Reverse charge in Finland: VAT on Google, Meta and Adobe invoices

Published 7 September 2026

A business in Finland that buys Google Ads, Meta ads or an Adobe subscription usually gets an invoice with no VAT on it. It is not a discount or a mistake. The VAT is still due in Finland, and the buyer calculates and reports it. This is reverse charge, käännetty verovelvollisuus.

Why the seller leaves the VAT off

Most services one business sells to another are taxed in the country where the buyer is established. Advertising, software, consulting and design all follow this general rule, so ads a Finnish company buys from Google in Ireland are taxed in Finland.

A foreign seller with no fixed establishment in Finland does not collect that VAT unless it has chosen to register for VAT here. The buyer accounts for it instead, which is why the invoice arrives without VAT, usually with a note such as "reverse charge". A private person buying the same subscription pays Finnish VAT in the price, because electronic services sold to consumers are normally taxed where the consumer lives.

The rule has exceptions. Hotel rooms, restaurant meals, passenger transport, event tickets and work on a building, among others, are taxed where they happen, so a hotel in Berlin rightly charges German VAT. That VAT never goes on your Finnish return. Where it can be recovered, you apply to that country for a refund in MyTax.

What you do with the VAT

You calculate the Finnish VAT yourself, at the rate the same service would carry in Finland: for most services, the general rate of 25.5 %. You report it on your VAT return as VAT payable and, as long as the purchase is for your VAT-liable business, as deductible VAT on the same return.

For a fully VAT-liable business the two cancel out and nothing is paid. The purchase still has to be reported: a net of zero is not the same as nothing to declare.

EU or outside the EU: different boxes

Seller in another EU country. Enter the invoice amount under "Purchases of services from other EU Member States", the VAT under "Tax on services purchased from other EU Member States", and the same VAT under "Tax deductible for the tax period".

Seller outside the EU, for example in the United States or the UK. The invoice amount is not entered anywhere. The VAT goes under "Tax on domestic sales by tax rate", on the 25.5 % line, and under "Tax deductible for the tax period".

Two examples:

Google Ads, invoiced from Ireland. The March invoice is 400 euros with no VAT. You report 400 euros as purchases of services from other EU countries, 102 euros as tax on those purchases and 102 euros as deductible tax. The net effect is zero.
A US software subscription. A project management tool bills you in dollars, 60 euros once converted. You report 15.30 euros as tax on domestic sales at 25.5 % and 15.30 euros as deductible tax. Again the net effect is zero.

When it is not zero

The VAT payable is always there. The deduction is not.

VAT-exempt sales. If your business sells VAT-exempt services, such as healthcare, financial or insurance services, you still report the reverse-charge VAT but cannot deduct it on purchases for that activity. If you do both, only the share for your VAT-liable sales is deductible.
No right to deduct. When a reverse-charged service is used for entertaining clients (edustus), you report the VAT but can never deduct it.
Mixed use. A subscription you also use privately is deductible only for the business share.

If you are not in the VAT register

A toiminimi or an Oy under the 20 000 euro limit is still a business for these rules. When it buys such a service for the business and the foreign seller invoices without VAT, the buyer owes the Finnish VAT. The business has to register for VAT on the basis of these purchases (the activity type is purchases and self-supply), report the VAT and pay it. It cannot deduct it, because the deduction is only for purchases made for VAT-liable sales.

Here reverse charge is a real cost: 100 euros a month of software from a US seller means 25.50 euros of VAT a month, 306 euros a year. Private purchases are outside all of this.

Give sellers your VAT number

A VAT number is how an EU seller normally recognises you as a business. If you are in the VAT register, yours is FI followed by the digits of your business ID without the hyphen: 0765432-1 becomes FI07654321. Without it, the seller may treat you as a private customer and add VAT.

Another country's VAT on a business purchase cannot be deducted on your Finnish return: VAT on a seller's invoice is deductible only when the seller is liable for VAT in Finland. The fix is a corrected invoice: add your VAT number to your account with the seller and ask for one.

What to check on each invoice

Where the seller is established. That decides the boxes.
Your details and the note. An EU seller's reverse-charge invoice should show your VAT number and a note such as "reverse charge". If an invoice from outside the EU lacks them, you may add them yourself, as long as it is clear what you added.
The period. Reverse-charge VAT belongs to the month the service was supplied, or the month you paid if you paid in advance, not to the invoice date.
The currency. Convert to euros at the latest rate published by the European Central Bank or a commercial bank at the time the VAT arises.

What we do

In the monthly bookkeeping we check where each seller is established, put the VAT in the right boxes and tell you when a purchase means you need to register. If Google, Meta or software invoices have been piling up, book an introduction and bring a few. See what we do.

Sources

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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