1/31/2013
Read more about Tax Card Online
What can you do with Tax Card Online?
Requirements for ordering the new tax card?
When is it a good idea to order a new tax card?
System requirements
How to use Tax Card Online?
How soon will I receive my new tax card?
Do you have pension income? Retiring soon?
Are you a student?
Are you a freelancer?
Are you a recipient of social benefits?
Good reasons for reporting the true and correct facts
You can use it www.tax.fi/taxcard to order a new withholding certificate i.e. a new tax card if significant changes in your income or deductions have taken place (for reasons such as starting work or quitting work).
Order new tax cards through Tax Card Online for the following types of income:
- Wage income
- Seafarer's income
- Social benefits such as unemployment and maternity allowance
- Fees of family caregivers (omaishoitaja) or family daycare providers (perhehoitaja)
- Compensations for work, compensations for use
- Pension benefits including compensation for giving up a stake in a farm
- Receipts of dividend from nonlisted companies.
Use the services of your local tax office if you have the following types of income:
- Study grant for which you need an exclusive tax card
- Receipts of dividend from listed companies, dividend income based on your own professional work effort as defined by law, business income, foreign income, employment-related stock options, sportsmen's fees or wages as reported to the insurance company
- Nonresident's income in Finland, if you are a nonresident.
- Or: If you have never had a tax card previously and your age is above 16 years.
If one of the above limitations applies to you, please call the Tax Administration's telephone service at 020 697 050 or go to the nearest tax office.
- Make an estimate of your projected income and deductions.
- Have the information ready on your gross income and taxes withheld from January 1st up to today's date. (The concept 'gross income' means the total income amount from which no withheld tax or social contributions have been subtracted.) This information is usually printed on your latest pay slip.
You start working or quit working
If you have a lifestyle change because you start or quit work, it is usually a good idea to check your withholding percentage. You should order new tax cards for every income type i.e. separate tax cards for wages, social benefits, pension benefits or daycare provider's fees. Different types of income are associated with different deductions, so the withholding for wages may not necessarily be correct if your type of income changes from wages to social benefits.
No new tax card will be necessary for minor changes in wages
If you get a rise in pay, you can simply ask your employer to increase your monthly withholding, and so you will not have to contact the tax office. Nevertheless, your employer will not be able to alter the income limits printed on the tax card. It is not always necessary to change the percentage rate. If you start earning above your income limit, your employer will apply the higher, additional rate of withholding (lisäprosentti/tilläggsprocent) for the amount in excess of the limit. As a result, even without any changes, your actual withholding will probably be very near the right amount, although you are now earning more than what was projected at the beginning of the year.
To use the service:
- An Internet connection
- One of the following browsers or a similar browser:
- Cookies enabled
- Javascript enabled.
To sign in:
- You should have a personal network banking user ID and password or
- the special identity card with a chip.
The Tunnistus.fi authentication service always checks up the user’s identity at sign-in.
To print out tax cards:
Your computer must have a pdf program installed.
For printing you must have a software program that reads and prints pdf files such as Adobe Acrobat Reader. To download an Adobe Reader installation free of charge, click http://get.adobe.com/fi/reader/.
Other examples of pdf-compatible software products include Evince (GTK+), Foxit Reader (Windows/Linux) and KPDF (Qt).
Please press the Tax Card Online buttons Continue, Previous, OK and Back to move around. Avoid using your browser’s arrow buttons, because they may cause disturbances. Some browser versions may even shut down the Tax Card Online session.
The service consists of four different stages:
Stage 1: Taxpayer information and tax cards
See your personal data and the information on your latest tax card. If your latest tax card took account of the additional rate (lisäprosentti/tilläggsprocent) for sideline income, you can order a new tax card that only contains the additional rate.
You can then submit your order immediately.
Stage 2: Declaring your income and deductions
See the information of your latest tax card in The Information on Record column. Use Edit to add, change and delete or remove the information in the Taxpayer's Declaration column. Go to the specification page to make these changes. Always write the earned income and withholding since January 1st up to today’s date.
However, if the Information on Record column is exactly right, you will not have to change it. You can only change the information where the Edit button is active.
Stage 3: Results of calculation
See your withholding for the rest of the year. The calculator has succeeded in figuring out a new withholding rate for you.
Stage 4: Delivery mode and Submit
This page shows the tax card(s). If you opt for self-printing you can use your own printer to print out your new tax card yourself. This requires that you have a software program that prints out pdf files, and it also requires that the details of your tax card request will not need any special checking by an employee of the Tax Administration.
If you want to have the tax card(s) sent to a postal address, and this address is different from your usual address, complete the appropriate fields to specify the address separately. Press Submit Order to send off your request.
Note: The new information that you keyed in when you prepared your request is only available to Tax Card Online — not to the tax office — until you have successfully submitted the request.
Sign Out
Remember to sign out when you are finished.
