Moving to Finland from outside the EU customs and tax territory

Permanent residence outside the EU for at least 12 months Permanent residence outside the EU for less than 12 months

Permanent residence outside the EU for at least 12 months

When you move to Finland from outside the EU customs territory, you must clear your removal goods through Customs. 

As a rule, you can bring your removal goods to Finland free of customs duty and value added tax, given that your permanent place of residence has been outside the EU for a continuous period of at least 12 months, and you have owned and used your removal goods for at least six months. Your removal goods must be cleared through Customs when they arrive in Finland.

Prerequisites for exemption from customs duty and tax

Exemption from customs duty and tax applies to your personal property. You can bring your personal property to Finland free of customs duty and tax from outside the EU when all of these prerequisites are met:

  • Your permanent place of residence has been outside the EU customs territory for an uninterrupted period of at least 12 months.
  • You have held your personal property in your permanent place of residence outside the EU customs and tax territory for at least six months prior to your departure to Finland. In addition, durable consumer goods such as your vehicle, computer, television and furniture have in your use, or in the use of your household, for at least six months in your previous place of permanent residence. The required use of six months does not apply to consumer goods of small value.
  • Your personal property is intended to be used in the same way in your permanent residence in Finland as it was used in your previous place of residence.
  • You have a residence permit granted for at least a year (other than a residence permit for studies or granted based on a family members studies), if you need a residence permit.
  • Exemption from customs duty and tax is granted only for removal goods that are cleared through Customs within 12 months of the removal date. In special cases, you can apply for an exception to the above-mentioned time limit of one year.

Based on proof presented at the time of customs clearance, Customs will assess if the prerequisites for exemption from customs duty and tax are met. Customs does not give advance rulings on customs duty exemptions for removal goods.

Customs may for special reasons grant exceptions to time limits. Such permits must be applied for in advance in writing. In situations open to interpretation, you should contact the Customs Information Service well in advance prior to bringing your removal goods to Finland.

You can apply for a written advance ruling on VAT payable on import.

Calculation of time limits

You should ensure that all necessary time limits are complied with so that your removal goods can be exempt from customs duty and tax.

For example: The time limit of one year is met when the permanent place of residence of the person moving to Finland has been outside the EU customs territory continuously between 1 January 2022 and 31 December 2022. Travel times are not included in this period.
Likewise, the time limit of six months is met when the goods have been in the possession of the person moving to Finland, and when durable consumer goods have been used by that person at a permanent place of residence outside the EU customs territory between 1 January 2022 and 30 June 2022.

Removal goods must be cleared through Customs

Once the goods arrive in Finland, a customs declaration on removal goods and vehicles imported as removal goods must be lodged. You can clear your removal goods personally through Customs or use a representative, usually a forwarding agency. You can bring goods to Finland in several consignments within 12 months of your move.

Read more: How to declare removal goods?

Permanent residence outside the EU for less than 12 months

When you move to Finland from outside the EU customs and tax territory, you must clear your removal goods through Customs. You can clear your removal goods personally through Customs or use a representative, usually a forwarding agency. You should clear your goods at the customs office in Finland in the area where your removal goods will arrive.

Goods which you have bought in Finland as subject to VAT and taken with you upon moving to a location outside the EU customs and tax territory can be processed by Customs as “return goods”, meaning that customs duty and import VAT are not levied on them. The goods have to be brought back to Finland within three years of the export. An export declaration must also exist for the time when the goods were taken from Finland.

However, you can bring other removal goods you have purchased outside the EU customs and tax territory as exempt from customs duty and tax only when you have resided outside the said territory permanently and for a continuous period of 12 months. It is required that you have possessed the goods for the period of 12 months, and used them for at least six months. It is also required that the goods are to be used in the same way in Finland as they were used in your previous permanent place of residence.

