UN's peace-keeping forces

Finnish citizens working for the UN peacekeeping forces abroad are usually resident taxpayers in Finland, i.e. they pay their taxes to Finland. The pay they receive for peacekeeping duties is also taxed in Finland, because the peacekeepers are employed by the Finnish government, not the UN.

Report income with a tax return

You will receive a pre-completed tax return in March-April. Check the information on your pre-completed tax return.

If all the information is correct, you do not need to do anything. You have received your final assessment decision as an enclosure to the tax return form.

If the pre-completed tax return does not have your income information or if some information is missing, make the necessary corrections in MyTax or on paper forms. You must also include all the income that you received from foreign sources.

Submit details in MyTax

The pre-completed tax return – making corrections in MyTax or on paper

You will receive a new tax decision in the autumn with the final amounts of taxes. If you have paid too little in withholding or prepayments, you will be given instructions on how to pay back taxes. Instructions for appeal will be enclosed.

If you do not receive a pre-completed tax return, you must file a return on your own initiative in MyTax or on paper forms.

Expenses for work-related travel

As a UN peacekeeper, you are usually regarded as being on a work-related trip in the country of destination. You are on a work-related trip if your assignment in the same location lasts for no more than three years. Your employer can reimburse expenses for work-related trips, such as travel and accommodation expenses, exempt from tax.

Travel

The employer usually provides peacekeepers with a free (tax-exempt) trip to the country of destination at the beginning of the assignment and back to Finland at the end of the assignment.

• If your employer has offered you a free trip but you prefer an alternative way of travel and organise it yourself, you cannot deduct any of the travel expenses on your tax return.
•  However, if your employer does not provide transport to the country of destination or back to Finland, then you can deduct your travel expenses as expenses for the production of income in your taxation.
• Work-related trips at the assignment location are usually made with UN vehicles, so they do not cause travel expenses. If in exceptional cases you make such trips with your own car or otherwise at your own expense, you can deduct the travel expenses as expenses for the production of income in your taxation.
• The employer cannot pay the expenses for any trips home during the assignment exempt from tax. However, you can deduct your expenses for travelling home during the assignment according to the least expensive means of transport. Trips between home and place of assignment are comparable to trips between home and primary place of work.
• If the assignment is interrupted because of a reason such as a sick leave or annual or other holidays, the employer can pay the trips home exempt from tax. If the employer has not paid your trip, you can deduct the travel expenses as expenses for the production of income.

Daily allowances and accommodation

The employer usually arranges free accommodation for peacekeepers in the country of destination. Free accommodation provided on a work-related trip is exempt from tax. An increased daily allowance that the employer pays to cover accommodation costs is also regarded as provision of accommodation. 

The employer usually pays the peacekeepers a daily allowance for the assignment period. A daily allowance paid for a work-related trip is exempt from tax. The daily allowance is meant to cover increased living expenses. Such expenses include extra meal expenses, for example. If the employer has paid you a tax-exempt daily allowance, you cannot deduct increased living expenses on your tax return.

Read more about taxation of work-related trips.

Note: Peacekeepers can be granted a tax relief only in exceptional cases, on the same preconditions as other taxpayers. Read more on Tax relief