Inheritance tax return – the decedent lived abroad, instructions for completing the form
1 Inheritor
Enter the details of the inheritor, or the beneficiary of a last will and testament, or beneficiary of a trust.
If no Finnish personal identity code has been issued, you can enter the inheritor’s or beneficiary’s date of birth, the format to use is: ddmmyyyy.
Country of residence on date of death, if not Finland
Indicate the name of the country where the inheritor/beneficiary lived on the decedent’s date of death. If Finland was the country of residence on that date, leave this line blank. For tax purposes, the country where a person has their primary residence and home is considered to be their country of residence.
Tax bracket
Tick the box for tax bracket 1 if you are:
- The deceased person’s widow or widower.
For tax purposes, persons who are married or in a registered partnership are spouses. Persons who live together and are each other’s partners are also in the same position as spouses if they have been married to each other previously, or if they are the parents of a child, or if they have been the parents of a child (now deceased) in the past. - Family-related to the decedent in direct ascending or descending line, that is, you are a child, grandchild, a parent or grandparent. (For tax purposes, adopted children and adoptive parents are equal to biological relatives.)
- Family-related to the decedent’s spouse (or former spouse) in direct descending line, that is, you are a child or grandchild.
Tick the box for tax bracket 2, if:
- You inherited property and assets from a more distant relative (such as your brother or sister, a cousin, an uncle, aunt or a parent-in-law) or from someone outside the family.
- You are completing the form on behalf of a company or other corporate entity (in other words, the inheritor is an entity).
Right to tax deduction for minors
Tick the box if the inheritor was under 18 years of age on the deceased person’s date of death, and the inheritor is, in accordance with the order of inheritance, deemed to be the nearest inheritor or heir. Please note that no tax deduction for minors is available to the following:
- An inheritor younger than 18 years of age, whose inheritance is the result of his or her parents forgoing an inheritance or a will
- An inheritor younger than 18 years whose inheritance is a direct testamentary disposition, which overlooks his or her living parent.
Right to deduction for spouses
Tick the box if the inheritor is the widow/widower or, during lifetime, the inheritor was the deceased person’s partner in a registered partnership. Persons living together as each other’s partners are also deemed spouses if they have previously been married, or if they are the parents of a child, or if they have been the parents of a child (now deceased) in the past.
2 Provider of additional information (inheritor or authorised representative)
Enter the name and phone number of a person who can provide more information for the assessment of inheritance taxes. Please complete this section even in cases where the person who can provide more information is the inheritor.
Enter the telephone number in the international format (example: +358 40123 4567). Please include an e-mail address.
3 Decedent
Enter the personal details of the deceased person here.
If no Finnish personal identity code was issued, you can enter the deceased person’s date of birth, format ddmmyyyy.
Country of residence
Country of residence means where the decedent lived when he or she passed away. For tax purposes, the country where a person has his or her primary residence and home is considered their country of residence.
Country of tax residence
If the country of tax residence is other than the country of residence, enter the name of the country where it was the decedent’s intention to live permanently as the country of tax residence. If the decedent lived in that country for the past 5 consecutive years or longer, tick the box for “Decedent lived in the country of tax residence for at least the past five years".
Decedent had a place of residence in Finland
Tick the box as appropriate. If the decedent did not have a place of residence in Finland, leave the section blank.
The authorised representative of the estate
Tick the box if the estate shareholders have authorised someone to represent the estate. Enter the name and address of the representative. Enclose their letter of authorisation, a power of attorney.
On the other hand, if the estate has authorised no representative, agent, etc., enter the details of the inheritor having the role of the estate’s contact person, that is, the person to receive the estate’s tax correspondence.
4 Gifts you have received from the decedent
If, over the course of the 3 years before the deceased person’s death, you received a gift or several gifts, for a total value that stayed below €5000, please fill in the exact total value received. However, you need not include any gifts here for which you have already filed a gift tax return.
A gift or gifts as described above do not need to be declared at all if both the donor and the beneficiary lived abroad on the date(s) when the gift(s) were given and both of the following conditions apply:
- The donated assets did not consist of immovable property located in Finland
- The donated assets did not consist of corporate stocks or shareholdings in a company/corporate entity whose assets are to over 50% comprised of immovable property located in Finland
5 Requests regarding a change-of-generation tax relief and the application of a preliminary ruling
Under the tax-relief provision concerning transfers of assets to the younger generation, you can pay less tax, if you represent the younger generation, and you will continue with the agricultural activity, or combined agricultural and forestry activity, or with the business left behind by the decedent, in the same farm or business entity that you inherited. Please note that you are not entitled to the relief if you receive a farm and continue the farm’s forestry activity only.