If you have intended to reside outside the EU customs and tax territory for a minimum continuous period of 12 months, but your move to Finland is to happen earlier than originally intended due to unforeseen reasons beyond your control, you can obtain special authorisation from the Customs Authorisation Centre for importing your removal goods as exempt from customs duty and value added tax. You must apply for the authorisation in writing and present it when clearing your goods through Customs.

What do I need for clearing my removal goods through Customs?

  • Customs declaration
  • Form 348e (information on return goods)
  • A general list of the removal goods (for example 20 kg of clothes, one bed, tableware etc.)
  • a residence permit granted for at least a year (other than a residence permit for studies or granted based on a family members studies), if you need a residence permit
  • an account concerning the export declaration (usually a certification of exit related to the export declaration lodged for the removal goods).

Customs may also request you to provide other documents or information.

Goods purchased outside the EU customs and tax territory and their customs clearance

If you have resided permanently outside the EU customs and tax territory for less than 12 months, and you have purchased durable consumer goods such as furniture, a TV set or a bicycle there, you are not entitled to exemption from customs duty and tax for such items either as removal goods or return goods.

Goods of this kind that have been purchased abroad are cleared through Customs in the normal way and are subject to tax. In connection with import, Customs collects import duties according to the commodity codes of the goods. This usually means the collection of customs duties and value added tax. Make sure to keep the receipts of the purchases.

A person moving to Finland is however entitled to tax-exempt import of passenger goods.

Goods purchased abroad, such as a bicycle or a TV set, may be used items at the time of their import. When defining the customs value of such items, a deduction can be made to the original trade price of an item based on the extent of its use between the time of purchase and the time of customs clearance. A deduction can be made for example with a view to the item’s remaining time of use. As regards deductions, each case is always weighed individually, and documents are always required as proof of the given circumstances.

Read more: How to declare removal goods?

Points to consider

A person transferring his permanent place of residence to Finland can be granted exemption from import duties and taxes if his permanent place of residence has been outside the EU customs territory for a minimum uninterrupted period of 12 months. When a person travels for example by boat outside the EU customs and tax territory, it does not mean that their permanent place of residence is located there.

In justified special cases, Customs may, upon application, grant exemption from customs duties if the time limit of 12 months is not met, even when the intention of the person moving to Finland has been to live inside the EU customs and tax territory, but outside the EU tax territory, for at least 12 months. The authorisation has to be presented in connection with the customs clearance of removal goods.

A person whose permanent place of residence is outside the customs and tax territory of the EU but who is in Finland for the purpose of studying or for a holiday is not considered a person moving to Finland in this context.

The following is regarded as personal property:

  • household effects
  • bicycles and motorcycles, motor vehicles and trailers meant for private use, caravans, leisure boats and private aircraft
  • household provisions appropriate to normal requirements
  • household pets and saddle horses, as well as
  • portable instruments required by the person concerned for the practice of the applied or liberal arts.


 

For removal goods to be exempt from tax, the person moving must start residing in Finland permanently.

Goods sent to a holiday home or a secondary home in Finland are not exempt from tax if the person moving does not set up permanent residence in Finland. Customs duties and import taxes accordant with the commodity codes must be paid for such goods.

In certain situations, Customs can grant you an exception, even if the conditions for a duty-free and tax-free import of removal goods are not met. If you are granted an exception, you can import your removal goods to Finland free of customs duty and value added tax.

Customs can grant you an exception only in exceptional circumstances, which you could not anticipate and you could not influence yourself. Economic reasons are not such exceptional circumstances.

In which situations can you be granted an exception?

  • The goods have been in your possession for less than six months and you are moving to Finland for a compelling reason
  • You have lived outside the EU for less than 12 months, and you are moving to Finland for a compelling reason
  • If you moved to Finland more than 12 months ago. The reasons for the delay in the importation of the goods have been unforeseeable, independent of you and beyond your control.

