Finnish ALV (arvonlisävero) looks simple until your first Z-report from a restaurant lands on your desk — one bill, three rates, and Verohallinto wants the split exactly right. This guide covers what every Finnish small business and accountant actually needs to know, with the edge cases SaaS sellers and exporters trip over too.
Baslic encodes every rule below as a ruleId. If Timo makes a call you don’t like, you can see exactly which rule fired and why.
The four rates you’ll meet daily.
Finland has four ALV brackets. Most receipts hit just one. Restaurants, mixed retailers, and SaaS exporters hit two or more — which is where things get interesting.
| Rate | Bracket | Typical scope |
|---|---|---|
| 25.5% | General | Most goods, services, telecoms, alcohol, software |
| 13.5% | Foodstuffs | Food, restaurant meals, animal feed |
| 10% | Reduced | Books, sport tickets, transport, accommodation |
| 0% | Zero-rated | Exports outside EU, intra-EU B2B services |
Why Z-reports break generic accounting tools.
A typical Finnish restaurant Z-report has food at 13.5%, beer at 25.5%, and an optional service line at 10%. Most receipt tools lump it as one number and pick the “dominant” rate — that’s legally wrong and your auditor will catch it.
| Food sales (net) | 13.5% | €4,536.30 | €612.40 |
| Beer & wine | 25.5% | €722.35 | €184.20 |
| Service charge | 10% | €320.00 | €32.00 |
| Day total | €5,578.65 | €828.60 VAT | |
The right way: split on the line, code each line at the rate that line actually carries. Baslic does this automatically and tags every line with the source ruleId so your accountant can replay the decision.
When to charge 0% VAT (and prove it).
Three common 0%-rated invoice scenarios for Finnish SMBs:
- Non-EU export
Goods or services to a customer outside the EU
Receipt of payment + proof of export (shipping doc, customer address outside EU). 0% VAT, no reverse-charge note needed.
- EU B2B service
Service to an EU VAT-registered business
Service is invoiced 0% with a note: ‘reverse charge — VAT to be accounted for by the customer.’ Valid VIES check required.
- EU B2C distance sale
Goods to EU consumers below OSS threshold
Under the OSS threshold (€10K total EU sales/yr), charge Finnish VAT. Above, register for OSS and charge customer’s country VAT.
What “reverse charge” actually means.
Under Finnish ALV § 65, when you invoice a B2B service to a customer registered for VAT in another EU country, the customer accounts for the VAT in their country — you charge 0%, they self-assess.
Three things must appear on the invoice:
- Your Finnish Y-tunnus (VAT ID), prefixed with FI
- Customer’s valid EU VAT ID (must pass VIES)
- The note: ‘Reverse charge — VAT to be accounted for by the recipient’ (or local-language equivalent)
VIES validation — and why it has to be live.
You cannot reverse-charge an invoice to a customer whose VAT ID isn’t valid at the moment of invoicing. VIES (VAT Information Exchange System) is the EU’s registry. A stale check from 6 months ago doesn’t cut it for an audit.
How Baslic handles it
Every invoice with a non-Finnish VAT ID triggers a live VIES call. Result + timestamp + company name are stored with the invoice — your auditor can replay the validation a year later.
Standard, food, reduced — across the Nordics.
| Country | Standard | Food | Reduced | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Finland FI | 25.5% | 13.5% | 10% | Standard rate raised from 24% to 25.5% in Sep 2024 |
Sweden SE | 25% | 12% | 6% | Books, transport, hotels at 6% |
Denmark DK | 25% | 25% | — | Single rate — no reduced rate for food |
Norway NO | 25% | 15% | 12% | Non-EU · separate registration via MVA |
When you file and when you pay.
Monthly
Turnover > €100K / yr
12th of the second-following month
Quarterly
Turnover €30K – €100K / yr
12th of the second-following month
Yearly
Turnover < €30K / yr (opt-in)
Feb 28 of next year
Six things we see auditors flag again and again.
- Treating a Z-report as one VAT rate (split it per line).
- Reverse-charging without checking VIES at the time of invoice.
- Forgetting the ‘reverse charge’ note on the EU B2B invoice text.
- Charging 24% on something invoiced in Sep 2024+ (it’s 25.5% now).
- Mixing OSS-eligible and non-OSS sales in the same period.
- Claiming input VAT on a receipt with no Y-tunnus shown.
Let Baslic handle every rule above — automatically.
Per-line VAT, live VIES, 0% export detection, deterministic classifications with ruleIds.
This guide is general information and not tax advice. Rules change. For a binding ruling, contact Verohallinto or your accountant. Baslic encodes rules current as of the last-reviewed date above.