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If you are a self-employed person and you have a contract with an invoicing service company, there are tax-deductible expenses that you may have paid because of your work. These expenses include travel, tools, and other costs that have a direct connection to your work.
Do you receive wages — or do you receive trade income? The deductions are different for these two income types.
Please find out first what the type of income is:
If you receive both wages and trade income during the year, the tax reporting is different for these 2 categories. To get the deductions, you must enter the travel and other expenses into different sections of the tax forms. See instructions below.
Please note that because of your wage income, an automatic deduction of €750 is given you. This is the standard deduction for work-related expenses. Accordingly, you should only inform the Tax Administration of travel, commuting, and other expenses for the production of wage income when your expenses have been more than €750 during the year.
Recipients of trade income do not have the €750 threshold. So, you have to report your travel expenses that support your trade income even if the sum stays below €750.
If your work involves driving your car, motorcycle, moped or other vehicle, keep a logbook. The logbook can be a useful if you need to prove how many kilometres per year you needed for your work. The remainder of the kilometres are non-deductible private kilometres.
Your tax-deductions can only consist of costs for the production of income – for example, the annual travel expense caused by trips to visit customers.
Write the amounts down, keep records and save the receipts for all work-related other costs, too. Telephone costs are a typical example. However, do not enclose receipts or similar paper slips with your income tax return. Instead, keep them in storage. The Tax Administration will ask you to show the receipts if needed.
If the category of income that your invoicing service pays you is wage income, claim your travel expenses as follows.
Deduction for the year 2026 (tax card)
Deduction for the year 2025 (tax return)
Log in to MyTax to enter the deductible amounts under Travel and commuting expenses — Other than commute — Temporary business trips and travel in special sectors. Accordingly, please note that if you have done food courier work, you must not enter your work-related travel expenses under Commuting expenses. See the instructions: How to file deductions in MyTax
Alternatively, you can claim the deductions on a paper form, submitting Form 1D – Travel, deductible as expenses for the production of income.
It may be that your invoicing service has paid you tax-exempt reimbursement for travel expenses during the year. In that case, you cannot claim deductions anymore.
Example. In 2025 Anna’s invoicing service paid her wages and €0.59 per kilometre as reimbursement subject to tax. However, when completing her tax return and claiming travel expenses related to production of income, she can only claim €0.27 per kilometre.
If the category of income that your invoicing service pays you is trade income, your travel expenses are “Expenses for the production of other income than wage income”. In the same way as above, the tax-deduction depends on the means of transportation, as follows.
Deduction for the year 2026 (tax card):
Deduction for the year 2025 (tax return):
Log in to MyTax to enter the deductible amounts under Expenses for the production of income — Expenses for the production of income other than wages and salary — Expenses for the production of other income. See the instructions: How to file deductions in MyTax
Alternatively, submit Form 50A – Earned income and deductions on paper. Enter the travel expenses in the paper form’s section 8.5 — Expenses incurred in acquiring or maintaining income other than wages and salary.
Food couriers – see illustrated instructions for travel cost and tax deductions (pdf)
You can deduct still other work-related expenses in your taxation as expenses for the production of income. The expenses in this category include:
Please note that you can no longer deduct the fees you have paid to an invoicing service company, nor the employer's health insurance contribution charged from you by the invoicing service company. Read more: The Supreme Administrative Court’s decision changes the tax treatment of light entrepreneurs
If related to wages, you must enter the expenses for the production of income in
Expenses relating to trade income must be reported in
You can also deduct the YEL contributions – pension insurance for the self-employed – if you have paid them during the year.
If you have no Business ID (Y-tunnus) i.e. no registration of your self-employment as an entrepreneur’s operation, claim the YEL deductions as follows:
Already at the stage when you submit an application for a tax card for wages or trade income, you can inform the Tax Administration of various deductible expenses.
Please note that only the expenses for the production of wage income appear on your pre-completed tax return automatically. You will receive the pre-completed tax return after the calendar year has ended, in springtime. For this reason, it is important to check that the tax deductions on the pre-completed tax return are correct. Make sure that no deductible expenses are missing.
Because only the expenses related to wage income appear automatically, you must report the expenses for the production of your trade income again when you receive the pre-completed tax return.
Read more about tax cards issued to the self-employed involved in “light” entrepreneurship