Business vehicles used for work on a tax-exempt basis
If you live in Finland permanently and the location of your place of work is outside of Finland, you can use an employer-provided motor vehicle to perform work tasks in Finland.
However, you are not treated as performing work tasks when you drive the vehicle for your daily commute from home to work and back.
Requirements of tax-exempt use
As a person living in Finland permanently, you are entitled to drive the business vehicle exempt from tax if:
- Your workplace is located abroad,
- The vehicle has a permanent vehicle registration in the country where your workplace is located,
- Your employer is the vehicle’s owner, or your employer holds the vehicle by virtue of a lease contract, etc.,
- Your driving in Finland is maximally for 72 hours at a time,
- The sole purpose of your driving here is to do your work, and
- After you have finished your current work assignment in Finland, you take the vehicle along with you to the country where your workplace is located
Submit a declaration of tax-exempt use
Submit the declaration of tax-exempt use before you start driving the vehicle in Finland. If several upcoming dates have been planned when the vehicle is going to be driven, you can submit one declaration that covers one entire year.
When you submit the declaration in MyTax, the Tax Administration will immediately send you a letter confirming that the declaration has been received. The confirmation letter appears in MyTax, where you can print it. Go to the Communication tab and then click the See decisions and letters link under Decisions and letters. The letter will also be sent to you by post.
Always keep the confirmation letter of the declaration of tax-exempt vehicle use in your vehicle, either as a paper print-out or available on the display of a mobile device. Present it to the police or Customs if necessary.
The letter contains an end date for its period of validity. You must submit a new declaration again if you drive the same business vehicle at a later date. In the same way, if any of the facts and information have changed that you gave on your earlier declaration, you must submit a new declaration.
Note: Please note that the letter is not a statement of approval regarding tax-exempt use. You are expected to first make sure that the legal requirements for exemption are fully satisfied. If there are no valid reasons for tax-exempt driving by virtue of your student status, the vehicle is subject to car tax. You can request an advance ruling on how the act on car tax is applied to the tax assessment of your vehicle. Read more about requests for an advance ruling.
You can submit the declaration either in MyTax or on paper. MyTax opens on the Your tax types tab. Go to the Tax matters tab and then click the Activities relating to car tax link under Car tax. Then click the link for Declaration of tax-exempt use.
Submit the declaration in MyTax
If you cannot log in to MyTax to send the declaration, complete and submit Form 1240e on paper (Declaration of vehicle use – a foreign employer’s motor vehicle operated in business). You will receive the acknowledgement of receipt by post. The letter is sent to the address you have indicated.
In what way is a company car (a fringe benefit) different from a business vehicle driven for work?
Business vehicles cannot be driven for purposes other than work, without having to pay Finnish car tax on the vehicle. A company car that your employer has given to you as a fringe benefit is different: you can drive it in order to take care of various work tasks, and you can drive it for your own personal purposes, too.
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