Finland To Introduce Tourist Tax Soon in Lapland And Other Tourist Zones

New Tourist taxes are expected to start soon in Finland. The Ministry of Finance is preparing an optional tourist tax for municipalities. Many EU countries have this kind of tax. Provisions on the tax would be laid down in an act. The tax would offer municipalities a new source of income from tourism. The proposed law is supposed to be finalised by the Spring 2027.

The proposed Tourist tax to be decided by the municipalities independently on their own and not binding to all the areas in Finland. There has been a lot of discussion about the tourist tax in Finnish Lapland where the idea was to help municipalities to cover tourism related services development.

The proposed act would give municipalities the option to collect a tax on paid accommodation. The tax would be optional for municipalities, and the revenues from the tax would remain with the municipality that collected it. At the moment, the Ministry of Finance is requesting views on the draft government proposal.

The tax would be collected on all short-term paid accommodation regardless of the form of accommodation or the scope or form of operations. The tax would be a percentage of the price of accommodation, excluding VAT. The municipal council would set the tax percentage between a minimum of two and a maximum of five per cent.

Popular tourist destinations would benefit from the tourist tax

The tax could generate millions of euros in tax revenue in municipalities that are popular tourist destinations. The tax has been estimated to have a limited impact on tourist volumes. However, as a municipal tax, it would apply differently to tourism operations and companies in municipalities, and the effects on different municipalities and businesses could vary a great deal. The tax would also increase the regulatory burden on providers of accommodation and would give rise to administrative work and costs for municipalities and the Finnish Tax Administration.

Payment of tax based on self-assessed tax procedure

The tourist tax would be subject to the self-assessed tax procedure. In other words the taxpayer would calculate the amount of tax to pay on its own initiative. The tax period would be the calendar month. As opposed to other self-assessed taxes, the tax return for the tourist tax would only be filed for the tax periods during which the taxpayer has engaged in taxable operations. The Finnish Tax Administration would be the tax authority.