Tax rate and income ceiling

You can change your tax rate and income ceiling by requesting a new tax card.

Tax card details

Your tax rate (withholding rate) is indicated in the tax card. You pay tax on your income according to the tax rate.

The income ceiling is an estimate of your income during the tax card's period of validity. The tax rate stated in the tax card will be applied until the income ceiling is reached.

The tax card also includes an additional rate, which the payor will use if your income exceeds the income ceiling. To avoid the use of the additional rate, request a new tax card before your income reaches the income ceiling.

Tax rate, or withholding rate

The tax rate indicates how much tax is withheld on your income.

Your tax rate will change when you request a new tax card and report your up-to-date income and deduction details. Request a new tax card in MyTax.

You can also raise your tax rate by asking your employer or pension provider to apply a higher tax rate than what is indicated in your tax card. Note, however, that your income ceiling will not change, so the payor must use the additional rate if your income for the year exceeds the income ceiling indicated in the tax card.

If your income decreases or your deductions increase, you can change your tax rate by requesting a new tax card and reporting your up-to-date income and deduction details in the request. In other words, you cannot just lower your tax rate, but when you change your tax card details, the tax rate will change as a result. Request a new tax card in MyTax.

Your tax rate may rise if

you have made changes to your tax card, such as increased the amount of wage income, added new income or reduced the amount of deductions
you have paid too little tax so far during the year because your tax rate has been too low
your income so far has exceeded the income ceiling and tax is withheld at the additional rate.

Check your tax card details. Delete any deductions you no longer have and add new deductions if necessary. When the income and deductions in your tax card are accurate, your tax rate is correct.

You can see the grounds for your current tax rate on the decision on prepayments. You can find the decision in your MyTax mailbox.

In some cases, your tax rate may drop even if you raise your income estimate. A reason for this may be that you have asked for a higher withholding rate at the beginning of the year or you have added deductions to your tax card.

Check that the income you reported at the beginning of the year, the taxes withheld and the deductions made are correct.

When the income and deductions in your tax card are accurate, your tax rate is correct.

The income and deductions used in the calculation of the tax rate are shown in the tax decision that accompanied the tax card.

If you have changed the tax rate indicated in your tax card, the tax card for the following year will be based on the changed information. Alternatively, the Tax Administration may calculate the tax rate for your tax card based on the income and deductions in your latest completed tax assessment, i.e. based on your latest tax return. Pension institutions report the amounts of pensions directly to the Tax Administration. The amounts of pensions are not based on the previous years' information.

You can estimate whether your tax rate needs to be changed either in MyTax or with the tax rate calculator. Please note that the result generated by the tax rate calculator is only a rough estimate.

Request a new tax card in the following situations.

Your income changes: When your income changes, for example because you start a new job, receive a pay increase or your employment ends, you should also request a new tax card. In this way, you ensure your tax rate will be in line with your new level of income.
Your deductions change: Commuting expenses, expenses for the production of income and credits for household expenses can be taken into account in the tax rate calculated for you tax card. Delete any deductions you no longer have.

In general, you should always request a new tax card if your income changes significantly. When you do so, the right amount of tax can be withheld and you can avoid back taxes.

Income ceiling is an estimate of your income

The income ceiling indicated in the tax card is an estimate of your income during the tax card's period of validity. You will pay the tax rate indicated in the tax card until the amount of income you have earned exceeds the income ceiling. If your income exceeds the income ceiling, you should request a new tax card. If you do not request a new tax card, the payor will withhold tax on the income that exceeds the income ceiling according to your additional withholding rate indicated in the tax card. Make sure that you keep an eye on how much you earn during the year, especially if you have multiple employers. Note that tax cards for pensions do not contain an income ceiling.

How to check that your tax card’s income ceiling is high enough:

Log in to MyTax.
You can see your income ceiling for the entire year under Tax cards and prepayments 2024 on the MyTax home page.
If your wages for the year are higher than the income ceiling shown in MyTax, request a new tax card.

The income ceiling is based on the estimate of your total income for the year. If you want to change the tax card’s income ceiling, re-estimate your income and request a new tax card.

Please note that when you request a new tax card in MyTax, the amount of income received or tax paid since the start of the year cannot be smaller than the amount you have reported previously. If the amount is smaller, you can request a new tax card with correct information only by calling our telephone service.

If you receive wage income on a regular basis every month, you get an estimate of your income for the entire year by multiplying the monthly wage income by 12.5 months. In addition to the wages for 12 months, the amount also contains the holiday bonus, which equals half of your wages for one month. Calculate the gross amount of your wages, i.e. do not subtract any taxes or charges withheld. If you receive fees or fringe benefits, add them to the amount.

Example: Your wage income is €2,000 a month. The estimate of your income for the entire year is €2,000 × 12.5 months = €25,000.

Requesting a tax card and estimating income may be challenging if you are not sure how much you will earn. Here are some tips on how to estimate your income for the tax card.

If your work situation is the same as at the beginning of the year, you can base your income estimate for the entire year on the amount of income you have earned so far. You can also check the wages you have received so far in MyTax: on the MyTax home page, select Tax cards and prepayments, and then Request a new tax card. Select the short or complete version of the tax card request. You can see the wages you have received so far under Method of reporting income received – Information retrieved from the Incomes Register.
You can calculate an estimate of your total income for the year based on your hourly wages. First estimate your average number of working hours per month. Multiply the number of hours by your hourly wages. To get an estimate for the whole year, multiply the amount by 12.

Example: You work part-time, approximately 60 hours a month. Your wages are €15/hour. An estimate of your income for the year is €15 × 60 hours/month × 12 months, i.e. €10,800.

Adjust the estimate if needed

If you have irregular income, it is particularly important that you keep an eye on how much income you earn during the year. In this way, you can make sure you do not pay too much or too little tax during the year. You can see your income ceiling for the year under Tax cards and prepayments 2024 on the MyTax home page.

If your income changes, you will probably need to request a new tax card. You can request a new tax card as often as necessary during the year.

The Tax Administration sends you a basic tax card at the turn of the year. This tax card states your annual income ceiling and income ceiling for 11 months.

The annual income ceiling specified in the tax card equals your 12.5 months’ wages, including the holiday bonus. The annual income ceiling is based on the income you have received in previous years.
The income ceiling for the period of 1 February to 31 December (11 months) has been calculated by dividing the annual income by 12.5 and then multiplying the result by 11.5.