Please note: No refunds to energy-intensive companies for excise duties paid in 2025 are available.
Up to and including 2024, companies conducting an industrial operation were eligible for refunds of energy taxes they had paid. A condition for refunding was that the duty amount reached a certain threshold by reference to an “added value” related to the company’s production. To take an example, the company qualified for a refund of excise duties for 2024 if its excise duties were higher than 3.7% of the added value.
Excise duties included both the duties paid by the company, and the duties included in the prices of the products purchased by the company. “Added value” referred to the combined total of the profit/loss for the period, depreciation, reductions in value and staff expenses according to the company's approved financial statements for the year.
Excise duty could be refunded on industrially used electricity (bracket II), coal, natural gas, fuel peat, tall oil, and on such LPG, light and heavy fuel oil and biofuel oil, and biogas not meeting the sustainability criteria, with the exception of biogas used for motor fuel.
The refunds to energy-intensive companies only concerned excise duties. In other words, the companies requests for refund were not to contain the tax-like charge called “strategic stockpile fee” (huoltovarmuusmaksu).
For the 2024 fiscal year, the refund was 45% of the portion of duties that exceeded 3.7% of the company’s added value. However, only the part in excess of €50,000 was refundable.
When assessing the amount of excise duties paid, companies were entitled to include the duties contained in the district heat and process steam it had bought.
The requests for refund had to be submitted to the Tax Administration. Requests were accepted only after the company’s accounting period had ended. The deadline was 6 months of the end date of the accounting period.
No requests were accepted as filed on the company’s different lines of business or different establishments on a multiple basis: companies were expected to file only one request for a refund that covered its entire operation.
Read more: “Tax refund to an energy-intensive company” — Energiaintensiivisen yrityksen veronpalautus (available in Finnish and Swedish, link to Finnish)
Request refund of excise duties in MyTax
The paper version of the request form was made available if electronic filing had been impossible due to technical issues, for example.
Forms for excise taxation
What is industrial production?
Industrial production refers to operations under section C (manufacturing) or section B (mining and quarrying) of the Standard Industrial Classification of Statistics Finland. In addition, excise duty refunds for industrial production are available for professional greenhouse cultivation.
Industries also include operations under section E (water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities), subsection 38230 (recovery of sorted materials). See the classification on the website of Statistics Finland
The definition for industry only applies to excise duty refunds for lower-bracket electricity and energy-intensive companies. The definition does not apply to other tax aid.
Tax efunded to an energy-intensive company is State aid – the details are recorded in the State aid register of excise taxation
A tax refund to an energy-intensive company is State aid. The Tax Administration enters the aid recipient, i.e. the party requesting a refund, in the State aid register of excise taxation. You can check your company’s aid details in MyTax. Some State aid details are public information.
Please note that State aid may only be granted to companies that are not in financial difficulties under the General Block Exemption Regulation. If the company is in financial difficulties, no aid is granted and any aid already granted may be claimed back.
Read more: State aid under the General Block Exemption Regulation in excise taxation (available in Finnish and Swedish, link to Finnish)
Changes to excise duty refunds
Excise duties paid in 2025 are no longer refundable to energy-intensive companies. Further, excise duty on electricity is no longer included in the excise duties on the basis of which refunds for 2021 are calculated.
Excise duties qualify for refunds if the company’s excise duties
- for 2020 are over 0.5% of the company’s added value – refund 85% of the excise duties exceeding this limit
- for 2021 are over 1.0% of the company’s added value – refund 85% of the excise duties exceeding this limit
- for 2022 are over 1.7% of the company’s added value – refund 85% of the excise duties exceeding this limit
- for 2023 are over 3.7% of the company’s added value – refund 85% of the excise duties exceeding this limit
- for 2024 are over 3.7% of the company’s added value – refund 45% of the excise duties exceeding this limit.
If the company’s accounting period is split between two calendar years, the excise duty refund is calculated in two parts.
Example 1: The company’s accounting period is 1 January 2021–31 December 2021, and its added value is €8,000,000. The company has paid €1,200,000 in energy tax in 2021.
The refund is calculated based on the figures for 2020: (€1,200,000 – €8,000,000 x 1,0%) x 85% – €50,000 = €902,000. The total amount refunded to the company is thus €902,000.
Example 2: The company’s accounting period is 1 April 2020–31 March 2021, and its added value is €8,000,000. The company has paid €900,000 in energy tax in 2020 and €300,000 in 2021.
The refund is calculated in two parts: (€900,000 – 9 months / 12 months x €8,000,000 x 0.5%) x 85% + (€300,000 – 3 months / 12 months x €8,000,000 x 1%) x 85% – €50,000 = (€870,000 x 85% + €280,000 x 85%) – €50,000 = €927,500. The company is thus refunded €870,000 for 2020 and €280,000 for 2021, i.e. the total amount of refund is €870,000.