Tick the box if you seek a relief of the inheritance tax based on the provision regarding tax reliefs in change-of-generation situations.
Tick the box if you also seek an extension of time for the due date for paying your inheritance tax.
Add a written account to the inheritance tax return to give a detailed description of how you will continue to operate the business, agriculture, or combined agriculture and forestry, with the assets you inherited.
Please note that if you make a request for inheritance-tax relief based on the exemption rules related to transfer of property to the younger generation but the grounds are inadequate. For more information about the tax increase, see “An inheritance tax return is late, incomplete or incorrect, or not filed at all” on the Tax Administration’s website.
Tick the box, if a preliminary ruling with regard to your inheritance tax was requested and paid for, and you demand that the ruling should be applied during the assessment of your inheritance taxes.
Page 2 of the form
Remember to fill in the Finnish personal identity code of the inheritor on the top of page 2. If no Finnish personal identity code was issued, you can enter the deceased person’s date of birth, format ddmmyyyy.
6 Share of inheritance (share of assets and debts)
Your share of the assets on the date of death
This means the property and assets – regardless of where they are located – which comprise your share of the inheritance according to a legal Act, a will left behind, or the charter of a trust.
The value you enter here should reflect the fair market value effective at the decedent’s date of death. Please include the total values, which will match the “Specification of your share” section below.
However, if relevant, you need to declare insurance policy-related benefits in section 8 (Indemnity you have received based on a beneficiary clause). If you received any indemnities, do not include them in the estate share. In some cases, an insurance indemnity is paid to the estate itself. If this concerns the estate where you are an inheritor, please itemise the indemnities in writing and enclose the itemisation with the inheritance tax return.
Your share of the debts and deductions on the date of death
Indicate the deceased person’s debts and deductions, if any, which are allocated to your share of the inheritance or to your share as indicated by a testament. Examples of debts and deductions falling into this category are amounts the deceased person had borrowed during their lifetime, unpaid bills, invoices, etc. You can additionally make a deduction reflecting your share of the expenses, which needed to be paid when the estate was inventoried and when the decedent’s funeral was arranged. Example: you inherit ¼ of the estate’s assets — as a result, you need to enter ¼ of the debts and deductions.
Specification of your share
You can write up a free-form document to give more details and itemisations if there are not enough lines and spaces on the form. If your share of inheritance contains an interest in an undistributed estate having a Business ID code, please provide another free-form document giving full details on that interest.
6.1. Immovable property located in Finland
Note the following exception: if an estate of a deceased person has not yet been distributed among the heirs, any interest in that undistributed estate cannot be deemed immovable property.
If the inheritance you have received contains real estate, fill in the property identification codes of every unit of real estate. Proper format of the code is xxx-yyy-nnnn-zzzz, for example: “091-011-0022-0033”. The 3 or 4 digits make up the code sequence as shown above, so you need to enter them exactly as shown above. As a result, if any digits are missing, you should add leading zeroes to the appropriate parts of the sequence as needed.
If you inherited a parcel of land belonging to a larger unit of real estate, fill in the property code like this: xxx-yyy-nnnn-zzzz-M1111, for example: “091-012-0044-0055-M0601”. In the same way as above, the code sequence consists of strings of varying lengths. Make sure to enter them as shown above. And if any digits are missing, you should add leading zeroes as needed. However, any leading zeroes that you would need for the final part “Mxxxx” should be added after the letter “M”, not in front of it.
To indicate your share of the property as a fraction, enter a fractional value such as 1/1, or ¼, etc. as the case may be. The fraction should answer the question: what part of the entire real estate did you inherit? For example, if during the decedent’s lifetime, the decedent owned the entire real estate and you inherit half of it, enter ½. However, if during the decedent’s lifetime, the decedent owned just ½ the real estate and now you inherit half of that, enter ¼.
Finally, enter the fair market value of your inherited part, valuated at the date of the deceased person’s death. This value should be included in the value of “Your share of the assets on the date of death” above.
6.2. Stock or shares in a corporate entity when over 50% of the entity’s assets is immovable property located in Finland
Examples of assets in this category are Finnish housing-company shares, Finnish real-estate holding company shares, i.e. shares in entities with their registered domicile in Finland.
Housing or real estate holding company
If you inherited an apartment (or shares, which give you the rights to a specific parking space etc.), enter the housing company’s Business ID code, the apartment number, or the parking-space number as appropriate.
