Fair taxation
Fair taxation means that our activities are nationally harmonised, of a high quality and predictable for taxpayers. Fair taxation is one of our strategic goals.
SDGs 8, 10 and 16
Fair taxation also has a positive impact on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 8. We promote this goal by monitoring any shortcomings, for example. Eliminating the shadow economy and any violations in working life, and ensuring fair competition enable work and economic growth.
The UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 10 seeks to reduce inequalities in and between countries. Target 10.3 has been defined as follows: Ensure equal opportunity and reduce inequalities of outcome, including by eliminating discriminatory laws, policies and practices and promoting appropriate legislation, policies and action in this regard.
We promote these goals by means of effective tax processes, guidance and control. Tax control and guidance aim to ensure that all taxpayers know how to meet their obligations and are able to do so.
UN Sustainable Development Goal 16 aims for peace, justice and strong institutions. Target 16.3 aims to promote the rule of law at the national and international levels and ensure equal access to justice for all.
We build trust between business partners and in public procurement. The measures we use include monitoring the registration of companies and the meeting of obligations, tackling the grey economy and maintaining the public tax debt register.
We promote the accuracy of taxation internationally. We are involved in developing the international exchange of information, and carry it out in the best possible manner.
In addition, we ensure that obtaining information on taxation is guaranteed as required by law. We disseminate public taxation information, maintain and publish statistics on taxation, and publish our financial statements.
We work fairly and openly
Our processes ensure that our customer and employee guidance is harmonised and nationwide. Customers can see this as equal and even-handed processing.
We have been using automated decision-making in tax assessment for a long time now. The automated decision-making is based on precise predetermined processing rules. A matter can only be decided automatically if it does not require any case-by-case consideration or if a staff member will decide on any issues that require specific consideration. Legislation on automated decision-making entered into force in 2023. It expanded the manner in which we tell our customers about the automated decision-making.
Fairness is also promoted by the guidance and supervision we use to ensure that everyone meets their tax liabilities.
Control and supervision
Most of our control measures involve the monitoring of incoming tax returns and other tax control realised in connection with regular tax assessments.
We use our tax audit resources flexibly to tackle tax risks or risk phenomena in line with our control and supervision plan. We choose the most appropriate measures, ranging from lighter preventive measures to tax audits, according to the nature and significance of the tax risk.
The control of income tax returns generated more than €300 million in taxes, which is about a third more than in the previous year.
A total of 5,372 different types of control measures were completed (2022: 4,742). The increase is mostly due to a control project where control measures that are lighter than tax audits were utilised.
Of the control measures, 1,371 were tax audits (2022: 1,444). In 2023, the total impact in euros of all measures taken based on tax audits was €163 million (2022: €329 million). During the comparison year, 2022, the euro amount was increased by individual cases of exceptional importance, of which there were none in 2023.
Publicity of tax information
According to the standard Finnish practice, after the publication of income taxation we provide the media with information about individuals who have earned more than €100,000 to be used for journalistic purposes. The public information about the income taxation of corporate entities is published on vero.fi in a downloadable and reusable format.
We also produce detailed statistical data on taxation in a manner that is unique in international comparison. We provide municipalities with information on real estate and income taxation so that they can ensure that they receive the tax revenue they are entitled to. We actively communicate information about issues and changes affecting the payment of taxes to tax recipients via the Veronsaajien palvelut website, for example.
Survey highlights
83% of respondents completely or to some extent agree that they can trust in the accuracy of the tax decisions they receive.
67% feel that the Finnish Tax Administration treats all citizens equally.
78% disagree with the statement “The Finnish Tax Administration makes a lot of mistakes”.
Source: The Finnish Tax Administration attitude survey 2023
Metrics and goals
We monitor our successes and develop our operations using the following metrics and goals:
| Metric | Actual 2020 | Actual 2021 | Actual 2022 | Goal 2023 | Actual 2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Confirmed tax decisions (Assessment Adjustment Board) (%) | - | 86 | 90 | ≥85 | 87 |
| Customers who consider tax control to be effective (%) 1) | - | 81 | 91 | ≥90 | 91 |
1) Customer attitude survey, October 2023 (n = 1,000). Since 2022, the survey has differed from previous surveys in that it uses a five-tier response scale including a neutral option (neither agree nor disagree), compared to a four-tier scale without any neutral option in the previous surveys. The actual figures have been converted into a statistically comparable format.
| Metric | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | Change 2022–2023 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of tax audits (qty) | 2 057 | 1 772 | 1 444 | 1 371 | -5,1% |
| Tax impact of audit measures, all tax types (€ million) 1) | 138 | 220 | 329 | 163 | -50,5% |
1) In 2022, the calculation method was changed so that the figure includes the actual debiting of income tax from audited natural persons, considering progressive taxation, whereas an assumed tax rate of 20% was previously applied to income increases made during tax audits. The direct impact of capital gain tax findings was not addressed previously either. Considering the calculation changes above, the adjusted tax impact of measures carried out in 2021 would have been €234 million.
Case: Statistics make the tax system more transparent
The statistics we produce allow citizens to have a debate on taxation based on reliable and objective information.
The publication of tax statistics improves the transparency of the tax system and enables citizens to assess the fairness and impact of existing laws. In addition, several parties use the statistics of the Finnish Tax Administration as a basis to support their decision-making. The level of detail and speed at which tax statistics are published are unique internationally. For example, the statistics show how much income tax is accrued for different income categories, how much different taxes are declared and paid, and to which extent tax deductions are used.
Since 2015, we have been collaborating on statistics with Statistics Finland. We submit tax data and definitions related to statistics to Statistics Finland, which compiles them into statistics. We distribute the statistics via PXWeb, which is also used by Statistics Finland and several other authorities that produce statistics. The collaboration also enables the utilisation of Statistics Finland’s registers for the Finnish Tax Administration statistics. From the user’s point of view, this has the advantage of improving the comparability of the Finnish Tax Administration’s statistics with those prepared by Statistics Finland. The collaboration also allows us to use some background classifiers in our statistics that we would not be able to produce based on our own data.
The most comprehensive and detailed information is available about the income and real estate taxation of individual and corporate taxpayers. We publish accrual statistics for all the taxes we collect at least every month.
We produce different types of articles and newsletters based on the statistics to provide more information about matters such as legislative amendments, phenomena and development trends that affect taxes. The statistics are available on vero.fi.