Refund on transfer taxes paid

If you have paid too much transfer tax or if the amount you paid turns out to be unnecessary, the Tax Administration will pay you a refund. Minimum refund is €10. The following are acceptable reasons for refunds:

• You have paid tax for no reason.
• The sale was cancelled or a discount was given on the price.
• You paid transfer tax, and the conditions for the tax exemption of a first-time homebuyer were fulfilled after your payment arrived.

Example: James buys a plot of land and pays his transfer tax at the time of purchase. A detached house is built on the plot, and it is James’ first dwelling. When he starts using it, he can apply for a refund for the transfer tax he had paid for the land.

Complete and submit the application for refund of transfer tax when you have already paid the tax. For purposes of this rule, to have “paid your transfer tax” you must send a payment of the same amount as is on your transfer tax return and you have been issued a certificate on transfer tax. If the circumstances are different from the above, see the “Mistakes in filing and paying” guidance for more information.

Submit the application in writing and remember all the necessary enclosures

You can ask for refund in MyTax.

File in MyTax

How to request a refund of transfer tax in MyTax

How a company requests a refund of transfer tax or exemption from transfer tax in MyTax

You can use either MyTax or Form 6017e on paper, Application for refund of transfer tax.

Your application must specify why the tax should be refunded. The following enclosures are required:

• A photocopy of the contract e.g. the deed of sale, deed of transfer, deed of division of marital property, the agreement on distribution of a death estate (if a real estate unit had been transferred, the contract must be endorsed by the signature of a public purchase witness)
• A receipt proving that the tax was paid, unless a personal reference number for transfer tax had not been referred to when sending the payment
• Other additional documentation as necessary. 

If the construction had just been finished of the house or apartment you bought, you must enclose documentation on the right of ownership that indicates the date when you have become the owner of the new property. An example of such documentation is a photocopy of a letter from the builder-developer or a photocopy of the receipt proving the payment of the final instalment.

If the first-time home is a new construction and treated as a unit of real estate, enclose a photocopy of a building inspector’s certificate on completed inspections.

Do not forget the letter of authorisation for tax representation:

• If you are a representative for someone and you ask for refund on their behalf, enclose a signed letter of authorisation for tax representation. Attorneys and public legal advisers do not need to enclose the letter. If you log in to MyTax on behalf of someone else, you will need a Suomi.fi authorisation. 
• If the applicant is someone other than the person whose personal identity code or Business ID is given in the message field of the receipt that proves the payment of transfer tax (paid prior to November 2019), a letter of authorisation must be enclosed.

If you file your request on paper, send the completed form and enclosures to the address on the first page or drop it off at any tax office.

When must the request be made?

The deadlines for requests for refund changed on 1 January 2017. The deadline is determined based on whether the sale, conveyance, transfer took place before or after 1 January 2017.

You can see the processing status of your application in MyTax

You can follow the processing of your application for transfer tax refund in MyTax: Go to the Activities tab, select Status of returns and requests and then View the processing status.

You will be sent a decision on the transfer tax refund

The Tax Administration will send you a decision letter that states the amount of the refund. It will also be displayed in MyTax. The Tax Administration will pay the refund one week after the date of the decision.

Credit interest on refunds

Interest is added to the refunded transfer tax; the interest period begins the day after the date when you paid the tax and ends on the date of refund.

The rate of interest is the official Reference Rate of the Bank of Finland reduced by 2 percentage points. However, the rate cannot be less than 0.5%. The rate is reviewed every year. In 2023, the interest rate is 0.5%.

However, no interest will accrue on a transfer tax that has been paid in but no matching transfer tax return has been submitted.

The refund is paid into a bank account or as a money order

If the Tax Administration’s database does not contain records of a bank account number belonging to the individual taxpayer who gets a refund, a money order will be made out in Nordea Bank and sent to the taxpayer.  However, if the amount is less than €15 it is paid as a money order only on the taxpayer’s request.

Nordea will send you a letter with the money order, using your address in the Tax Administration’s records. You cannot receive the money order unless the address is in Finland.

After you have received the letter, you can cash the refund at a branch office of Nordea that offers cash withdrawal and deposit services. You must do so in 28 days. For more instructions, see the letter from Nordea. We recommend that you bring the letter with you when you visit the Nordea office to cash the refund.

If you have not cashed the money order in 28 days, Nordea sends your refund back to the Tax Administration.  You will then receive a letter asking you to inform the Tax Administration of your bank account number. When you have submitted your account number in MyTax, you will receive the refund to your bank account in a week.

How to submit a bank account number in MyTax

Note: If you have any questions about how a transfer tax refund will be paid to you, contact the Tax Administration's telephone service number for payment transactions, +358 (0)29 497 026. If you have questions regarding the decision on transfer tax, contact your local tax office. Addresses and telephone numbers are on the decision letter.

The Tax Administration's decision on refund is an appealable decision

You can contact the Tax Administration to ask for adjustment. The guidance on adjustment claims below only concern decisions dated after 1 January 2017. As for decisions prior to 1 January 2017, the period of appeal has expired.

In case the Tax Administration has dated its decision 1 January 2017 or later, the way to ask for adjustment to the refund is to submit a claim for adjustment to the Board of Adjustment.

• Submit a claim for adjustment in MyTax or on Form 6018e (Claim for adjustment of transfer tax)
• Alternatively, you can write up a claim letter in your own words, as long as it contains the same information that would have been reported on the claim form.

The appeal period is 3 years from the end of the tax year, but no less than 60 days from the date when the taxpayer received the decision. For purposes of the above rule, “tax year” means the calendar year when the asset, property, share, etc. was transferred, or when the tax liability had arisen.

Example: If a contract of sale were signed 1 February 2020, the deadline for submitting a claim against a decision on refund would be 1 January 2024 (because 31 Dec 2023 will fall on a Sunday). However, if the refund application were submitted in late 2023 and the applicant did not receive the decision until 2024, the deadline for claims would be 60 days from the date when the decision was received.

Appeals to the Administrative Court

If you are not satisfied with the decision made by the Adjustment Board, you can lodge an appeal against the decision with the Administrative Court within 60 days of the date when you received the Board’s decision.

• Check the addresses of Administrative Courts (Oikeus.fi)