The bill amending Finnish tonnage tax legislation has been passed by the Finnish parliament and the new regime has entered into force as of 1 March 2012.

On 6 June 2008 the Finnish Government issued a Bill to amend the current CFC legislation.

On 6 October 2021, the Advocate General issued its opinion (Opinion) on Finnish CJEU case C-342/20 and stated that the Finnish tax exemption criteria designed only for contractual funds qualifies as a restriction on free movement of capital.

On 6 November 2009 the Finnish Government issued a bill proposing amendments to the Finnish tonnage tax regime. The proposed amendments aim to promote the international competitiveness of the Finnish shipping industry and the employment of the branch in question.

Borenius successfully represented a client in a matter concerning the right to deduct VAT for stock market listing costs.

The Supreme Administrative Court of Finland (SAC) has recently issued three rulings concerning the tax exemption regime of investment funds in section 20a of the Income Tax Act (ITA).

In 2023 capital gains tax exemption will be applied only on limited basis to Finnish real estate investments.

On 30 March 2011, the Central Tax Board gave a preliminary ruling (KVL 21/2011) stating that dividends paid from Finland to a Norwegian investment fund were not subject to tax at source, because the corresponding income is tax exempt for Finnish investment funds.

The most significant changes in the Finnish tax system in the past ten years became effective on 1 January 2005.

Several amendments to the Finnish Asset Transfer Tax Act, which have significant effects on foreign real estate investors, are scheduled to enter into force on January 1st, 2013.

The Council Directive 2005/19/EC of 17 February 2005 amended the Directive 90/434/EEC 1990 (the "Merger Directive") on the common system of taxation applicable to mergers, divisions, transfers of assets and exchanges of shares concerning companies of different Member States.

Had the initial view of the Tax Administration prevailed, the client would not have been qualified to purchase electricity with a reduced tax rate.

The Finnish Supreme Administrative Court (SAC) decided on 31 January 2011 (KHO:2011:10) to ask for a preliminary ruling from the Court of Justice of the European Union.

Finland is preparing a tax reform to improve flow-through taxation of investments into Finnish regulated funds, expected to be applied as of tax year 2027.

Castrén & Snellman represented Fortum Power and Heat Oy in a precedent-setting case on the relationship between EU law and national tax legislation.

Our tax experts Sari Laaksonen, Mikko Alakare and Anette Laitinen authored the Finland Chapter.

Tailored tax policy reforms announced by the Finnish Government have been in the spotlight in recent weeks. These new significant initiatives are expected to improve Finland's investment attractiveness.

The Finnish Government has released a draft regarding a bill to limit the deductibility of interest expenses in business taxation. The goal of this proposed regulation is to secure Finland’s tax base and to balance competition between domestic and foreign groups of companies.

Pursuant to a recent ruling of the Finnish Supreme Administrative Court the terms of intra-group financing are required to be at arm's-length from the perspective of the specific Finnish borrower and higher interest charges cannot be justified by overall group level benefits.

This review takes a brief look at recent case law and news.