Verotili and self-assessed taxes: VAT, payroll and due dates 2026

The verotili is gone – everything now runs in MyTax

The Tax Account Act (verotililaki 604/2009) was repealed with effect from 1 January 2017. It was replaced by the Act on the Assessment Procedure for Self-Assessed Taxes (768/2016) and the Tax Collection Act (veronkantolaki 769/2016). In the old system, taxes were reported on a periodic tax return (kausiveroilmoitus), and a company could set its own threshold for refunds. Today the Tax Administration (Verohallinto) pays refunds as soon as the return or refund request has been processed, and you can no longer choose the timing or threshold of a refund.

If you are looking for the old tax account statement, the closest equivalents are the balance breakdown (saldoerittely) in MyTax, the monthly transaction summary (tapahtumaote) and the summary of your tax payment situation (yhteenveto verojen maksutilanteesta). More on these below.

What are self-assessed taxes?

Self-assessed taxes are taxes the Tax Administration does not assess separately: the payer calculates, reports and pays the amount. You get no bill or payment slip for them. For a small business the main ones are:

• VAT (ALV), reported on the VAT return in MyTax.
• Employer contributions (työnantajasuoritukset): tax withheld from wages and the employer’s health insurance contribution, reported to the Incomes Register (tulorekisteri).
• Also, for example, excise taxes, tax withheld on dividends and interest, and withholding taxes at source.

Prepaid tax (ennakkovero) is not a self-assessed tax: it is income tax that the Tax Administration imposes. A limited company (osakeyhtiö) still pays it with the same general tax reference number as VAT and employer contributions, so everything shows in one balance. We have a separate guide on prepaid tax.

How VAT and employer contributions are reported

• VAT: file a VAT return in MyTax for every tax period, even if you had no sales or purchases. You cannot get an extension for filing.
• Wages: an earnings payment report to the Incomes Register within 5 days of the payment date. If the fifth day is a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday, you can report on the next working day.
• Employer’s health insurance contribution: the employer’s separate report to the Incomes Register once a month, by the 5th day of the month after the month of payment. A company in the employer register also files it for months with no wages (the “no wages paid” option).

Employer contributions have no separate tax return in MyTax: the Tax Administration builds the tax for the period from the Incomes Register data. For all self-assessed taxes, the Tax Administration instructs you to file before you pay.

Due dates: the 12th of the month

The general due date for self-assessed taxes is the 12th of the month. If it falls on a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday, it moves to the next working day. For VAT, the filing deadline and the payment deadline are the same day.

• VAT, monthly period: the 12th of the second month after the period. For example, September VAT by 12 November.
• VAT, quarterly period: 12 May, 12 August, 12 November and 12 February.
• VAT, annual period: the last day of February of the following year.
• Employer contributions, monthly period: the 12th of the month after the month of payment.
• Employer contributions, quarterly period: the 12th of the second month after the quarter. For example, April–June by 12 August.

Example for December 2026: 12 December 2026 is a Saturday, so October VAT (monthly period) and employer contributions on wages paid in November are due on Monday 14 December 2026. The November separate report is due on 5 December, also a Saturday, so it can be filed on Monday 7 December 2026. Annual VAT for 2026 is due on 1 March 2027, because 28 February 2027 is a Sunday.

Tax period: month, quarter or year

The tax period is a calendar month by default. You can apply for a longer period if your turnover for the calendar year is small:

• A quarter, if turnover is at most €100,000. Available for VAT and for the employer contributions of a regular employer.
• A calendar year, if turnover is at most €30,000. Available for VAT only.

The VAT period and the employer contribution period are independent of each other. An occasional employer that is not in the employer register cannot get a longer period and always pays employer contributions monthly. The length of the period does not change the Incomes Register deadlines.

You change the period in MyTax (Asiakastiedot → Yritystoiminta → Muuta verokausi), with form 4071 or with a change notification to the Business Information System (YTJ). The period must stay the same for at least a year. A longer period starts at the beginning of the calendar year after the application; a new company can have it from the start of its business if it chooses it when registering. If turnover exceeds the limit, notify the Tax Administration without delay. You cannot get a longer period if you have filed late or left taxes unpaid.

Reference numbers and paying

The payee is always Verohallinto. You can see the Tax Administration’s bank account numbers and the right reference number in MyTax under Maksutilanne → Verojen maksaminen ja maksutiedot; the account numbers are not published on vero.fi. You can also pay directly in MyTax, where the payment details are filled in and the payment is charged immediately.

