Together for the taxpayer – Finnish Tax Administration's Year 2020

The Director General’s review of 2020

In this video, our Director General Markku Heikura is in Sipoonkorpi to talk about our values, our performance in 2020 and our future challenges.

We want to be where our customers are, which is why we decided to shoot this video in a national park, as their significance became emphasised in terms of the happiness and wellbeing of Finnish people during the exceptional year. In this hiking area, one of the most popular attractions in Southern Finland, the Sipoonkorpi bridge connects two municipalities. In this setting, the Director General talks about our values, our performance in 2020 and our future challenges.

The duration of the video is approximately 7 minutes.

Together for the taxpayer – Finnish Tax Administration's Year 2020 (Youtube)

Tax revenue decreased in 2020

We now have the initial figures for the tax revenue for 2020. The Tax Administration collected a total of €69.2 billion in taxes for the common good. This is 1.6% less than in 2019. The decrease is due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“The decrease in tax revenue is moderate. It looks like we survived last year better than we had feared. The amount of tax collected in the spring of 2020 was clearly smaller than in the previous spring, but in the autumn tax revenue was already much closer to normal,” says Markku Heikura, Director General of the Tax Administration.

The tax revenue figures do not yet show the exact amounts of individual income tax and corporate income tax collected in 2020. We will have the exact figures in the spring as tax returns are filed and the tax assessment process is finalised. For example, taxpayers will file deductions and other expenses affecting the previous year’s tax assessment in ways that are not yet known. The Tax Administration finalises the tax assessment of all taxpayers by the end of October 2021, and then we will have the final figures.

For taxation reaching into the future

For several decades now, the Finnish Tax Administration has worked hard for smoother taxation. We have moved on from pencils and stacks of receipts to the era of the digital MyTax service, while technologies have been increasingly harnessed to reduce the tax gap for the common good.

It is no coincidence that Finland is one of the most tax-compliant countries in the world, or that Finland’s tax expertise raises interest in many different countries. The Tax Administration is indisputably a model citizen of the digital age.

The Tax Administration’s systematic work for taxation reaching into the future is highlighted more attractively in the Annual Report.

Our performance in 2020 is particularly reflected in terms of our future strategic goals.

The Finnish Tax Administration’s operating environment and the activities and needs of our customers are often changing as a result of new business models and ways of working. We need to keep up with this change and make our activities more customer-driven to secure the accrual of tax revenue for society, also in the future.

Our strategic goals

Securing tax revenue, fair taxation and a positive customer experience are our strategic goals. Customer-orientation is a principle that intersects with our activities. We want to provide our customers with solutions that meet their demands and make their activities easier so that taxation is as hassle-free as possible. We have fulfilled our goals through such undertakings as the “Customer solutions, products and operating methods” project.

In June 2020, we decided to reform our guidance. We wanted to steer our activities from an organisation-driven to a more customer-driven direction. This reform was based on customers, products and taxation. We have three goals for customer-driven activities: improved customer experience, lowered customer demand and secured tax revenue. Customer-driven activities require us to thoroughly understand our customers and their needs, and to use this data in our activities, guidance and development so as to make our customers’ activities easier and to secure tax revenue.

In terms of organisation, this reform decision meant that we decided to dissolve the Taxpayer Services, Individual Taxation, Development and IT Services, Tax Collection and Corporate Taxation Units, and to distribute their functions to three new units to be established at the beginning of 2021. From now on, the Taxation Unit will bring all taxation activities together and ensure the effectiveness, reliability and integrity of taxation. The Customer Relations Unit will ensure that we provide different customer groups with customer solutions that meet their demands – solutions that make tax services so easy that the need for services is minimised or even eliminated altogether. The Product Management Unit will be responsible for ensuring that we have effective customer-driven products that meet the needs of taxation and customer accounts.

In addition to the customer-driven approach, our daily activities are affected by the operating model that supports reform and self-guidance, and makes data- and goal-based management part of our day-to-day work. The shared operating model helps us to work driven by goals and supported by data, and to guide our activities while being able to continuously improve our activities. Roughly half of all Tax Administration employees are already working in line with the shared operating model. It will expand to all parts of the Tax Administration by 2022.

Securing tax revenue in the changing and digitalising world calls for new ways of working. Prime Minister Sanna Marin’s Government Programme has defined the following goal: “Companies’ financial management will make a transition to full automation by deploying electronic receipts and invoices in a structured format.”

We aim to respond to this challenge and build services that make the fulfilment of official obligations as easy and cost-effective as possible, not forgetting the inclusion of small enterprises. The goal is that taxation is a seamless part of companies’ daily activities. Through digital services, companies can use the same data in business and official reporting.

Digital financial solutions make the daily activities of small and medium-sized enterprises easier

Taxation needs to be based on volumes of different specified data on finances and payments that can be automated. Most financial data is already available in electronic, i.e. digital, format, and data can also be sent to different parties fairly easily.

Larger companies have automated their data reporting processes, while SMEs still have a long way to go on their way to digital services. We want to provide support in this.

By conducting surveys, we have identified the willingness of small entrepreneurs to increase automation. For example, most small entrepreneurs would like pre-completed VAT returns. This type of development requires the spread of digitalisation in financial management.

Better services through real-time taxation data

The goal is to build an electronic business area in the Nordic countries where data can be transferred automatically, securely and in real time from company to company and from companies to the authorities. Automated processes also improve the efficiency of operations and free resources. The development of digital services for SMEs continues together with public organisations and companies, as well as their stakeholders. Together, we will change operations and the working culture to be more digital and smoother.

On 1 September 2020, Nordic ministers of economic affairs approved the Nordic Smart Government (NSG) project’s action plan to implement the real-time economy in the Nordic countries. The NSG 3.0 project was completed in 2020, while some of its goals will move on to the national project programme. According to the Government Programme, the new goals for the real-time economy were set in the spring of 2020 for the digitalisation of financial management in companies, and the project was named Real Time Economy (RTE). The development of the digital economy of SMEs will continue in close cooperation with public organisations and companies, as well as their stakeholders.

The RTE project is based on matters identified during the NSG project, such as how financial data can be transferred between systems in standard and computer readable format, and in real time, from one company to another and from companies to authorities. For example, receipts and invoices must be available as online invoices and e-receipts to enable the automated exchange of data.

The NSG 3.0 project prepared specifications and feasibility studies for the legislation and technology required. In addition, a roadmap for the real-time economy in the Nordic countries was prepared during the project.

