Filing used vehicles

A registered filer of car tax is required to file a vehicle-specific tax return on used vehicles.

File the vehicle-specific car tax return within 5 days from the date when your used motor vehicle gets its Finnish vehicle registration. You can file your car tax return in MyTax or via the Tax Administration API.

Once you have submitted the tax return, you will receive a confirmation of submittal. If you file the tax return on time, you will receive an acknowledgement of receipt for it by the filing deadline.

  • If you file the tax return late or if some of the information on the tax return is incorrect or missing, the Tax Administration may impose a late-filing penalty or punitive tax increase.
  • If no car tax return is filed, the Tax Administration may conduct tax assessment by estimation. Assessment car tax by estimation results in a negligence ruling. This causes the company to be removed from Tax Administration registers and has other consequences, including preventing the payment of refunds. The Tax Administration will allow the taxpayer to present their account of the situation before conducting the assessment by estimation and imposing a punitive tax increase. Read more about the consequences for late filing.

Read more about the consequences for late filing (Penalty fees in car taxation)

The Tax Administration calculates the amount of car tax separately for each vehicle. You will also receive a separate car tax decision for each vehicle in MyTax.

File the car tax return in MyTax

File the car tax return via API (technical guidance)

You can file the car tax return on a paper form only if there is a special reason.

Viewing the processing status

Click on Show details on car tax to view details on reported vehicles and the processing status of vehicle-specific car tax returns. The “Vehicles reported” tab is at the bottom of the car tax page.

The processing status shown in MyTax may be Received, Being processed, Respond to an information request, or Open the decision.

See the estimated processing time.

Paying the car tax

After you have received your car tax decision, pay the tax in MyTax or in your online bank. Use the reference number for car tax. You can also request an e-invoice. 

  • You can see the payment information in the tax decision.
  • The due date for car tax is the 24th of the month that follows the date 14 days after car tax is imposed.

You will receive a summary of the status of your taxes and payments in MyTax every month. The summary gives you a general view of all your taxes. However, the summary does not contain any vehicle-specific information.

See instructions for payment

Correct errors – file a new return

You can make corrections to your car tax return until you receive the car tax decision in MyTax. When you submit corrections, your previous return is replaced by a new car tax return.

If you have already received a car tax decision in MyTax, you can no longer make corrections to the return. Instead, you will have to submit a claim for adjustment in MyTax. Read instructions for making a claim for adjustment.

If you have filed the tax return via the Tax Administration API, you can make corrections to the return and submit a claim for adjustment by filing a new return via the API. In these situations, when filing the new tax return, you must also give the identifier included in the Tax Administration’s acknowledgement of your original tax return.

Page last updated 4/2/2024