Common guidance on submitting import declarations

The importer, declarant and representative must have an EORI number when they use the following trader nature codes in the customs declaration:

• ”Y – Company/Finland” if it is a Finnish company
• ”E – Company/EU” if the company is established in the EU territory
• ”V – State” when the importer is a state or a state agency
• “K – Municipality” when the importer is a municipality or a municipal operator
• ”F – Company/non-EU” if the operator is established outside the EU territory
• “T – Association/non-profit-making” in the case of a non-profit-making association or operator

Please observe that you cannot enter “R – EORI” as a trader nature code in the customs declaration.

Providing the EORI number is not mandatory e.g. in the following situations:

• the requested procedure in the customs declaration is “53 – Temporary admission”
• the trader nature is “H – Private individual/Finland”, i.e. the importer is a private individual who usually does not need to have an EORI number. Note however that private persons will need an EORI number for importing goods subject to the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). 
• The trader nature is “D – Diplomatic mission”, meaning that the importer is a diplomatic mission that does not need an EORI number. You can use “D – Diplomatic mission” as the trader nature code only if the imported goods have been granted a “French paper” (additional procedure code 622), or in the case of diplomatic mail or other consignments for use by the mission on the basis of Article 104 of the Duty Relief Regulation (additional procedure codes 3KZ or 3RJ).

Your company may have several trader office codes in Customs’ customer register. These codes facilitate the separation of customs declarations submitted by different units operating under the same business ID. 

If you wish to have the name and contact details of a specific trader office in decisions that Customs gives, enter in the customs declaration the trader office code issued by Customs in addition to the EORI number. You can check and change your company’s trader office identifiers in our “My details” service.

• If the details of your company’s head office are changed in the Finnish Business Information System (BIS), they are also updated in Customs’ customer information system. If the trader office code has not been entered in the declaration, the customs decisions show the name and address details of the head office according to BIS. Please note that the Customs Clearance System checks the details provided in the customs declaration, and uses the information found in Customs’ customer register in the decisions. You should therefore remember to update the company’s information that has changed.
• If you have a current EORI number you applied for from Finland, enter the trader office code you received from Customs in your declaration. The trader office code is a three-digit number (e.g. 000). When you provide the trader office code, do not enter name and address details.

If your company has a foreign EORI number, the details are checked in the Commission’s EORI number registration system.

If your company has a payment deferment authorisation and several offices

Provide the e-invoicing address in the customs declaration with the additional information code “FIVER – E-invoicing address”, and as its identifier the e-invoicing address. If your company has several trader office identifiers for invoicing, remember to also enter the trader office identifier.
If you have a payment deferment authorisation for which the e-invoicing address was not provided with an additional information code in the customs declaration, the e-invoicing address for your periodic filing will automatically be retrieved from Customs’ customer register. If an e-invoicing address has not been entered in Customs’ customer register, Customs mail the periodic filing as a paper invoice 

• to the address according to the trader office identifier or
• to the head office address registered in the Finnish Business Information System.

It pays to keep the company’s e-invoicing address and intermediary identifier up-to-date in Customs’ customer register. If the company’s e-invoicing address changes, notify this in the My Details service or via email to the Authorisation Centre at lupakeskus@tulli.fi. 

Read more about e-invoices and making changes to them here: How to pay the customs invoice.

Finnish businesses provide their EORI numbers granted in Finland under the identifier section in their customs declarations. Most Finnish businesses have already registered as VAT payers with the Tax Administration which has granted VAT identifiers to them. 

If a Finnish company has an EORI number granted in Finland and a VAT number from the Tax Administration, it can provide the EORI number under the identifier section. As a rule, no other tax-related information is required in customs declarations. However, your customs declaration must include information on the additional fiscal trader, should you for example wish to use customs procedures 42 or 63. 

If your declaration must include an additional fiscal trader, the item of information can be for example a VAT identifier granted to the company by the Tax Administration or another EU member state. This information is to entered under the “additional fiscal trader” section. You can also provide the IOSS number of a seller as an additional fiscal trader. Read more about declaring additional fiscal traders on our instructions page. 

The company domicile can be in some other EU member state besides Finland, in which case the company’s EORI number was granted in that member state. Companies based outside the customs territory of the EU may have received an EORI number granted to a foreign company from Finland or another member state. Also in these cases, you should provide the EORI number as the trader identifier. 

If your declaration includes an EORI number granted in another EU member state, or an EORI number granted to a foreign business in Finland, and the business is registered as liable to pay VAT with the Tax Administration, you should provide the VAT number as involving an additional fiscal trader. For more information, read our instructions on our page on declaring additional fiscal traders.

Note that if a foreign company has for example an authorisation for a comprehensive guarantee or a payment deferment issued by the Customs Authorisation Centre, you should provide an EORI number as the operator identifier. EORI numbers are used as identifiers for holders of authorisations issued by the Customs Authorisation Centre. Therefore, guarantees for customs declarations are reserved based on EORI numbers.

Add an additional fiscal trader e.g. in the following cases:

• You are lodging a declaration where an importer established outside Finland has acquired a VAT number issued in Finland. Under the “additional fiscal trader” section, enter the VAT number that the foreign company has received from Finland with the role code “FR1 – Importer”.
• You are using customs procedure 42 or 63 and the VAT is paid to another Member State, although the customs declaration is lodged in Finland. Enter the VAT number with the role code “FR2 – Customer” and, as the identification number, provide the VAT number issued by the Member State where the transport ends. In addition, if the importer is a foreign company, it must have a VAT number issued in Finland. Enter it with the role code “FR1 – Importer” and provide the VAT number issued in Finland as the identification number.
• You are lodging a declaration where the VAT is declared by the IOSS-registered seller itself. Enter the identification number of the IOSS-registered seller with the role code “FR5 – Vendor (the VAT special scheme (IOSS))” and provide the identification number you received from the seller.

For more information on using customs procedures 42 and 63, see our page on customs duty exemption and tax exemption.

You can read further information about declaring goods of low value.

For information on VAT numbers in the EU, visit the Tax Administration page on VAT numbers issued by different EU countries.