The promotion of the digital economy for SMEs will continue. One of the goals is to broadly adopt electronic invoices and receipts.

The vision of the digital economy for enterprises is a national ecosystem, which is interoperable with other Nordic countries. Digitalisation produces cost savings and opens up opportunities to have whole value chains operate in real time. The project’s goals are expected to be achieved by 2023.

RTE is a joint project between authorities, companies and organisations. In addition to the Finnish Patent and Registration Office, its members are the Finnish Tax Administration, the State Treasury and Statistics Finland.

A timeout for the reform of the VAT return

The Finnish Tax Administration has prepared the reform of the data content of the VAT return in cooperation with taxpayers and stakeholders. The new VAT return was to be deployed in 2022. However, its deployment has been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

There was a clear need to change the data content of the VAT return because, compared with many other countries, the Finnish VAT return is brief in terms of its data content. The VAT return has remained almost in its current format ever since the Value Added Tax Act entered into force more than 25 years ago.

The current VAT return causes an administrative burden for taxpayers and supervisory challenges for the Finnish Tax Administration. A new return would give us a better overview of business activities subject to VAT, in which case we would be able to guide and supervise taxpayers in a more targeted and real-time manner.

The Finnish Tax Administration aims to promote wellbeing in society

The digitalisation of business activities took a giant leap forward when the Finnish Tax Administration tested the electronic establishment of a company for a non-Finnish person and the real-time transfer of business data reliably between different organisations. The test showed that services of Finnish and non-Finnish companies can be improved quickly if business data can be transferred in computer readable format between different parties based on the authorisation of a company’s representative. The test also involved the Finnish Patent and Registration Office, the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra, the Digital and Population Data Services Agency, Digital Living and Nixu.

The Finnish Tax Administration tested the use of digital business data through open application programming interfaces on Sitra’s IHAN test platform for the fair data economy. The goal is to develop a service that makes it smoother to establish non-Finnish companies in Finland. The test used private and public data authorised by a company and obtained, for example, from the Finnish Patent and Registration Office, which is responsible for the registration of companies and the maintenance of the Trade Register. The participating company’s public registration data from the Finnish Patent and Registration Office was linked to the service.

The test proved that business activities become much easier by enabling the electronic transfer of financial data.

The test also highlighted observations of obstacles related, for example, to the lack of a shared digital personal identity and identification in the private and public sectors, as well as to legislation related to data processing.

An experimental culture has been part of our activities for several years now.

A little over a year ago, we got off to a speedy start in terms of a tribal approach, first by experimenting with self-direction and multi-talented teams so that the experiment was finally established as part of analysts’ activities.

The operating method based on a tribal model will also be introduced in the Customer Relations Unit in the spring of 2021. We are not jumping into the unknown, as the Customer Relations Unit’s analysts already have practical experience in the tribal approach.  One of the goals is to produce customer-driven services suitable for ecosystem thinking. We can achieve this by having goal-driven and agile teams that listen and are ready for rapid experiments in their work.

The experiences of more than 50 analysts, who reported a high job satisfaction and work productivity, have also inspired us to apply the operating model.

We continue to develop our customer understanding in analytics, for example, towards a holistic human insight mindset. The idea is to explore how we can improve our internal services regarding tribal products and services – how we can improve proactivity and support segmenting and profiling beyond numerical divisions.

We are also planning a situation room to bring together and demonstrate all the information produced by each tribe of analysts. The situation room will verify how knowledge can be produced together, in concrete terms. A single room will be used to present data sources, generate real-time analyses and report them understandably.

The impact balance is built in multi-talented teams

We want to know what factors have an impact on taxpayer behaviour and tax revenue. Whenever there are changes in the operating environment, affecting taxpayers or the Tax Administration’s activities, the impact of these changes will be assessed by combining data collections with existing data or the changed situation will be evaluated by using impact balance data. 

In 2020, we started to put together all the factors that affect the impact balance and that we want to examine considering our activities. By working on the impact balance, we generate information on the impact of actions initiated by the tax authorities in relation to taxpayer behaviour, tax type-specific tax revenue and trust towards the Tax Administration.  When completed, the impact balance will cover data on the impact of communication, guidance, advice, and tax control.

Empirical data on tax risk management will be combined with impact balance data. We will also address the use of the personnel resources required for these activities. This will strengthen the Tax Administration’s ability to build an overview of the competence requirements set by actions taken at the initiative of the authorities.  At the beginning of 2021, this construction work, which emphasises determination, will continue in terms of individual and corporate income tax functions.

Completed in March 2020, the VALMIS project replaced some 70 end-of-life tax systems with a single off-the-shelf software product. At the same time, legislation was also amended and the Finnish Tax Administration’s internal operating processes were updated. The MyTax e-service was launched to customers.

It was the largest development project in the Tax Administration’s history, and also unique considering the whole of Finland. The project has raised international attention and, on the basis of its experiences, the Tax Administration has written a manual on the deployment of the off-the-shelf tax software for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

LinkedIn articles on the VALMIS project (in Finnish only):

• Ei vain uusi IT-järjestelmä – kokemuksiani Valmis-hankkeen peräsimestä
• Suuri muutos vaatii johtamista, yhteistyötä ja tukea
• Moottorin vaihto vauhdissa
• Näin syntyi käsikirja siitä, miten elefantti syödään

New technologies open up opportunities to meet the needs of taxation

The Tax Administration has various routines that our specialists need to carry out in different parts of our administration. By using new technologies, such as software robotics, we can automate routines more easily than by using conventional data system projects, allowing our specialists to focus on the interpretation and deduction of tax-related matters that require expertise.

Robotics opens up excellent opportunities to develop our work, such as analytics and software development, so that we can be more agile and professional in responding to the needs of taxpayers and stakeholders.

Chatbot Virtanen had more than 300,000 conversations with customers

Chatbot Virtanen started working in November 2019, first by helping customers in tax card-related matters, and soon afterwards it also started to provide guidance in other tax-related matters for individual taxpayers. In April 2020, Virtanen also started to help customers in MyTax, resulting in a significant increase in the number of conversations. In May, Virtanen also started to provide guidance in Swedish.

During 2020, Virtanen had a total of 318,974 conversations with customers. Of these, Virtanen forwarded 57,873, or roughly 18.1% of all conversations, to human officials. The busiest day was during the tax return season in spring: on May 4, Virtanen had 5,827 conversations during a single day. Based on the calculated average of 120 conversations per day, providing a similar service with human officials alone would require additional personnel resources of 12 person-years.

