Summary on tax payment status
These instructions are for both individual and corporate taxpayers.
What is a tax summary?
A tax summary is a letter containing information about the payment status of your taxes in the previous month. You will receive a summary in MyTax when
- you have unpaid taxes
- your tax refund was used to cover your taxes
- a late-filing penalty for self-assessed taxes was imposed on you.
Companies and organisations receive tax summaries regularly, usually once a month. A tax summary is also generated for them if their payments were used for taxes during the calendar month.
Example: A taxpayer forgets to pay the real estate tax on the due date, 6 August. Because the real estate tax was not paid, they receive a tax summary from the Tax Administration at the beginning of September. The summary contains a payment reminder with all the required payment details: the due date, the reference number and the amount to be paid, including late-payment interest.
- The summary is generated on the last day of the calendar month, and it is available in MyTax at the beginning of the following month.
- A tax summary is not generated if you did not have any transactions during the month, such as tax payments or taxes due.
- If your VAT period is the calendar year or if you are liable to pay pharmacy tax, a summary is created once a year, on 4 March. If 4 March falls on a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday, the summary is created on the next business day. After that, the summary will be shown in MyTax.
You can view your information in MyTax even before the summary is created.
The tax summary contains information such as the following:
- the details you need when you pay taxes, such as the bank account number and reference number
- a payment reminder regarding any unpaid taxes (also shown on the MyTax home page)
- information on how your payments and refunds were used
- information stating that your unpaid taxes may be sent to enforcement and published on the protest list and in the tax debt register
- a reminder on any missing returns
- a late-filing penalty for a tax return on self-assessed taxes
- other late-payment charges.
Individual taxpayers and forest owners:
Individual taxpayers and forest owners receive a tax summary only in electronic format if they use Suomi.fi Messages. The summary is sent by letter post only to those taxpayers who do not use Suomi.fi Messages.
Starting on 12 January 2026, letters from the Tax Administration and other authorities will be delivered only in electronic format to all individual taxpayers and forest owners. Letters will be sent by post only to those who do not use e-services at all.
Read more: Mail from the Tax Administration only electronically next year
Companies and organisations, business operators, self-employed individuals and agricultural operators:
Companies, organisations, business operators, self-employed individuals and agricultural operators will receive tax summaries only in electronic format in MyTax starting on 18 November 2025. They can no longer receive the summary by letter post.
Check the summary details
Always check the details in the tax summary. If any payments or self-assessed taxes you filed are missing, go to MyTax to make sure you
- filed a tax return on self-assessed taxes for the correct tax period
- used the correct bank account and reference numbers in the payments.
If you pay the tax or file a return on the last few days of the month, information about the payment or return may not necessarily be included in the tax summary. For example, if you submitted a tax return on self-assessed taxes on paper, the processing of the form may take some time. You can see your up-to-date tax status in MyTax.
MyTax instructions: How to find letters, tax decisions and tax certificates in MyTax
The summary reminds you of overdue payments
If you have overdue taxes, the summary contains a payment reminder. In other words, you will not receive a separate reminder regarding overdue back taxes or real estate tax, for example.
You will receive 1 to 3 tax summaries including payment reminders before the Tax Administration sends your overdue taxes to enforcement. The number of payment reminders depends on whether you have other unpaid taxes, such as tax debt, at enforcement.
Sending taxes to enforcement
The Tax Administration can send your taxes to enforcement if you failed to pay the taxes even though you received reminders in the tax summary. Before the step is taken, however, you will receive a tax summary informing you that your tax debt will be sent to enforcement.
You can still avoid enforcement if you pay the tax according to the instructions given in the summary. The last date of payment is stated in the summary. If you cannot pay the tax by the last payment date, request a payment arrangement from the Tax Administration.
If you do not pay the tax by the last payment date and do not have a payment arrangement, the Tax Administration will automatically send your taxes to enforcement. After that, you must pay the tax to the enforcement authorities.
Read the instructions for requesting a payment arrangement
Note: If you receive a tax summary only in electronic format in MyTax, you will not receive a letter by post, not even in the case that the summary states that your taxes will be sent to enforcement.
The summary tells you how a refund is used
If you are to receive a tax refund and you have overdue taxes, the Tax Administration will use your refund to cover the taxes. You will be informed of this in the tax summary.
If you are an individual taxpayer, the Tax Administration can use your refund to cover unpaid taxes up until the 4th of the month following the end of tax assessment.
If you are a corporate taxpayer, the Tax Administration can use your refund to cover unpaid taxes up until the 18th of the month following the end of tax assessment.
Read more about the use of individual taxpayers’ tax refunds
Read more about the use of corporate taxpayers’ tax refunds
When you pay taxes, the payment will show in the Tax Administration’s records at a delay of 1 or 2 days. Because of this, the Tax Administration may use your tax refund for taxes on the due date even though you pay the tax on that same day.
When your payment shows in the Tax Administration’s records, it will be used instead of the refund to cover the taxes due. The Tax Administration will then pay the refund to your bank account.
Unused payments and refunds in the summary
The tax summary shows such refunds and amounts paid to the Tax Administration that have not been used for taxes yet or refunded to you.
Due to credit interest, the amount stated in the summary may differ from the amount in the company’s accounting by some cents. This is because the summary includes only payments, refunds and credit interest used in the current month.
For more information on credit interest and how it is used, go to MyTax.
For further guidance about accounting, see: the Accounting Standards Board guidance on how self-assessed taxes should be booked in company accounting (available in Finnish and Swedish, link to Finnish)