Ordering or sending alcohol or tobacco to yourself from abroad – how to file and pay excise duties

If you order alcohol or tobacco products as a private individual from another EU country and you arrange their transport to Finland, you are liable to pay duty.

If you send alcohol or tobacco from abroad to Finland to youself, you must pay excise duties to the Tax Administration. Importing alcohol or tobacco is duty-free only if the products are for your own use and you bring them to Finland yourself. Sending products does not meet these requirements, so excise duties must be paid.

Before products can be sent to Finland, you must submit an advance notice to the Tax Administration and pay a guarantee. In the advance notice, you will need to specify the product group and product volume.

If you send alcohol or tobacco to yourself from abroad, or if you order alcohol or tobacco and arrange the transport of the products yourself, you must provide the transport company or carrier with an excise duty number issued by the Tax Administration to identify the transport. If you send the products by post, mark the excise duty number on top of the package. During the transport, the excise duty number must be presented to Finnish Customs or the Finnish Tax Administration upon request. If you are assigned multiple excise duty numbers, give them all to the carrier or mark them all on the package.

After you have paid the guarantee for the consignment to the Tax Administration, you can see the excise duty number in MyTax under Advance notices.

Example: You are on holiday in France. You visit a local winery and buy two cases of wine, which you plan to send by post to yourself in Finland. Before sending the package, use MyTax to file advance notices on alcohol and beverage containers and pay a guarantee corresponding to the amount of excise duty on alcohol payable on the products. Mark the excise duty numbers you get in MyTax on top of the package. Pay the excise duties after you have received the products.

Excise duties on alcohol are determined according to the excise duty table for alcohol products (available in Finnish and Swedish, link to Finnish).

Excise duties on tobacco are determined according to the excise duty table for tobacco products (available in Finnish and Swedish, link to Finnish).

In addition, containers containing alcohol, alcoholic beverages or soft drinks are subject to the excise duty on beverage containers. The excise duty on beverage containers is €0.51 per litre of beverage.

Instructions for filing and payment

1. File an advance notice and deposit a guarantee

You must report your order or consignment in advance and pay a guarantee corresponding to the excise duty on alcohol and tobacco before the products are sent to Finland. Note that excise duties must be paid even if the products were taxed in another EU country.

Also remember to submit an advance notice for the excise duty on beverage containers. However, you do not need to pay a guarantee for it.

You can file the advance notice and pay the guarantee in MyTax. You can see the guarantee amount, account number and excise duty number in MyTax. The advance notice serves as a template for the excise duty return.

Go to MyTax

You can also file the advance notice and report the guarantee on a paper form (available in Finnish and Swedish, link to Finnish).

Send the form to:

Finnish Tax Administration, P.O. Box 20, FI-00052 VERO

If you file on paper, we will inform you of the guarantee amount and give you a bank account number. Pay the guarantee to the Tax Administration’s account. After we have received the guarantee, we will assign an excise duty number to your order or consignment. If necessary, give the excise duty number to the sender.

2. Give the excise duty number to the carrier or mark it on the package

After you have paid the guarantee, you can see the excise duty number issued for the consignment in MyTax under Advance notices. Give the excise duty number to the transport company or carrier – or, if you are sending the products by post to yourself, mark the number on top of the package. If you are assigned multiple excise duty numbers, give them all to the carrier or mark them all on the package.

3. After you have received the products, file and pay the excise duties

File an excise duty return and pay the excise duties no later than on the 12th day of the month following the month when you received the products. If the due date is a Saturday, Sunday or other public holiday, you can pay on the next business day.

Example: If you receive the products you ordered or sent to Finland on 3 February, you must file and pay the excise duties by 12 March. If you receive the products on 30 May, you must file and pay the excise duties by 12 June.

If the guarantee you paid is not enough to cover the excise duties, you must pay the missing amount afterwards. You can see the excise duty amount in MyTax. If the guarantee you paid was too big, we will refund the excess amount to you.

Also remember to file and pay the excise duty on beverage containers.

File an excise duty return and pay the excise duties in MyTax.

Go to MyTax

You can also submit the excise duty returns on paper:

Excise duty on alcoholic beverages