Tax on mined minerals

The new tax went into effect on 1 January 2024. The fiscal objective of the mined minerals tax is to provide reimbursement to the State of Finland for the exploitation of non-renewable resources.

The tax must be paid on minerals mined in Finland that are referred to in the Mining Act, excluding minerals found as a result of gold panning.

Mining companies must obtain registration

Mining companies and other operators must submit an application for registration to the Tax Administration before starting their activities subjected to the new tax. However, the deadline for registration for companies and other operators that conduct a mining activity on 1 January 2024 is 1 March 2024.

The operators need to have all their active mines recorded in the register. The operators also need to inform the Tax Administration of any changes, and submit a notice of termination if their mine is closed. 

Log in to MyTax to submit an application for registration

• How to file an excise duty registration notice in MyTax 
• Parties concerned by the obligation to obtain the registration 

Who is liable to pay the tax?

Tax on mined minerals must be paid by the party that has mined the mineral and is, under the Mining Act, required have a permit for mining. The tax concerns companies and other mining operators that have, or should have, the permit.   The taxpayer is typically a mining company having a permit issued by Tukes, the Finnish Safety and Chemicals Agency.

Fiscal liability for the tax lies with the company that carried out the mining unless its permit gets transferred to another party before feeding the mined metal ore into a concentration process. If a permit for mining is transferred, the transferee becomes the party liable for the tax.

When and how to pay the tax?

Mining operators need to submit the tax return and pay the tax on their initiative for every tax period – the calendar year – by the general due date of self-assessed taxes in March. The returns, providing specific data separately of each active mine, are submitted in MyTax  for the Finnish Tax Administration.

Example: For the 2024 tax period, taxpayers liable to pay mined minerals tax must submit their tax returns and pay the tax by 12 March 2025.

All mining companies and other operators that have a mining operator registration must submit a tax return for every tax period even if no activities were conducted.

• How to file and pay excise duty (go to Regular taxpayers)
• Excise duty instructions for completing an excise duty return

Calculating the tax on metal ores

Metal ores include silver, cobalt, chromium, gold, copper, lithium, lead, nickel, palladium, platinum, zinc, and uranium. The Act on Mined Minerals Tax contains an annex listing metal ores for purposes of tax.

Metal content and the mineral’s taxable value determine the amount. The tax calculation is connected to the time when the taxpayer delivers to mineral to the concentration process for the first time. All metal ores fed into a concentration process are subject to tax.

The tax for metal ores is 0.6% of the metal’s taxable value.

The value depends on international market quotes and on other factors.  Price details affecting the taxable value are defined by a Government Decree. The Tax Administration lists the taxable values for each year at the start of the year. The values are based on the previous year’s quoted prices.  The Tax Administration’s official decision on the values is posted on the tax.fi website by 1 February. 

Calculating the tax on other mined minerals  

Volume determines the amount of tax to pay. The tax calculation for other mined minerals also depends on the time when mining or extraction takes place.

The tax for other i.e. non-metal minerals is €0.20 per tonne of mined ore or industrial mineral.

Tax must also be paid on any mined ore or industrial mineral that contains any of the other mined minerals listed above and that is fed into the concentration process. In these cases, the volumes of metal (silver, cobalt, chromium, gold, copper, lithium, lead, nickel, palladium, platinum, zinc, and uranium) contained in the ore or industrial mineral are subtracted from the volume of mined ore or industrial mineral.

Transferral of a mining permit

If a mining company transfers its permit to another party, the latter must pay the mined minerals tax. In these circumstances, if metal ores mined by any previous holder or holders of the transferred permit are, at a time when the transfer is already made, fed into a concentration process, the transferee needs to pay the tax.

In addition, the new holder of the permit must submit an application to the Tax Administration for registration before mining begins or before deliveries to the concentration process begin. The previous holder, in turn, is required to submit a notice indicating that its registration information is changed as the permit is relinquished.

Revenues go to municipalities and the State

The tax on mined minerals generates a public tax revenue of which the municipalities where mines are located receive 60% and the State of Finland receives 40%. The Tax Administration will remit the revenues to the municipalities of location.

If a mine spans across municipal borders so that the mine is located in more than one municipality, the revenues to be remitted are shared, based on surface areas, by the municipalities concerned. Municipality of location and area are determined in accordance with the legally valid permit as referred to by the Mining Act.  Any auxiliary areas to the mine are left out of the calculations for the tax revenue to be remitted.  

Read more:

• Detailed guidance: “Taxes on mined minerals” — Kaivosmineraaliverotus (guidance available in Finnish and Swedish)
• “Act on Mined Minerals Tax” — Kaivosmineraaliverolaki (314/2023) English translation
  
• Tax Administration’s official decision on taxable values  (guidance available in Finnish and Swedish)