Car tax return, instructions

You must submit this tax return when you apply for vehicle registration or when you enter a motor vehicle into taxable service in Finland for the first time. The following vehicles are taxable and the car tax return must be filed:

• Passenger cars and vans
• Buses of less than 1,875 kilograms of mass (a minibus)
• Motorcycles
• Other L category vehicles (such as small four-wheelers, quadricycles).

Please note that you also have to complete the return for vehicles that are exempt from car tax or are subject to reduced car tax. If you have previously submitted a declaration of use, you are tax-liable as the vehicle’s first operator.

It is a good idea to have the vehicle’s documentation on hand. You may want to refer to the registration certificate – Finnish or foreign – and to the manufacturer’s CoC documents, i.e. the certificate of conformity, or refer to other documentation.

Read more about the taxation of motor vehicles

How to file the car tax return

1 Taxpayer

Name

Enter the name of the person who is liable to pay the Finnish car tax for the vehicle. Typically, the tax liability falls on the registered owner. Please note the following exceptions:

• The tax liability falls on the buyer entered in the register as the vehicle’s holder, not owner, if you pay for the vehicle in instalments.
• If the vehicle has been entered into taxable service before its Finnish vehicle registration is complete, tax liability falls on the operator that entered it into service.
• If a car tax return is submitted before registration and before the vehicle is in taxable operation, tax liability falls on the party that submits the return.

Personal ID or Business ID

Enter the ID code for the party liable to car tax. If he or she has no Finnish personal identity code, enter the date of birth. If the party is a corporate entity (=a legal person), enter its Business ID. The correct format is 1234567-8.

Please note: If you are a self-employed person operating a trade or business (T:mi), enter your personal identity code. Although you may have been issued a Business ID for your trade or business (T:mi), do not enter that Business ID in this space.

For purposes of car taxation, if the party liable to pay the tax is a business enterprise, it must be an incorporated company, i.e. a legal person. If you are self-employed, you are not a legal person although you are treated as having a “company”. The authorities treat you as a private individual when issuing you the decision on car tax.

2 Representative (fill in if necessary)

If you have assigned someone else as an agent or representative, enter the name and personal identity code or Business ID here. If your representative has no Finnish personal ID, enter his or her date of birth. If your representative is a corporate entity (=a legal person), enter its Business ID. The format for the Business ID is 1234567-8.

Please note: If the representative puts their signature on the car tax return on your behalf, the representative’s letter of authorisation (power of attorney) must be enclosed. However, if the representative is an attorney-at-law or a public legal adviser, they do not need to be authorised with a letter of authorisation for tax representation.

3 Vehicle

To locate the information for this section of the tax return, you can refer to the vehicle’s documentation, its certificate of conformity – CoC – or its foreign or Finnish registration papers.

Make

This line is for the vehicle’s make, i.e. the name of the company that produces the vehicle.

Model

This line is for the vehicle’s model name.

VIN, the vehicle identification number

Enter the VIN in this space. The VIN is an individualised string of numbers and letters to identify motor vehicles. You can find the VIN of a registered vehicle or a used vehicle on its registration certificate.

Enter the VIN in the same format. In general, VINs consist of 17 characters including special characters. For EU/EC type-approved vehicles, the three letters I, O and Q are not allowed in a VIN so as to not confuse them with digits. The character-length limit and the above restriction against certain letters of the alphabet does not apply to the VINs of other than EU/EC approved vehicles. This way, if your vehicle is imported from the USA, Japan or a number of other countries, it may have a VIN that contains an I, O or Q.

Variant         

Version

Enter your vehicle’s variant and version. “Variant” and “version” refer to basic technical characteristics including the fuel that the engine runs on, the engine’s displacement, power rating, and the vehicle’s or car’s body style. You can find the variant and version in the documentation. For example, the version is stated in the registration inspection certificate under D.2.

The vehicle is (select “new” or “used”)

Tick the box to indicate whether the vehicle is new or second-hand = used. Motor vehicles are considered new if they have had no registration and have never been entered into service. In addition, vehicles are also “new” if they have been imported to Finland as new and have only been used in tax-exempt operation for demonstration purposes.

