Bringing Car to Finland

amozgov · Post by **amozgov** » Mon May 15, 2006 9:45 am

I am moving to Finland. Actullay I am already here, but waiting for my permit. I heard that I can bring a car here from Germany or anywhere else and not pay any taxes, cause it is considered to be my private belonging. Can anybody give me more info on this. Is the car had to be bought long time ago, or I can go and buy it now and still bring it to Finland tax free. Can I resell the car to somebody else?

Thanks in advance

Cheers

**Sponsor:**

Hank W. · Post by **Hank W.** » Mon May 15, 2006 10:34 am

The car you owned over six months ago which you reported to the customs when entering the country was the one you heard of.

Finnish residents may not drive foreign-registered vehichles.

Of course, you can go to Germany, buy a car, and pay your ass off in taxes...

amozgov · Post by **amozgov** » Mon May 15, 2006 10:41 am

So if I buy a car lets say next month somewhere. Wait for six months and then report to the customs that I want to bring my car from Germany, Korea, Russia or wherever. do I have to pay tax then...

Or if I buy a car in Germany without registering it there and then bring to Finland for registration as my personal belonging?

Thanks

Hank W. · Post by **Hank W.** » Mon May 15, 2006 10:43 am

You have to go live in Germany, Korea, Russia or wherever for one year and earn the money to buy the car from there then, and own it for six months(registered in the wherever country), and *then* "move to Finland".

In other words, you missed your chance already six months ago. Once you get registered here you are "a Finn" as to paying taxes. Buying a DeLorean and going back in time is the only way to evade taxes in your case.

amozgov · Post by **amozgov** » Mon May 15, 2006 10:47 am

hmmm... looks like there is no way to bring new or second hand car to Finland without tax... any suggestions Hank? Would appreciate your advise.

cheers

Hank W. · Post by **Hank W.** » Mon May 15, 2006 10:48 am

If I had an advise would I be driving a 1988 Daewoo?

If you look at http://www.tulli.fi theres a list of the "tax value" of cars and a history of taxes paid. Of course they assess the prices by a "stetson-method" (in case of Italian cars by "borsalino-method") so unless the car is in excellent condition you can find a cheaper one in Finland. In case of big expensive cars or old classics you might make a profit, but some regular daily drier Opel its money into the drain.

amozgov · Post by **amozgov** » Mon May 15, 2006 10:50 am

Thanks anyway man. Do you know where I can find out about the taxes for the cars. I gotta buy one, but finland is so damn expensive. So I guess it would be Germany.

Hank W. · Post by **Hank W.** » Mon May 15, 2006 10:53 am

Yes, but its not the price of the car in Germany, to get it into Finnish plates you have to pay tax + 22% VAT. So it'll be usually cheaper in Finland.
See now you can drive the German car in Germany, but you may not drive it in Finland. And to make the car Finnish... pay taxes.

Guess why "bicycling and using public transport" are "popular".

amozgov · Post by **amozgov** » Mon May 15, 2006 11:06 am

Thanks for your advise...

I guess I ll have to compare the price in Finland and Germany.

Cheers.

Hank W. · Post by **Hank W.** » Mon May 15, 2006 11:12 am

No, you have to compare
price in Germany + taxes vs. prices in Finland

You have a choice of giggling yourself silly or crying.

Opel in Finland 4000
Opel in Germany 2000 + travel expenses
Taxes in Finland 3000
="cheap car"?

Don't compare if you are not exactly sure what to compare. With a big BMW you might get a margin, but if you complain about car prices you can't afford one then

Hank W. · Post by **Hank W.** » Mon May 15, 2006 11:20 am

Oh, one thing to keep one's mental sanity in Finland is *not* to compare the car prices with Germany

sinikala · Post by **sinikala** » Tue May 16, 2006 12:28 am

Hank W. wrote:No, you have to compare
price in Germany + taxes vs. prices in Finland

You have a choice of giggling yourself silly or crying.

Opel in Finland 4000
Opel in Germany 2000 + travel expenses
Taxes in Finland 3000
="cheap car"?

Don't compare if you are not exactly sure what to compare. With a big BMW you might get a margin, but if you complain about car prices you can't afford one then

Not entirely true.

€10000 in Finland 1 year ago would have bought us car x, year y driven 150,000 km, and we didn't find many to chose from.

€10100 bought Finnair return flight to Germany, 2 nights in Hamburg Crowne Plaza, 1 day Avis car hire to drive between showrooms. Purchase of car x, year y driven 74,000km, tank of petrol, shipping from Rostock, first class train ticket back to Hamburg, Finnish import tax, inspection & registration plates. The car itself cost just under €6000 from a main dealer.

For €100 more, plus about a week of effort, we got a car with half the kms driven. Only major difference was it didn't have the winter heating stuff, which IIRC cost about €400 from our local Finnish maindealer.

If you go to a big city in Germany, (Hamburg or better still Berleeen) you get more choice of used cars than you find in the whole of Finland but you have to do your homework on the www before you go.

kmboll · Post by **kmboll** » Tue May 16, 2006 11:39 am

Just a word of advice....not only do you have to prove that you owned the car and registered it 6 months before the move, you have to prove that you DROVE it too! I got to customs with the recipts and registration papers and they wanted insurance history too! They apparently thought that I might buy the vehicle 1.5 years previous and let it sit and collect dust just in case I moved to Finland!

And be prepared to spend a full day running around to different places to get it through customs and actually out of the shipyard.

Nickcoy · Post by **Nickcoy** » Mon May 22, 2006 2:31 am

hi, I am new to this website, I am moving back to Oulu for about a year and I want to drive over (from the UK) basically to transport all my stuff. Do I still have to register the car in Finland as Finish or can it still be a British car? also do I have to pay any tax or import duty, I don't want to change anything really as I will be taking the car back in one year and I dont want to pay import duty to the British goverment, does anyone have any advice at all?

Nick

sinikala · Post by **sinikala** » Mon May 22, 2006 10:36 am

Nickcoy wrote:hi, I am new to this website, I am moving back to Oulu for about a year and I want to drive over (from the UK) basically to transport all my stuff. Do I still have to register the car in Finland as Finish or can it still be a British car? also do I have to pay any tax or import duty, I don't want to change anything really as I will be taking the car back in one year and I dont want to pay import duty to the British goverment, does anyone have any advice at all?

Nick

Depends on many things.

How long have you been outside Finland?
How long have you owned the car?

If the answer to the above is 12 months and 6 months respectively, or more then you can import the car as a removals vehicle (tax free).

Obviously when you go back, then the process will also be tax free back into the UK.

Are you a student?

The rule for everyone who wasn't a student ***was*** that if you would drive the car in Finland more than 6 months in a 12 month period, you should register it in Finland.

***But*** if you were a student (intending to return to home country) it ***used to be*** that you could drive the car here for 18 months without changing to Finnish plates or paying tax. (A german friend in England drove 2 cars on German plates for nearly 18 months each in the UK to avoid the paperwork).

If you stay on UK plates here, for it to be legal to drive in Finland you still have to get it back to the UK for MOTing once every 12 months (unless the car is very new)

You may find difficulty in getting a UK insurer to cover you for a year outside of the British Isles, normal insurance ***used*** only to cover you for 45 days outside of the UK.

You should check up on this as my info is a good 5 years out of date.

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