You are entitled to object to the electronic transfer of 2021 data to the mass media
Every year, the Tax Administration sends public information about the year’s tax assessment in electronic format to the media for journalistic purposes. We only send the information on persons whose taxable earned income and capital income are at least €100,000 in total. The data for tax year 2021 will be disclosed to the media on 9 November 2022.
If the combined total of your capital income and earned income stays below €100,000 a year, you do not have to submit an objection statement at all. Your data is in this case not included in the electronically transferred files for the mass media.
When and how can I exercise my right to object?
Submit your objection statement regarding tax year 2021 to the Tax Administration by 30 September 2022 to make sure we have enough time to process your request before disclosing data to the media.
You can submit your statement in MyTax or complete and send a paper form.
- MyTax (Activities > Requests, All requests > Request concerning the right to non-disclosure)
- Paper form (in Finnish)
What legal grounds are relevant when I exercise my right to object?
An individual taxpayer can object to the electronic transfer of tax data to the mass media on grounds relating to his or her particular situation. In fact, we cannot accept the objection unless you refer to grounds relating to your particular situation.
The “particular situation” may relate to your or your relatives’ safety, health, ability to practice a profession or carry out work. The Tax Administration processes the objection statements on a case-by-case basis.
In reference to the above, your grounds cannot be accepted if you only say that you disapprove of the transfer of the tax data to mass media, or disapprove of the idea of public tax information in general. In the same way, it is not enough if you merely make a general reference to the legislation in force.
Can the mass media still get access to my publicly discloseable information even if I made an objection statement?
Your objection is only directed toward the electronic transfer of data to the media. Accordingly, even if the Tax Administration has received an objection statement from you and accepted it, the public information on taxes still continues to be public. This means that your information will still be available for viewing at a tax office, for visitors who use the workstations and for anyone who calls the tax office by telephone.
The name of anyone who has submitted an objection statement falls under the category of public information. From this, it follows that the mass media can be given the person's name for a journalism-related purpose. Because the name has thus become known, a representative of the mass media can also visit the tax office, use the workstation and look up the income-tax data of the person who has submitted the objection statement.
Further information
No. To exercise your right to object, you must submit a specific statement every year. This is because your grounds that relate to your particular situation may vary year to year. Accordingly, this year, you can only object to the electronic transfer of data to the media regarding the 2021 tax year.
The right to object is personal. When you use MyTax and its “Request of non-disclosure” function, you have to have logged in to MyTax in person, with the proper secure identification. In the same way, when you complete the paper form, you must authorise it with your personal signature.
However, in the case of a young person under 18, the parent or guardian can send the statement of objection on the young person’s behalf. In these circumstances, the only way to submit the objection is the paper form.
If you file your objection after 30 September, we do not necessarily have time to process it before disclosing the public tax information to the media. If the request is not processed, it will lapse. Then the information will be disclosed to the media.
We have set a deadline to make sure all taxpayers are treated equally. The deadline allows time for requesting further information and for postal delivery. We will also have enough time to test that once your request has been approved, your data is really not included in the material disclosed to the media.
The public information according to the following list is transferred:
- Name, date of birth, name of the county where domiciled
- Amounts of earned income and capital income subject to State tax
- Amount of income subject to municipal tax
- The assessed income tax
- The assessed municipal tax
- The imposed sum of taxes and charges in total
- The total amount of taxes pre-paid by/withheld from the taxpayer
- The taxpayer’s balance of back taxes or tax refund for 2020