Contents of public information on individual income taxes
The content of the information published annually on individual income taxation is defined by law. This page explains in detail what kind of data is included in the public information on individual income taxes. This will help those who use this data to understand what the public information actually indicates about an individual’s income and assets.
Summary
Data included in the public information on individual income taxes
- Taxable earned and capital income after deductions.
- Tax collected on the income after deductions and credits.
- Income tax and municipal tax paid by the individual during the year.
- Tax refund received or back taxes payable by the individual.
Examples of what is not included in the public information on individual income taxes
- Tax-exempt earned or capital income.
- Details on what the individual’s earned or capital income consists of.
- Exact amounts of wages or pension received by the individual.
- The individual’s employer or number of jobs.
- If the individual is unemployed or how long they have been unemployed.
- Amounts or types of deductions made.
- Data on gift taxes, inheritance taxes, or transfer taxes.
Contents of the public information on individual income taxes
According to law, the public information on individual income taxes must include each individual’s taxable earned and capital income, the amount of tax imposed on that income, and the amount of tax refund or back taxes.
EXTRACT FROM THE PUBLIC INFORMATION ON INCOME TAXES
Tax year: XXXX
Name of county: XXXX
| Name | Year of birth | Income taxable by the state: a) earned income |
Income tax |
Municipal tax: a) taxable income |
a) Total taxes and charges b) Withholdings and prepayments |
a) Tax refund b) Back taxes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| xxx | xxx | a) xx,xx b) xx,xx |
xx,xx | a) xx,xx b) xx,xx |
a) xx,xx b) xx,xx |
a) xx,xx b) xx,xx |
State taxation and municipal taxation
Withholdings and prepayments
Tax refunds and back taxes
Not all income is shown in the public information
- Gift tax
- Inheritance tax
- Transfer tax
Example: How inheritance affects the public information on individual income taxes
Assi inherits an apartment from her mother. The apartment is valued at €200,000 at time of death. Assi must pay €21,700 of inheritance tax on the apartment. The apartment’s value or the amount of inheritance tax are not included in Assi’s public information.
If Assi rents out the apartment, the rental income she receives is part of the capital income included in the public information. In the same way, if Assi later sells the apartment, the profit she receives from that is part of her capital income and therefore public information.
Deductions from income are taken into account in the public information
The figures shown in the public information on individual income taxes are the end results of each individual’s tax assessment as they were at the time tax assessment was completed. The public information on an individual’s earned and capital income includes deductions made from that income either by the Tax Administration or by the individual themself and accepted by the Tax Administration.
This means that the amounts included in the public information cannot be used to directly determine how much pay an individual has earned in a certain job or how much dividend income they have received, for example. There are also certain credits that are deducted directly from the amount of tax payable, such as credit for household expenses and student loan credit. The exact amount of credits cannot be determined from the public information, either.
Example: No income or taxes shown in the public information
Maija receives less than €12,000 of pension per year. She has no other income. After deductions, she has no income that is taxable in state taxation or municipal taxation. Each data entry in Maija’s public information is shown as €0.00.
Example: Deductions from earned income for an employed individual
Daniel’s gross wages during the year are €35,000. He is a member in a trade union and an unemployment fund. He works mainly from home, so he reports the full home office deduction of €920 as expenses for the production of income, but no other deductions.
| Details included in Daniel’s tax decision | € |
|---|---|
| Wages, fees and compensation | 35,000.00 |
| Deductions made in tax assessment/In state taxation and municipal taxation | |
| Trade union fees and unemployment fund fees | 350.00 |
| Expenses for the production of income | 920.00 |
| Pension insurance contributions | 2,502.50 |
| Unemployment insurance contributions | 525.00 |
| Daily allowance contribution of health insurance | 413.00 |
| Deductions made in tax assessment/Only in municipal taxation | |
| Deduction for earned income | 2,682.15 |
| Public information on income tax assessment | |
| Earned income subject to state taxation | 30,289.50 |
| Income subject to municipal taxation | 27,607.35 |
Example: Deductions from earned income for an individual in changing life situations
Janne is a veterinary student who graduates in the spring. During his studies, he has received monthly study grants. After graduation, he gets a summer job in retail. In early autumn, he is unemployed for three months. Later in the year, he gets a full-time job as a veterinary nurse. Study grants and labour market subsidies are considered benefits. The public information on individual income taxes does not indicate whether Janne’s income is from employment, benefits, or their combination. The public information also does not show how many different jobs Janne has had or if he has been studying or unemployed.
| Details included in Janne’s tax decision | € |
|---|---|
| Wages, fees and compensation | 13,500.00 |
| Benefits | 3,843.03 |
| Deductions made in tax assessment/ In state taxation and municipal taxation |
|
| Expenses for the production of income | 750.00 |
| Pension insurance contributions | 965.25 |
| Unemployment insurance contributions | 202.50 |
| Deductions made in tax assessment/Only in municipal taxation | |
| Deduction for earned income | 3,453.31 |
| Public information on income tax assessment | |
| Earned income subject to state taxation | 15,425.28 |
| Income subject to municipal taxation | 9,713.72 |
Example: Deductions from earned income for a retired individual
Siiri is retired. The gross amount of pension she receives during the year is €18,000. She reports no deductions in her tax return.
| Details included in Siiri’s tax decision | € |
|---|---|
| Pensions | 18,000.00 |
| Deductions made in tax assessment/In state taxation and municipal taxation | |
| Pension income deduction | 9,209.40 |
| Deductions made in tax assessment/Only in municipal taxation | |
| Pension income deduction | 5,406.60 |
| Basic deduction | 2,146.39 |
| Public information on income tax assessment | |
| Earned income subject to state taxation | 8,790.60 |
| Income subject to municipal taxation | 10,447.01 |
Example: Deductions from capital income
Elisa owns shares in listed companies. She receives €25,000 of dividend income from her shares. 85% of dividend income from listed companies is subject to tax. In Elisa’s case, this means €21,250.
