Declaring excise products

Excise duties for excise products are paid either upon import or later.

Excise products can be declared for a duty suspension arrangement, if they are placed under  the tax warehousing procedure or in an excise warehouse. The excise duty on such products is not included in the taxable amount for import VAT. The excise duties have to be paid only after the products are released from the duty suspension arrangement.

Using a duty suspension arrangement requires an authorisation granted by the Finnish Tax Administration. The importer lodges a customs declaration for the goods, declaring that they are placing the goods under the tax warehousing procedure or in an excise warehouse.

A customs declaration for low value goods can’t be lodged for excise goods even if the value of the goods is less than 150 euros.

Products subject to harmonised excise duties are subject to excise duties in the entire EU (e.g. alcohol products and tobacco products). There are also national excise duties regulated by national legislation (in Finland e.g. excise duty on soft drinks and beverage containers) Read more about excise duties on the Tax Administration website.

Read below how to declare excise products in import declarations:

Standard customs declarations are submitted via the Customs Clearance Service (UTU) or via message exchange

a) The products are moved under suspension of excise duty in connection with customs clearance

Products subject to harmonised excise duty

Declare the following information:

  • at declaration header level: the additional information code FIXFA and the registered consignor’s excise number (e.g. FIXFA FI12345678E00)
  • at declaration header level: the procedure
    • If the goods are placed in an excise and VAT warehouse, provide the procedure code 07XX and the additional procedure code “999”.
    • If the goods are placed in an excise warehouse, provide the procedure code 45XX and the additional procedure code “F06 – product subject to harmonised excise duty”.
  • at goods item level: additional information code “FIXFC” and the EMCS product group code

When you have lodged the customs declaration, submit an EMCS declaration for the excise movement to the Tax Administration. Once the Tax Administration has accepted the EMCS declaration, you will receive a decision on release for the goods from Customs.

If there is a service interruption in the Customs Clearance System and you are using the fallback procedure, declare the same information in the SAD form as you would in the Customs Clearance Service or through message exchange.

Products subject to national excise duties (e.g. soft drinks and beverage containers)

Provide the following information:

  • at declaration header level: additional information code FIXFB and excise number of registered consignee or authorised warehouse keeper (e.g. FIXFB FI12345678A00).
  • at goods item level: customs procedure 45XX, when the goods are placed in an excise warehouse
  • at goods item level: additional procedure code 658 (product subject to national excise duty)

b) The products are not moved under suspension of excise duty in connection with customs clearance 

As the customs procedure, provide 

  • 40XX or
  • another import customs procedure.

Other than standard (i.e. simplified) customs declarations are submitted with a message to the ITU system or using the SAD form

a) The products are moved under suspension of excise duty in connection with customs clearance

Products subject to harmonised excise duty

Provide the following information:

  • the additional statement code XFA and the registered consignor’s excise number (e.g. XFA FI12345678E00)
  • at declaration header level: the procedure
    • If you place the goods in an excise and VAT warehouse, provide the procedure code 07XX and the national procedure “999”.
    • If you move the goods to an excise warehouse, to a registered consignee or to a temporarily registered consignee, provide the customs procedure code 45XX and the national procedure “7WE”.
  • at goods item level: the additional information code XFC and the EMCS product group code

Products subject to national excise duties (e.g. soft drinks and beverage containers)

Provide the following information:

  • the additional statement code XFB and excise number of registered consignee or authorised warehouse keeper (e.g. XFB FI12345678A00).
  • at goods item level: customs procedure code 45XX.

If you lodge the customs declaration using the SAD form, enter the above-mentioned details in box 44.

b) The products are not moved under suspension of excise duty in connection with customs clearance

As the customs procedure, provide

  • 40XX or
  • another import customs procedure.

Other things to note

Always check the requirements for tax exemption in the legislation. Read more about import VAT on the Tax Administration website and about the grounds for relief from customs duty on the Customs website.

The commodity code of the excise goods may require a commodity code-specific supplementary unit, usually LPA (litres pure alcohol) or LTR (goods in litres). For the assessment of customs duties, you may have to provide a tax calculation quantity using the supplementary unit ECL.

More information

Read more about the tax warehousing procedure (in Finnish) and excise warehouses on the Tax Administration’s website. For more information about the taxable amount for VAT, see the page Calculate the import VAT on the taxable amount as well as the page about the taxable amount for import VAT (in Finnish) on the Tax Administration website.

Points to consider

If the excise products have not been placed under a duty suspension arrangement upon import, the excise duties must be declared to the Tax Administration, if you have not paid them upon import. The parties liable to pay excise duty are listed in the Act on excise duty (Act on excise duty, section 12, in Finnish).