Customs cannot accept these reasons as grounds for an exception:

  • The goods have been in your possession for less than six months and you are moving to Finland without a compelling reason.
  • You have lived outside the EU for less than 12 months, and you are moving to Finland without a compelling reason
  • You bring in your removal goods to Finland 12 months after you moved without a compelling reason.
  • You have not been able to bring in your removal goods to Finland within 12 months for economic reasons.
  • You do not have a residence permit issued for at least one year (other than for study purposes or on the basis of a family member's studies) if you need a residence permit.

Examples of situations where Customs does not grant an exception:

Example 1: You worked outside the EU, and you knew in advance that you would live there for less than 12 months. You bought things abroad that you wish to bring to Finland as removal goods.

Example 2: You moved to Finland in 2021. You wanted to leave furniture and other goods in an apartment outside the EU, or you did not have the economic opportunities to bring them to Finland at an earlier time. You are selling an apartment abroad in 2024, and you wish to bring the furniture and other household items to Finland as removal goods.

Example 3: You lived outside the EU and bought a vehicle abroad that broke down. You bought a new vehicle in its place, which you used for less than 6 months before moving to Finland. You wish to bring this new vehicle as removal goods to Finland.

This is how you apply for an exception for your own removal goods

Exception is applied for in the Authorisations and Decisions Service. You log in to the service with your Finnish online banking ID codes, your mobile certificate or your certificate card.

The Service is only available in Finnish and Swedish. The instructions for filling in the application have been published in Finnish and Swedish.

This is how you apply for an exception for your own removal goods if you cannot use the e-service

If you cannot use our Authorisations and Decisions Service, e.g. because you don’t have Finnish online banking ID codes, a certificate card or a mobile certificate, apply for an exception with the form “Application for exceptional permit” (1163).

The Service is only available in Finnish and Swedish. The instructions for filling in the application have been published in Finnish and Swedish:
Instructions on how to apply for an exception in Finnish
Instructions on how to apply for an exception in Swedish

If you are granted an exception

If you are granted an exception, you can import your removal goods to Finland free of customs duty and value added tax. However, you must still declare your removal goods. Read how you can declare removal goods.

If you declare removal goods yourself, read the instructions on how to declare removal goods in the Customs Clearance Service (pdf). Enter the exceptional permit in the customs declaration under “Goods item” with additional document code “9TAP” and as identifier of the code, the permit number (has the form FITAPL12345).

If you are not granted an exception

If you are not granted an exception, you cannot import your removal goods to Finland free of customs duty and value added tax. When the removal goods arrive in Finland, you must declare them and pay the import taxes.

If you don’t wish to declare the removal goods, you can e.g. store them in a customs warehouse.

Removal goods brought to Finland as exempt from customs duty and tax cannot be handed over to another party before at least 12 months have passed from their clearance through Customs. During that time, removal goods cannot be for example sold, lent, given as security, hired out or given as presents to another party.

If the goods are lent, given as security, hired out or otherwise transferred before the time limit of 12 months has expired, customs duty and value added tax are collected. This concerns e.g. the transfer of a vehicle that has been in a road accident to an insurance company.

If goods that have been brought to Finland as exempt from customs duty and tax are transferred in less than 12 months of their import, you are obliged to pay any possible customs duties and import VAT on the goods. Contact the Customs Information Service regarding payment of the import duties and taxes.

Please note that Customs does not grant exceptions to prohibitions of transfer.

The following items are not exempt from customs duty and tax as removal goods:

  • Alcohol products
  • Tobacco and tobacco products
  • Commercial means of transport
  • Objects meant for professional use other than tools required for the practice of technical or free professions.

If your removal goods contain these products, they must be cleared through Customs, and any possible customs duties and import taxes collected based on their commodity codes must be paid.

                            

Any questions?

Contact Customs Information Mon–Fri 8 am–4.15 pm

Please have a look at the frequently asked questions.

If you have a question about the arrival of parcels, its contents or the handling fee, please contact Posti.

Customs Information Service

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