Do you work in a Nordic country? – Your taxes can be reassigned to the Nordic country that has the taxing rights
The Nordic countries have an Agreement Concerning the Collection and Transfer of Tax (the TREKK treaty). The agreement aims for making it easier for workers and employers to pay taxes to the Nordic country that has the right to tax the worker’s wages. If the payments of taxes are at first sent to a different Nordic country, not to the one that actually has the taxing rights, the tax administrations of the two Nordic countries that are involved can re-send the amounts to the country where they should go.
Read more about the multilateral Nordic TREKK Treaty
Visit Nordisk eTax to read more about taxes related to employment in a variety of circumstances in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland and Finland.
Taxes first prepaid or withheld in Finland can be sent to another Nordic country if the amount was too high
If your country of tax residence is Finland but you work in another Nordic country, the standard requirement is that you pay tax to the Nordic country where you work. However, your Finnish employer may have withheld taxes in Finland and paid them on to the Finnish Tax Administration. If this has happened, and the country where you worked has the right to tax your wages, submit an application for transfer of the Finnish taxes.
Read more about the circumstances where you must pay tax to other countries: Overseas work.
Example: Your country of tax residence is Finland, and your Finnish employer sends you to Denmark to work. Your employer continues to withhold tax on your wages in Finland, paying the amounts on to the Finnish Tax Administration. Your stay in Denmark is longer than 183 days during a 12-month period. However, you spend your weekends and days off in Finland.
The wages you receive are subject to Finnish taxes, and the exemption known as the “six-month rule” does not apply because you are present in Finland for more than 6 days per month on average.
Under the provisions of the Nordic tax treaty, you must pay tax to Denmark on the wages you receive. At the same time, also the Finnish authorities impose tax on your wages. However, when the Finnish Tax Administration assesses your taxes for the year, it eliminates the double taxation that has been caused.
When you submit your Finnish tax return, indicate the income you received for the work you did in Denmark and make a demand for elimination of double taxation. Additionally, include an application for having the taxes sent from Finland to Denmark. This is necessary for Denmark’s taxation process. If the result of your Finnish tax assessment is that you get a refund, it is possible to reassign some of your tax to Denmark.
Also file your tax return to Denmark’s tax authority. An alternative way to do the above is that you include an application in your Danish tax return for sending your tax money from Finland to Denmark. Contact the Danish tax authority to find out the extent of your liability to Danish taxes.
Apply for transfer of your taxes on your tax return
- Pre-completed tax returns are sent to individual taxpayers in spring. After you receive yours, please check the amounts and other information on it carefully.
- Find out how much of your wages was paid to you for the work you performed in Finland. If necessary, adjust the wage amount showing on the pre-completed tax return either in MyTax or on Form 50A
- The line in MyTax for the amount paid to you for the work you did in the other Nordic country is “4 – Work abroad, not covered by the six-month rule”. If you use Form 16A instead of MyTax, the lines are “Work abroad not covered by the six-month rule” and “Work abroad for which you request implementation of the six-month rule”, as appropriate.
- Tick “I am applying for the transfer of tax from Finland to another Nordic country, or vice versa”.
- Write up a free-text enclosure to give an account of how long you worked in the other Nordic country. In addition, indicate the reason for that Nordic country to have the right to impose tax on your wages.
Read more about reporting the amounts
Taxes prepaid or withheld in excess in Denmark, Sweden, Norway or Iceland can be sent to Finland
If your country of tax residence is a Nordic country and you have come to Finland to work, the standard requirement is that you pay tax to Finland. However, your employer, also a resident of the other Nordic country like you, may have withheld taxes and paid the amounts on to the country of tax residence. If this has happened and your wages had been within Finland’s taxing rights, submit an application for transfer of the taxes to Finland. After transfer, the amounts from Denmark, Sweden, Norway or Iceland are treated the same way as paid-in Finnish withholding for the year.
Read more about the circumstances where you must pay tax to Finland: Workers arriving in Finland.
Example: Your country of tax residence is Denmark. Your Danish employer sends you to Finland to work here for a period longer than 6 months. You are present in Finland for more than 183 days over a 12-month period. Under the provisions of the Nordic tax treaty, Finland gets the right to tax your income. However, your employer has continued to withhold tax on your wages, and paid these taxes on to the Danish tax authority.
Your employer would be required to give details on the wages paid to you, i.e. submit reports to Finland’s Incomes Register. However, if your employer did not do so, you must provide the information on the wages paid to you by the Danish employer. Complete the Finnish tax return. When you fill out your Finnish tax return, you can include an application in it for transfer of your taxes from Denmark to Finland.
You must also submit a tax return to Denmark. An alternative way to apply for the transfer from Denmark to Finland is that you submit your Danish tax return and include the application for transfer in that tax return. Contact the Danish tax authority to find out the extent of your liability to Danish taxes.
When the Finnish Tax Administration processes your tax return, it contacts the Danish tax authority to ask them to carry out the intra-Nordic reassignment. However, it is also possible that the Danish tax authority takes the initiative, offering to reassign the paid-in amount.
Apply for transfer of your taxes on your tax return
- Pre-completed tax returns are sent to individual taxpayers in spring. After you receive yours, please check all the information carefully.
- If you did not receive the Finnish pre-completed tax return, or if the income is not included in it, you must either go to MyTax or complete Form 50A (Earned income and deductions) to inform the Tax Administration of the items of income that are missing. When you do that, indicate the wages paid to you by your Nordic employer for the work you performed in Finland.
Apply for the transfer on an enclosure
The heading of your free-text enclosure should be “I am applying for transfer of taxes from a Nordic country to Finland (TREKK)”
The enclosure must contain the following facts and information:
- Your name, Finnish personal identity code, and the tax year
- Your country of tax residence
- Your periods of stay in Finland
- Your employer’s name, your employer’s country of domicile
- The period(s) when you worked in Finland
- The wages that you received for the work done in Finland, and the amount withheld on it that was paid to another Nordic country
If you work not only in Finland but also elsewhere, provide the start and end dates of the period(s) worked in the different countries and indicate how much you were paid
Send the complete enclosure to:
Verohallinto – Finnish Tax Administration
PL 700
00052 VERO
Visit Nordisk eTax to read more about taxes related to employment in a variety of circumstances in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Iceland and Finland.