How to claim adjustment to income taxes – corporate entities
This guide is for corporate taxpayers: limited-liability companies (Oy, Ab), cooperative societies, associations, foundations.
You can make a claim for adjustment as soon as the tax assessment process has ended. When the assessment process is still ongoing, you can submit a new tax return before the end date of assessment in order to make any necessary adjustments or changes. Submit a claim of adjustment to the Assessment Adjustment Board.
Those who may appeal decisions are the taxpayers themselves, any others whose taxes may be affected, and those responsible for paying the tax. For example, after a corporate merger is carried out, the receiving company can appeal against the income taxation of the company that merged into the receiving company. A parent company, however, is not allowed to appeal against the taxes imposed on its subsidiary companies.
When can a claim for adjustment be submitted?
You can claim adjustment within 3 years of the start of the calendar year following the end of the tax year. Instructions for appeal are enclosed with the tax decision your company received; read them to check the deadlines.
You can claim adjustment as soon as the tax assessment process has ended. The end date is stated in the tax decision. However, the end date is never later than 10 months from the end of the company’s accounting period. When the assessment process is still ongoing, you can submit a new tax return before the end date of assessment in order to make any necessary adjustments or changes.
For the majority of companies and other corporate entities, the tax year is the same as the calendar year. The exception to this are the corporate entities with a non-calendar accounting year. Then the tax year is the accounting year, accounting period or periods that closed during the calendar year.
Example: The accounting year of a limited-liability company is 1 July 2020 to 30 June 2021. To file a claim for adjustment of corporate income taxes for the 2021 tax year, the deadline is 31 December 2024. The claim must arrive at the Tax Administration on that date.
When the end date of the calendar year falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the deadline is the next business day. The claim for adjustment must arrive at the Tax Administration by 4.15 pm.
How to claim adjustment
Claim for income tax adjustment in MyTax.
- After logging in to MyTax, go to the ‘Tax matters’ tab.
- Under ‘Claims for adjustment’, open ‘All adjustment matters’.
- Select ‘Make a claim for adjustment of corporate income tax’.
- Go to the appropriate year and click ‘Claim for adjustment’.
If you do not have access to MyTax: Use the provided paper form or a free-form application to make the claim.
After claiming for adjustment
If you have an unpaid back tax, pay the tax by its due date even if you have claimed adjustment. If necessary, you can request a payment arrangement or an order preventing enforcement.
You can follow the processing of your claim for adjustment in MyTax: Go to the Communication tab, select Status of returns and requests and then View the processing status.
After your claim for adjustment is processed, you will be sent a decision on the matter in MyTax and to your home address by mail. The decision has all the information on possible tax refunds or back taxes. Check the estimate on the processing time
More information and instructions for claiming adjustment
Yes, you must pay your taxes on their due date even if you have claimed adjustment. Interest for late payment is collected on unpaid taxes.
Call the Finnish Tax Administration’s service number +358 29 497 026 (Maksuliikenne) for the payment details. You can also check the details you need for making payments in MyTax: How to pay taxes in MyTax.
If you have difficulties paying your taxes by the due date, we recommend finding out whether you are eligible for a payment arrangement. Read more on requesting a payment arrangement
If your claim for adjustment is accepted and you have no other tax debt, the tax you paid in excess will be automatically refunded to you with interest.
A suspension of enforcement means that your taxes are not transferred to enforcement or that an already started enforcement is suspended for the time your claim for adjustment is processed. You can request for the suspension of enforcement either simultaneously with your claim for adjustment, or afterwards.
If you intend to pay the tax in full regardless of having claimed adjustment, we do not recommend requesting a suspension of enforcement.
If you request a suspension of enforcement, keep the following in mind:
- Late-payment interest will be collected on the tax for the duration of the suspension as well, i.e. starting from the original due date of the tax until the date you pay the tax.
- Tax refunds cannot be used towards back taxes during the suspension.
- You cannot obtain a tax debt certificate or a certificate of paid taxes during the suspension.
The suspension of enforcement can be full or partial.
The enforcement of a tax can be suspended in two ways:
- Full suspension: The taxes are not transferred to enforcement and your tax refunds or any payments you have made to the Finnish Tax Administration are not used.
- Partial suspension: Your tax refunds and any payments you have made to the Finnish Tax Administration can be used towards the payment of your taxes, the taxes can be transferred to enforcement and your other assets may be seized as well. However, the National Enforcement Authority may not sell the seized assets before your case is processed.
The enforcement of taxes can only be fully suspended if the unpaid taxes have not yet been transferred to the National Enforcement Authority.
If your claim for adjustment is rejected, your request for non-enforcement is rejected, as well. In this case, the unpaid tax can be transferred to enforcement. However, while your claim for adjustment is being processed, the National Enforcement Authority may not sell any seized property, a housing-company apartment, or shares in a jointly administered real estate.
You can cancel a claim for adjustment fully or partially. In MyTax, go to the ‘Tax matters’ tab. Select ‘Cancel a claim for adjustment’ under ‘Claims for adjustment’.
Yes, the Finnish Tax Administration can adjust your taxes on its own initiative after your tax assessment end date. This happens if the Tax Administration receives information afterwards that affects your taxation. As a result, you might receive tax refund, or it may be that you are ordered to pay more tax. Besides income taxes, the adjustments on the Tax Administration's initiative can concern income tax, real estate tax, value-added taxes, employer's contributions, and other types of taxes.
The Tax Administration can adjust your taxation within the same deadline that is applied to taxpayers’ claims for adjustment, i.e. within three years of the start of the tax year following the relevant tax year.
In some cases, the Tax Administration is allowed to extend the deadline by 1 year, and in some rare cases by 6 years.
The deadlines will also change in a situation where the need to adjust taxes is due to a criminal investigation process.
If you are unhappy with an adjustment made on the Tax Administration’s initiative, you can submit a claim for adjustment to request a review.
A decision on a claim for adjustment can be requested to be rectified by lodging an appeal to the administrative court. The deadline and instructions for appealing are in the appeal instructions appended to the decision.