Casual taxpayer: how to take care of excise duties, advance notices and one-off guarantees
If you are liable to pay excise duties casually, file a tax return by the 12th day of the calendar month following the tax period. The tax period is usually a calendar month.
Note that you have to file an excise duty return only if you have had operations subject to excise duty during the tax period.
Example: A casual importer of soft drinks files an excise duty return on the products they have received during tax period 1/2024 and pays the excise duties on 12 February 2024.
A casual taxpayer has to file an advance notice of products subject to national excise duty. If the products are subject to harmonised excise duty in the EU, they also have to pay a one-off guarantee equalling the amount of excise duty.
Advance notice and one-off guarantee
What to do:
File an advance notice and set a one-off guarantee if needed
File an advance notice of the product batch in MyTax.
If the products are subject to national excise duty, you will be assigned an excise duty number based on the advance notice.
OR:
If the products are subject to harmonised excise duty in the EU, you must set a one-off guarantee, as well as file an advance notice.
File an advance notice of the product batch and set the guarantee in MyTax.
Note: When you are paying a one-off guarantee for excise duties, it is important that you use the reference number specified for the one-off guarantee.
After the Tax Administration has processed the advance notice, you can see the guarantee amount and the Tax Administration account number in MyTax. When you pay the tax in MyTax, the reference numbers and other payment details are automatically pre-completed in the payment template. The date of payment is always the current date and it cannot be changed.
After receiving the guarantee, we will confirm the excise duty number. Give the excise duty number to the sender if needed
File a tax return and pay the excise duties
File a tax return and pay the excise duties by the 12th day of the calendar month following the tax period.
If the due date is a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday, you can file and pay on the next business day.
File the tax return and pay the excise duties in MyTax.
Excise duties are self-assessed taxes. This means that the Tax Administration will not send you a bank transfer form for them.
If you pay the tax in your online bank, check the account number and reference number in MyTax or in your tax summary.
When you pay in MyTax, the following details are pre-completed on the payment template:
- reference number
- bank account number
- payment date (the payment date is always the current day and it cannot be changed)
- amount to pay. The tax amount is based on the excise duty returns and other tax returns for self-assessed taxes that you have filed. The amount you see is the total of all your self-assessed taxes on the current day. The total amount also includes late-payment interest, if any. You can change the amount if necessary.
You can file on paper only if there is a special reason, for instance if electronic filing is impossible due to technical problems.
- Advance notice and setting a guarantee (Guarantee notice/Notice of pledge (1350), (available in Finnish and Swedish, link to Finnish). You can also find the delivery address on the page.
- Excise duty returns (available in Finnish and Swedish, link to Finnish). There is a separate tax return for each excise duty type.
Instructions for filing an advance notice and depositing a one-off guarantee
How to file an advance notice and deposit a one-off guarantee in MyTax or with a paper form
Instructions for completing an excise duty return
How to complete an excise duty return in MyTax or with a paper form (available in Finnish and Swedish, link to Finnish)
Read more:
- Advance notice and one-off guarantee (available in Finnish and Swedish, link to Finnish)
- Do you report excise duties regularly or casually?