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.

If you have paid too much transfer tax, the Tax Administration will refund the excess amount to you. The minimum refund is €10.

Have you bought an apartment or other property on or after 12 October 2023?

Amendments to the act on transfer tax entered into force on 1 January 2024, and the transfer tax rates for real estate, housing company shares, and business shares were lowered. The new tax rates are applied retroactively to purchases where the deed of sale or other binding agreement was signed on or after 12 October 2023.

If you have paid too much transfer tax because of this legal amendment, you do not need to submit a refund application. We will adjust your transfer tax assessment automatically.

You will get a decision on the adjustment of transfer tax by post or in MyTax in January 2024. If you have already paid the tax, the decision will show the amount that will be refunded to you. If you have not yet paid the tax, the decision will state how much less you will have to pay.

Do you request a transfer tax refund for another reason?

We can refund transfer tax to you for one of the following reasons:

You did not need to pay the transfer tax you paid.
The sale was cancelled or the price was reduced.
The requirements for the first-time homebuyer’s transfer tax exemption were fulfilled only after you had already paid the tax.

In these cases, you must apply for a transfer tax refund separately.

Example: Janne bought a plot of land in 2023 and paid transfer tax on the purchase. Janne builds a detached house on the plot. This house is his first own home. Because the land was bought before 1 January 2024 and all other requirements for tax exemption are fulfilled, Janne is entitled to the first-time homebuyer’s transfer tax exemption. After he has moved in permanently, Janne can apply for a refund of the transfer tax he paid on the plot. If Janne had purchased the plot of land in 2024, he would have to pay transfer tax on his first home.

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 “Errors in return of payment ” 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.

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.

Refund application must be submitted within 1 year

If the requirements for the first-time homebuyer’s transfer tax exemption are fulfilled only after the tax has already been paid, the refund application must be submitted within 1 year from the date when the requirements were fulfilled. Note: First-time homes are only exempt from transfer tax if the house or apartment or the land on which the home is to be built was purchased before 1 January 2024.

Example: Anna bought a plot of land on 1 June 2023. The house she builds on the property will be her first-time home. The construction of the house is finished in February 2024, and Anna and her family move in on a permanent basis on 2 March 2024. Anna is entitled to apply for a refund of the transfer tax paid on the plot. The refund application must be submitted by 2 March 2025.

Refund application must be submitted within 3 years

If you have paid too much transfer tax or if you have paid it unnecessarily, you must submit the refund application within 3 years from the start of the year following the year in which the real estate or securities were transferred or you became otherwise liable for transfer tax.
If the requirements for the first-time homebuyer’s transfer tax exemption were already fulfilled at the time when the tax was paid, meaning that the tax was paid unnecessarily, you must submit the refund application within 3 years from the start of the year following the year in which the real estate or securities were transferred or you became otherwise liable for transfer tax. Note: First-time homes are only exempt from transfer tax if the property was purchased before 1 January 2024.

Refund application must be submitted within 10 years

If the sale was cancelled or the purchase price was reduced, you must submit the refund application within 10 years from the start of the year following the year in which the real estate or securities were transferred or you became otherwise liable for transfer tax.

Submit the application within 10 years

In the case of a cancelled sale or discount in purchase price, the transfer tax refund application must be submitted within 10 years of the end of the calendar year in which the transfer tax was paid.
If the conditions for the exemption from transfer tax of a first-time home buyer are not fulfilled until after the transfer tax is paid, the transfer tax refund application must be submitted within 10 years of having fulfilled the conditions for exemption from transfer tax.

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 Communication 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.

You receive credit interest on your transfer tax refund

In addition to the transfer tax you have paid, you will also receive credit interest. Credit interest is calculated from the next day after the day when the tax was paid until the date when the tax is refunded.

The interest rate is the official reference rate of the Bank of Finland, reduced by 2 percentage points. However, the minimum rate of credit interest is 0.5%. The interest rate is reviewed every year. The rate is 0.5% for 2023 and 2% for 2024.

However, in order to get credit interest you must have filed a transfer tax return on the transfer tax that will be refunded.

The refund is paid to your bank account or as a money order

If the Tax Administration does not have your bank account number, your refund is paid to you as a money order through the Nordea bank. Refunds of less than €15 are not paid out as money orders unless you request us to do so.

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 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 2021, the deadline for submitting a claim against a decision on refund would be 31 December 2024. However, if the refund application were submitted in late 2024 and the applicant did not receive the decision until 2025, 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)

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