Deductions – claim certain deductions yourself
You may be entitled to certain deductions that reduce the total amount of taxes you must pay. We make some deductions for you automatically, but some deductions you have to claim yourself.
You can make the following deductions in your tax assessment:
| More information on the deduction | Own liability in 2023 | Maximum amount in 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| tax credit for household expenses (Home repair or improvement and renovations) |
€100 | €2.250 |
| tax credit for household expenses (Household work, nursing and care, and work on replacement of oil heating) |
€100 | €3.500 |
| travel expenses | €750 | €8.400 |
| expenses for the production of income | €750 | no maximum amount |
| deduction for second home for work (is part of expenses for the production of income) | €750 | €450/month |
| deductions for forestry workers (See how many percent to deduct) | no own liability amount | €240 (forestry worker deduction) |
| credit due to maintenance obligation | no own liability amount | €80/child |
| income spreading | no own liability amount | no maximum amount |
| donation deduction (minimum threshold €850) | no own liability amount | €500.000 |
| deduction for reduced capacity to pay taxes | no own liability amount | €1.400 |
How and when can I get deductions?
Deductions for 2023
You receive your personal pre-completed tax return by the end of April. File deductions on your tax return before its due date. The deductions will then be taken into account in your tax decision, which you will receive by the end of October.
Deductions for 2024
You can benefit from your current deductions immediately if you file deductions for your tax card and lower your tax rate.
You can also submit deduction details in advance for your next year’s tax return, which you will receive the following spring. When you receive the tax return, check the details on it and make corrections if necessary.
How to report deductions
You can report changes and any missing deductions or tax credits in MyTax. You can also file corrections by using paper forms. See instructions for filing deductions
Were you granted less deductions than you claimed?
Most deductions are taken from your amount of taxable income, while some are considered tax credit that directly reduce the amount of taxes you have to pay. For this reason, the amount you claim as deductions is not always automatically refunded or otherwise credited to you in its entirety.
For example, if you claim tax credit for household expenses, that amount is deducted directly from the amount of taxes you have to pay. However, if you claim a deduction for travel expenses, that amount is deducted from your earned income before your tax is calculated.
Check the deduction details pre-completed on your tax return
Trade union membership fees and unemployment fund fees are deducted in full from your earned income before your tax is calculated.
Your earned income includes
- wage income
- earnings-related unemployment allowance
- basic unemployment allowance
- sickness allowance.
However, these fees cannot be deducted from seafarer's income.
Every year, your employer reports to the Tax Administration the pension and unemployment insurance contributions that have been withheld from your pay. You can see these contributions on your pre-completed tax return as deductions from your earned income.
Check your last payslip for the previous year to confirm that the amount of insurance contributions stated in your tax return is correct.
What expenses are deductible?
You are entitled to deductions for what you pay for the management and safekeeping of securities, book-entry shares and comparable assets. For example, you can deduct the rent of a safe deposit box and the annual fee for maintaining a book-entry account.
How much can be deducted?
All expenses for the management and safekeeping of securities are tax-deductible. However, please do not report fees under €50, as that is the credit threshold.
How does this affect my tax assessment?
The expenses are deducted from your capital income.
How much can be deducted?
Interest expenses on home loans are no longer deductible in taxation. You can no longer deduct interest on student loans, either.
Interest on a loan for the production of income is deductible in full. A loan for the production of income means that the loan has been taken out to generate taxable income. For example, you may have taken out a loan to buy an investment apartment, which will generate rental income for you, or shares, which will generate dividend income.
When can I get the deduction?
You can claim interest expenses on your loan only if the loan was taken out for the production of income. Check your tax return and tax card details to make sure that you have stated the purpose of the loan correctly. Correct the information if necessary.
How does the deduction affect my tax assessment?
Interest on loans for the production of income is primarily deducted from your capital income, such as rental income or capital gains. No tax deduction is available for repayments of the loan principal.
