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Receipts in Finland: what counts and how long to keep them

Published 5 September 2026

Every cost in your books has to rest on a voucher, and deducting the VAT on a purchase normally takes the seller's invoice. Most questions about receipts come down to three things: what a receipt has to show, what to do when one goes missing, and how long to keep it all.

What a voucher has to show

Under the Accounting Act, a voucher for a cost has to show what you received, the goods or the service, and when you received it. In practice that means a receipt or an invoice with the date, the seller's name, what was bought and the amount. The rule is the same for a toiminimi and an Oy.

What the VAT deduction needs

To deduct VAT you need an invoice from the seller that meets the VAT Act, and for everyday purchases in Finland the requirements are light. A simplified invoice is enough when the total is 400 euros or less, and at any amount for restaurant and catering services, passenger transport, receipts from parking machines, and retail and similar sales made almost entirely to private customers. It has to show:

• the date
• the seller's name and business ID
• what was bought: the goods and their quantity, or the type of service
• the VAT for each rate, or the price before VAT for each rate

Outside those cases, a purchase over 400 euros needs a full invoice, which adds among other things a running invoice number, the buyer's name and address, and the price before VAT with the VAT rate. For a larger purchase, ask for the invoice in your business's name.

Two more points:

• Language. The VAT details can be in any language, though the Tax Administration can ask for a translation, so when a receipt does not make the purchase clear, add a note in English or Finnish.
• Registration. VAT charged by a seller outside the VAT register is, as a rule, not deductible. The Tax Administration recommends checking the seller at ytj.fi.

A bank statement is not a receipt

The line on your bank statement proves that you paid, and to whom. It does not show what you bought, and that is the very thing an expense voucher must show. The slip from a card terminal has the same gap: an amount and a payee, but no goods and no VAT breakdown. The Accounting Board does not count a card slip as a voucher on its own, and the Tax Administration is clear that a card company's bill is not the seller's invoice and gives no VAT deduction.

So keep both. The receipt shows what you bought, and the bank shows that you paid.

When a receipt is lost

Ask the seller for a copy first. For an online purchase it is often still in your account.

If no copy can be had, the Accounting Act has the business prepare and approve the voucher itself. The Accounting Board expects it to record the details a voucher normally carries, who made it, and why the original is missing. We attach the bank line that shows the payment.

A self-made voucher has two limits. The Accounting Board treats it as an exception, not a routine. And it is not the seller's invoice, so it does not meet the VAT Act's condition for a deduction. The Tax Administration may still accept the deduction if you prove your right to it otherwise, but that is its call, and the safe course is to leave the VAT out.

Paper, PDF or photo

A voucher does not have to be paper: an e-invoice, a PDF sent by e-mail, a scanned or photographed receipt, or a database record all count. The Accounting Act lets a voucher change form for processing and storage as long as its content and audit trail survive, and scanning a paper receipt and then destroying the paper has long been allowed. Make the image complete and legible, and take it the day you get the receipt.

How long to keep what

The Accounting Act sets two periods:

• 10 years from the end of the financial year: the financial statements and any management report, the ledgers themselves, the chart of accounts, and the list of books and material.
• 6 years from the end of the year in which the financial year ended: vouchers, correspondence about transactions and the rest of the accounting material. Tax returns and other filings made from the books count as correspondence.

With a calendar-year financial year, the 2026 receipts are kept at least to the end of 2032, and the 2026 books and financial statements to the end of 2036. For a financial year ending 30 June 2026, the receipts are also kept to the end of 2032, and the books to 30 June 2036.

These are minimums: the VAT Act, for one, requires 13 years for the invoices of a real estate investment. Closing the business does not end the duty either, and you must tell the registration authority who keeps the records.

Where the records can be kept

The Accounting Act does not tie the records to any country, though data protection rules can limit where personal data goes. It requires that the authorities and your auditor can review them from Finland without undue delay, and for invoices stored electronically abroad the VAT Act adds complete real-time computer access. A cloud service is fine on those terms.

The duty stays with your business even when a software provider or an accountant holds the files. When you change either, take a readable copy of the earlier years with you.

What we do

When we keep your books, every bank line needs its receipt, and we ask about missing ones while the month is fresh and a copy is still easy to get.

See what we do, or book an introduction and bring one month of receipts with that month's bank statement. We will show you which of them would pass.

Sources

• Finlex: Accounting Act 1336/1997, unofficial English translation
• Tax Administration: VAT invoice requirements
• Tax Administration: accounting, financial year and tax period
• Accounting Board (KILA): general guideline on bookkeeping methods and materials, 2021 (in Finnish)
• Finlex: government proposal HE 89/2015 on the Accounting Act (in Finnish)

Please note: this is general information about Finnish rules, not advice for your own situation, and the rules change. Ask us before you act on it.

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