Deadlines for filing and payment of transfer taxes
The time limits will vary. The deadline for filing and paying your transfer tax depends on the type of property you have acquired and on certain other circumstances.
Category of property or asset
Submit the transfer tax return to the Tax Administration and pay the tax before you apply for registration of the transfer of title. You must submit a request for registration of ownership or leasehold to the National Land Survey in 6 months from signing the contract.
It is the buyer’s responsibility to complete and file the transfer tax return even if the contract had been prepared with the assistance of a realtor.
If you are a first-time homebuyer, remember to file the return although you have an exemption from transfer tax. Read more about the treatment of a real estate unit (a house) as a first-time home.
File the transfer tax return and pay the tax in 6 months from signing the contract. It is the buyer’s responsibility to complete and file the transfer tax return even if the contract had been prepared with the assistance of a realtor.
You do not have to apply to the National Land Survey of Finland for registration of title to your property.
File the transfer tax return and pay the tax in 2 months from signing the contract.
If a realtor assists you when you buy the shares, you must pay the tax when you sign the contract. The realtor will file the transfer tax return on your behalf when the contract is signed.
If you are acquiring a new apartment or house, submit the transfer tax return and pay the tax in 2 months after the ownership rights are passed on to you. This is how to proceed even if the contract had been prepared with the assistance of a realtor.
If you are a first-time homebuyer, remember to file the return although you have an exemption from transfer tax. The first-time homebuyer's tax exemption only applies to flats, houses and apartments used for living (not parking spaces, etc.).
These shares do not entitle you to the right of possession over a space in a building or a unit of real estate. Alternatively, they can be shares in a Finnish or foreign holding company that owns real estate or buildings.
File the transfer tax return and pay the tax in 2 months from signing the contract (or if the property is treated as “new construction”, 2 months from the date when the right of ownership is transferred to you).
File the transfer tax return and pay the tax in 2 months from signing the contract.
File the transfer tax return and pay the tax in 2 months from signing the contract. If a realtor assists you with the buying of the time-share or share in a company that owns a golf course, it is the realtor’s responsibility to file the transfer tax return for you when the contract is signed. Pay the transfer tax at the meeting where the contract is signed.
If you bought a time-share in a “newly constructed property” as defined by law, you must file the tax return and pay transfer tax on your purchase in 2 months from the date when ownership was transferred to you even if a realtor assists you.
The time limits that apply on returns filed by securities dealers and auctioneers
Parking space, storage unit, business premises or other space (tax 2%)
The buyer must pay transfer tax and submit the tax return immediately when the contract is signed. The buyer must use his or her personal reference number for transfer tax when paying. The buyer’s name must be entered in the tax return as the party paying the transfer tax.
If the buyer has not paid the tax, the auctioneer must collect it from the buyer. After the auctioneer has done so, the auctioneer must pay the tax on to the Tax Administration using the auctioneer’s reference number for transfer taxes. The auctioneer must then file a transfer tax return in the auctioneer’s name.
To ensure that the Tax Administration can book the arriving funds correctly, it is important that the party that submits a transfer tax return is the same party that pays the tax.
Real estate unit, designated share, parcel of land or leasehold right, a building without the land (tax 4%)
The buyer must submit the transfer tax return to the Tax Administration and pay the tax no later than at the time when the buyer applies for registration of the transfer of title. Ask for registration of your ownership or your leasehold with the National Land Survey in 6 months after you have signed the contract.
Auctioneers are not under obligation to collect tax if the sale at the auction concerns real estate.
Dealers who carry out security trading services must collect transfer tax from the buyer on any sales, conveyances and transfers of securities at the signing of the contract.
If you are a security dealer, you must file a transfer tax return on such transactions by the 15th of the month following the month when the sale, conveyance or transfer takes place. You must file a specific transfer tax return for every contract.
Pay the collected transfer tax on to the Tax Administration by the 15th of the following month. Use your personal reference number for transfer taxes when paying.
Frequently asked questions
When the parties to the contract sign the electronically provided documents with their digital signatures at different times, there is no face-to-face meeting where everyone would be present. The date of contract is when the deed is finalised with the digital signature of the last person who signs it. That date and time must be recorded on the transfer tax return as the “date when the deed of sale or other contract is signed”.
The date of contract is when the agreement is finalised. This means the moment when the digital signature of the last person who is expected to sign the deed has done so. That date and time must be recorded on the transfer tax return as the “date when the deed of sale or other contract is signed”.
Because the Property Transaction Service creates an electronic application for registration automatically, and because the deadline for transfer tax filing and payment is the time when registration is requested, the buyer must take care of the filing and payment at the time when the agreement is finalised.