Virtanen’s skills are being developed and expanded continuously, with corporate tax matters being the next in line.

AI learns

The Tax Administration participated in the campaign to donate speech, because we want to do our part in developing speech recognition, covering Finnish in all its various forms – including dialects, pauses and any hesitations. The campaign to donate speech collected samples of freely spoken Finnish until the end of 2020 so that we can all teach speaking smart devices and robots to truly understand Finnish. As a result of this development, we will be able to use voice-controlled devices and services even better.

One interesting AI experiment carried out at the Tax Administration is also related to speech recognition. The Tax Administration receives some two million calls a year. We want to use these calls to better understand our customers in tax-related matters so that we can develop our operating methods. Calls involve loads of manual routines. Our goal is to harness AI so that voice is first converted into text, then classified automatically and finally analysed.

Robots test tax software and monitor emails

Software robotics is ideal for situations where data is in digital and organised format, and the workflow involves unambiguous rules.

For example, the Tax Administration has used software robots since 2016 in testing the GenTax software. Currently, testing involves close to 30 software robots. The purpose of these robots is to ensure that GenTax works as intended, even though its different parts undergo constant changes. One of the advantages of automated testing is speed: a similar testing volume would not be possible manually, as it would require hundreds, or even thousands, of people. However, it is more useful to conduct some tests manually, also in the future. These include situations that are subject to consideration.

Robots can replace various manual routines. For example, a software robot was deployed in 2020 to monitor the tax collection email inbox. Every month, some 1,500–3,000 messages are received in the inbox from collection stakeholders, such as courts of law and estate administrators. The robot transfers these emails and their attachments directly to the GenTax work queue for processing. It is estimated that this saves 1.9 person-years of manual work.

APIs make data transfers between taxpayers and the Tax Administration smoother

An application programming interface (API) is a bus built between software to transfer data from taxpayers to the Tax Administration, or the other way round.

When software is directly connected to the Tax Administration through an API, filers do not need to separately log in to MyTax, complete a return and then submit it. Data can also be used the other way round through APIs: for example, payers of wages can check their employees’ current tax rate through their software, without employees needing to send their tax card to their employer.

Through APIs, the Tax Administration receives reported data quickly and in the correct format directly in its systems. APIs also reduce the need for services, as data can also be sent outside automatically.

The Tax Administration is already providing different APIs for its software, and there is more to come. At the end of 2020 and at the beginning of 2021, APIs were deployed for checking the tax rate and for submitting reports on the platform economy and car taxation.

In ten years, the Finnish Tax Administration has experienced many changes, while the largest change has taken place in our mindset. Our ways of working have been completely revised from the start, down to every detail.

At the end of 2019, the State Treasury defined that responsibility should be part of the reporting practices of all government agencies and ministries. This gave birth to the “Making responsibility visible” pilot project. Its goal was to build a harmonised framework for responsibility reporting, based on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

In 2020, members of the pilot group for responsibility reporting were the State Treasury, the Finnish Tax Administration, the Office of the President of the Republic of Finland, and the National Land Survey of Finland.

During the pilot project, we prepared the Tax Administration’s first responsibility report, consisting not only of the environmental perspective, but also of elements of social responsibility.

Our activities are evaluated using different indicators and, for example, we calculate our carbon footprint every year. Responsible work has paid off during all these years. In 2020, the Tax Administration’s carbon dioxide emissions were 4,427 tCO2 kg. Our strategic goal is to increase digital services. The consumption of paper and energy has decreased as the ways of working and services have become increasingly digital. Furthermore, the wellbeing and job satisfaction of employees are measured annually.

During 2020, we also participated in such responsibility events as the WWF Earth Hour, the Energy Saving Week, the Kilometrikisa cycling competition and the European Week for Waste Reduction.

In December 2020, the WWF conducted remote Green Office audits as agreed, with all audited locations fulfilling the Green Office criteria. As a result, these locations can continue to use the WWF Green Office diploma and label.

More sensible use of resources by automating tasks

The efficiency of a significant part of the Tax Administration’s operations can be improved by developing and automating processes. To this end, a broad range of options are available, such as the development of the tax software, the use of analytics and software robotics, and the continuous improvement of working methods. The Tax Administration has a team of process designers whose task is to help to find suitable areas for automation and applicable automation methods.

We contribute to Finland adopting ethically sustainable AI technologies and international procedures. We also have an impact on legal amendments. We speak openly of the tasks in which AI is used.

Security is built together

We know that we must work hard every day to maintain safety. This is why secure services and operating methods are at the core of our activities. In 2020, we invested in the continuous development of our security activities. A record-high number of security training events were arranged for the personnel, despite the exceptional circumstances. “Security is built together” was the slogan that guided our security activities.

White hat hackers tested the Incomes Register and MyTax more extensively

The use of bug bounty programs has become an established part of information security testing at the Tax Administration. White hat hackers were first used in 2017 as part of ensuring the Tax Administration’s level of information security. In 2020, the use of white hats was expanded to the Incomes Register’s e-service, and it was re-launched in MyTax.

Bug bounty programs provide means to regularly test the information security of our electronic services. Bug bounty programs encourage a group of information security specialists, or white hats, to detect information security vulnerabilities in systems. The skills of white hats are used to make data systems even more secure. Bug bounty means that the larger the bugs hackers can detect are, the larger the bounty is. The amount of the bounty is proportionate to the significance of the risk detected.

Investments in the cybersecurity awareness of Tax Administration employees

In 2020, we held our first cybersecurity month at the Tax Administration. Held every year in October, the cybersecurity month is a concept launched by the EU to pay special attention to digital security. During the cybersecurity month, we published newsletters on different areas of cybersecurity in our intranet. The aim was to increase the cybersecurity awareness of all our employees.

We measured the level of cybersecurity skills by conducting a security survey, to which 20% of our employees responded.

By engaging in international cooperation, we can have an impact on decisions made on an international scale, obtain information, and exchange experiences and ideas regarding challenges, successful practices, and any problems that may arise.

The goal of international activities is to obtain benefits for the Finnish Tax Administration and society at large. Another goal is to help to strengthen Finland’s image as a pioneer in good governance.

International stakeholder cooperation took a global digital leap in spring and shifted to online meetings

International stakeholder cooperation has previously meant physical meetings across the globe, with only few meetings having been held in virtual environments. As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, international organisations and tax administrations took a rapid digital leap, and meetings were transferred to online platforms immediately in March and April 2020. However, this change was not completely free of challenges, because there are many online platforms available, some of which involve information security problems.

