Buyers from outside Finland – how to file and pay Finnish transfer tax
If you are based outside Finland and you plan to buy a house, apartment, corporate stocks or other assets here, you must obtain registration with the Tax Administration before closing the purchase contract. After you have become registered, you can submit a transfer tax return and pay the tax – not before.
The requirement to be registered concerns natural persons and legal persons alike. References to ‘based outside Finland’ in this guide mean foreign citizens or foreign companies, having no Finnish personal identity codes or Business IDs.
You can request registration yourself. If you are buying Finnish real estate, stocks, etc. with the help of an agent, realtor, or other representative, you can authorise that person to request registration on your behalf.
Please do as follows
Have your identification information registered with the Tax Administration
After your registration is complete, you are issued a bank reference number for transfer taxes. To pay transfer tax, you must have that number.
You will also be issued an artificial personal identity code. It is necessary to enter the code on the transfer tax return. Companies and other legal persons are issued a Finnish Business ID. It is necessary to enter it on the transfer tax return.
Instructions
Submit a request letter in free text, indicating that you are requesting registration with the Finnish Tax Administration. Include the following information:
- Reason for your request (e.g. filing and payment of transfer tax)
- Full last name and first name or names
- Your address information in your country
- Date of birth
- Gender
- Citizenship
- Foreign personal identity code
Please also enclose a photocopy of your passport. If you are requesting registration on behalf of another individual, enclose a power of attorney signed by that individual.
Deliver your request letter to an office of the Tax Administration.
Alternatively, you can send the letter by post to: Etelä-Suomen verotoimisto 2, ATH prosessivastaava, PL 30, 00052 VERO.
After your registration is complete, you will be issued the bank reference number for transfer taxes. It is either given to you in person, at the tax office, or sent to you by post. If a realtor, agent or another representative asked for registration, we will send the reference number to that representative.
Foreign companies must first ask for a Finnish Business ID. This requires that a “Y” form for setting up a company is filled out and an appropriate enclosure added to it, as follows:
- Limited companies and other legal persons must complete Form Y1, the Start-up notification, enclosing Form no 6204.
- Partnerships and consortia must complete Form Y2, the Start-up notification, also enclosing Form no 6204.
These forms and instructions for them are available at ytj.fi (the Business Information System).
What information do I need for the registration?
As a minimum, you must give the following details when you complete the registration form:
- company name
- registration code (TIN, trade register number or equivalent identifier issued abroad)
- country of tax residence
- address
- line of business
- accounting period
- names of the individuals authorised to sign for the company
Enter a statement that your company requests a Finnish Business ID for the purpose of paying transfer tax into the field for additional information on the “Y” form.
Enclosures
- Please enclose your company’s trade register extract issued in its country of tax residence, as well as its translation in English, Finnish or Swedish.
- If the extract does not contain company name, country, line of business, accounting period, and the names of the people who can sign for the company, you must additionally enclose its Articles of Association, charter or a similar document with the above information, with a translation into English, Finnish or Swedish as necessary.
Where to send the company’s charter?
- Send the company’s charter to the Finnish Patent and Registration Office (PRH):
Finnish Patent and Registration Office (PRH) – Tax Administration
Business Information System
P.O. Box 2000
FI-00231 HELSINKI - You can also deliver the registration forms to a Tax Administration office. Complete the forms in advance and bring all the required enclosures with you. Then we can receive your application and sent it on for processing in another unit. No Business ID is issued immediately.
If you are requesting registration on behalf of a company (or another legal person) as its agent or representative, you must have a power of attorney signed by that company. The letter of authorisation i.e. power of attorney can be written out in free text. It must be signed by someone who is authorised to sign for the company.
How can we be issued the Finnish Business ID and the reference number?
After the Business ID is generated, you will receive it along with your transfer tax reference number by letter. When you complete the transfer tax return for the company, it is necessary to enter the Business ID.
Submit the transfer tax return
Individual taxpayers
To submit the return, complete the Transfer tax return form.
Limited companies and other legal persons
In general, companies and others are expected to log in to MyTax to submit their transfer tax returns. By way of exception, foreign corporate entities can be allowed to submit the paper form for transfer tax return, if logging in to MyTax is not feasible. Further information about e-service authorisations
Pay the tax
To send the payment from your bank, you will need the Tax Administration's bank account number and your unique transfer tax reference number. When a realtor handles the sale and purchase transaction, you need the reference number already on the date when the transaction is finalised.
Call +358 29 497 026 if you need to ask for the information by phone (Payment transactions, limited service available in English, standard call rates).
You receive a certificate of transfer tax
The Tax Administration will send a certificate proving that you paid the tax to your postal address. It will also be displayed in MyTax.
If you bought shares in a housing company and the transaction was assisted by a realtor, you receive the certificate proving payment of transfer tax from the realtor (the estate agent’s office). MyTax does not contain the certificate if the realtor issued it.