Sales to private individuals – declaration procedure with the tax border number (recapitulative statement)

A company with a tax border number that sells goods to private individuals has taken into account the VAT in the price of the goods. The company must fill in a recapitulative statement, lodge a tax declaration and pay the VAT to Customs.  The goods consignment must bear the company’s tax border number.

The transport company transporting goods that belong to a company that uses a tax border number must submit a presentation notification for the freight consignments.

Changes to recapitulative statements in autumn 2023

The current ALA service (Recapitulative statements for tax border customers) will be closed. This means that in future, recapitulative statements are to be submitted via the Customs Clearance Service.

Recapitulative statements for tax border customers (ALA)

In the service Recapitulative statements for tax border customers (ALA), you can only submit recapitulative statements for goods imported across the tax border before September 2023.

  • The recapitulative statement must be printed out and sent together with the tax declaration (Customs form 118s, in Finnish) in duplicate to Mariehamn Customs no later than on the twelfth day of the second month following the date of acceptance of the customs declaration.
  • The reference number is available in the ALA online service, and the VAT is paid on one’s own initiative no later than on the twelfth day of the second month following the date of acceptance of the customs declaration.
  • The recapitulative statement can also be submitted with Customs form 118s “Yhteenveto tuonnin veroilmoituksista” (Summary of import tax declarations). Yhteenveto tuonnin veroilmoituksista, 118s (Summary of import tax declarations) (available in Finnish and Swedish, link to Finnish).

Customs Clearance Service

If you are submitting a statement for goods transported across the tax border on 1 September 2023 or thereafter, submit it via the Customs Clearance Service. You cannot submit statements for transactions for September 2023 until from 1 October 2023.

  • In future, submitters of recapitulative statements no longer need to print out and send tax declaration forms separately to Mariehamn Customs. Based on the statement, the declarant receives a customs clearance decision from Customs, as well as a separate invoice for the payment of VAT.
  • A new mandatory detail in the Customs Clearance Service is the trader office. If the service has not filled in this detail, it must be filled in manually. The trader office code is usually 000.
  • The trader reference is a mandatory detail at header level. For example, the reference can comprise the month and year of the statement (01/2023).
  • In a recapitulative statement, provide the first day of the tax period (= calendar month) as the tax determination date. 
  • In the statement, there is no need to specify the importers receiving the goods. Instead, the code FIKIR must be provided under additional information and, as its description, a reference number or some other detail based on which more information about the consignees can be found in the company’s records. For example, a client list can be used as reference.

Points to consider

If the goods you have sold are returned, for example after a trade transaction is cancelled, please note certain matters in your bookkeeping and in notifying Customs about revision.

These instructions replace previous ones that concern goods returned to sellers who use a tax border number.

Records

Align your adjustment entry with the calendar month under which the entry is to be registered according to good bookkeeping practice. Indicate the month when you regained control of the goods, regardless of whether it happened during the month of sale or afterwards. 

Revision

Submit your claim for revision concerning the goods either on a recapitulative statement or a claim for revision. Check the situations of use:

1. Revision with a recapitulative statement

Submit your revision with a recapitulative statement in the ALA service (in the future, the Customs Clearance Service) if, in the month of alignment, you are required to pay at least the same amount of value added tax as the adjustment entry amount to be indicated in the recapitulative statement. 

  • When the goods have returned and you have registered the sale as cancelled, refund the buyer with the tax-free selling price and the import VAT levied on behalf of Customs.
  • Submit an import declaration on the goods. The declaration indicates the treatment of the goods as returned items as the basis for tax exemption, and contains the additional information needed for verification, such as a reference to the bookkeeping entries regarding the original sale.
  • Itemise the details on each sale on individual rows, as well as the details on adjustment entries again on their separate rows.
  • Once the ALA service goes out of use and recapitulative statements are submitted in the Customs Clearance Service, provide the required additional information under the FIXXX additional information code. If there are several declarations to be revised, you can draft a receipt for bookkeeping and provide the ID of the drafted document in the recapitulative statement (receipt number for accounting).

2. Standard claim for revision

You can submit your claim as a standard claim for revision if, in the month of alignment, the seller must pay less value added tax as the adjustment entry amount to be indicated in the recapitulative statement.

  • This option must be used when goods are returned to you during a month where you do not have enough VAT levied in connection with sale for payment to Customs. In such cases, it is not possible to note the return on the recapitulative statement, as the refund amount would be higher than the amount of import VAT to be paid to Customs based on the recapitulative statement.
  • As an attachment, the claim for revision must be accompanied by a trade invoice that indicates if the sale was subject to tax or not. Furthermore, you are required to present a credit note that you have sent to the customer, or some other account on the trade price refund. The customs declaration MRN and the number of the recapitulative statement are also required.