At the COVID-19 meeting of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) held in April, we demonstrated our remote working practices and our rapid shift to remote working throughout the Finnish Tax Administration in March. This raised significant attention among other tax administrations and, since April, we have held several country-specific meetings to share our remote working skills.

The OECD started the new Commissioner Conversations article series by interviewing our Director General Markku Heikura regarding our remote working practices.

This digital leap was also global, and our development cooperation project with the tax administration of Tanzania has continued by means of online missions, meetings, and training. Virtual training has been a particular success.

Finland chaired the 2020 Nordic Agenda

Nordic cooperation between tax administrations has been organised under the Nordic Agenda. Goals of this cooperation include tax compliance, service, and effectiveness. Cooperation is being carried out through 20 projects and working groups that meet regularly.

Key accomplishments during Finland’s presidency:

• launching the update of the Nordisk eTax website under Finland’s leadership
• article on preventing identity misuse published at vero.fi
• Nordic training to identify money laundering and terrorist financing
• a Nordic overview of coronavirus threats, which has been used in Finland in cooperation with the National Bureau of Investigation and Finnish Customs.

Finland also held the annual Nordic meeting of Director Generals, this time in a virtual environment.

The Finnish Tax Administration is supporting the tax administration of Cyprus in its off-the-shelf software project

The Tax Administration’s VALMIS project, during which the Tax Administration’s internal data systems and its customers’ electronic services were updated, has for years raised interest internationally. We have held a number of workshops, hosted visits and presented our project at international meetings.

In September, we launched a project funded by the EU’s DG Reform to support the tax administration of Cyprus in its off-the-shelf software project. The support project will take three years and involve some 15 Tax Administration specialists in different fields as part-time project members. The support project will be carried out in close cooperation with HAUS International.

The coronavirus pandemic and the resulting exceptional circumstances had an impact on many people’s lives and on many companies’ operations.

This situation also called for a new kind of customer understanding, agility and detailed communication from the Finnish Tax Administration. We aimed to interact constantly with taxpayers and the representatives of our stakeholders to help our customers to succeed in their lives in the best possible way.

Our key message was that nearly all tax-related matters can be taken care of in MyTax. Of our service channels, the chat and telephone services helped our customers, and we requested them to book an appointment if their matters so required. There were some changes in the opening hours of our tax offices, and we communicated them to our customers.

In tax matters related to different life situations, we provided our customers with advice and guidance. For example, we provided tax card-related guidance for customers who were laid off or at the risk of being laid off and for non-Finnish workers. Due to the coronavirus situation, many individuals and entrepreneurs sought new ways to make a living remotely. As a result, earnings were accumulated from social media platforms, streaming services and funding campaigns subject to a charge, to name a few. Income earned from such sources is taxable income, and we provided taxpayers with appropriate guidance.

We provided information on the right to deduct face mask costs in the taxation of employees who needed them in their work. Those who needed face masks in their work can deduct these costs as expenses for the production of income. Those who needed face masks when commuting between their home and workplace using public transportation were able to deduct face mask costs from travel expenses starting from 13 August.

To reduce any financial difficulties arising from the pandemic, the fringe benefit decision was changed temporarily regarding the application of the meal benefit to food delivery costs. On 19 August 2020, the Tax Administration extended the validity of these regulations to 31 December 2020.

Companies were able to request refunds for VAT paid in January, February and March 2020 by submitting a payment arrangement request. There was a fairly steady flow of requests, and the opportunity to obtain a VAT refund did not show any clear peak or increase in demand. Some 4,500 taxpayers requested a VAT refund by submitting a payment arrangement request.

Municipalities received a higher share of corporate income tax than before in the 2020 tax year

The act governing transfers to tax recipients (Verontilityslaki 532/1998) and the act on income tax (Tuloverolaki 1535/1992) were amended as part of measures to support municipalities during the coronavirus epidemic. The aim was to safeguard the preconditions to provide basic services and alleviate the financial challenges faced by municipalities due to the exceptional circumstances. These amendments applied to the tax year of 2020 and entered into force on 15 July 2020.

The act governing transfers to tax recipients was amended so that municipalities received ten percentage points more than before from corporate income tax revenue. Following the amendment, the share of municipalities was 42.13% (previously 32.13%). The government’s share from the tax was reduced by the same amount, being 57.87% (previously 67.87%). Corresponding amendments were made to the act on income tax.

The Tax Administration adjusted settlements concerning the tax year of 2020 in its first settlement following the entry into force of the act. As a result of the adjustment, municipalities received an increase of €227 million in corporate income tax in July 2020.

Changes to VAT on medical equipment and joint procurement for COVID-19

On 3 April 2020, the European Commission issued a decision to exempt medical equipment imported from outside the EU from the payment of duties and VAT. The aim of the decision was to financially facilitate the procurement of the medical equipment required by physicians, nurses and patients. The European Commission later extended the duty- and VAT-free importing of medical equipment for COVID-19 until 30 April 2021.

The Value Added Tax Act was also amended temporarily so that the domestic sale of equipment used to prevent, test and treat COVID-19 and intra-community acquisitions of such equipment became exempt from VAT (486/2020). This applies to sales to the public sector. The amendment supplements the tax exemption applied to the imports of such equipment.

Combating the shadow economy ensures fair competition for companies

The Finnish Tax Administration plays a major role in combating the shadow economy, and handling tax-related and other forms of economic crime. Cooperation and information exchange between the Tax Administration and other authorities ensures a holistic approach to monitoring, identifying and combating various shadow economy phenomena.

On 11 June 2020, the Government approved a strategy and action plan for tackling the shadow economy and economic crime in 2020–2023. Combating the shadow economy focuses on prevention, the improved exchange of information and cooperation between the authorities. The Tax Administration’s shadow economy combating team was closely involved in the preparation of the strategy and various projects under the action plan, either as the leader or as a participant.

We improved the efficiency of information exchange between authorities

Effective exchange of information between the authorities is one of the keys to combating the shadow economy. The exchange of information between the authorities is developed in a joint working group whose members are key data controllers and data users.

In 2020, we published a number of reports on the shadow economy, for example, regarding underpayment and invoicing service companies. We prepared 800,000 obligation compliance reports to support the activities of the authorities. Monitoring coronavirus subsidies granted for companies, in particular, increased demand for obligation compliance reports. These reports were used by food control authorities.

