Alcohol gifts from EU countries

If you receive alcohol as a gift from the territory of the EU, have a look at the instructions on the Tax Administration website.

If you receive alcohol as a gift from the Åland Islands or the Canary Islands, you are required to declare the consignment and pay tax for it. You are required to pay tax for your gifts in the same amount as for gifts sent from outside the EU. You do not need to pay customs duties, however. 

The same arrangement concerns other situations where gifts arrive from a territory that is part of the EU, but not a part of its fiscal territory.

Alcohol gifts from outside the EU

If you receive alcohol as a gift from outside the EU, you must declare your consignment and pay tax for it. 

If your gift contains alcohol, you are always required to pay taxes: value added tax, alcoholic beverage tax and beverage container tax. Tax must paid regardless of the value and quantity of products.

Value added tax is 25.5 %. You can check the amount of tax on alcoholic beverages and beverage containers with the Tax Administration’s calculator. 

In certain situations, you are required to also pay customs duties. However, without customs duties you can receive the following alcoholic beverages when their value is 45 euros or less: 

  • 1 litre of distilled beverages and spirits with an alcohol content of more than 22 per cent by volume or
  • 1 litre of distilled beverages and spirits, and aperitifs with a wine or alcoholic base, taffia, sake or similar beverages with an alcohol content not exceeding 22 % by volume, sparkling wines, fortified wines or a proportional assortment of these different products and
  • 2 litres of still wines, i.e. red, white and rosé wines.

Note that you are however required to pay taxes also on products included in the list.