Instructions for filing and paying transfer tax

To pay transfer tax, you will need your personal reference number for transfer tax in order that the payment could be allocated to the correct tax.

If you pay the transfer tax in MyTax, the reference number and other payment details are automatically pre-populated on the payment template in your e-bank service.

If you pay in your e-bank, you can check the reference number and the Tax Administration’s bank account number

• in MyTax: Select the tab Your tax types on the home page. Go to Payment status and click Paying taxes. You can find the reference number for transfer tax under Transfer tax, Other payment methods.
• by calling our service number 029 497 026 (payment transactions, limited service available in English, standard call rates).

Check the illustrated guidance in section 5: How to pay taxes in MyTax.

Can a real estate agent or a bank get my reference number?

If you buy a share in a housing company through a real estate agent, you must pay the transfer tax when you sign the contract. You should preferably check the reference number before the contract is signed.

The real estate agent or the bank can also ask for the reference number and the Tax Administration’s bank account number on your behalf by telephone. When making the phone call, the real estate agent or the bank officer must have your personal ID or Business ID at hand.

If the software that the real estate agent or bank uses has an interface to the Tax Administration, they can request your reference number for transfer tax through the interface in real time. 

After you have filed and paid transfer tax in MyTax, you will receive a certificate of the transfer tax in MyTax. This usually takes about 2 working days. You will also receive a certificate when you have bought your first home.

When the certificate is ready, you can open it through the details on the transfer tax or in the MyTax mailbox. If Your tax types tab does not show transfer tax, please log in to MyTax again. If you have filed your transfer tax return on paper, wait for the certificate of transfer tax to become available in MyTax. 

Note: You cannot view the return in MyTax if you have submitted it before November 2019, with the old paper form. Read more: As I remember, I already submitted my transfer tax return. So why can’t I see my payment or transfer-tax form in MyTax?

Do as follows

Log in to MyTax (opens in a new window). 

Alternatively, you can also do as follows

Transfer taxation has only been handled in MyTax as of 8 November 2019. In MyTax, you can see:

• Any returns and notices you have submitted in MyTax.
• Any paper transfer tax returns you have submitted after 1 November 2019 on the new paper form that was released at that time. In general, there is always a delay before a paper return becomes available for viewing in MyTax.

When you have used a new transfer tax return, a certificate of your transfer tax will be stored in MyTax for viewing after both the return and the payment have been recorded in the Tax Administration’s data system. Finding the certificate in MyTax

If the housing-company shares are the type that entitle you to start living in a flat of the housing company, hand the certificate over to the building manager. This enables the building manager to enter your name in the list of shareholders.

If a realtor assists you when you buy the shares in a housing company, you will receive the certificate proving the payment of the transfer tax from the realtor (the estate agent’s office). MyTax does not contain the certificate if the realtor issued it. In the case of “new construction”, if you bought the shares for a newly built flat, you must submit the transfer tax return independently. After you have done that, the certificate will be stored in MyTax for viewing.

Older tax returns

You cannot view the return in MyTax if you submitted it before November 2019, with the old paper form. Please do not re-submit the return. If you need a copy of such a return, i.e. the one with a stamp on, please call the service number on +35829 497 022 (transfer taxes); sometimes the superintendent of a housing company may demand that you show a stamped form.

If you submitted your transfer tax return in Lomake.fi, it cannot be viewed in MyTax. Instead, you can view it in My e-Services where it is stored for 2 years and where you can print it out on paper. If more than 2 years have elapsed since you submitted it, call +35829 497 022, the service number.

If you submit the transfer tax return late, the Tax Administration may impose a late-filing penalty or punitive tax increase. If you do not pay your transfer tax on time, you must pay interest. Read more about transfer tax return or payments that are overdue.

If you need to make corrections to the information you submitted, submit a replacement. You can do this in MyTax or send a paper transfer tax return that replaces your original return. In this case, you must not only correct the mistakes but also complete the other spaces on the form again.

How to make corrections to a transfer tax return in MyTax

If you submit a replacement on paper, remember to tick the “Replacement transfer tax return” box on the first page.

Note: if you submit the replacement past the deadline date for transfer taxes, the Tax Administration may impose a late-filing penalty or punitive tax increase.

If by this time, you already paid the transfer tax, look up the specific guide for correcting payment and the submitted return.

If you submitted a return before 8 November 2019 and you need to make corrections to any errors on it, please call the Tax Administration service number +35829 497 022 (standard call rates apply).

Yes, you must file a transfer tax return even if the company considers the change in the form of activity to be partly or fully exempt from tax as described in § 24 of the act on income tax (Tuloverolaki 1535/1992 (TVL)).

If the company considers the transfer to be fully exempt from tax, state on the transfer tax return that the compensation is €0. Enclose a separate, free-form account of the assets that the company considers to be exempt from tax. If the transfer is partly exempt from tax, report the portion subject to tax on the transfer tax return and the portion exempt from tax in a separate free-form enclosure. This applies to both securities and real estate. The company must file a transfer tax return in MyTax.

If the income tax assessment shows that the company’s judgement about the tax exemption was incorrect, the company must correct the details by submitting a corrected return (a replacement transfer tax return). In addition, the company may have to pay penalty fees.

An arrangement where a limited liability company relinquishes a business unit’s assets, property, liabilities and balance-sheet reserves to another limited liability company that will continue to conduct the business is called a “transfer of business” (liiketoimintasiirto; verksamhetsöverlåtelse). Payment is made to the company that relinquished the business in the form of the recipient company’s shares. It is legally required for the recipient company to continue the business.

Transfer of business is exempted from the obligation to pay transfer tax, on condition that the transfer satisfies all the requirements with regard to income taxes under § 52d of the Act on the taxation of business income (EVL), and provided that the recipient of the transfer is a new company established for the purpose of continuing the business operation. Read more about the exemption (available in Finnish and Swedish, link to Finnish. See the chapter "Liiketoimintasiirto" =  Transfer of business).

The company that continues the business must submit an application for transfer tax exemption

To become entitled to the tax exemption, the recipient company must submit an application to the Tax Administration. Submit the application in MyTax.

If the company is issued a decision concerning transfer tax exemption before the usual due date for transfer tax, the transfer of the business requires no transfer tax return to be submitted, and the company does not need to pay transfer tax.

If the company did not submit the application before the usual due date for transfer tax, it must submit the return and pay the tax. In this case, it is possible for the company to apply for refund later.

Check the standard deadlines, by property type, for filing and payment of transfer taxes

A wellbeing services county or the HUS Group does not need to pay transfer tax or file a transfer tax return on the securities and real estate that were transferred to it in the social welfare and health care reform. The transfer is exempt from tax when the tax exemption provision laid down in § 51 of the act on the implementation of the reform of the social welfare, health care and rescue services (349/2022) is applicable.

The tax exemption provision does not apply to other welfare groups than the HUS Group. Because of this, other welfare groups must pay transfer tax and file a transfer tax return on the real estate and securities that were transferred to them in connection with the social welfare and health care reform.

When a wellbeing services county, the HUS Group or another wellbeing group acquires real estate or securities in any other way, transfer tax must be paid and a transfer tax return must be filed.