Govt moves to introduce tourist tax in Finland

The four-party alliance government led by conservative Kansallinen Kokoomus (National Coalition Party-NCP) has taken further initiative to introduce tourist tax for the municipalities.

The ministry prepared the draft of the proposal allowing the municipalities to collect a tourist tax and in this regard and sent out for comments on Monday, said the ministry in a press release.

The deadline for submitting comments is August 31, 2026. The proposal will be submitted to the parliament and the law would enter into force on March 1, 2027but the tourist tax would not be collected until the start of 2028.

The proposed act would give municipalities the option to collect a tax on paid accommodation.

The tax would be optional for municipalities, and the revenues from the tax would remain with the municipality that collected it.

The ministry in its proposal said that many European Union countries have this kind of tax. The tax would offer municipalities a new source of income from tourism.

The tax would be collected on all short-term paid accommodation regardless of the form of accommodation or the scope or form of operations.

According to the proposal, the tax would be a percentage of the price of accommodation, excluding VAT. The municipal council would set the tax percentage between a minimum of two and a maximum of five per cent.

The tax has been estimated to have a limited impact on tourist volumes.

However, as a municipal tax, it would apply differently to tourism operations and companies in municipalities, and the effects on different municipalities and businesses could vary a great deal.

The tax would also increase the regulatory burden on providers of accommodation and would give rise to administrative work and costs for municipalities and the Finnish Tax Administration.

The tourist tax would be subject to the self-assessed tax procedure. In other words the taxpayer would calculate the amount of tax to pay on its own initiative.

The tax period would be the calendar month. As opposed to other self-assessed taxes, the tax return for the tourist tax would only be filed for the tax periods during which the taxpayer has engaged in taxable operations.

The Finnish Tax Administration would be the tax authority.

Earlier in April, 2026, the government has decided to introduce tourist tax for the municipalities.