The authorities publish joint snapshots of the shadow economy and financial crime online on the “Grey economy & economic crime” website, which is coordinated by the Grey Economy Information Unit. The website provides an overview of the scope of the shadow economy, current phenomena, ongoing official projects and prevention measures, and tips on correct behaviour for companies and individuals.

We increased awareness of combating the shadow economy

In the fight against the shadow economy, we allocated resources to preventive measures by increasing awareness of shadow economy phenomena and methods of committing fraud.

We provided various training events for other authorities and stakeholders regarding the shadow economy and related phenomena. For example, the training programme to monitor money laundering and terrorist financing, prepared under Finland’s leadership, was used in training provided both inside the Tax Administration and for stakeholders. In this field, we were engaged in cooperation with the tax administrations of other Nordic countries.

A data package for identity misuse and its identification was prepared in Nordic cooperation. In addition, we extended our urban cooperation with the Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority (FCCA). A risk assessment of the impact of coronavirus on the shadow economy was prepared in Nordic cooperation. Finland also joined FCInet, an international information exchange system being piloted for the investigation of economic crime.

Functions specialised in the prevention of aggravated tax fraud continued to produce good results, with 90% of investigated cases leading to taxes being levied and 75% of these being considered for reporting to the police in 2020. The number of real-time inspections conducted simultaneously with the criminal investigation authorities decreased, especially due to congestion in the Police of Finland’s economic crime investigations in the Helsinki region.

The shadow economy specialists’ control of self-assessed taxes and registration effectively prevented groundless tax refunds and registrations. In the case of self-assessed taxes, taxation action was taken as a result of about a third of the cases being controlled. In addition, control impulses were forwarded to other processes regarding shadow economy observations, or memos were prepared for the consideration of reporting to the police. The cases that led to removal from the register on the basis of the observations made caused tax losses of € 5,000 on average per each month they were included in the register. It is estimated that tax losses of about €19.7 million were prevented by means of registrations in 2020 (€18.7 million in 2019).

The Tax Administration has been engaged in active cooperation in combating the shadow economy in all its different forms. Of all shadow economy tax auditors, 29 served as liaisons for information exchange and operational activities with different authorities. The new strategy and action plan for tackling the shadow economy and economic crime was approved in June 2020. The “Identity misuse and refund fraud” project was established for 2021–2023, and its recruitments and preparations were completed in the autumn of 2020. In addition, the Tax Administration participated actively in working groups led by different ministries and authorities, such as the working group of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment to prevent human trafficking. Instead, there were unusually few joint monitoring projects with other authorities in 2020 due to coronavirus restrictions. However, observations of different cases of neglect and misuse were still made actively in areas controlled by other authorities, and information on these was provided independently. This means that the Tax Administration had a broad impact.

21,500 claims for adjustment were processed during the year

The Assessment Adjustment Board decides on claims for tax adjustment.

Changes in taxation and tax collection decisions made by the Tax Administration are requested from the Assessment Adjustment Board as the first instance, apart from advance rulings issued by the Tax Administration. In 2020, a total of 21,477 claims for adjustment were processed.

The Assessment Adjustment Board is a permanent body which decides on claims for tax adjustment. It has an independent decision-making authority, which means that it does not need to consider any statements presented in the Tax Administration’s harmonisation guidelines in its decisions. The Assessment Adjustment Board has been divided into departments, and its authority covers the whole of Finland.

The Administrative Court handled 1,130 cases. The Administrative Court confirmed 93% of the Assessment Adjustment Board’s decisions.

Our activities promote the establishment of case law to guide taxation

One of the tasks of the Tax Administration is to protect tax recipients’ interests and rights as laid down separately in the legislation. Therefore, the Tax Administration acts as an impartial tax authority and an authority supervising tax recipients’ rights. The protection of tax recipients’ interests and rights has been arranged separately within the Tax Administration, but as part of the Tax Recipients’ Legal Service Unit, which exercises an independent decision-making authority. The Tax Recipients’ Legal Service Unit speaks on behalf of tax recipients as a concerned party in taxation-related cases, for example, by issuing responses to taxpayers’ claims and by requesting changes in decisions issued by tax and law enforcement authorities.

The table below indicates the number of cases related to the basic activities of the Tax Recipients’ Legal Service Unit in 2014–2020:

Changes to VAT on medical equipment and joint procurement for COVID-19

On 3 April 2020, the European Commission issued a decision to exempt medical equipment imported from outside the EU from the payment of duties and VAT. The aim of the decision was to financially facilitate the procurement of the medical equipment required by physicians, nurses and patients. The European Commission later extended the duty- and VAT-free importing of medical equipment for COVID-19 until 30 April 2021.

The Value Added Tax Act was also amended temporarily so that the domestic sale of equipment used to prevent, test and treat COVID-19 and intra-community acquisitions of such equipment became exempt from VAT (486/2020). This applies to sales to the public sector. The amendment supplements the tax exemption applied to the imports of such equipment.

We have an active and responsible role in closing gaps in increasingly internationalising taxation. The Finnish Tax Administration is investigating the expansion of the general information reporting requirement of third parties to virtual currencies, and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is developing an international information exchange instrument for virtual currencies.

Virtual currencies are international instruments, trading in which is independent of the place. This is why countries must not hesitate to exchange information. The operating model of mutual administrative assistance and international comparative information has produced a spontaneous set of comparative information on virtual currencies.

From the perspective of information exchange, Finland has adopted an active role in distributing information on virtual currencies in information exchange forums. General feedback has been received from many receiving countries on the usefulness and high value of information in the receiving country’s tax control.

The total value of comparative information sent from Finland was approximately €13.5 billion. This information covered the years 2018 and 2019, and it was sent to roughly 100 partner countries.

This is no novel concept or operating method, as this has been a standard practice for several years with Finnish partners and the Tax Administration’s internal parties.

The total value of information collected over 2012–2019 is €24.5 billion, and this information has covered 2.4 million customers. 

It has already been noted when collecting information in previous years that comparative information has a significant impact on the tax control of virtual currencies in receiving countries.

We support paperless services and electronic filing

The goal of proactive guidance is to guide taxpayers to act correctly in all taxation-related matters, so that they are satisfied with the guidance and instructions provided. We also steer taxpayers towards electronic services and the MyTax e-service.

Proactive guidance is based on various guiding methods. In addition to general taxpayer guidance provided on the vero.fi website, more specific instructions are provided by help texts in MyTax or by calling new companies and giving them guidance on tax matters relevant to them. Proactive discussions can also be had with organisations in challenging tax matters.