Your latest tax card information is displayed in Information on Record. It is visible to you at Stage 2 – Declaring your income and deductions.
Information on Record is the column that shows the information available to the Tax Administration, which has been used in the calculation of your latest withholding rate.
If a new tax card has been issued to you during the current year (a revised tax card / muutosverokortti / ändringsskattekort) Information on Record will show the income and deductions that were used for this tax card.
If no new or revised tax card has been issued to you during the current year, the Tax Administration has simply worked out your withholding rate based on the information from the previous year or alternatively on the information of the latest completed tax assessment. But if none of this information was available, a system of estimation has been used. The Tax Administration only issues the standard tax card automatically for wage or pension income, not for other types of income. Even if you have been paid a social benefit during the previous year, the new tax card has been issued for wage income. Because of these reasons, sometimes Information on Record will show income and deduction information that is not necessarily up to date.
Mandatory information
Make sure to always write your estimated annual gross income, and the income you have already been paid since January and the taxes withheld. This concerns taxpayers with the following income categories populated in Information on Record:
- Wages and benefits from main occupation
- Wages and benefits from side occupation
- Seafarer’s income including benefits
- Social benefits
- Family daycare provider's (perhehoitaja) fee and compensation for expenses
- Family caregiver’s (omaishoitaja) fee.
You do not have to write the information in the other categories, if you are satisfied that Information on Record shows the correct figures. The calculator will use them for working out your new withholding rate.
Key in the new, changed information in the Taxpayer's Declaration column
Check up Information on Record. If you notice that some of the data is not exactly right, key in the corrections in the Taxpayer's Declaration column. Use the euro currency, no thousand separators, and use the comma as the separator between euros and cents. Example: Write 5700,50 for €5,700.50. If you want to delete or remove an amount of money in Information on Record, write 0,00.
Quitting the service and saving the information:
You can discontinue your use of Tax Card Online at any stage. If you press Sign Out in the middle of a session, you leave the service and none of the changes will be saved in the database of the Tax Administration.
An alternative way to quit is to press Quit/Save and save the changes that you just keyed in. We will keep the saved new information for seven days in the records of Tax Card Online. After seven days, the system will delete the saved information.
Help resources
See the right-hand column for specific Page Help texts. For more information on tax questions and problems, go to the top to read Tax Guide.
If you do not use self-printing you must submit your request early
To feed the information into their computer systems, employers and other payers of wages, fees, social benefits, pension benefits etc. usually require the new tax card well before the next payday. We recommend that you order your tax card at least two weeks before the day when you get paid.
The delivery time is ≈3 to 5 working days. The delivery address will be the address that you have selected.
You receive your new tax card immediately if you print it out with your own printer.
It will take longer to fulfill your order if:
- Your latest tax card included provisions for stock options, foreign-sourced income, compensations for use or if your latest tax card was issued for your business income, not wages.
- Your latest tax card included an income-spreading arrangement.
- You have submitted an application to the tax office concerning a related matter, and the decision concerning your application is still in process.
If the situations discussed above apply to you, your new tax card will be delivered in 4 to 6 working days.
The delivery times above do not include the day when your order via Tax Card Online is transmitted.
If the reason for your request for a new tax card is that you have become a recipient of pension, we'd like to recommend that you call the Telephone Service or visit your local tax office to order the tax card. However, Tax Card Online is also available. The processing time for tax cards for pension income is ≈4 working days (working days = Monday to Friday) in Tax Card Online.
Requirements:
To request for a tax card for pension income, you should have the documentation showing the decisions that pension benefits will be paid to you, and you should also make an estimate of your projected other income and deductions for the entire year.
Have the information ready on your gross income and taxes withheld from January 1st up to today's date. (The concept 'gross income' means the total income amount from which no withheld tax or social contributions have been subtracted.) This information is usually printed on your latest pay slip.
Do you require the tax card for wage income only?
If there have been no changes in your pension you can order a new tax card for wage income only. The requirements will be the following:
- Make an estimate of your projected income and deductions for the entire year.
- Have the information ready on your gross wage income and taxes withheld from January 1st up to today's date.
- There is no need to report any information on your pension income.
If you have wage income consisting of very irregular payments, key in the information on them as sideline wage income. If you are a part-time pensioner, key in the information on your wage income as main-occupation wages.
You need the tax card for your wage income
Use Tax Card Online to order a tax card for your wage income.
Requirements:
- Make an estimate of your projected income and deductions for the entire year.
- Have the information ready on your gross earned income and taxes withheld from January 1st up to today's date. (The concept 'gross income' means the total income amount from which no withheld tax or social contributions have been subtracted.) This information is usually printed on your latest pay slip.
- Make an estimate of your projected study grant for the entire year.
If most of your wages come from one employer, report this wage income as your main-occupation wages. If you are not employed during all months of the year, we recommend that you order the tax card type with one single income limit. Give the main tax card to your employer. It is not possible to make photocopies of the main tax card for distributing them to other employers. If you discontinue your employment, ask to get your tax card back.
