Ordering tobacco and nicotine products from abroad
If you are in Finland and you place an order with a foreign seller to buy tobacco or nicotine products, excise duties must be paid on them.
Are you ordering from the EU or outside of the EU?
If the tobacco or nicotine products are sold to you by an EU seller, excise duties must be paid to the Tax Administration.
If the tobacco or nicotine products are sold to you by a seller of a non-EU country, you must clear your order with Customs.
Ordering tobacco products online (Finnish Customs)
Read instructions for getting a customs clearance, including information on how much you must pay in excise duties. (Finnish Customs)
Read about who will have responsibility for excise duty payments:
Who arranges the transportation?
If the seller sends the nicotine/tobacco products or arranges the transportation, it is distance selling. In addition to arranging transports directly, when the seller, to some degree, is involved in the arrangements regarding transport or recommends certain transport companies to the buyer, it is distance selling, as well.
If you arrange the transport yourself, it is considered distance buying.
1. The seller arranges the transport (distance selling)
If the seller arranges the transportation, you the buyer do not need to file advance notices or excise duty returns on the nicotine/tobacco products. The order is considered distance selling and the seller is therefore liable for paying the required excise duties.
Starting 1 September 2024: If the distance seller has not filed an advance notice to the Tax Administration concerning your order, and if the seller has not paid a guarantee that matches the amount of excise duties on the products you ordered, you are responsible for the duties together with the seller. However, you do not need to file any excise duty returns. The Tax Administration will send both you and the seller the excise-tax decisions with identical contents. Pay the duties indicated on the decision letter you receive.
2. I arrange the transport myself (distance buying)
What to do when arranging transportation:
If you order nicotine/tobacco from another EU country and you arrange the transport to Finland yourself – without the seller taking any part in the arrangement – you must also pay the excise duties. This is considered distance buying. Because you are the buyer, you are liable for paying excise duties on the nicotine/tobacco products.
You must also provide the transport company or carrier with the excise duty number that the Tax Administration issues to identify the transport. During the transport, the excise duty number must be presented to Finnish Customs or the Finnish Tax Administration upon request. 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.
Paying excise duties:
- Submit the advance notice and pay the guarantee.
Whereas the advance notice is required for all products, no guarantee is needed for smokeless nicotine products (such as pouches), for electronic cigarette liquids, for heated tobacco products, nor for cigarette papers. - Give your carrier the excise duty numbers issued for the transport (send e‑mail or give the numbers by telephone).
- After you have received the products, submit your excise duty return.
- Pay the duty. If you paid a guarantee, the authorities will use the paid-in amount to cover the excise duty.
For more information, see the detailed instructions for filing and paying excise duties
What are the restrictions when placing an order online?
Finland’s Tobacco Act contains several legal rules that restrict online selling of tobacco. When in Finland, you are not allowed to order tobacco products, electronic cigarettes, liquids containing nicotine or snus from sellers in other countries. Starting 1 August 2025, the restrictions will extend further: you can no longer order nicotine pouches from sellers in other countries. If any of these products – in breach of the restrictions and prohibitions – are sold to a buyer in Finland, or received by a consignee in Finland, the public authority can impose taxes and duties.
Read more on the Customs website: Ordering tobacco products online (Finnish Customs)