Once again: moving a car to Finland...

[ancri]

Hello,

We'll move to Finland in January 2007 and we want to bring our 10 months old car. We read all these things about importing a car as removal goods and the "6 months rule"... but here is our situation:

We will just own the car for 2 months when we will arrive in Finland so what rule will apply?
- Will it be considered as a removal good (with paying a tax I guess) so that we will have 30 days to declare it ?
- Will we have 3 months to declare like it is for imported cars ?

In both cases, do we have to go directly to the customs when we arrive or can we go later to them ?

Our car is a new car (10 months old) bought in an EU country, do you think it will be ok with the technical inspection?

Thanks for your answers,
Ancri.

[Hank W.]

We will just own the car for 2 months when we will arrive in Finland so what rule will apply?

Like importing it as a regular imported car - with the taxes.

[Hank W.]

We will just own the car for 2 months when we will arrive in Finland so what rule will apply?

Like importing it as a regular imported car - with the taxes.

Both cases, 1st to the cusotoms, then you get the 3 month plates, get the car inspection ready. What car model is it? We can guess the tax maybe, so you know if you want to bring it after all...

[sinikala]

Hello,

We'll move to Finland in January 2007 and we want to bring our 10 months old car. We read all these things about importing a car as removal goods and the "6 months rule"... but here is our situation:

We will just own the car for 2 months when we will arrive in Finland so what rule will apply?
- Will it be considered as a removal good (with paying a tax I guess) so that we will have 30 days to declare it ?
- Will we have 3 months to declare like it is for imported cars ?

In both cases, do we have to go directly to the customs when we arrive or can we go later to them ?

Our car is a new car (10 months old) bought in an EU country, do you think it will be ok with the technical inspection?

Thanks for your answers,
Ancri.

Are you moving here permanently or temporarily?

If you have owned it for only 2 months before coming here, and want to put Finnish plates on it, you will need to pay import tax. You will get utterly hammered for tax on such a new car. You may end up having paid > 1.3x the cost of the new car (i.e. you purchase price + 30% import tax).

But you may be able to drive it here temporarily for 1 year on your existing foreign registration plates, see the bottom of pg 39.

http://www.expat-finland.com/driving_in_finland.pdf

it means no tax, and at worst, you can remove the car from Finland at the end of 1 year, take it back home and sell it. You can seek clarification from

Ministry of Transport and Communications
P.O. Box 31 (Eteläesplanadi 16-18 )
FI-00023 Government
Tel. +358 9 16002
http://www.mintc.fi
info@mintc.fi

Ajoneuvohallintokeskus AKE
Finnish Vehicle Administration
P.O. Box 120 (Fabianinkatu 32)
FI-00101 Helsinki
Registration advice, tel. +358 100 7830
Driving licence advice, tel. +358 100 7840
http://www.ake.fi

[ancri]

Thans for your quick answers. I will have a look on that document.
We will move permanently in Finland and we knew about that car tax when we bought our car and made our calculations and it is cheaper for to buy here (we got a nice discount) and paying the tax than buy the same car in Finland:
The car is a Peugeot 307 SW which costs around 35000€ in Finland. We got it at 20000€, so even with a 10000€ tax it is still ok.

Two more questions, does the car tax include the Finnish plate fee or do we have to expect paying a little more ?
Do you have an idea about the yearly tax amount for a diesel car?

Thanks,
Ancri.

[sinikala]

Thans for your quick answers. I will have a look on that document.
We will move permanently in Finland and we knew about that car tax when we bought our car and made our calculations and it is cheaper for to buy here (we got a nice discount) and paying the tax than buy the same car in Finland:
The car is a Peugeot 307 SW which costs around 35000€ in Finland. We got it at 20000€, so even with a 10000€ tax it is still ok.

Two more questions, does the car tax include the Finnish plate fee or do we have to expect paying a little more ?
Do you have an idea about the yearly tax amount for a diesel car?

My understanding is that the tax is based on the Finnish market price

See examples of decisions HERE

If your car is worth €35k then expect to pay closer to €14k in total (= car tax + the VAT on the car tax).

Two more questions, does the car tax include the Finnish plate fee or do we have to expect paying a little more ?
Do you have an idea about the yearly tax amount for a diesel car?

no, it does not include the plates, I have no idea what sort of inspection you need, in the EU this is only required if the car is over 3 years old... but is an inspection needed for importing a vehicle under 3 years old? Probably!

For inspection and plates, budget on another €200.

Final price = €34,200 + cost to get the car here.

Now you understand why that car costs €35k in Finland.

[ancri]

When I was saying 10000€ for the car tax, it was VAT included. I already looked at some examples and that car costs 35000€ when you buy a new one.
It will have 9 months when I will bring it to Finland and around 12000 km so compare to the different examples I saw, I am expecting that they will consider its market price as around 30000€ ... I hope so !

And I will also have to buy a block heater (300€ I guess)... Do you think winter tyres should be ok in Helsinki area or will I need studed ones?

I have also questions regarding renting a flat but I will post a new topic the "housing in Finland" forum.