If you have more than one employer, report all except one wage income as sideline-occupation wage income. If you have been issued a tax card for sideline work, you are permitted to make photocopies of this tax card. Then you can give the photocopies to as many employers as you need.
Keep an eye on the income limit and the income and deduction information printed on your tax card. If there are any significant changes during the year, order a new tax card.
Study grant income only
If you have study grant income only, you will not require a tax card. The Social Insurance Institution (Kela) will withhold 10 percent on any study grant amounts in excess of €170. This withholding scheme does not require that the student give a tax card to Kela. If you are not employed during the year and you will not receive any other taxable earned income you can request for the withholding rate to be lowered down from the 10 percent by contacting the local tax office or the telephone service at 020 697 050.
If you have several employers or companies that pay you fees and you work in a field where freelance work is typical (such as a freelance editor), the Tax Administration can issue you a special tax card for freelancers. If you are a freelancer according to the information in the database of the Tax Administration, you can use Tax Card Online to order a new freelancers' tax card.
Requirements:
- Make an estimate of your projected income and deductions for the entire year.
- Have the information ready on your gross income and taxes withheld from January 1st up to today's date. (The concept 'gross income' means the total income amount from which no withheld tax or social contributions have been subtracted.) This information is usually printed on your latest pay slip.
Freelancers usually receive the tax card for freelancers automatically once a year. This tax card has at least 15 percent as the rate of withholding. However, a freelancer can request for a revised tax card with a lower rate, if the actual income levels and deductible costs make this possible.
Keep watch on your actual income
The tax card for freelancers only has one withholding rate. It is not dependent on any income limits. The projected annual gross income is printed in the specification of the tax card. Keep a close watch on the development of your actual income in relation to the projected amounts in the specification. If your actual income is very different, you should order a new tax card.
Do not give the original tax card to your employer if you are a freelancer. It is enough just to show the tax card for freelancers to the employer. It is even enough to show a photocopy of it.
If you have only recently started working as a freelancer, you can call the telephone service at 020 697 050 or visit the local tax office to obtain the tax card for freelancers.
Use Tax Card Online to order separate tax cards to hand out to the various payers of social benefits. You should have the following facts and information handy:
- Facts about the projected full amount of the social benefit for the entire year.
- Facts about the payments already made to you since January 1st (as gross amounts, without subtracting the withheld tax from them), and facts about the amounts of withholding since January 1st.
- Facts about the payments of gross wages already made to you since January 1st (the concept 'gross income' means the total income amount from which no withheld tax or social contributions have been subtracted), and facts about amounts withheld since January 1st. This information is usually printed on your latest pay slip
The information that you submit will affect your withholding rate
The online system works out the percentage rate of your withholding according to the information on income and deductions that you submit yourself and also according to the information saved in the database of the Tax Administration. The contents of Information on Record are based on the income and deduction information from you and on your earlier taxation during earlier tax years. In addition to the above, the contents of Information on Record can sometimes be based on the facts provided by the pension institutions.
Remember to check up all the information that you see. It would be ideal that you have made as good an estimate as possible on your income and deductions for the entire year. Look up your gross income and taxes withheld from January 1st up to today's date from the pay slip, vouchers, stubs or other documents that you have received from those who have paid you.
If you order a new tax card in the course of the year, the computation of your new withholding rate will not only include your estimate of the projected income and deductions for the entire year but also your gross income and taxes withheld from January 1st up to today's date.
Consequently, it will be very likely that your percentage rate of withholding will be higher for the rest of the year if your estimate of the project income for the entire year is higher than what was recorded in your latest tax card. The rate can also be higher because of deductions: If the deductions for the entire year are going to be smaller than projected, the rate will be higher.
Conversely, your percentage rate of withholding will probably be lower for the rest of the year if your estimate of the projected income is smaller. The rate can also be smaller because of deductions. If the deductions for the entire year are going to be larger, the rate will be lower.
Your percentage rate of withholding can change during the year if you have a major lifestyle change. Different income types give rise to different deductions in taxation. As a result, if your main income changes from wages to social benefits, your rate will probably not remain the same. It is important that you report all the income information thoroughly when ordering a new tax card. If any important changes have taken place, do not hesitate to order a new tax card. Keep an eye on the income limit and the income and deduction information printed on your tax card.
The final result of your tax assessment for the current year is affected
The information that you have keyed in has an impact on the final result of your tax assessment. Employers and other payers of wages, fees, social benefits and pension benefits withhold money from your pay according to the percentage rate printed on the tax card. Then they will report the payments to the Tax Administration at the end of the year. The final tax assessment will then take place. If the information that you key in when ordering the tax card is significantly different from the facts that are going to be used in the final assessment, you can either get a refund of tax or end up paying an outstanding amount of owed tax. The payments of these two alternative amounts will take place almost one full year later, at the end of the year after the tax year.