Tax refunds used for paying taxes
This page contains questions and answers for situations where the tax refund of an individual taxpayer or business operator has been used for the payment of taxes.
If you are an individual taxpayer or a business operator, and you have taxes that are overdue or taxes that fall due after the end of your tax assessment, your tax refund will be used to pay these taxes. Starting from your assessment end date until the 4th day of the following month, your refund is used
- to settle any unpaid taxes immediately after your assessment has ended, and
- to pay upcoming taxes immediately on their due dates.
You can see the end date for your assessment on your tax decision or in MyTax.
When your tax refund is used on your unpaid taxes immediately on their due dates, you also benefit from it immediately. Your refund is used for the payment of your taxes starting from your assessment end date until the 4th day of the following month. During this time period, the Tax Administration uses the refund for paying taxes immediately on their due dates even if you also pay the tax on that date. This is because your refund is available to the Tax Administration before any payments you make on the due date.
If you paid your tax on the due date and your tax refund was also used to cover the tax, the payment you made will usually be sent back to you in a week. However, if you have other overdue taxes or future instalments of the same tax to pay, the payment is not sent back to you. Keep yourself updated on your taxes and payments in MyTax.
Yes. If you are a self-employed business operator, your business operation’s taxes are treated as your personal taxes, and your refund can be used to pay them.
If you paid your tax on the due date and your tax refund was also used to cover the tax, the payment you made will usually be sent back to you in a week. However, if you have other overdue taxes or future instalments of the same tax to pay, the payment is not sent back to you. Keep yourself updated on your taxes and payments in MyTax.
See examples of how your refund may be used for paying taxes
No. Make sure to pay the real estate tax by its due date, to avoid late-payment interest.
Read more about real estate tax payments.
If the due date passed and your real estate tax is still unpaid
Your tax refunds are only applied on an unpaid amount of real estate tax if the tax has fallen due before the end date of your tax assessment process. How do I know when my tax assessment is completed?
In general, your refund can only be used on real estate tax during a period starting on your assessment end date and ending the 4th day of the following month.
Example: Karen forgot the first instalment of real estate tax. The due date for paying it was 6 August. Karen’s unpaid tax starts collecting late-payment interest on the next day.
The date when the Tax Administration completes Karen’s income tax assessment is a few days later, but also in August.
Karen's tax decision indicates that she gets a refund. The date of the refund is 3 October. However, after Karen’s end date of tax assessment passes, the Tax Administration will automatically use the refundable amount in order to cover the unpaid real estate tax and its late-payment interest in August.
As a result, on her tax refund date 3 October, she will only receive a remaining amount, i.e. what is left of her refund when the unpaid tax and late-payment interest are subtracted.
Read more:
If you have inheritance or gift taxes that are due on the 1st of the month after the end of your tax assessment, your refund will be used to pay for them. If you have paid your inheritance or gift tax on its due date, your refund is used on the next upcoming instalment. If you do not have any upcoming inheritance or gift taxes, your payment is automatically refunded to the bank account number you have given us. If you have other overdue taxes or debts in enforcement, your payment can be used to pay for them before the remaining amount is refunded to you.
If you have an ongoing payment arrangement and you receive a tax refund, the refund will be used towards the unpaid taxes in the arrangement. Read more about how tax refunds are used on taxes in payment arrangements.
The due date for filing and paying employer’s contributions and other self-assessed taxes is the 12th of the month. If your tax assessment ends on or before the 12th of the month, your refund can be used on your self-assessed taxes for that month on the 12th. If you pay your self-assessed taxes on their due date or 1–2 days before, there is not enough time for the payment to arrive at the Tax Administration by the due date. As a result, your refund will be used on the taxes on their due date.
If you have paid too much, the remaining amount will be used to pay for other upcoming taxes or refunded to you automatically, depending on what you have selected as your refund time and refund limit in MyTax. You can request your payment to be refunded to you in MyTax. You will receive your refund within a week, unless you have other overdue taxes. If you do not request a refund in MyTax, your payment will be saved for future tax liabilities.
How to change selections relating to refunds of self-assessed taxes in MyTax
Your tax summary will include details on how your refund was used. You can also check your situation in MyTax.