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National tax border declaration 

A national tax border declaration must be submitted for the goods

  • when the goods leave Åland for mainland Finland or
  • when the goods arrive in Åland from mainland Finland.

Submit the declaration via the Customs Clearance Service or if you are a message declarant, use the message declaration. This means that no export declaration is lodged via the Export Declaration Service for goods leaving Åland for mainland Finland.

When the tax border declaration is lodged in one stage, it can be lodged either in advance or at the latest when the goods arrive across the tax border.

Who is responsible for declaring the goods?

The importer is responsible for declaring the goods. Both the importer and the importer’s representative must have an EORI number. All importers can submit national tax border declarations in one stage. Please note that the structure and data content of a VAT-registered importer’s declaration is somewhat different from those of a declaration submitted by an importer not registered for VAT.

Please note that the structure and data content of a VAT-registered importer’s declaration is somewhat different from those of a declaration submitted by an importer not registered for VAT.

When is a tax border declaration not required?

A tax border declaration is not required when a company with a tax border number sells goods to private individuals.

Declarations by VAT-registered importers

VAT-registered importers can also lodge declarations in two stages: when the goods arrive, the importer makes an entry in the records and, when the goods have arrived, lodges a periodic declaration. Read more about the two-stage declaration procedure

A VAT-registered importer must also submit a VAT return to the Finnish Tax Administration.

VAT-registered operators must also lodge customs declaration for transfers of their own goods across the tax border. In such cases, the company is both the importer and the exporter.

Internal goods deliveries of public entities and state agencies

Internal goods deliveries of public entities and state agencies must also be declared to Customs. State agencies lodge customs declarations in the same way as other VAT-registered operators, if they are liable to pay tax on imports.

You can authorise a representative to submit the declaration on your behalf

An importer responsible for the national tax border declaration can authorise a representative to submit the declaration on its behalf.Suomi.fi e-Authorizations shall not be used for this authorisation; instead, e.g. a forwarding agreement is to be used

If you have authorised a representative to submit a national tax border declaration on your behalf, choose either direct representation or indirect representation as the type of representation in the declaration. If you have authorised a representative to submit a national tax border declaration on your behalf, choose either direct representation or indirect representation as the type of representation in the declaration. 

Transport of goods after the presentation notification

Transport companies can transport the goods from the place of presentation to the consignee after 30 minutes from when the presentation notification is submitted, unless Customs has sent a notification of a customs control to the Customs Clearance Service or for message declarants with Customs’ notification.

Postal consignments

Regarding postal consignments, the postal operator can hand over the possession of the goods to the VAT-registererd consignee, and no separate presentation is required. The postal operator makes an entry of the handover in the records it keeps for Customs.

You can authorise a representative to submit the notification on your behalf

The transport company responsible for the presentation notification can authorise a representative to submit the notification on its behalf.Suomi.fi e-Authorizations shall not be used for this authorisation; instead, e.g. a forwarding agreement is to be used

The document concerning the authorisation doesn’t need to be presented to Customs, unless Customs separately asks for it.