Refunds of car tax due to export

If the taxpayer submits an application, car tax can be refunded if their vehicle is going to be operated outside Finland on a permanent basis. This concerns vehicles for which Finnish car tax has been assessed.

After you have taken the vehicle out of the country, you can submit an application for refund. The deadline for doing so is 30 days from the date of exportation. 

Log in to MyTax to apply for refund of car tax based on export or special use

You will receive the decision in MyTax. You will also receive the decision by post to your home address, unless you have activated Suomi.fi messages and chosen not to receive paper mail.

You can also submit the application on paper, on Form 1215 – Request for refund of car tax. You will receive the decision letter to the postal address that you have given.

Check the estimated processing times for requests for refund of car tax.

Requirements for the export refund

You can get the export refund if:

• At the date when the vehicle is exported, you are its owner
• The vehicle is taken away on a permanent basis, for future driving and operation outside of Finland
• The vehicle is roadworthy
• The vehicle’s Finnish registration status is “decommissioned”
• At the date when the vehicle is exported no more than 10 years has passed since the vehicle has been taken into use.

Refund amount

The refund is equal to the car tax that would be levied on a similar vehicle if, on the date of export, that vehicle were to be taxed in Finland as a used car.

No more tax can be refunded than the amount, in accordance with the decision on car taxation, that was assessed for the vehicle. A car tax refund due to export is payable if it amounts to at least 500 euros.

Car tax is not refunded insofar as the value of the vehicle has increased because of any modifications or accessories added to the vehicle.

The Tax Administration decreases the refund for vehicles that have had a reduction of car tax by virtue of the provisions of the car tax act (Autoverolaki (1482/1994)). Such a decrease reflects the part of the car tax that would be imposed if, on the date when the taxpayer submits the application for refund, the vehicle were re-assigned from reduced-tax use to other use that does not qualify for reduction of car tax under the provisions of the Act.

Read more: Amount of car tax.

Instructions for reporting your vehicles’s equipment

Read more: How to report equipment details.