Proactive guidance has provided taxpayers with online training and newsletters, as well as conducted active cooperation with different stakeholders. In addition, targeted guidance has been provided for companies, entrepreneurs and farmers who employ people coming to work in Finland from other countries. Any observations and needs of taxpayers, stakeholders and staff members who provide proactive guidance are taken into account in the production and development of the vero.fi content.

Thousands of account number reports received from customers

The first week of August 2020 was a high season for the payment of taxes by individual taxpayers, as was witnessed in the customer service and different communication channels. We can even talk about a “superweek”. Like in 2019, deadlines for tax refunds and back taxes of individual taxpayers were in early August. In addition to these two major deadlines, real estate tax was now, for the first time, due payable for most taxpayers at the same time.

During the spring and summer, we worked hard to receive up-to-date account numbers for tax refunds. We also encouraged taxpayers to start using e-invoices for back taxes and real estate tax, and reminded everyone repeatedly how the amount and payment date of tax refunds may change for various reasons.

We produced visibility and results through proactive guidance and communication. In addition to our own channels, MyTax and vero.fi, we had an active role in social media services. This large media attention was also reflected in our customer service, causing congestion from time to time.

Our media presence produced concrete benefits, as there were only 27,000 money orders for tax refunds in August 2020 (i.e. an account number missing from customers), down by nearly 8,000 from 2019.

Certain data related to the income taxation of individuals and organisations are public by law. This promotes openness and public discussion on taxation.

The data are published every year in November. Due to the coronavirus situation in autumn 2020, some new arrangements were required to make it safe to access public tax data. For example, the media were allowed to request public data regarding the income taxation of individuals via Microsoft Teams. Data on organisations could be accessed on tax.fi, as in previous years.

The Tax Administration also shares public data on individuals to the media in an electronic format. According to the Tax Administration’s interpretation of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, an individual has the right to prevent their data from being shared in this way. This subject caused a lot of discussion in 2020.

The exceptionally in-depth tax statistics published by the Tax Administration provide another excellent tool for public discussion. No other national tax authority in the world offers statistical data on taxation in as much detail and as quickly. The statistics are available on tax.fi: Statistics and statistical database.

Good feedback on our Teams service for journalists

On Tuesday 3 November, public data on income taxation were made available to journalists via Microsoft Teams for the first time. The Tax Administration officials and the media both felt that the experiment was a success.

Some 50 Tax Administration employees were involved in providing information to journalists on Teams when the data on income taxation for 2019 were made public on 3 November 2020. Teams meetings were held only on 3 November and only for journalists who had signed up beforehand. In the meeting, tax officials showed the journalists tax data via the Tax Administration’s Julkis software.

In cooperation with the Tax Administration’s legal team, we worked hard for several weeks to find the best and safest way to allow journalists access to the public data. In the end, providing access via Teams met all the legal requirements and was also the easiest solution for those taking part.

The positive credit information register is a natural continuum of the Incomes Register. The Incomes Register represented a major change in the reporting and further utilisation of income data. Now, a digital leap forward is to be taken in the granting of loans. The Incomes Register Unit stood out from the other candidates because of its capabilities. The unit has experience in the procurement, competitive bidding, building and deployment of a similar data system, and it has the ability to implement the data system required for the register.

The positive credit information register will be a database, in which lenders can access each loan applicant’s loan amounts, as well as income data submitted from the Incomes Register. Lending companies would be obligated to submit data on loans granted for private customers to the register. The purpose of the register is to produce more information on the credit rating of loan applicants compared with the current system, in which lenders can only access information on any payment defaults. Lenders would be able to evaluate the payment capacity of consumers better than before, helping to control any over-indebtedness. For citizens, the positive credit information register would give access to their loan information.

Our scope of tasks in society has broadened significantly in a few years. With the Incomes Register, the Tax Administration assumed a large responsibility for simplifying the reporting and use of income data. Now, through the launch of the positive credit information register, the Tax Administration is about to enter a whole new field of activity. The positive credit information register is a tool to better control the over-indebtedness of households. By giving access to reliable information, the register will offer a better view of the sector as a whole, its rapid development and, therefore, the control of financial stability. We are proud to accept this responsible task.

The number of taxpayers visiting tax offices and calling the telephone service decreased from the previous year.

Taxpayers started to increasingly use our digital service channels during 2020. MyTax had three million visits by taxpayers and more than 25 million sign-ins. Up to 89% of all tax services were provided in MyTax.

MyTax was opened broadly for individual taxpayers in 2018, and in its first year, it already exceeded the expectations set for 2023. Nearly every week well over 80% of MyTax users report that the use of the services is going well. Furthermore, more than 80% of individual taxpayers are already completing their tax returns in MyTax.

The highest weekly customer satisfaction rate measured among Finnish taxpayers has been 88%. As tax matters are considered to be fairly difficult, satisfaction rates remaining nearly always above 80% are excellent results.

After opening MyTax, we stopped sending paper forms and envelopes to taxpayers. Only a small number of taxpayers (13.8%) require paper forms when using our services.

Our goal is to build application programming interfaces (APIs), through which accounting firms, among others, can submit data to us directly from their systems, without using MyTax in between. As a result, data would move freely from our systems to their systems, and the other way round.

By opening APIs, we provide third parties with opportunities to also develop services for individual taxpayers. For example, when data on deductions is directly forwarded to the Tax Administration from services used by taxpayers, taxpayers do not need to submit the same data separately to us. Three APIs are in production at present, and close to ten are expected to be up and running by the end of the year. While we have found the right direction for development, there is still much work to be done.

Our goal is not to increase the use of MyTax, but to minimise or eliminate the need to contact us directly. In this way, we are building the future to reduce the administrative burden of all parties.

Half a million chat conversations a year

The chat service increased its popularity as a service channel. A total of 551,000 conversations were held in the Tax Administration’s chat service, with chatbot Virtanen participating in more than half of them. In 2020, the chatbot was integrated into all services used by individual taxpayers. Virtanen responded to questions related to the use of MyTax, filing tax returns, tax cards, real estate tax, transfer tax, and inheritance and gift tax, both in Finnish and Swedish. The chatbot also responded to tax card-related questions in English.

Vero.fi is developed according to taxpayers’ needs

The number of visits to the vero.fi website increased by more than seven million in 2020. The website content was developed in accordance with accessibility requirements and on the basis of taxpayers’ reactions and feedback. 
In the light of the number of visits, vero.fi continued its growth. In 2020, the website recorded 39.7 million visits, up by more than seven million (+22%) from 2019. The website mainly grew during spring and early summer, as nearly 60% of all increased visits took place between March and June. At a monthly level, the number of visits increased clearly the most in March.

