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VAT return deadlines in Finland 2026–2027: filing and payment

Karma Accounts · Published 18 September 2026 · Updated 9 October 2026

In Finland the VAT return (alv-ilmoitus) and the VAT on it are due on the same day. For a monthly or quarterly period that is the 12th of the second month after the period ends; for a calendar-year period it is the last day of the following February. When the date falls on a weekend or public holiday, it moves to the next business day. The rule is the same for a toiminimi and an Oy, and the dates for the coming periods are in the table below.

Due dates for the coming periods

Two due dates move: 12 December 2026 is a Saturday and 28 February 2027 a Sunday. There is no extension to ask for.

Your tax period sets the rhythm

The tax period (verokausi) follows the calendar, even when an Oy's financial year does not.

• Every month. The usual default for businesses. Primary producers, such as farmers and forest owners, and artists selling their own works have a calendar year instead when they have no other VAT-liable activity.
• Every quarter. Available when turnover for the calendar year is no more than 100 000 euros.
• Once a year. Available when turnover for the calendar year is no more than 30 000 euros.

On a quarterly period the due dates are the same every year: 12 May for January to March, 12 August for April to June, 12 November for July to September and 12 February for October to December, each moving to the next business day when needed.

A longer period means fewer returns, not less bookkeeping, and handing in a whole year of receipts at once raises the risk of missed deductions. You apply in MyTax (OmaVero), and the longer period starts at the beginning of the next calendar year, or from the start if a new business applies when it begins.

Who has to file

Every business in the VAT register files, toiminimi and Oy alike. Registration is compulsory once turnover for the calendar year passes 20 000 euros, from the day the limit is passed. Turnover means sales without VAT, including some zero-rated sales. You can leave the register only after two consecutive calendar years of 20 000 euros or less; more in our article on the VAT registration limit. The lower-limit relief (alarajahuojennus) ended on 1 January 2025.

How to file in MyTax

1. Log in to MyTax, open the Your tax types tab and choose VAT.
2. Choose File a VAT return.
3. Click File return next to the period. The list shows the periods that have ended; future periods have a view of their own.
4. Fill in step 1, Return details, then check everything in step 2, Preview and send, and click Submit.

If an accountant files for you, they need your authorisation first; for us that is one Suomi.fi mandate, approved once.

Business purchases of services such as ads or software from abroad belong on the return too, under reverse charge. The VAT nets to zero only when you can deduct it in full.

Nothing to report is still a return

A quiet period does not cancel the return. Almost every business files one for every period, even when it did nothing VAT-liable, for example during a break or an off-season. In MyTax that is a nil VAT return: you tick No activities during the tax period. When a break is known in advance, you can file it for the next six months at once. The narrow exception is a forest owner whose only VAT activity is forestry, on a calendar-year period, with nothing to report for the year.

Tick "no activities" only when there is nothing at all to report. Sales, VAT on purchases to deduct and reverse-charge purchases go on a normal return, and the Tax Administration names zero-rated sales specifically: if the VAT on the related purchases is deductible, report them as zero-rated turnover.

Skip a return and a request follows; if the return still does not arrive by its date, the tax is set by estimate with a 25 % tax increase.

How to pay: the same date as the return

Filing and paying are separate obligations with the same due date: a return filed on time does not pay the tax, and a payment does not file the return.

• In MyTax. The amount comes from your return and already includes any late-payment interest. The payment is taken from your bank account straight away, so you cannot choose a later payment date.
• In your online bank. You need the reference number and the Tax Administration's account number, both shown in MyTax. The payee is Verohallinto.

Where the reference number is in MyTax depends on who you are:

A company may use the VAT reference instead of the general one, but should not mix the two. Paying early is fine, but the money is used only on the due date, so MyTax shows the VAT as due until then. With the general reference number, a payment covers taxes in order of due date, oldest first, so an older unpaid tax is paid before the VAT. A bank payment reaches the Tax Administration's records in 1 to 2 working days.

When you are late

A late return costs 3 euros a day up to 135 euros for the first 45 days. After that it is 135 euros plus 2 % of the tax payable on the late return; the 2 % part is capped at 15 000 euros per tax type and period. Late VAT also carries late-payment interest from the day after the due date, 9.5 % a year in 2026. The whole bill and the order to put it right in are in our article on a late VAT return.

Correcting a return you already filed

You correct a VAT return by filing a replacement return for the same period, with every figure again, not only the one that changed. Do it within 45 days of the original due date and the correction itself causes no late-filing penalty.

An error of 500 euros or less in the tax can instead be added to or subtracted from the VAT on a later return, but only if you make the correction before the next VAT due date after you notice the error. An error that does not change the tax at all, such as sales at 0 % or sales to other EU countries, always needs a replacement return whatever its size.

What we do

We do the bookkeeping, tell you the VAT amount and the reference before the due date, and file the return ourselves, quiet months included. A limited company costs 199 euros a month up to 240 000 euros of turnover and 249 euros above it; a sole trader from 69 euros a month; payroll 15 euros per payslip; all plus VAT 25.5 %, with the software and the annual financial statements included and no limit on receipts. We are based in Helsinki and work online across Finland. See limited company accounting or sole trader accounting, or book an introduction and bring one month of receipts.

Sources

• Tax Administration: VAT, when to file and pay
• Tax Administration: how to find the information needed for paying VAT in MyTax
• Tax Administration: VAT payment instructions (in Finnish)
• Tax Administration: account and reference numbers for companies (in Finnish)
• Tax Administration: tax period and changing it
• Tax Administration: late penalty charges on self-assessed taxes
• Tax Administration: VAT return for forest owners (in Finnish)
• Tax Administration: late-payment interest (in Finnish)
• Tax Administration: VAT liability and registration
• Tax Administration: VAT relief scheme, ended 1 January 2025
• Tax Administration: penalties in self-assessed taxation, section 4.2.5 on estimated tax, detailed guidance (in Finnish)
• Finlex: Act on the Tax Procedure for Self-Assessed Taxes 768/2016, sections 2, 11, 12, 17 and 22 (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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