Vehicles are considered used if they have been registered or operated in Finland or other countries.

Date of first registration

Enter the date in the ddmmyyyy format. The first registration date of a vehicle is the day when the vehicle was registered for the first time, either in a foreign country or in Finland.

This date is important because it establishes the vehicle’s age for purposes of car taxation. The counting of time is based on full months, starting from the date of first registration. If that date is not known, you can establish the vehicle’s age from the end date of the month of manufacture. If the month when the vehicle was manufactured cannot be ascertained, age must be determined by the probable year of first registration, of first entry into service, or of manufacture (from the end date of that year). The goal is to find out the vehicle’s age when the obligation to pay Finnish car tax arises. The obligation arises at the date when the vehicle is registered, or when it is entered into taxable service in Finland, or when this tax return is submitted.

Note: If either of the following 2 conditions is fulfilled when you bring a vehicle to Finland from another EU country, you must report and pay value-added tax on a “new means of transport”:

• The vehicle was sold before 6 months had elapsed from the date of its first entry into service.
• By the time when the vehicle was sold, it had been driven max. 6,000 kilometres.

If you are not a VAT-registered taxpayer in Finland but you have purchased a “new means of transport” in the EU, you must account for its VAT and pay it in MyTax on your initiative. The VAT return form is the same for private individuals and for non-VAT-registered business enterprises and corporate entities. Read more about filing VAT returns for new means of transport.

Odometer reading (km)

Fill in the kilometres shown by the vehicle’s odometer. As some imported vehicles have an odometer in miles, please convert the reading: 1 mile = 1.6093 kilometres. If the reading is not right, i.e. does not show actual kilometres or mileage, add an enclosure to provide a clarification on the matter.

Vehicle category

Please indicate the category in which the vehicle is registered.

If your vehicle is a van, you must complete the form’s section 4.

Motive power (= the engine’s source of propulsion)

Select the appropriate option. If your vehicle runs on a fuel that is not listed here, you should tick "Other" and provide further information as appropriate.

Plug-in hybrid vehicle (select Yes or No)

If the vehicle’s engines are powered by gasoline/petrol and electricity – or diesel fuel and electricity – state whether the vehicle is a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, PHEV, that can be charged using an outlet or a charger set.

Car body style

Select the appropriate option. If you have a car that has a different body style, you should tick "Other" and provide further information as appropriate.

Drive type

Select the appropriate option.

Transmission

This selection is normally between automatic and standard (=manual). However, if your vehicle has a transmission that integrates both parts of an automatic and manual transmission, or if your vehicle is a full electric vehicle, tick the box for automatic.

Cylinder capacity (= displacement)

Enter the engine displacement, i.e. its cylinder capacity in cubic centimetres (cm³).

Engine power (kW)

Indicate the power rating in kilowatts (kW). As the documentation for some vehicles only shows the horsepower rating (in DIN horsepower), please convert it: One kilowatt equals 1.36 hp and one DIN horsepower equals 0.735 kW.

Electric car's battery capacity (kWh)

Indicate the capacity in kilowatt-hours.

Gross vehicle weight (kg)

Gross vehicle weight rating, GVWR, is the unladen weight and the load capacity combined. This indicates the maximum permissible weight of a loaded vehicle on the road.

Basis for CO₂ value

Select the appropriate option.

NEDC is the most common testing method for vehicles entered into service before 1 September 2018. After this the most common testing method is WLTP.

If your vehicle’s CO₂ value has been determined based on e.g. EU Regulation 183/2011 (CARB), select "Other testing method". 

If needed, check the testing method with the importer or the inspection station. If you still cannot ascertain the measurement basis for the CO² value, you can select "Not known".

CO₂ emissions (g/km)

This line is for your vehicle’s CO₂ value. Your vehicle’s carbon dioxide emissions (CO₂) value determines its rate of car tax (this is the value quoted in the EU/EC type approval of your vehicle). You can find it in a registration certificate issued in an EU or EEA country, or on your vehicle’s certificate of conformity (CoC) or another certificate issued by a representative of the manufacturer.

Please note that the carbon dioxide (CO₂) emission value is usually more than 0.

