Back taxes – individual taxpayers

After the Tax Administration has finished your tax assessment for 2023, you can ask for a payment arrangement for that year’s back taxes.  You can see the end date of your tax assessment on your tax decision or in MyTax.

We recommend that you do not submit an application for payment arrangement until it is absolutely clear that you cannot pay the tax by its due date.

If you are able to pay part of the tax, we recommend that you do so. Send your partial payment by the due date of the tax. After that, the remaining part of the tax will then be the amount for which you submit your application for a payment arrangement.

You will only have to pay late-payment interest on the remaining part of the tax.

When we calculate the sizes of the instalments that you will have to pay, we use the date when the arrangement is approved as the start date. In other words, the start date is not the same as the due date of the tax.

We recommend that you log in to MyTax to send your application for a payment arrangement. See our guidance: How to request a payment arrangement in MyTax.

This can happen because the reference number for your back taxes is the same as the shared reference number for all your income taxes (including prepayments and additional prepayments). This means that when you send us a payment with this reference number, we will use it on your first upcoming income tax.

Example: If you have two instalments of prepayments to pay, the first one on 24 June and the second one on 23 July, and you have back taxes due on 1 August, we will use any incoming payment first on the prepayments due in June and in July and only after that on the back taxes.

No. Wait for a new tax decision with a new due date and instructions for payment. You can check in MyTax whether your tax assessment process is still ongoing. You will receive the new decision by post or, if you have activated suomi.fi messages, in MyTax only. You will receive an email notification when the decision arrives in MyTax.

If the changes cause your back taxes to increase, and the amount you paid is too small, you will receive a new tax decision with revised bank forms. The new decision and the new information on how to pay will also be in MyTax.

Conversely, if the changes cause the amount of your back taxes to decrease, you may have paid too much. We will send back any excess amount on the refund date stated on your revised tax decision, unless you have prepayments falling due, or unless you have some other overdue taxes that you have not paid.

We do not send back the excess amount if:

• there is a tax to be prepaid, falling due soon. If you must make a prepayment and the due date of that prepayment is before the due date of your back taxes, your payment will be used on the prepayment. This is due to the fact that the bank reference number for back taxes is the same as the bank reference number for prepayments. Any amount remaining after this will be refunded to you in a week. The paid-in amount that we may have used is not specified on your new tax decision that contains the new instructions for paying your back tax.
• there are other unpaid taxes you must pay, or there is a tax debt currently being recovered from you by an enforcement office. The paid-in amount is automatically used on the above. What we have used on your other taxes is not specified on your new tax decision that contains the new instructions for paying your back tax. Any amount remaining after this will be refunded to you in a week.

If you made changes to your tax return, please wait until you receive your new tax decision and the new instructions. Do not send any payment before that. If you or your spouse made changes to the tax return, or if the Tax Administration received tax-related information from other sources, the assessment process on your taxes will continue, and the due dates for the back taxes will change. The amount of the back taxes may change as well. When the assessment process is completed, you will receive a revised tax decision with new instructions for payment. Please note that the original due date for your back taxes may pass by before you receive the new decision.

You can see in MyTax whether your tax return is still in process or whether a new tax decision is made for you.

Yes, you can pay both instalments at once. Both instalments have the same reference number, so you can pay their sum total in one single payment. This reference number is the same for all of your income taxes. You can see your personal reference number on the bank transfer forms or in MyTax. When you use this reference number, remember that it is a shared reference number for all income taxes, including prepayments. This means that when you send us a payment with this reference number, we will use it on your first upcoming income tax.

When you pay back taxes, you must always use your reference number for income taxes. You can see the reference number and the Tax Administration’s bank account number on your tax decision and in MyTax. If you pay back taxes in MyTax, the reference and bank account numbers are pre-filled.

You receive credit for the prepayments that we have imposed on you. Prepayments are credited in the tax assessment of the year for which they were imposed. The credit is equal to the original value of the prepayment. This rule concerns both the prepayments imposed during the tax year, and those imposed after the end of the tax year if they relate to the same tax year.

This means that a prepayment imposed for a tax year will be credited in that year’s tax assessment even if you have not paid it. For this reason, unpaid prepayments are not re-imposed as a back tax. However, if you have failed to make your prepayments, late-payment interest will be added to it from the day after the due date up to the date when you make the payment. The rate of late-payment interest is 11% in 2024. An unpaid prepayment may be transferred to the enforcement authorities for recovery.

If you have made prepayments that are not needed to cover your tax liability for the year, we will credit them to you by reducing your future prepayments. Unnecessary prepayment instalments will be cancelled. We will also cancel any unpaid prepayments, including any interest on them, if they are not needed to cover the year’s taxes.