VatMainderFinnish VAT rates in 2026: 25.5%, 13.5% and 10%
Which VAT rate applies to what in Finland in 2026, what changed on 1 January, and the rates on receipts from earlier years.
Finland has three VAT rates in 2026, plus a zero rate for some sales abroad. Most of what a sole trader sells and buys is taxed at the general rate. The reduced rates cover food, transport and a list of everyday services.
| Rate | What it applies to |
|---|---|
| 25.5% | Most goods and services: clothes, tools, phones, fuel, car repairs, accounting, cleaning, hairdressing, and food delivery by couriers |
| 13.5% | Groceries, restaurant and catering meals, passenger transport (taxis, buses, trains, flights within Finland), accommodation, books, medicines, gyms and sports, tickets to events |
| 10% | Newspapers and magazines, in print or online |
| 0% | Exports outside the EU, and goods sold to VAT-registered buyers in other EU countries |
Some things aren’t taxed at all: health care and most financial and insurance services, for example. Those are exempt, which isn’t the same as 0%. With a 0% sale you can still deduct the VAT on what you bought for it; with an exempt one you can’t.
What changed on 1 January 2026
The reduced rate of 14% went down to 13.5%. Everything that was taxed at 14% in 2025 is now taxed at 13.5%. Public broadcasting moved up from 10% to 13.5%, which leaves newspapers and magazines as the only things still at 10%.
Rates on older receipts
The rate on a receipt is the rate on the day of the sale, so a receipt from 2025 can show 14% and one from summer 2024 can show 24%:
| Period | General | Reduced |
|---|---|---|
| Until 31 August 2024 | 24% | 14% (food, restaurants) and 10% (transport, books, accommodation) |
| 1 September to 31 December 2024 | 25.5% | 14% and 10% |
| 2025 | 25.5% | 14% (food, restaurants, transport and more) and 10% (newspapers and magazines) |
| From 1 January 2026 | 25.5% | 13.5% and 10% |
Examples
- Taxi driver. Rides are passenger transport, so 13.5%. If the same driver also delivers food, the deliveries are taxed at 25.5%.
- Food courier. Delivery work you invoice to a restaurant or delivery company is a transport service at 25.5%, not the 13.5% food rate.
- Fuel and car repairs. 25.5%. Whether you can deduct that VAT depends on the vehicle: Vero has separate rules for cars, and a taxi is treated differently from a private car used for work.
- A coffee at a café. 13.5%, the restaurant rate.
How VatMainder handles rates
When you pick Finland, VatMainder sets up the four rates above: 25.5%, 13.5%, 10% and 0%. When you scan a receipt it reads the VAT on it, and a receipt with lines at two rates keeps both. For a date before 2026 the app offers the rates that applied then, so last year’s receipts come out right.
Vero’s VAT rates page has the full list, and its VAT calculator checks a single price.
VatMainder isn’t an official tax authority app, and this isn’t tax advice. Rules change: check the details for your own situation with your tax authority or an accountant.