• Limited companies and other entities pay primarily with the general tax reference number (yleinen verojen viitenumero). It is company-specific and works for almost all taxes: VAT, employer contributions, prepaid tax, additional prepayment, residual tax, property tax and other self-assessed taxes. It cannot be used for taxes under a payment arrangement or in enforcement, or for taxes under the One Stop Shop scheme.
• A sole trader (toiminimi) has tax-specific reference numbers: one for self-assessed taxes, while prepaid tax is paid with the income tax reference number.

A payment made with the general reference number is applied to a tax only on its due date, oldest due date first. If several self-assessed taxes fall due on the same day, the payment is applied in this order: tax withheld from wages, employer’s health insurance contribution, VAT, excise taxes, others. Use only one method, either the general reference number or the tax-specific ones; otherwise payments may go to a different tax than you intended. A payment shows in the Tax Administration’s records after 1–2 working days.

How to read your balance in MyTax

• Maksutilanne → Verojen maksaminen ja maksutiedot: taxes falling due and overdue. A self-assessed tax paid in advance still shows among taxes falling due until its due date.
• Balance breakdown (saldoerittely): your payment shows immediately on the “Suoritetut maksut ja palautukset” tab. “Veroihin käytettävissä olevat maksut” lists payments not yet applied to taxes.
• The transaction summary (tapahtumaote) arrives in MyTax monthly. Taxes, late-payment interest and late-filing penalties have a plus sign; payments, interest on refunds and negative VAT a minus sign. A negative closing balance does not mean unpaid taxes, and the summary is not a payment reminder.
• Amount and balance: if you reported €500 of VAT and paid €600, the tax balance is €0 and the payment balance €100. The extra €100 is waiting to be used or refunded.
• The summary of your tax payment situation (yhteenveto) is a monthly letter with payment demands, how payments and refunds were used, missing returns and late-filing penalties. Companies get it only electronically in MyTax.

If a payment or return is missing, first check that the return was filed for the right period and the payment had the right reference number. Errors in employer contributions are corrected in the Incomes Register, not in MyTax. Because of interest on refunds, the summary may differ from your books by a few cents.

Refunds: negative VAT and unused payments

• Negative VAT (more deductible VAT than VAT payable) is refunded without a separate application once the return has been processed, but no earlier than after the general due date of the month following the period. The money arrives about a week after processing.
• An unused payment, such as an overpayment, is not returned automatically. Make a refund request in MyTax under saldoerittely → “Veroihin käytettävissä olevat maksut”.
• Refunds under €10 are not paid out; they wait for later refunds or are used for taxes.
• Refunds earn interest (hyvityskorko), 0.5% in 2026. It is not taxable income.
• The Tax Administration first uses a refund for overdue taxes. If any tax return is missing, whatever the tax type, the refund is not paid.
• Give your bank account number for refunds in MyTax. Only one account can be valid at a time.

Do not wait for a VAT refund to pay other taxes. If the VAT return stays under review, the refund cannot be used straight away for employer contributions due the same day, and you get a payment demand for the unpaid amount. The Tax Administration advises paying taxes by their due date.

Filing late: the late-filing penalty

A late VAT return or other self-assessed tax return filed in MyTax triggers a late-filing penalty (myöhästymismaksu), even if there is no tax to pay or you file a “no activity” return.

• Up to 45 days late: €3 per day, at most €135. For example, 35 days late: €105.
• More than 45 days late: €135 plus 2% of the tax payable reported late. The tax-based part is capped at €15,000 per tax type per period. For example, 50 days late with €5,000 of tax: €135 + €100 = €235.
• Corrections: no penalty on a replacement return filed no later than 45 days after the original deadline. A later correction costs 2% of the added tax.
• The late-filing penalty is not deductible in income taxation.

If no return arrives at all, the Tax Administration sends a request that includes an estimate of the tax. If you still do not file, the tax is assessed by estimate and a tax increase (veronkorotus) is added. For a special reason, such as a MyTax outage, you can apply in MyTax for the penalty to be waived.

Incomes Register reports have their own late-filing penalty under the Act on the Incomes Information System. It is imposed if data on wages paid during a month is reported after the 8th day of the following month: €3 per day for at most 45 days (€135), and after more than 45 days also 1% of the wages reported late (more precisely: of the taxable payment or the earnings that count towards pension, whichever is larger), up to €15,135 per calendar month. Earnings payment reports and the separate report count as one whole.

