Tax return for forestry 2C
File a tax return for forestry if you had income from forestry, deductible expenses or reportable follow-up details on the forest deduction and reserves during the calendar year. If you have nothing to report, you do not need to file a tax return for forestry.
If you have activated Suomi.fi messages, the electronic communications with public authorities, you will only receive the letter concerning your tax return in MyTax. An e-mail message will be sent to you to inform you about it.
The tax return is available in English in MyTax.
- Instructions for filling in the tax return (in Finnish and Swedish)
- Paper form 2C (available in Finnish and Swedish). You can find the return address on the first page of the form.
- Tax partnerships and death estates can file the tax return in MyTax only if they have Suomi.fi authorisations. Read more about the tax return for a partnership or a death estate.
Filing deadlines for tax returns in 2024
1. Tax return for forestry
File the tax return for forestry (Form 2C) by 29 February 2024, except in the following cases:
- if you also conduct agricultural or business operations, submit the tax returns for forestry, agriculture and business by 2 April 2024
- if you are a non-resident taxpayer (live permanently abroad), file the tax return for forestry by 21 May 2024.
We will not send tax return forms to forestry operators by post in January. An exception to this are death estates and tax partnerships, which will still receive the paper form by post. See instructions for filing on paper (available in Finnish and Swedish, link to Finnish).
Note that the completed tax return must arrive at the Tax Administration by the due date. If the return arrives late, you must pay a late-filing penalty. If you do not file a tax return at all or if the return you file is incomplete, you may have to pay a punitive tax increase.
You do not need to file a tax return for forestry if you did not have any income from forestry, deductible expenses or reportable follow-up details on the forest deduction and reserves during the calendar year.
2. VAT return
If your tax period is the calendar year, file and pay VAT by 29 February 2024.
File a VAT return if you are registered for VAT. However, you do not need to file a VAT return if you have nothing to report for the tax year (such as sales of timber or deductible VAT). A requirement is that your tax period is the calendar year and that you do not conduct any other operations subject to VAT, such as agriculture or business.
3. pre-completed tax return on your personal income
If you conduct only forestry operations, you will receive a pre-completed tax return on your personal income in March–April 2024. If you make corrections, the deadline for them is 7 May, 14 May or 21 May 2024. You can check the due date on your pre-completed tax return and in MyTax.
If you also conduct agricultural or business operations, the pre-completed tax return on your personal income will appear in MyTax on 23 February 2024 and you will receive it by post at the beginning of March. If you make corrections, the deadline for them is 2 April 2024.
4. Real estate information
Check the information in the real estate tax decision and make any necessary corrections by 7 May 2024.
You will receive the real estate tax decision in March 2024. Read more about real estate tax.
File in MyTax – see the previous year’s undepreciated acquisition costs and reserves
You can submit all tax returns and report corrections to real estate information in MyTax. Details such as undepreciated acquisition costs, reserves and forest deduction details confirmed for the previous year are pre-completed on the tax return in MyTax. This makes filing easier.
You can also file a tax return for forestry in the following ways:
- upload a file on Ilmoitin.fi
- through accounting software or a forestry company’s e-service, provided that it has an interface with the Finnish Tax Administration
- on a paper form. If necessary, you can contact us by phone and ask us to send you the form and the return envelope.
Tax returns to be submitted by a married couple, a partnership, an estate of a deceased person
The spouses’ joint tax return for forestry is sent in MyTax to the spouse who is registered for VAT as a primary producer. If neither one of the spouses is a VAT taxpayer, or if both spouses are VAT taxpayers, the tax return is sent in MyTax to the one whose ownership interest in the forest land is higher than 50%. In case where the two spouses have 50% each, we have sent the form to the one whose age is higher.
One spouse may also own forest separately from the joint forestry operation. If this spouse owns and manages their forest permanently on their own, they can file a separate tax return on it. In this case, they must select Yes at Your own separate return in MyTax or check the corresponding box at the top of the paper form.
If the spouses are nonresidents, each one of them must file separate forestry tax returns for the forest lands they own independently. However, if they own forest together, they must submit a tax return of a partnership.
You will also receive a pre-completed tax return for your personal income in March 2024. Please check the pre-completed details on the return and make any necessary additions or corrections to them either in MyTax or by filing the additional forms marked on the return.
If you need to make corrections, the deadline is 2 April 2024. You can check the date valid for you on your paper tax return and in MyTax.
File a partnership’s tax return for forestry (Form 2C) by 29 February 2024
A tax partnership is an association formed by two or more individuals. Complete one joint forestry tax return and one joint VAT return for the forestry partnership.
The partnership can file a tax return in MyTax if it has Suomi.fi authorisations.
The tax partnership’s total income and expenses are calculated and the income is then distributed between the shareholders as their taxable income. The Tax Administration receives information directly from real estate registers on what forest land is owned by every shareholder.
