Due dates for filing and paying transfer tax

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.

Shares in housing companies, parking spots, storage spaces, business premises, and other spaces – tax rate 1.5%

Instructions for the buyers:

File a transfer tax return and pay the transfer tax on the day when you sign the contract to buy the immovable property. When paying, fill in your own reference number for transfer taxes.

You may not get your copy of the contract of purchase (the deed) the day you sign it. If this makes is impossible for you to file the transfer tax return on the same day, you need to file it as soon as you receive the copy. You still need to pay the transfer tax on the day of signing. 

If you pay the transfer tax later, you will have to pay late-payment interest. You must pay the late payment charge even if the delay in payment is due to the fact that you did not get your copy of the contract on the day of signing.

Instructions for the organiser of the compulsory auction:

If the buyer has not paid the required transfer tax, you must collect the amount of the transfer tax from the buyer. In that case, complete and submit the transfer tax return on paper, in the name of the Enforcement Authority. When doing this, you need to write the Enforcement Authority’s Business ID into the appropriate field. Pay the collected amount on to the Tax Administration. When paying, fill in the reference number for transfer tax of the Enforcement Authority.

As the organiser of the auction, you need to file the returns and pay the transfer taxes collected during the calendar month to the Tax Administration by the 15th of the following calendar month.

It is important that the party submitting the transfer tax return is the same as the party that pays the tax. This way, the Tax Administration will be able to reconcile the arriving payment in accounting.

Read more in the detailed guidance: “Transfer taxes relating to sales and transfers of corporate stock and other securities” (section 4.3) — Varainsiirtovero arvopapereiden luovutuksessa (luku 4.3) (in Finnish and Swedish)

Real estate units, designated shares, parcels of land, leasehold rights, buildings or structures without land – tax rate 3%

Instructions for the buyers:

File the transfer tax return and pay the tax according to the filed return before you submit an application to the National Land Survey for registration of title to the immovable property. When paying, fill in your own reference number for transfer taxes. You must apply for registration of ownership or registration of a leasehold within 6 months from the date when you receive your copy of the contract of purchase (the deed). 

If you bought only a building or structure without the land where it is located, and if you do not need to apply for a title or registration, file a transfer tax return and pay the tax within 6 months of signing the contract.

In situations where the Enforcement Authority’s bailiff had not been under a duty to give you a copy of the contract of purchase, you can provide proof of the date when you signed the contract by other means – for example, with another document in writing, issued to you by the bailiff.

Instructions for the organiser of the compulsory auction:

When you are the organiser of the auction, you should collect no transfer tax from the buyer when the property auctioned off had been a unit of real estate, a building or a structure.