Read more about the parties liable to pay excise duty and filing excise duty on the Tax Administration’s website.

See also the Tax Administration guidance for individuals on how to file an excise duty return.

If the importer is Customs’ credit customer or a cash customer using an indirect representative or a direct representative on guarantor’s responsibility, the additional codes for excise duties will not be provided in the customs declaration. In that case, the excise duty return shall be filed in the Tax Administration’s MyTax service. In the VAT declaration, the excise duty is added to the taxable amount for the VAT.

If the importer is a cash customer or if a cash customer uses a representative as a direct representative, the additional codes for excise duties must be provided in the customs declaration. If the importer is a VAT-registered company, the importer shall declare the excise duties levied in accordance with the customs clearance decision to the Finnish Tax Administration with a monthly tax return, in the taxable amount for VAT. You can find the additional codes for excise duties used in the customs declaration in the Fintaric service. The additional codes for excise duties are provided in accordance with the characteristics and the commodity code of the imported product.

Goods can be granted exemption from tax if the transport in another EU country, the importer of the goods has proof of the intra-Community sale of the goods and the importer is a VAT-registered trader (VAT Act section, 94 b). In that case, the VAT number of the VAT-liable buyer located in the other Member State shall be provided in the customs declaration. In the import declaration, also provide the registered consignor’s excise number, issued by the Tax Administration. The registered consignor is responsible to the Tax Administration for the movement of excise goods. For more information about the tax exemption based on section 94b of the Value Added Tax Act, see the page Other cases of tax exemption and the Tax Administration’s guidance (in Finnish).

You are importing “single malt” whisky with an alcohol content of 40% under commodity code 2208 30 30 00. The product group is ethyl alcohol of heading 2208, over 2.8% by volume. The code for excise duty on alcoholic beverages is V227. Excise duty on beverage containers is paid for products of Chapter 22, if they are imported in containers holding less than 5 litres. In that case, enter the code V807 for excise duty on beverage containers.

If the product is not subject to excise duty on beverage containers, enter the code V998. Excise duty on soft drinks doesn’t need to be paid for this kind of alcohol, so also enter the negation code V997.

You are importing red wine with an alcohol content of 12% under commodity code 2204 21 94 19. The product group is wines and other fermented beverages with an alcohol content of more than 8 but max 15% by volume. The code for excise duty on alcoholic beverages is V211.

Excise duty on beverage containers is paid for products of Chapter 22, if they are imported in containers holding less than 5 litres. The code for excise duty on beverage containers for wine of fresh grapes, including fortified wines, of heading 2204 is V804.

If the product is not subject to excise duty on beverage containers, enter the code V998. Excise duty on soft drinks doesn’t need to be paid for this kind of wine, so also enter the negation code V997.

You are importing beer with an alcohol content of 4.5% under commodity code 2203 00 01 00. The product group is beer with an alcohol content of more than 2.8% by volume. The code for excise duty on alcoholic beverages is V204. Excise duty on beverage containers is paid for products of Chapter 22, if they are imported in containers holding less than 5 litres. The code for excise duty on beverage containers for beer made from malt of heading 2203 is V803. 

If the product is not subject to excise duty on beverage containers, enter the code V998. Excise duty on soft drinks doesn’t need to be paid for this kind of beer, so also enter the negation code V997.

You are importing an aerated orange soft drink under commodity code 2202 99 19 11 that contains sugar but is not a fruit juice of heading 2009. The product is classified as a foodstuff, so it has an exceptional VAT rate, 14%, with the code Q227. Excise duty on beverage containers is paid for products of Chapter 22, if they are imported in containers holding less than 5 litres. The code for excise duty on beverage containers for products of heading 2202 is V802.

If the product is not subject to excise duty on beverage containers, enter the code V998. Excise duty on soft drinks must be paid for the product. The code for excise duty on soft drinks for products of heading 2202 containing sugar and no more than 0.5% by volume of alcohol is V345.

If the product you are importing is not subject to excise duties or if you are registered as liable to pay excise duty to the Tax Administration, enter the negation code for excise duties V999. 

The taxable amount for import VAT is the customs value, unless otherwise provided for in the Value Added Tax Act. The customs value is determined primarily on the basis of transaction value, that is, the price actually paid for the goods. Read more about determining the customs value. 

Customs duties as well as import taxes and charges levied on goods in connection with their import clearance, such as anti-dumping duties, countervailing duties and excise duties, are included in the taxable amount for VAT. Taxes and other charges payable outside Finland are also included in the taxable amount. Read more about the taxable amount for VAT (tax basis) in the Tax Administration’s detailed guidance.