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Refunds of excise duties – situations where the general refund application is used

Excise duties can be refunded under certain conditions. An excise duty refund can, for example, be applied for regarding products acquired by diplomats and products that have been delivered to another EU state or outside the EU.

Apply for a refund in MyTax

Use the general excise duty refund application if the basis for tax exemption is any of the following:

  • return of products subject to excise duty to a tax warehouse
  • destruction or loss of products subject to excise duty
  • recovery of hydrocarbons from motor gasoline
  • waste subject to tax removed from a landfill site.

Different tax types cannot be combined in a single application. In other words, prepare a separate refund application for each tax type.

Please note that separate applications and procedures apply to most refunds pursuant to the act on excise duty and certain fuels (Laki sähkön ja eräiden polttoaineiden valmisteverosta 1260/1996).

If you are applying for a refund on these duties, read separate instructions for different duties and situations:

You can also use a paper form. The paper form can be used if electronic filing is impossible due to technical issues, for example.

Excise duty forms

When must the refund application be submitted?

You can apply for an excise duty refund within three years of the end of the calendar year to which the application period belongs.

You can apply for a refund over a period of a calendar month or calendar year. However, the application period for waste tax can be a quarter (January–March, April–June, July–September or October–December) or calendar year. Submit a separate application for each application period.

Also submit a separate application for each excise duty. However, you can combine several different refund grounds in a single application if the application only concerns one excise duty and one application period.

Grounds for a refund

You can submit a refund application on the following grounds:

Products have been returned to a tax warehouse

An authorised warehouse keeper can apply for a tax refund if products released for consumption have been returned to the same tax warehouse from which they were released for consumption. However, no refund on products that have been completely destroyed or lost due to expiry, evaporation or a comparable reason related to product properties can be received on these grounds.

Products have been transferred (e.g. sold) to diplomats or international organisations

You can apply for an excise duty refund if products subject to tax have been transferred to diplomats on the basis of a diplomat or consul relationship or to other international actors referred to in section 18 of the act on excise duties (Valmisteverotuslaki 182/2010).

Hydrocarbons have been recovered from motor gasoline in a tax warehouse

An authorised warehouse keeper can apply for an excise duty refund on the grounds that hydrocarbons have been recovered from motor gasoline or its substitute fuels.

The refund requires that the recovered hydrocarbons are liquefied into gasoline in a tax warehouse.

If the recovery and liquefaction are only carried out in the applicant’s own tax warehouse, the volume entitling the applicant to a refund is 0.07 per cent by volume of motor gasoline released for consumption and its substitute fuels. If part of hydrocarbons are also recovered at a distribution station, the volume entitling the applicant to a refund is 0.14 per cent by volume.

A refund for recovered hydrocarbon is always paid in accordance with product group 10 (motor gasoline).

Products have been destroyed or lost

An authorised warehouse keeper or registered consignee can apply for an excise duty refund on products released for consumption that have been completely destroyed or lost due to an unforeseeable event or force majeure.

A refund cannot be received on products that have been destroyed or lost due to product properties, e.g. a product has evaporated or expired.

A refund can only be received on products whose complete destruction or loss can be proven reliably. If products have not been destroyed completely, they must be destroyed under the supervision of Finnish Customs or the Tax Authority, or in another manner approved by these authorities.

Products have been delivered to another EU member state

If excise duties on products have been paid in Finland, but the products have been sent to another EU state for commercial purposes, the sender of the products can apply for an excise duty refund.

The refund requires that the procedures required have been followed in the transfer of the products. For example, a simplified administrative accompanying document has been used for products released for consumption if they are subject to excise duties harmonised in the EU. Furthermore, the applicant must be able to prove reliably that excise duties have been paid on the products in another EU state.

Products have been delivered outside the EU

If excise duties have been paid on products in Finland, but the products are delivered outside the EU, a refund on excise duties can be applied for on these grounds.

Waste has been removed from a landfill site

A landfill operator can apply for an excise duty refund if waste has been removed from a landfill site.

Other grounds

If you are applying for a refund on other grounds, describe the grounds in your application. For example, ship supplies can be regarded as grounds for a refund.

Other issues to be considered

When you are applying for an excise duty refund, indicate in your application when the excise duty was levied. In practice, this is the date on which the excise duty was paid. If the date cannot be determined, you can indicate the product purchase date.

Page last updated 2/13/2023