Select "Not known" if your vehicle does not have an EU/EC type approval or if no CO₂ value is available for other reasons. In this case, the tax authorities will determine a car tax rate for your vehicle by its gross weight in kilograms (kg) and by the fuel that its engine runs on.

4 Additional details on vans

Length (mm)

Indicate your van’s length in millimetres.

Unladen weight (kg)

Fill in the weight indicated by factory documentation, in kilograms.  The figure includes the driver’s weight (75 kg for calculation purposes) as well as the weight of the fuel and other liquids.

Number of doors

Fill in how many doors the van’s cabin has, i.e. the doors for the driver and the passengers.

Number of seats

Fill in as appropriate.

The van is eligible for tax reduction             subject to full tax

Tick the correct box to indicate whether you are requesting the van to be taxed as a van subject to reduced tax.

The car tax on a van can be reduced if:

• the van's gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) is above 2,500 kg
• the van has the driver’s seat and seats next to it
• The van’s load capacity: either one of the two conditions below must be satisfied:
  • capacity (= difference between GVWR and unladen weight) is at least 680 kg but less than 1,000 kg and the quotient of the power (kW) and the GVWR (kg) is no more than 0.05.
  • capacity is at least 1,000 kg and the quotient of power and GVWR is no more than 0.06.

Load capacity means the largest allowed load of goods and passengers.

Gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) is the unladen weight and the capacity combined. This indicates the maximum permissible weight of a loaded vehicle on the road.

If your vehicle is a van subject to reduced tax, select Eligible for tax reduction under Additional details on vans.

If you are requesting tax exemption for your van, select the basis for the exemption from the list of options in section 6.

If your vehicle does not meet the requirements of a van subject to reduced tax, tick the “Subject to full tax” box.

Read more about the amount of car tax

5 Information on automotive equipment, a used vehicle of max. 2 years

If the vehicle is a passenger car or a van, and its age is less than 2 years, you also have to provide a list of its equipment.

“Level of equipment” refers to a set of equipment defined by the vehicle manufacturer or importer. An equipment level usually consists of multiple pieces of equipment and has its own name for marketing purposes.

Write the equipment level’s name in the text field. If you cannot give the marketing name for a specific equipment level, you can write the reason why no name is available. If you need more writing space, you can prepare an additional document and enclose it with the return.

If you selected a specific equipment level, you also need to indicate any additional accessories that are not part of the equipment level’s standard set of equipment. If you are not sure, answer Yes to the question.

After you answer Yes, make a list of the automotive equipment and accessories, and enclose the list with the application form. The list should only contain the items that are not part of the equipment level’s named set. If you are unsure about which pieces of equipment are included in the named equipment level and which are not, you can list all the equipment the vehicle comes with.

You need to enclose this list also in case you have referred to something other than a named level of equipment.

See the contract of purchase of your vehicle to look up all the equipment the vehicle has. Another source of information is the official importer or motor dealer of your vehicle.

Read more about the reporting requirements concerning equipment.

6 Additional details on rental vehicles

Fill in the name and Business ID of the party that is going to offer the vehicle for rent. Fill in the start and end dates of rental-fleet operation in Finland.

7 Other additional information

Tax-exempt vehicles

If you are requesting tax exemption, state it here by entering the grounds for the exemption.  

Traffic licence number

If the vehicle is a taxi, enter the traffic licence number.

Date of vehicle registration in Finland (ddmmyyyy)

Fill in the right date.

Start date for taxable use in Finland (ddmmyyyy)

Fill in the date when your vehicle was entered into service in Finland. When a vehicle is operated in road traffic within Finland, it is treated as having entered into taxable service even if it has not been registered in Finland. An exception from the above is the case where a vehicle is only driven for a tax-exempt purpose: the vehicle’s date of entry into taxable service is not affected by such use.

8 Advance Ruling

Tick the box if you have been issued an advance ruling regarding the vehicle and you demand that the ruling be applied on the car tax. The ruling must still be in effect.

9 Enclosures

The enclosures are for providing an account of the vehicle’s individual features, if any.

An individual feature is any characteristic of the vehicle that differs from the usual, for example, the location of the steering wheel on the right-hand side. Changes caused by aging of the vehicle or any minor damage are not considered individual features.