The completion of the vero.fi website’s accessibility project was the most significant development step in 2020. Continued for the second year, the project was finalised in September when the EU Web Accessibility Directive entered into force. The Siteimprove quality evaluation tool used by producers of vero.fi content gives the vero.fi website an accessibility index of 94/100, being among the best in the field of administration. However, accessibility does not mean the fulfilment of technical requirements alone, but the website’s texts must also be easy to read and understand. The use of a clearly understandable language is an equal part of accessibility.

Since the end of 2019, taxpayers have also been able to provide feedback on various content at vero.fi using different reaction buttons. In addition to pressing individual reaction buttons, users can also send written feedback. Reactions and written feedback provide information for content development. Qualitative data, combined with web analytics, provides valuable information on the directions in which vero.fi needs to be led in the future.

Visits to tax offices decreased

The number of visits to tax offices has been decreasing steadily for several years now, and the coronavirus pandemic has accelerated this decrease even further.

All offices were open with restrictions due to the pandemic. Last year, some 290,000 taxpayers visited tax offices. Only 1% of the total use of services took place at tax offices.

Measuring telephone services using text messages

The use of telephone services decreased, with the number of calls received totalling less than two million in 2020, while the corresponding figure in 2019 was more than 3.1 million. Telephone services accounted for roughly 10% of all services.

In early autumn, we tested a new way to measure our success in the Tax Administration’s telephone services. The test proved so useful that we made the measurement of telephone services using text messages an established practice starting from 1 November 2020. We found out, for example, that 91% of taxpayers who called our telephone services were able to take care of their matter or get it started. By measuring the level of our services, we want to improve customer satisfaction even further.

By collecting feedback continuously, we can react quickly and correctly to any changes in customer satisfaction. What is more, the continuous collection of feedback increases the reliability of information compared to surveys tied to a specific period.

Customer satisfaction through the roof

During 2020, we measured customer satisfaction especially regarding our telephone services. The Tax Administration measures customer satisfaction so that we can understand, as well as possible, in what situations feedback is given, who are involved in each situation and when customer contact has taken place.

The Tax Administration has systematically measured customer satisfaction since 2016. In 2020, results were better than ever before during the measurement history. Of all the 10,000 taxpayers who gave a score, some 92% experienced that they had their matter taken care of or got it started. Not all cases can be resolved as desired by taxpayers due to the law, for example, in which case taxpayers often feel that they did not have their matter taken care of, and that they did not receive good service. The Tax Administration’s goal is that 85% of all respondents give a good score for services. In recent years, taxpayers have mainly been satisfied. However, in 2020, as many as 89% of taxpayers gave a good score for services, and only 5% were dissatisfied.

The level of the Incomes Register’s customer service is high

The level of customer service has remained high, even though the number of users of the Incomes Register increased in 2020. The quality of telephone and chat services was monitored on a regular basis.

The Incomes Register expanded at the turn of 2020, when roughly 500 new organisations started to use its data. At the same time, the advisory responsibility of the Incomes Register Unit’s telephone and chat services expanded to cover new data user groups. When monitoring the quality of customer service, it was noted that the level of advice remained at an excellent level.

The final quality rate (90.5%) was built on success in various areas. Performance in different areas is rated, and the scores given to the Incomes Register’s reporting controllers are compared with the unit’s maximum score. In addition, the quality of customer service is monitored by sending text messages to taxpayers, for example. The most recent text message survey was conducted in April and May 2020.

Data on benefits and pensions submitted to the Incomes Register in 2021

At the beginning of 2021, the Incomes Register underwent yet another change when benefit payers started to report data on benefits and pensions to the Incomes Register.  
At the same time, the advisory responsibility of the Incomes Register’s customer service expanded. Familiarisation with the reporting and distribution of benefits and pensions payment data has started to keep the level of customer service high, also in the future.

Communication is a tool, with which the authorities can achieve significant changes: build trust, fulfil openness and transparency, and support social harmony.

The role of social media is emphasised in the modern communication environment, which is why our total number of followers of 132,000 is much more significant than what it sounds. When our social media content engages people to react, comment and share, the impact of our communication increases.

Social media enabled closer interaction with citizens

In 2020, the use of social media increased, as measured by different indicators. Much less social media content was created, while it was accessed by more people, a total of 25 million times. Interaction between the Finnish Tax Administration and citizens increased by 150% from the previous year, and more than 60,000 new users landed in the Tax Administration’s channels. The value of work carried out in social media is as much as €782,000, up by 52% from the year before. Simply put, this figure can be regarded as a budget that we have not had to pay.

Various social media content ended up as part of or a theme of editorial media content, allowing us to reach larger audiences for our key messages. We tested dogs, bears, GIFs, karaoke, live music, Spotify lists and tax meditation to convey our messages. We decided to go for respect in terms of our tone of voice.

Our style of expression grew and became more diverse. We built our own character, Epic Tax Guy, because we wanted to provide people with content that they can use as part of their social media accounts. We understood that enjoying our content is important for people.

Approachable and goal-driven communication

We helped citizens to take care of their tax-related matters. We received some 25,000 more questions and comments in our channels – 150% more than in the previous year – including a lot of positive feedback on the Tax Administration’s services and operating methods.

Of our channels, LinkedIn took the largest leap forward, with interaction growing by a whopping 900% after we increased the amount of interactive and communication-based content alongside content related to our employer image and recruitment. Technologies, audiences and cultures on different social media platforms are constantly changing, and we must also consider where we can find the best tools for achieving our goals.

Our managers and specialists talked about the choices we made as an organisation, our areas of development and our future on LinkedIn, thus achieving and justifying the Tax Administration’s goals.

During 2020, we built a better and more impactful Tax Administration together for our customers. We want to be customer-driven and have an impact so that we can continue to secure the finances of Finnish society. This is why we will reform our guidance and management model, as well as our organisation. Operating methods will change throughout the Tax Administration. We have adopted a shared operating model that supports reform and self-guidance, and that makes goal- and knowledge-based management a regular part of our daily activities. These changes focus on trust and cooperation.

Although last year was an unusual one, our employees’ job satisfaction continued to improve from the previous year. Our VMBaro results were excellent, showing positive development in all areas of the survey. These results are an indication of our positive attitude, team spirit and camaraderie. We are doing an important job and building the best taxation together.

