How to claim adjustment to income taxes – corporate entities
This guide is for corporate taxpayers: limited-liability companies (Oy, Ab), cooperative societies, associations, foundations.
You can make a claim for adjustment as soon as the tax assessment process has ended. When the assessment process is still ongoing, you can submit a new tax return before the end date of assessment in order to make any necessary adjustments or changes. Submit a claim of adjustment to the Assessment Adjustment Board.
Those who may appeal decisions are the taxpayers themselves, any others whose taxes may be affected, and those responsible for paying the tax. For example, after a corporate merger is carried out, the receiving company can appeal against the income taxation of the company that merged into the receiving company. A parent company, however, is not allowed to appeal against the taxes imposed on its subsidiary companies.
When can a claim for adjustment be submitted?
You can claim adjustment within 3 years of the start of the calendar year following the end of the tax year. Instructions for appeal are enclosed with the tax decision your company received; read them to check the deadlines.
You can claim adjustment as soon as the tax assessment process has ended. The end date is stated in the tax decision. However, the end date is never later than 10 months from the end of the company’s accounting period. When the assessment process is still ongoing, you can submit a new tax return before the end date of assessment in order to make any necessary adjustments or changes.
For the majority of companies and other corporate entities, the tax year is the same as the calendar year. The exception to this are the corporate entities with a non-calendar accounting year. Then the tax year is the accounting year, accounting period or periods that closed during the calendar year.
Example: The accounting year of a limited-liability company is 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2023. To file a claim for adjustment of corporate income taxes for the 2023 tax year, the deadline is 31 December 2026. The claim must arrive at the Tax Administration on that date.
When the end date of the calendar year falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the deadline is the next business day. If you make a claim for adjustment in MyTax, you need to do it by 23:59 on its deadline date. If you make a paper-based claim for adjustment, you must send the claim letter early enough to arrive at the Tax Administration by 16:15 on the deadline date.
How to claim adjustment
Claim for income tax adjustment in MyTax.
- After logging in to MyTax, go to the ‘Tax matters’ tab.
- Under ‘Claims for adjustment’, open ‘All adjustment matters’.
- Select ‘Make a claim for adjustment of corporate income tax’.
- Go to the appropriate year and click ‘Claim for adjustment’.
If you do not have access to MyTax: Use the provided paper form or a free-form application to make the claim.
After claiming for adjustment
If you have an unpaid back tax, pay the tax by its due date even if you have claimed adjustment. If necessary, you can request a payment arrangement or an order preventing enforcement.
You can follow the processing of your claim for adjustment in MyTax: Go to the Communication tab, select Status of returns and requests and then View the processing status.
After your claim for adjustment is processed, you will be sent a decision on the matter in MyTax. The decision has all the information on possible tax refunds or back taxes. Check the estimate on the processing time.
More information and instructions for claiming adjustment
Yes, you must pay your taxes on their due date even if you have claimed adjustment. Interest for late payment is collected on unpaid taxes.
Call the Finnish Tax Administration’s service number +358 29 497 026 (Maksuliikenne) for the payment details. You can also check the details you need for making payments in MyTax: How to pay taxes in MyTax.
If you have difficulties paying your taxes by the due date, we recommend finding out whether you are eligible for a payment arrangement. Read more on requesting a payment arrangement
If your claim for adjustment is accepted and you have no other tax debt, the tax you paid in excess will be automatically refunded to you with interest.
Suspension of enforcement means that when a claim for adjustment is being processed, tax debt will not be transferred to enforcement, or if enforcement proceedings have already started, they will be suspended. You can request suspension of enforcement either when submitting a claim for adjustment or separately at a later date.
If you intend to pay the tax in full regardless of your claim for adjustment, there is no need to apply for suspension of enforcement.
Enforcement can be suspended in full or in part
If enforcement is suspended in full, the tax debt is not transferred to enforcement. Further, the Tax Administration will not use your tax refunds or other payments to cover the tax that the suspension concerns.
If enforcement is suspended in part, the Tax Administration can transfer the tax debt to enforcement and use your tax refunds and other payments to cover the tax. Also, your property can be taken in execution. However, the enforcement authority may not sell the property before your case has been settled finally.
When you have been granted suspension of enforcement
Note the following:
- Late-payment interest accrues on the tax even during the period of suspension. Late-payment interest accrues from the day following the due date until the date of payment. The amount of interest may change when the claim for adjustment is processed.
- The tax debt is shown on the tax debt certificate after the due date, even if the enforcement has been suspended. However, the certificate also states that the enforcement has been suspended.
If the Tax Administration rejects your claim for adjustment, the suspension of enforcement will end. In that case, the Tax Administration can transfer the tax debt to enforcement.
Read more in the Tax Administration’s detailed guidance: Suspension of enforcement (available in Finnish and Swedish, link to Finnish)
You can cancel a claim for adjustment fully or partially. In MyTax, go to the ‘Tax matters’ tab. Select ‘Cancel a claim for adjustment’ under ‘Claims for adjustment’.
Yes, the Finnish Tax Administration can adjust your taxes on its own initiative after your tax assessment end date. This happens if the Tax Administration receives information afterwards that affects your taxation. As a result, you might receive tax refund, or it may be that you are ordered to pay more tax. Besides income taxes, the adjustments on the Tax Administration's initiative can concern income tax, real estate tax, value-added taxes, employer's contributions, and other types of taxes.
The Tax Administration can adjust your taxation within the same deadline that is applied to taxpayers’ claims for adjustment, i.e. within three years of the start of the tax year following the relevant tax year.
In some cases, the Tax Administration is allowed to extend the deadline by 1 year, and in some rare cases by 6 years.
The deadlines will also change in a situation where the need to adjust taxes is due to a criminal investigation process.
If you are unhappy with an adjustment made on the Tax Administration’s initiative, you can submit a claim for adjustment to request a review.
A decision on a claim for adjustment can be requested to be rectified by lodging an appeal to the administrative court. The deadline and instructions for appealing are in the appeal instructions appended to the decision.