Overseas work

If you leave Finland to work in another country, report your income with a Finnish tax return. You are expected to give the Finnish authorities complete details of the wages you earn, not only in Finland but also other countries, even though these wages may not be taxed in Finland. No changes are usually effected regarding the Finnish taxes that are payable on your other types of income during the period when you work in another country. For example, if you have capital income, the taxes will continue to be payable in Finland.

Report your foreign-sourced income along with any Finnish-sourced income

You will receive a pre-completed tax return in March-April. Check the information on your pre-completed tax return.

If all the information is correct, you do not need to do anything. You have received your final assessment decision as an enclosure to the tax return form.

If the pre-completed tax return does not have your income information or if some information is missing, make the necessary corrections in MyTax or on paper forms. You must also include all the income that you received from foreign sources.

Submit details in MyTax

The pre-completed tax return – making corrections in MyTax or on paper

You will receive a new tax decision in the autumn with the final amounts of taxes. If you have paid too little in withholding or prepayments, you will be given instructions on how to pay back taxes. Instructions for appeal will be enclosed.

If you do not receive a pre-completed tax return, you must file a return on your own initiative in MyTax or on paper forms.

Taxation of foreign-sourced income

Several factors are involved in the tax assessment of your foreign-sourced wages.  These include the duration of your stay, the kind of employer you work for, the nature of your work, and the country where you work.  This section contains articles discussing various situations in which Finnish tax may be collected on wages or fees sourced in other countries. 

Your wages may be exempt from Finnish tax if the regulation known as the ‘six-month rule’ becomes applicable.  For a discussion of various relevant tax situations, and for more information on the requirements of the six-month rule, please read the descriptions below.

If you leave Finland to work overseas as an employee of a Finnish public body (including the State of Finland, Finnish municipalities, the peace-keeping forces of the Finnish Defence Force), you will pay tax in Finland in the usual way.  The six-month rule that offers tax exemption is not applicable in these cases.  The provisions of tax treaties usually prevent taxes from being levied by the country where you work.