Job satisfaction based on customer-driven solutions

Workwise, 2020 started as planned. However, the first signs of the coronavirus pandemic started to appear at the end of February, indicating that it would change our lives here and broadly on a global scale. Despite the exceptional circumstances that characterised 2020, tax assessment stayed on schedule and all work-related goals were achieved on time.

Lessons learned from new ways of working and interaction

As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, most Tax Administration employees started to work remotely in March. The Tax Administration’s management and various units organised quickly to build the necessary processes and cooperation groups to lead the Tax Administration through the crisis under control and to provide employees with support and guidance. A coronavirus team was established for the exceptional situation. The Tax Administration’s management team and other members of the management worked together to protect the health and wellbeing of customers and employees. Up-to-date coronavirus guidelines and instructions were communicated transparently and interactively to employees, supervisors and customer service teams. Working was supported, for example, by expanding the opportunity to work remotely and by temporarily extending the flexitime system from 6 am to 11 pm. Any employees belonging to risk groups were relocated from customer service to safer positions.

In June 2020, we conducted a survey to identify our employees’ ideas of working during the unusual spring. Some 3,000 Tax Administration employees responded to the survey and, according to the results, work had progressed well. Coordination between work and leisure was a particular success during spring. Some 80% of all respondents evaluated interaction with their nearest supervisor to have been excellent. Certain challenges were identified in ergonomics and the functioning of tools.

At the end of 2020, massage services were included in employee benefits, available from contractual massage partners starting from the beginning of 2021. The contractual massage partners were selected from across Finland based on employee voting.

Values fulfilled every day

The health and wellbeing of employees, as well as job satisfaction, remained high as a result of flexibility, the responsible guidelines issued by the management and the safe working of employees.

In the light of the results of job satisfaction surveys and the work-related goals achieved during 2020, our values – embracing new ways of working, building trust and working together – were fulfilled in diverse ways in the Tax Administration in 2020. Employees felt that they are doing meaningful work for a good employer, and members of the Tax Administration’s management thanked employees many times for their excellent input and commitment.

The VMBaro job satisfaction survey was once again conducted in September 2020, with 83% of all Tax Administration employees responding to it. The response rate increased from the previous year (79%). The VMBaro job satisfaction index increased from 3.64 in the previous year (2019) to 3.78. In addition to the high overall score, there has been positive development in all areas evaluated in the survey.

After the exceptional circumstances, we can see how the results and experiences of 2020 affect the Tax Administration employees’ ways of working and the flexibility of work in the future. Based on the responses of employee surveys, most employees would like to continue to work remotely, and only work at the office when it is necessary. Recreational activities in virtual environments also made a breakthrough: more than 50 virtual events were arranged during the autumn, including wellness lectures, music, exercise, book clubs and cooking lessons. Environmentally friendly virtual recreational activities, virtual events and virtual training will certainly have a more established place alongside face-to-face events.

Summer employees worked remotely for the first time

Many young people were disappointed in March 2020 when the exceptional spring put a stop to their summer job plans. Luckily, we were able to accept our summer employees as planned, although this required effort and problem-solving abilities from everyone.

We built different scenarios for spring. We had completely reformed our induction practices, starting at the beginning of the year by revising our online courses and reorganising national Skype support provided for summer employees.

The first summer job day was a massive accomplishment from all of us. We invited new summer employees to offices in small groups and were able to coach them towards remote working, while safely following coronavirus instructions. While we received loads of concerned questions beforehand, everything went smoothly in the end.

Local support is one of the most important points of contact for summer employees in the Tax Administration, providing guidance for summer employees when working. The journey shared by summer employees and local support takes five months. Summer employees mainly worked remotely for the first time in the Tax Administration. Induction was provided successfully via Teams. On Fridays, summer employees held virtual coffee breaks, also agreeing to see each other after the summer. Many new friendships were built during the summer, as well.

In 2020, the Finnish Tax Administration received several recognitions and prizes that encourage us to work even harder for the best of our customers.

The Project of the Year

The Association of Project Professionals Finland (PRY) granted the Project of the Year award for the VALMIS project. Award criteria included the scope of the project, its significance for everyone living in Finland and the giant digital leap it has achieved.The Finnish Tax Administration’s VALMIS project has most likely touched every one of us. The project was not only a massive effort for IT systems, but it was also a large and complex project, with its effects extending to the legislation, operating processes, the digitalisation of tax services and competence development in the Tax Administration. The goals set for the content and quality were exceeded, and the project stayed on budget. The jury stated that the project was on an unprecedentedly massive scale, considering the central government and the country as a whole.

The Communication Act of the Year 2020

The Finnish Tax Administration received a recognition from ProCom – the Finnish Association of Communications Professionals: Tax Administration’s communication were the Communication Act of the Year 2020.

The jury thanked the Tax Administration’s communication as follows: “The Finnish Tax Administration has succeeded in changing the public image of a government agency by means of communication. The communication culture cannot be changed without the trust and support of the top management. The Tax Administration’s communications team has been given the freedom to be inventive. Other government organisations have been forced to rethink their communication in a more approachable direction. The Tax Administration has thoroughly changed people’s ideas of taxation-related matters. Now, it communicates matters that have previously been found to be very dull in an understandable, unique and fun way.”

The best deed for customers in Finland

Tax meditation, conceptualised and produced by the Finnish Tax Administration’s social media team, received the “Suomen paras asiakasteko” (Best deed for customers in Finland) honorary prize for customer-driven messages. Tax meditation was part of a broader communication concept, in which we wanted to set taxpayers’ minds at ease when checking tax returns and making additions to them. The recognition was announced at the virtual award ceremony of the Customer Experience Professionals Association (CXPA).

Easy-to-understand award

The Finnish Tax Administration was in the top four when selecting the winner of the annual easy-to-understand award. The winner was the Regional State Administrative Agency’s working group for accessible language training and working groups for the website reform. The winner was selected by Parliamentary Ombudsman Petri Jääskeläinen. We were in the running for the continuous development of our website content and the continuous use of customer feedback.

Vero.fi among the top ten online brands

Our broad and long-term development was also highlighted in the valuation of the vero.fi service, as it was among the top ten online brands in the survey of the valuation of online brands in Finland conducted by Taloustutkimus in September. The survey included 150 best-known Finnish and international online brands, such as Google and Microsoft. Being ranked in the top ten inspires and motivates us to continue the broad and diverse development of our online communication.