to free Medicare hospital insurance.
For more information about Medicare,
call our toll-free number, 1-800-772-1213,
and ask for the publication, Medicare
(Publication No. 05-10043) or visit Medicare’s
website at www.medicare.gov.
Claims for benets
If you live in the United States and wish to apply
for U.S. or Greek benets:
• Visit or write any U.S. Social Security
ofce; or
• Phone our toll-free number, 1-800-772-1213,
7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday-Friday. People who
are deaf or hard of hearing may call our TTY
number, 1-800-325-0778.
You can apply for Greek benets at any
U.S. Social Security ofce by completing an
application form SSA-2490.
If you live in Greece and wish to apply for U.S.
or Greek benets, contact:
• The Federal Benets Unit at the U.S.
Embassy in Athens (phone 1-720-2426) to
le for U.S. benets; or
• Any Greek Social Security ofce to le for
Greek benets.
You can apply with one country and ask to
have your application considered as a claim for
benets from the other country. Information from
your application will then be sent to the other
country. Each country will process the claim
under its own laws—counting credits from the
other country when appropriate—and notify you
of its decision.
If you have not applied for benets before, you
may need to provide certain information and
documents when you apply. These include
the worker’s U.S. and Greek Social Security
numbers, proof of age for all claimants (Greek
birth certicate if you were born in Greece),
evidence of the worker’s U.S. earnings in the
past 24 months and information about the
worker’s coverage under the Greek system
including the original insurance booklet from
Greece. You may wish to call the Social Security
ofce before you go there to see if any other
information is needed.
Payment of benets
Each country pays its own benet. U.S.
payments are made by the U.S. Department of
Treasury each month and cover benets for the
preceding month. Payments under the Greek
system are made near the end of each month
for the following month.
Absence from U.S. territory
Normally, people who are not U.S. citizens
may receive U.S. Social Security benets
while outside the U.S. only if they meet certain
requirements. Under the agreement, however,
you may receive benets as long as you reside
in Greece regardless of your nationality. If
you are not a U.S. citizen and live in another
country, you may not be able to receive
benets. The restrictions on U.S. benets are
explained in the publication, Your Payments
While You Are Outside The United States
(Publication No. 05-10137).
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Appeals
If you disagree with the decision made on your
claim for benets under the agreement, contact
any U.S. or Greek Social Security ofce. The
people there can tell you what you need to do to
appeal the decision.
The Greek Social Security authorities will
review your appeal if it affects your rights under
the Greek system, while U.S. Social Security
authorities will review your appeal if it affects
your rights under the U.S. system. Since each
country’s decisions are made independently
of the other, a decision by one country on a
particular issue may not always conform with
the decision made by the other country on the
same issue.
Authority to collect information
for a certicate coverage
(see pages 3-4)
Privacy Act
The Privacy Act requires us to notify you that
we are authorized to collect this information by
section 233 of the Social Security Act. While it is
not mandatory for you to furnish the information
to the Social Security Administration, a
certicate of coverage cannot be issued unless
a request has been received. The information is
needed to enable Social Security to determine
if work should be covered only under the U.S.
Social Security system in accordance with an
international agreement. Without the certicate,
work may be subject to taxation under both the
U.S. and the foreign Social Security systems.
Paperwork Reduction Act Notice
This information collection meets the clearance
requirements of 44 U.S.C. section 3507,
as amended by section 2 of the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995. You are not required
to answer these questions unless we display a
valid Ofce of Management and Budget control
number. We estimate that it will take you about
30 minutes to read the instructions, gather the
necessary facts, and write down the information
to request a certicate of coverage.
Contacting Social Security
Visit our website
The most convenient way to conduct Social
Security business from anywhere at any
time, is to visit www.socialsecurity.gov.
There, you can:
• Apply for retirement, disability, and
Medicare benets;
• Find copies of our publications;
• Get answers to frequently asked
questions; and
• So much more!
Call us
If you don’t have access to the internet, we
offer many automated services by telephone,
24 hours a day, 7 days a week. If you’re in the
United States, call us toll-free at 1-800-772-1213
or at our TTY number, 1-800-325-0778, if you’re
deaf or hard of hearing.
If you need to speak to a person, we can answer
your calls from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through
Friday. We ask for your patience during busy
periods since you may experience a higher than
usual rate of busy signals and longer hold times
to speak to us. We look forward to serving you.
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For more information
To le a claim for U.S. or Greek benets
under the agreement, follow the instructions on
pages 8-9.
To nd out more about U.S. Social Security
benets or for information about a claim for
benets, contact any U.S. Social Security ofce
or call our toll-free number at 1-800-772-1213.
If you live outside the United States, write to:
Social Security Administration
OIO—Totalization
P.O. Box 17049
Baltimore, MD 21235-7049
USA
For more information about Greece’s Social
Security programs, visit any Social Security
ofce in Greece. If you do not live in Greece,
write to:
Social Security Institute
Division of International Relations
8, Agiou Konstantinou Str.
10241 Athens
GREECE
If you do not wish to le a claim for benets
but would like more information about the
agreement, write to:
Social Security Administration
Ofce of International Programs
P.O. Box 17741
Baltimore, Maryland 21235-7741
USA
For additional information visit our website:
www.socialsecurity.gov/international
Social Security Administration
Publication No. 05-10193
August 2017
Agreement Between The United States And Greece
Produced and published at U.S. taxpayer expense