If there is not enough capital income for the deduction to be made, the deduction is made from the tax on your earned income in the form of a special tax credit for a deficit. The deficit credit is 30% of the interest amount. The maximum amount of credit is €1,400. The maximum credit is raised by a further €400 if you have a child under 18 years, and by €800 if you have two or more children under 18 years.
How much can be deducted?
You can deduct up to €5,000 of the annual contributions you pay for either voluntary pension insurance or a long-term savings contract.
How does this affect my tax assessment?
The contributions are deducted from your capital income in the year of payment.
If there is not enough capital income for the deduction to be made, the deduction is made from the tax on your earned income in the form of a special tax credit for a deficit. This special deficit credit is 30%.
If there is not enough tax on earned income, the Tax Administration will automatically apply the credit to your spouse’s taxes instead. If there is still not enough tax for the credit to be granted, part of the tax credit will remain unused.
You cannot claim allowable losses based on pension insurance or long-term savings contract contributions.
Who can make the deduction?
Only the insured person can deduct the contributions in their own taxation. For example, if your spouse has paid your insurance contributions, they cannot deduct the contributions in their tax assessment.
When you are a recipient of wage income you are given this deduction automatically. The standard amount is €750. The amount cannot be higher than the sum of your wage income per year. The deduction affects your wage income in the assessments of both state taxes and municipal taxes.
If you spent more than €750 on the production of income during the year, you need to list the expenses one-by-one when you file your tax return.
Read more about how to deduct expenses for the production of income
The deduction called ‘earned-income allowance’ (ansiotulovähennys; förvärvsinkomstavdrag) will no longer be available starting 2025.
Earned-income allowance in 2024
You can be given the deduction called ‘earned-income allowance’ if you receive wages, profit-shares of a small business, or other comparable earnings. However, income consisting of a pension or of social benefits does not qualify.
The earned-income allowance concerns both state taxes and municipal taxes.
Amounts of the earned-income allowance in 2024:
- The maximum deduction is €3,570.
- The deduction is 51% if the amount of qualifying income is between €2,500 and €7,230.
- For the part that exceeds €7,230, the deduction is 28%.
If your net taxable earned income exceeds €14,000, the deduction is reduced by 4.5% of the exceeding amount. When it is reduced, all your earned income – including pensions, unemployment benefits and sickness allowance – is included as income.
If your net taxable earned income is more than €94,084, you cannot get this deduction at all.
You can be given the tax credit for employment income i.e. work income if you receive wages subject to tax, profit-shares of a small business, or other comparable earnings.
The credit reduces your state income tax directly. If your state income tax is less than the amount of credit, the credit will reduce your municipal tax, church tax and health care contribution on a proportional basis.
Creditable amount in 2025:
- The maximum credit for employment income is €3,225.
- If you are a wage earner or self-employed individual, and you have turned 65 before the beginning of 2025, the maximum credit is €4,425. If you are younger, you are not entitled to any age-based increase that would affect the maximum credit.
- The credit is 18% of qualifying income
- The credit is reduced by 2.22% for the part of net taxable earned income exceeding €24,250, and by 3.44% for any part in excess of €42,550.
- For each child under the age of 18 in your custody, you are entitled to a €50 increase to the maximum amount of the credit for work income.
- If you are a single parent, the increase is doubled.
Creditable amount in 2024:
- The maximum credit for employment income is €2,140.
- If you are a wage earner or self-employed individual, and you have turned 65 before the beginning of 2024, the maximum credit is €3,340. If you are younger, you are not entitled to any age-based increase that would affect the maximum credit.
- The credit is 12% of qualifying income
- The credit is reduced by 2.03% for the part of net taxable earned income exceeding €23,420, and by 1.21% for any part in excess of €71,900.
You can be given the basic allowance that reduces your taxable income such as wages and pensions. The allowance concerns both state taxes and municipal taxes. The basic allowance affects your earned income subject to tax.
The size of the allowance in 2025:
- The maximum deduction resulting from the basic allowance is €4,115.
