Excise duty refunds must always be claimed

Note: The processing of refund applications is congested.

You may be entitled to an excise duty refund if you have paid excise duty on products but used or sold the products for tax-exempt purposes. 

You must claim all excise duty refunds by a separate application.
 
Request a refund of in MyTax 

You can also use paper forms. You can file on paper if electronic filing is not possible, for example due to technical difficulties. 

Forms for excise duty 

You do not need to make a refund application if the excise duty amount changes because you have originally filed too much duty on your excise duty return. You can correct the return instead. In a case like this, the excess amount will be credited to you without a separate refund application. 
 

You should  file a refund application in the following cases: 

• products have been returned to the tax warehouse (e.g. excise duty on alcohol and excise duty on liquid fuels) 
• products have been released for consumption but they have been fully destroyed and irrevocably lost (e.g. excise duty on alcohol and excise duty on soft drinks)  
• you have paid too much excise duty on electricity because the tax rate applied has been wrong 
• carbondioxide has been recovered from motor gasoline (excise duty on liquid fuels and strategic stockpile fee) 
• waste has been taken away from the landfill (waste tax). 

Also request a refund in the following cases:  

• fuels subject to excise duty have been used in commercial vessel traffic or aviation, in industrial first use or in the production of electricity 
• energy products have been used in energy-intensive industry 
• products subject to excise duty have been delivered for export or to another EU country. 

When can you request a refund? 

You can usually request an excise duty refund according to your own choice either for the full calendar year or for a shorter period. The shorter period is either a calendar month or a period of 6 months (January–June, July–December), depending on the excise duty. 

In most refund applications, the time limit is 3 years counted from the end of the calendar year during which the grounds for the refund arose. You should therefore claim a refund within 3 years from the end of the calendar year during which you qualified for the refund (for example, the year when the product was used for tax-exempt purposes or delivered to another EU country).  

Example 1: Cigarillos and cigarillo packs were damaged during a fire that took place in the shop on 15 March 2022, and they can no longer be sold to consumers. The registered consignee that had paid the excise duty can request a refund of the excise duty on tobacco for the period of 1 March to 31 March 2022. The refund must be requested by 31 December 2025.  

Example 2:Soft drinks released for consumption are returned from a retail shop to the tax warehouse several times a month in 2022. The authorised warehouse keeper that has paid the excise duty can request a refund either separately for each calendar month or for the whole calendar year 2022 in one go. The refund must be requested by 31 December 2025. 

No attachments required, but save the receipts and other documents 

You do not need to attach receipts, consignment notes or other delivery documents to the application for an excise duty refund. However, the Tax Administration may ask for them later. Keep the documents for 6 years, in the same way as other accounting data. 

Companies with questions about excise duties can also contact us by telephone: 029 497 154 (Excise taxation, standard call rates apply)  

Read more:

Refund levels for gasoline, diesel oil and light fuel oil