Refunds of VAT, excise duties and other self-assessed taxes
It is possible that you receive an amount of money in the form of a refund or in another form, for other reasons. The information and guidance below concerns VAT, excise duties, and other taxes based on self-assessment. In general, the Tax Administration will transfer certain amounts back to the taxpayer immediately when the tax return is processed. However, certain other amounts will not be sent back unless the taxpayer submits a request.
When can you receive refunds and reimbursements?
The following is a list of situations where taxpayers can receive an amount of money related to self-assessed taxes:
- The VAT balance of your company is negative: for a certain period, you have more VAT to deduct than to pay.
- You make corrections to a previously filed tax return: a tax you already paid is adjusted downward, so its amount is now lower than the amount you had paid. Typical reasons for this to happen are a mistake on your original tax return, and a taxpayer-provided correction to the mistake.
- The Tax Administration did not use a self-assessed tax payment you made, and you submit a request to get the money back.
- You submitted an application for refund of an excise duty (or other taxes/duties), and the Tax Administration approved the refund.
After the Tax Administration has processed your tax return – or your request for an amount to be sent back, or your application for a refund – the amount will come into your bank account in one week.
If your request concerns VAT, the Tax Administration will not send the money before the general due date of the next month after the tax period concerned. This means that if you are a VAT taxpayer reporting VAT once a year, you must wait for January’s general VAT due date before the Tax Administration can send the negative-VAT amount to you.
No amounts below €10 are refunded or reimbursed. If the amount is below €10, the Tax Administration will keep it temporarily until a higher sum of money needs to be sent back to the taxpayer, or until there is an unpaid tax that needs to be covered.
Receiving an unused payment back
If you typed the reference number for self-assessed taxes when you sent a tax payment to the Tax Administration and the payment remains unused, you can ask for refund.
Situations where paid-in amounts will often remain unused:
- The amount you paid was too high.
- You had wanted to settle some other type of tax, but the reference number for self-assessed taxes was entered on the bank transfer slip.
- The Tax Administration applied a refundable amount on the tax you intended to pay.
Read instructions on requesting a refund
Please inform the Tax Administration of your bank account number
For any refunds and other transfers of money back, the Tax Administration will use the bank account number you have given. You can have just one bank account number on record in the Tax Administration's database. You can use MyTax for informing the Tax Administration of your bank account number, both for the first time and later – to notify of any changes.
How to submit a bank account number in MyTax
If the Tax Administration does not have your bank account number on record, we will write out a money order. This is often also called a cash delivery and it means that the refund will be distributed through Nordea Bank. To create a money order requires that you have a postal address in Finland.
Refunds below €15 will not be paid by money order. If you know that your upcoming tax refund is a low amount and you still want the bank to deliver it to you, please contact our taxpayer service.
Your upcoming tax refund earns interest
The Tax Administration pays credit interest on amounts to be refunded. In 2025, the credit interest is 2.5%. The interest rate is reviewed every year.
If you receive credit interest, is not regarded as income subject to tax.
The Tax Administration may cover taxpayers’ unpaid taxes with a refundable amount
The Tax Administration can use the amount in the following ways:
- For settling overdue taxes and other charges you need to pay
- If you are on a payment plan, for paying the taxes included in the plan
- For settling any business-related taxes that you owe because of your third-party liability (as a shareholder of your company or partnership, or for other reasons)
If the Tax Administration uses any amount that would otherwise be refunded on an unpaid tax of yours, you will be notified: see MyTax and the monthly summary of tax payment status. If your overdue taxes become transferred to recovery by enforcement, the Enforcement Authority may also impose a distraint on the amount that would otherwise have been refunded. In this case, the Enforcement Authority would notify you of this.
Non-filing prevents tax refunds
The Tax Administration is unable to send you a refund if you have neglected any tax returns or sent incomplete tax return — regardless of the type of tax concerned. If you have not filed a return when you should, information on non-filing will appear in MyTax the day after the deadline date.
Example: On 12 May, a limited-liability company files its VAT return for March. The amount of the VAT is negative. However, the company had neglected its previous-year tax return, which it should have filed by 31 March. Because of this, the Tax Administration will refrain from transferring the negative-VAT amount to the company. Instead, the Tax Administration will use the refundable amount on the company’s taxes falling due.
After the company has filed the return, the Tax Administration can send the remainder of the negative VAT to the company. However, this requires that the company has paid all its taxes and that there is nothing else to prevent the Tax Administration from refunding the amount.
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