- If your net taxable earned income exceeds €4,115 after all the deductions applied in municipal taxation have been made, the deduction is reduced by 18% of the excess.
- You are not entitled even to a partial deduction if your net taxable earned income after all the above deductions exceeds €26,976.
The size of the allowance in 2024:
- The maximum deduction resulting from the basic allowance is €3,980.
- If your net taxable earned income exceeds €3,980 after all the deductions applied in municipal taxation have been made, the deduction is reduced by 18% of the excess.
- You are not entitled even to a partial deduction if your net taxable earned income after all the above deductions exceeds €26,092.
The amount of the deduction based on pensions depends on the sum total of the your taxable wage income and other earned income. The deduction reduces your net taxable earned income in state taxation and municipal taxation.
Amount in 2025:
- In 2025, you can get the pension income deduction if your net taxable earned income is no more than €48,930.
- The maximum deduction is €11,030.
- If your net taxable earned income is higher than €11,030, the deduction is reduced by 51% of the excess.
- If your net taxable earned income is higher than €22,500, the deduction is reduced by 19,6% of the excess.
Amount in 2024:
- In 2024, you can get the pension income deduction if your net taxable earned income is no more than €55,927.
- The maximum deduction is €10,920.
- If your net taxable earned income is higher than €10,920, the deduction is reduced by 51% of the excess.
- If your net taxable earned income is higher than €22,500, the deduction is reduced by 15% of the excess.
If your domicile is in the Åland Islands, you may be given the disability credit for residents of Åland.
You are eligible for the credit if your permanent degree of disability due to illness, injury or a comparable reason is 30%–100%. The maximum credit is €440.
As of 31 December 2022, disability credits are no longer available to people living in Finland’s mainland.
You can get this deduction the year when you receive a study grant. Study grant deductions concern both state taxes and municipal taxes.
Deductions for study grants in 2025 and 2024:
- The maximum deduction is €2,600 but the deduction cannot be greater than the amount of your study grant. If you receive wages or other earned income in addition to the study grant, the deduction will be reduced.
- Half (50%) of your earnings in excess of €2,600 will be deducted from the deduction.
- If your net taxable earned income is more than €7,200, no study grant deduction can be given you.
The student loan credit only applies to students who have started their degree program in higher academic education before 1 August 2014 for the first time.
If you have taken out a student loan and completed your degree within the target time, you may be eligible for the credit. The credit is granted for the years when you are repaying the loan.
The credit reduces your state income tax directly. If your state income tax is less than the amount of the credit, the credit will reduce your municipal tax, church tax and health care contribution on a proportional basis.
Kela decides whether you are eligible for the student loan credit and what the maximum amount of credit is. The Tax Administration grants you the credit based on the information received from Kela for every tax year when you are eligible. In other words, you do not need to claim the credit when you file your tax return.
If you began your first course of study in higher education on 1 August 2014 or later, you may be eligible for Kela’s student loan compensation after your graduation. The student loan compensation is tax-exempt income. No pre-filled amount of the compensation is shown on your pre-completed tax return. There is no need to report the amount when you file your tax return for the year. Read more about the student loan compensation on Kela’s website.
You are entitled to this deduction if you receive seafarer's income. The deduction reduces your net taxable earned income in both state and municipal taxation.
Deduction amounts in 2025 and 2024:
- The deduction is 20% of your total amount of seafarer's income. However, the maximum deduction is €7,000.
- Moreover, if you receive more than €50,000 in seafarer's income, the maximum deduction of €7,000 is reduced. First, we calculate 5% of your income which is in excess of €50,000. Then the 5-percent amount is subtracted from €7,000.
- You receive an additional deduction of €170 for each full calendar month when the ship or vessel does not visit Finland (the deduction for cross-trade work).
You can already claim the following deductions and credits for 2025 in MyTax:
- tax credit for household expenses
- travel expenses
- expenses for the production of income
- deduction for second home for work
- credit due to maintenance obligation.
You can file deductions for the current year in MyTax so that they can be pre-completed on your tax return.
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