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Certified and temporary certified consignees in excise taxation

Certified consignee 

A certified consignee is a company or self-employed individual whose gainful activities include regular reception of excise products from another EU country. You can register as a certified consignee if the products you receive are subject to harmonised excise duty and they have been released for consumption in another EU country. In other words, excise duty has been paid on the products in another EU country. Products subject to harmonised excise duty include alcohol, some tobacco products and liquid fuels.

When the products are moved, the Excise Movement and Control System (EMCS) must be used.

Certified consignees must register and pay excise duties

Certified consignees must register with the Tax Administration. Before registration, they must deposit a guarantee. The certified consignees are regular taxpayers in excise taxation. They must file and pay excise duties on the products to Finland. A tax return must be filed even if the consignee does not conduct any activities. Consignment-specific advance notices are not required. 

However, if you register as a certified consignee of alcoholic beverages, remember to file an advance notice and a tax return of a casual taxpayer on the beverage containers of the alcoholic beverages you receive.

Register with the register of excise duty taxpayers in MyTax.

The Tax Administration will send you a decision on the registration.

How to register

How to file an excise duty registration notice in MyTax

Regular taxpayer: How to file and pay excise duties

Temporary certified consignee in excise taxation

Temporary certified consignees are companies or private individuals that are entitled to receive, in the course of their gainful activities, excise products released for consumption under the Excise Movement and Control System (EMCS). On the products released for consumption, excise duty has already been paid in another EU country.

A temporary certified consignee can receive the products from another EU country. Duty-suspended movements of products are controlled with the Excise Movement and Control System (EMCS).

A temporary certified consignee needs a temporary excise duty number for the reception of one consignment. The excise duty number is assigned by the Tax Administration.  The excise duty number is needed for movements under EMCS, but only when the products are subject to harmonised excise duty in the EU. Such products include alcohol, some tobacco products and liquid fuels.

The right to act as a temporary certified consignee concerns only a certain time, a certain consignor and a certain volume of products.

Temporary certified consignees must file an advance notice, pay a guarantee, fill in a report of receipt, pay excise dutyfile and pay excise duty on the products to Finland.

  • Submit an advance notice in MyTax and pay a guarantee corresponding to the amount of excise duties. You must file an advance notice and pay a guarantee separately for each consignment. The Tax Administration will use the guarantee to cover the excise duties. Note: If you have ordered alcohol, file a separate advance notice on the beverage containers. However, you do not need to pay a guarantee for the containers.
  • To file the advance notice, you will also need the consignor’s excise duty number. Ask the consignor for the number. If the consignor is a temporary certified consignor, the excise duty number is not necessarily available. If the consignor is a temporary certified consignor, the excise duty number is not necessarily available. In that case, select No when the system asks whether the consignor’s excise duty number is known.
  • After this, you will automatically receive a temporary registration and an excise duty number in MyTax. Send the excise duty number to the consignor. The excise duty number provided in connection with the temporary registration is valid for 3 months but only for a single consignment.
  • The consignor fills in the details on the products, the consignor and the consignee on an e-SAD document in EMCS.
  • When you have received an e-SAD from the system, you can receive the products.
  • Check that the products you receive match the order you made. Fill in a report of receipt in the EMCS system in MyTax.
  • When you have filled in the report of receipt and received the products, file a tax return on the products in MyTax. If you have ordered alcohol, file a separate tax return on the beverage containers.

Information about other licences needed to import alcohol is provided by Valvira, the National Supervisory Authority for Welfare and Health.

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Page last updated 3/5/2024