File your VAT returns online
If the partnership is a VAT taxpayer, you must file VAT returns for the partnership and in the name of the partnership. When the tax period is the calendar year, the VAT return is due on 29 February 2024. You must also pay the VAT by 29 February 2024.
However, you do not have to file a VAT return for a tax year when you have nothing to report (no sales of timber, no purchases that would contain some deductible VAT, etc.), provided that the partnership does not conduct another VAT-taxable operation. This requires that your tax period is the calendar year and that no other activities that would be subject to VAT are carried out by the partnership.
File an estate’s tax return for forestry by 29 February 2024. If the estate is in the VAT register and the tax period is the calendar year, file and pay VAT by 29 February 2024.
The estate can file a tax return in MyTax if it has Suomi.fi authorisations.
The estate is taxed as a separate taxpayer. Death estates are expected to complete just one joint tax return for forestry and one VAT return. Shareholders of the estate are responsible for filing the returns.
Other things that forest owners should take into account
File capital gains from forestry on Form 9
If you have sold any forest property or machinery and equipment used in the forestry operation, report it on the pre-completed tax return in MyTax or on Form 9 (Calculation of the capital gain or capital loss). Each transaction must be reported separately. Read more about capital gains from forestry (available in Finnish and Swedish, link to Finnish).
What is a tax year?
Taxes are assessed for one tax year at a time. The tax year for forestry operators is always the calendar year.
The forestry operator’s income and expenses for the tax year are determined “on the cash principle”, i.e. based on the time of payment. According to the cash principle, income must be reported for the calendar year when it became available to the taxpayer, and expenses must be reported for the year when they were paid.
Extended time for filing
You may ask for an extension of time for filing the tax return if you have a valid reason for it. Complete an application form and submit it to the Tax Administration before the deadline date of the tax return.
You can either
- log in to MyTax to complete the extension form (Tax matters – Requests – Extended time for filing a tax return) or
- print the form out on paper, fill it out, and send it to the Tax Administration.
Frequently asked questions
Income from soil sold in a farm or a forest estate is not filed in the tax return for agriculture or forestry. Instead, it is report as other capital income on the pre-completed tax return.
Submit the information in MyTax or on Form 50B (Capital income and deductions), section "3 Capital-income pensions, long-term savings agreement payments, and other capital income". If you claim any deductions from the profits, enter them in "Other expenses incurred in acquiring or maintaining capital income".
Note: Agricultural partnerships and forestry partnerships file their profits on the tax return for agricultural partnerships (2Y).
Income from field rental is agricultural income. If you have rented out a field you own, you must report the rental income on the tax return for agriculture.
If the field is owned by an estate with a Business ID or by a partnership, for example, file the tax return for agriculture in its name. In that case, you will need a Suomi.fi authorisation for e-filing.
Read more: Do I need to file a VAT return if I rent out a field?
How to find the tax return for agriculture
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You are on the tab called Your tax types. Find the Individual income tax section – or the Income tax for partnerships section if you are filing a tax return on behalf of an agricultural partnership.
Select File tax return for agriculture under Tax year 2023.
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Individual taxpayers, please note: If no direct link to the tax return for agriculture appears, select Tax returns and tax information under Tax year 2023.
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Make sure you have selected the right year. Then click the link Tax return for agricultural operations.
How to file rental income from renting out a field
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The tax return has 5 stages. You can see them in the breadcrumb trail at the top of the page.
Background
Check that your details are correct.
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Income
Select I am filing details in the Income stage. Then scroll down
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Go to VAT-exempt subsidies and compensation and other VAT-exempt income (e.g. income from field rental). Click Yes.
Enter the income from field rental in Other VAT-exempt income.
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Expenses and reserves
If you have had agricultural expenses, report the information in this stage. Select Yes in the appropriate section and enter the details.
If you have no agricultural expenses to report, select I am not filing details in the Expenses and reserves stage.
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Calculation of net worth
Here you can check that the information in the calculation of net worth is correct.
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Preview and send
Recheck the details. Click Edit to make corrections.
When all the details are correct, submit the tax return.
Yes, you must file a VAT return if you have registered for VAT for transfer of usufructuary rights over real estate.
- Read more about the taxation applied to rental of agricultural land (available in Finnish and Swedish, link to Finnish)
- See the instructions on filing and paying VAT
If you have not registered for VAT for field rental, then the rental income is exempt from VAT. If you conduct only forestry operations and VAT-exempt field rental, you do not need to file a VAT return if you do not have timber sales or anything else to report for the year in question.
If you have not registered for VAT for field rental, you cannot deduct VAT on related purchases, either.
Report the rent for the field as agricultural income on income tax return 2 or 2Y (partnerships).