During the tax year, Elisa sells some forest property she has owned for a long time. This sale results in a loss of €20,000 for her. She also reports €500 in expenses for management and safekeeping of securities and shares.
| Details included in Elisa’s tax decision | € |
|---|---|
| Taxable portion of capital income from dividends | 21,250.00 |
| Deductions made in tax assessment | |
| Capital losses from other assets | 20,000.00 |
| Expenses for management and safekeeping of securities and shares | 500.00 |
| Public information on income tax assessment |
|
| Capital income | 750.00 |
Example: How different deductions affect the tax assessment of individuals with the same wages as reflected in their public information
Risto and Tarja live in the same municipality and they both earn €40,000 in wages per year. Neither of them has any capital income. Both have a tax rate of 18.5%.
Risto lives a long distance away from his place of work, so he commutes by car. Tarja lives right next to her place of work. Risto is a member of a trade union and an unemployment fund. He has also purchased work equipment during the year and made voluntary pension insurance contributions. Tarja reports no deductions.
Because Risto has many different deductions, his amount of income looks smaller than Tarja’s, even though they have both received the same amount of wages during the year.
| Risto, € | Tarja, € | |
|---|---|---|
| Gross income (not public information) | 40,000.00 | 40,000.00 |
| Public information on income tax assessment | ||
| Earned income subject to state taxation | 31,968.00 | 35,318.00 |
| Capital income subject to state taxation | 0.00 | 0.00 |
| Income tax | 1,141.73 | 1,719.61 |
| Income subject to municipal taxation | 29,383.50 | 32,884.25 |
| Municipal tax | 5,950.16 | 6,659.06 |
| Total taxes and charges | 5,649.46 | 7,380.45 |
| Total withholdings | 7,400.00 | 7,400.00 |
| Tax refund | 1,750.54 | 19.55 |
| Back taxes | 0.00 | 0.00 |
What point in time does the public information reflect?
The public information on individual income taxes is based on the data that was available when the tax assessment process was completed. If the assessment changes later because of an appeal or tax readjustment, for example, the changed information is currently not public.
The end dates for individual taxpayers’ tax assessment vary. For most, tax assessment is completed in June. The tax assessment of all individual taxpayers is completed by the end of October in the year following the tax year. This is called regular tax assessment.
Example: How later changes to tax assessment affect the public information on individual income taxes before tax year 2022
Kalle has already filed his tax return for 2021, including the rental income he received from an apartment he owns. However, he forgot to deduct the cost of renovations he had carried out at the apartment, which amounted to €5,000. Kalle reported €13,000 in gross rental income and €6,000 in maintenance charges and other expenses, so the amount of taxable capital income in his tax decision is €7,000. He has no other capital income or deductions, so that same figure is also shown in his public information for tax year 2021.
Later, Kalle files a claim for adjustment, and the Tax Administration accepts it. In his adjusted tax decision, Kalle’s taxable capital income for 2021 is €2,000. However, this change is not carried over to the public information, where the figure stays at €7,000.
The names of individuals in the public information on individual income taxes are also based on data available at the end of tax assessment.
Example: How change of name is shown in the public information on individual income taxes
Matti Mainio’s tax assessment is completed in June. Matti gets married in July and changes his last name from Mainio to Muonio. Because Matti’s tax assessment ended before the name change, his tax data is listed in the public information on individual income taxes under his old last name, Mainio.
When municipal tax is assessed, an individual’s municipality of taxation is considered to be the municipality where the individual lived on the last day of the year before the tax year. The county under which the individual is listed in the public information is determined in the same way.
Adjustments to tax assessment will become public
Starting with tax year 2022, any adjustments made to tax assessment after the completion of assessment will also be made public. The data on tax adjustments is public to the same extent as data on regular tax assessment. This data therefore does not include information on the grounds for the adjustments, for example.
Adjusted tax information can be accessed on the customer terminals at tax offices. In future, changes to tax assessment will be made public after the 20th day of the month following the month in which the change was made. However, adjusted information will not be published before the information on the regular tax assessment of the tax year in question has been made public. Adjusted tax information is available to the public on the customer terminals at tax offices.
Adjustments to the tax assessment of tax years before 2022 will remain outside the scope of the public information on individual income taxes, as before.
Example: How adjustments to tax assessment are reflected in the public information on individual income taxes starting with tax year 2022
If the above example of Kalle’s tax adjustment had concerned tax year 2022, on 1 September 2024 Kalle’s public information would show €7,000 for regular tax assessment and €2,000 for reviewed tax assessment.