How to request prepayment of tax:
- Log in to the Finnish tax Administration’s MyTax service.
- After you have logged in, under the ‘Activities’ heading you will see the ‘Tax cards and prepayments’ section. Click on that, and you can then choose the tax year.
- Select the current year if you are requesting prepayment of tax or want to update your income estimate (you can do this as many times as your estimate of your annual business income changes during the year). Then click on ‘Request tax prepayment’. From there, under ‘Options’, by clicking on ‘Report the amount payable’ you can declare your income for the coming year in advance, or if you have paid too little tax, under ‘Report corrected income and deductions’ you can request additional prepayment for the tax year that has ended.
- By clicking on ‘Report corrected income and deductions’, on the form that opens you can see the income that already affects your taxes, as this is pre-filled in the form. You can change this information if necessary. Your business income should be filled in on that form under the ‘Other income’ section. To get there, after clicking on ‘Other income’ scroll down to ‘Business income subject to prepayments’ and click on ‘Yes’. On the next page on the form, ‘Other deductions’, you can also claim tax deductions related to your business operations.
- Once you have filled in all the information, submit the application.
Here you will find the Tax Administration's instruction with pictures for filling in the application.
How to pay tax prepayments:
- Once you have submitted the application, you will receive a new tax decision in the MyTax portal, and from then on after logging in to MyTax you will see on the front page the instalments for your prepayments, their due dates, and the payment details.
- It’s a good idea to set reminders of the due dates in your calendar.
- Pay each of the prepayments at the latest on their respective due dates using the payment details in MyTax.
- Add either a tax prepayment invoice or a receipt for a money transfer to UKKO so that the tax prepayment payments are also visible in your bookkeeping. Although the Tax Administration does not require you to enter tax prepayments in your bookkeeping, we recommend doing so, as it will give you an even clearer view of your financial situation. In the case of prepayments of tax, a receipt from your own account can also be used as a supporting document for bookkeeping purposes.
When requesting prepayments in MyTax, these things can be confusing:
- Why does the request form show salary income? As a private trader, your business income is taxed as personal income. This is why the same form shows all your taxable income: if you are new to entrepreneurship, you may also have earned a salary in the same tax year. And if you are self-employed, all your income will always appear on the same form. For the same reason, you will also receive a tax card when you submit a request for prepayment.
- How can I estimate my income for the year? To estimate what your income will be for a 12-month period, add up your invoices for the last two months and multiply that figure by six. Your income may change during the year, but you can always adjust the prepayment amount by filling in a new application.
- My business activities are only part-time – is there any other way I can take care of my tax affairs? Sure! Another option is to apply for a new tax card that also takes into account your company’s income. You can do this in exactly the same way as you would normally apply for a tax card.