In the same way as above in 6.1 (Immovable property located in Finland), if you inherit not the entire apartment but only part of it, you need to enter a fraction, which indicates the size of your inherited share in relation to the entire quantity of housing-company shares giving their holder the rights to the apartment.
Finally, enter the fair market value of your inherited part, valuated at the date of the deceased person’s death. This value should be included in the total value of “Your share of the assets on the date of death” above.
Please complete the above fields and spaces also if you inherited shares in a real estate holding company.
Unlisted limited company
If you inherited shares in a limited company which is not stock-exchange listed, enter its Business ID, the quantity of shares inherited and their fair market value at the date of death. This value should be included in the total value of “Your share of the assets on the date of death” above.
Partnership
If your inheritance contains an interest in a limited partnership (the decedent was a general partner/silent partner in a partnership) or a general partnership company, enter the Business ID of the partnership, the fraction indicating the size of your inherited interest, and the fair market value of this interest, effective at the date of the deceased person’s death. This value should be included in the total value of “Your share of the assets on the date of death” above.
6.3. Other assets located in Finland (Note: only the property mentioned in a double tax convention)
We recommend that you familiarise yourself with the detailed guide “Inheritance and gift taxation in international situations” — Perintö- ja lahjaverotus kansainvälisissä tilanteissa (in Finnish and Swedish), especially the chapter on “Exempted items of property by virtue of tax-treaty provisions” — Verosopimuksilla perintöverosta vapautettu omaisuus. The detailed instructions are applicable if the inheritor lived in Finland and the decedent's country of tax residence at date of death was one of the following: Denmark, France, Iceland, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the United States of America.
Enter the fair market value of the assets at the decedent’s date of death. This value should be included in the value of “Your share of the assets on the date of death” above.
Only debts and liabilities related to the assets specified in sections 6.1 to 6.3
If there are debts in connection to property and assets declared in sections 6.1, 6.2 and 6.3 above, or if another person has the rights of possession, the rights to receive profits, or other comparable rights, enter the total value of the debts, encumbrances, obligations, etc., valuated at date of death. Example: you inherit ¼ of the estate’s assets — as a result, you need to enter ¼ of the debts, encumbrances, obligations.
Please note that this line is only for declaring the debts, etc. having a connection to Finland-located immovable property, or to corporate stocks or other items of property which under national legislation, are subject to taxes in Finland, and for which tax-treaty provisions would accord the taxing rights to Finland in a situation where a tax treaty could become applicable. Examples of expenses falling into this category include any real estate tax payable to Finland, and any bank loan costs, for loans taken for the financing of the purchase of real estate.
Your share of the assets that the decedent received as an inheritance in the past two years
It may be that your share of the inheritance contains some property and assets that the decedent, within the two years preceding the date of death, had inherited. This line is for filling in the value of the inherited property and assets.
Tick the box for tax bracket. For detailed instructions, see section 1 (Inheritor).
7 Tax paid to another country
Fill in the amount of any foreign inheritance tax for property and assets that you declared above in section 6 (Share of inheritance), which you have paid to another country. However, no taxes you may have paid to federal states or to regional tax authorities of foreign countries should be included here.
8 Indemnity you have received based on a beneficiary clause
Life insurance benefit
Fill in the amount received, based on a beneficiary clause.
Individual retirement pension insurance
If indemnities are paid to you because the decedent had an individual retirement pension insurance policy, fill in the amount of capital deposited, which you received back upon the decedent's death.
Enter the exceeding part, i.e. the amount that exceeds the savings the decedent had placed in the individual retirement account.
Tick the box if the decedent took out the individual retirement insurance on 18 September 2009 or on a date after that.
Date and signature
Remember to authorise the form with your signature. If the inheritor concerned by this tax return is under 18 years of age, the parent or guardian or another trustee should put their signature and printed name in this space.
Inheritance tax returns should have just one signature. When there are several inheritors, each one of them must complete and sign their personal inheritance tax return.
If this form is being completed by a person authorised by the inheritor, the person who should sign the form will be the authorised representative as well.
Documents to be enclosed
Enclose photocopies of the following documents:
- The deed of inventory or list of assets, which enumerates the assets, property and debts of the decedent, effective on the date of death
- The will/testament the decedent left behind
- The foreign country’s inheritance tax decision issued by the tax authority of the country, in case you have paid foreign inheritance tax to another country
- The charter of a trust
- The insurance company’s or other payor’s decision on an insurance payout, if any
- A deed or comparable agreement between heirs or inheritors, drawn up regarding the distribution of the estate
Do not send any original examples of the above documents to the Tax Administration. We recommend that you keep them for later reference.