How to register as a taxpayer, an aid recipient or a small producer
If you have activities subject to excise taxation that require registration as a taxpayer, an aid recipient, a small producer or a small-scale manufacturer under the act on excise duties, submit a registration notification to the Tax Administration. The Tax Administration issues an appealable decision on the registration.
Companies with regular activities can register as certified consignees or certified consignors.
You can submit the registration notification to the Tax Administration in MyTax.
Who must file a registration notification and an excise duty return?
Some parties have to submit only a registration notification to the Tax Administration. Others must also file an excise duty return for each tax period following the registration. Read more:
Parties with registration obligation
When must the registration notification be filed?
The registration notification must be filed before the activities subject to excise duty begin.
Registration at the authority’s initiative
Registration can also be done at the authority’s initiative if the Excise Duty Act prescribes the obligation to register but the obligated party has not filed a registration notification.
Time of registration
Taxpayers are entered in the register as of the date when their activities subject to excise duty begin.
Aid recipients and small producers are entered in the register as of the date when their activities qualifying for the aid begin. However, aid recipients and small producers cannot be registered retroactively: the start date of registration cannot be earlier than the date of registration decision.
If the company’s activities change during the tax period
If the details given in the registration notification change or if the activities requiring registration end, you must inform the Tax Administration without delay. File a report as soon as you know the date of change or date of termination. At the latest, you must file the report during the day when the activities change or end.
For example, if a registered electricity producer starts conducting activities in a plant not recorded in the register, the change must be reported.
The Tax Administration changes the registration entry or removes the taxpayer, aid recipient, small producer or small-scale manufacturer from the register as of the date when the activities requiring registration changed or ended.
In addition, a registered gas user must cancel the registration if the tax-exempt use ends. The registered gas user is removed from the register as of the date when the removal request was made.
Small producers of electricity and biogas and small-scale users of fuel peat should estimate the extent of their activities and the registration role at the beginning of the year.
Example 1: A power plant has registered as a small electricity producer. The power plant closes down permanently during the calendar year. The tax period ends on the date when the activities end. The company must file an excise duty return for the tax period by the general due date of the second month following the month of termination. For example, if the month of termination is March, the excise duty return must be filed by 12 May.
Example 2: A power plant has registered as a small electricity producer. If its activities change during the tax period such that the volume of electricity produced during the calendar year is more than 800,000 kWh, the plant must register as an electricity producer. The Tax Administration registers the plant as an electricity producer as of the beginning of the calendar year. The company must also submit excise duty returns retroactively for the tax year’s preceding tax periods. The company must also pay a late-filing penalty and late-payment interest.
Example 3: A power plant has registered as an electricity producer. The activities change during the tax period such that the 800,000 kWh limit for small production is not reached. The Tax Administration registers the power plant as a small electricity producer as of the beginning of the current year. The company can correct the excise duty returns already filed for the year by submitting replacement returns (‘zero’ returns) in MyTax. Based on the corrections, the Tax Administration pays back the excess amount of tax paid by the power plant.
Example 4: Use of peat in the production of heat. Upon registration, a power plant must make an advance estimate of how much fuel peat it will use in the calendar year. If the power plant estimates that it will use more than 10,000 MWh of peat in heat production during the calendar year, it must register as a registered fuel peat user as of the beginning of the calendar year. Otherwise the power plant must register as a small-scale user of fuel peat. If more than 10,000 MWh of peat is used, the use that exceeds the threshold is subject to tax.
If the registration details change, you can report them in MyTax. If necessary, you can also correct your excise duty returns in MyTax.
Detailed guidance
Transparency obligation related to State aid
(available in Finnish and Swedish, link to Finnish)