Paying late: 9.5% late-payment interest

Tax paid after its due date accrues late-payment interest (viivästyskorko). In 2026 the rate is 9.5% (4.5% for inheritance tax). By law it is the reference rate plus seven percentage points, set annually. Interest runs from the day after the due date until the payment date, by actual days, and has no minimum amount. Late-filing penalties and tax increases also accrue late-payment interest.

Example: €5,000 of VAT is paid 30 days late. The interest is 5,000 × 9.5% × 30 / 365 = €39.04. Pay the tax and the interest in one go with the same payment details, as a payment is applied to interest first and only then to tax. In MyTax the interest is already included in the amount.

You can apply for the interest to be waived only in exceptional cases, such as sudden serious illness or a wide telecommunications outage. Forgetting, payment difficulties or an accountant’s mistake are not grounds.

An unpaid tax gets a payment demand in the summary 1–3 times before it is sent for enforcement (ulosotto). The tax debt register (verovelkarekisteri) shows whether a company has at least €10,000 of tax debt or has neglected self-assessed tax returns in the last 6 months. Company data is public; sole traders’ data is visible only to identified users. Credit companies can check it too.

Payment arrangement if cash runs short

If your payment difficulties are temporary, you can apply for a payment arrangement (maksujärjestely) in MyTax (Veroasiat → Maksaminen → Maksujärjestelypyyntö). Debt under an arrangement is not sent for enforcement or published in the tax debt register.

• Conditions: the difficulties are temporary, earlier arrangements have been paid, all tax returns and Incomes Register earnings payment and separate reports have been filed, and you have no taxes in enforcement.
• Up to 2 years, 1–24 monthly instalments, smallest instalment €20. The first due date can be at most 30 days from the request.
• It includes taxes already overdue and taxes due within 45 days. For self-assessed taxes, file first and wait until the tax shows as payable in MyTax: VAT shows in 1–2 days, employer contributions can take longer.
• Interest is charged for the extra time. The arrangement may lapse if instalments or other taxes are paid late or returns are not filed on time.
• Processing takes about a week. Apply on the due date as soon as you know you cannot pay.

Common mistakes

• Looking for the old verotili or its statement, when the current data is in the MyTax balance breakdown, transaction summary and summary letter.
• Not filing a VAT return for a month with no sales. A return is needed for every period, and the penalty applies then too.
• A company in the employer register forgetting the “no wages paid” report for a month without wages.
• Mixing the general reference number and tax-specific ones, so the payment goes to the wrong tax – for example, money meant for January prepaid tax is applied to February’s instalment.
• Paying before filing, or filing for the wrong period, so the payment stays unused and the tax shows as unpaid.
• Waiting for a VAT refund and leaving employer contributions due the same day unpaid.
• Staying on a quarterly or annual period after turnover exceeds the limit. The change must be reported without delay.
• Mistaking a negative closing balance on the transaction summary for debt.

Figures for 2026: late-payment interest 9.5%, interest on refunds 0.5%, late-filing penalty €3 per day (at most €135). Sources: Tax Administration – paying self-assessed taxes (updated 29 April 2026), late-payment interest, late-filing penalties, refunds (29 April 2026) and payment arrangements (23 April 2026); Act 768/2016. Rates are set annually.

Let us handle your self-assessed taxes

Tilitoimisto Debit Credit makes sure your VAT returns and Incomes Register reports go out on time, calculates the taxes for each due date, helps you choose the right tax period and sorts out your MyTax balance if payments were misapplied or a refund does not arrive. If taxes are already late, we go through the corrections and, if needed, a payment arrangement with you. We work in Finnish and Russian. Get in touch and we will go through your company’s tax position.

Official sources

• Vero: self-assessed taxes
• Vero: paying self-assessed taxes and due date
• Vero: when to file and pay VAT
• Vero: VAT tax period
• Vero: how to report wages and employer’s contributions
• Vero: bank account numbers and reference numbers
• Vero: monthly transaction summary
• Vero: refunds of VAT and other self-assessed taxes
• Vero: late-filing penalties
• Vero: interest on late payments
• Vero: payment arrangements for businesses
• Incomes Register: late-filing penalty
• Finlex: Act on the Assessment Procedure for Self-Assessed Taxes 768/2016 (in Finnish)
• Finlex: Act repealing the Tax Account Act 790/2016 (in Finnish)
• Finlex: Act on tax increases and late-payment interest 1556/1995 (in Finnish)