CAR/VEHICLE from EU to Finland?

[VSPerkele]

Hello, I am coming back to Finland and this time I will be staying longer, possibly up to an year, and I want to come with my car.
I am an EU Citizen and the car has EU registration in my country.
I don't understand anything about this "vehicle tax", it says that I must pay it before I enter Finland, and then it is returned, can someone please explain to me?

https://www.vero.fi/en/individuals/vehi ... d_vehicle/

They say "Don’t forget to complete a tax return (in Finnish or Swedish) for car tax in five days after you submitted the declaration of vehicle use."

What is this tax return? Why am I supposed to pay tax in the first place for the car if the state is going to return it to me later?

Can someone who has arrived from another EU country to Finland explain to me everything?

[tavastia]

If you live in Finland you cannot drive a foreign registered car. You will have to register the car in Finland. This requires paying a tax which can be 20-30% from the value of the car in Finland depends mostly on emmisions. This tax you don't get it back if you take the car away from Finland after some time.

However, many don't do that, especially Estonians and just use the cars wirh the foreign plates.

[betelgeuse]

What is this tax return? Why am I supposed to pay tax in the first place for the car if the state is going to return it to me later?

Cars usually depreciate in value so you will be returned less than you originally paid for.

[riku2]

What is this tax return? Why am I supposed to pay tax in the first place for the car if the state is going to return it to me later?

There are other posts on this forum fully describing the import process and the steps. the tax authority has most of the documents (about 90%) in english but even with that I don't hold out much hope for you. "tax return" is a form you fill in to give details of the car and the tax authority then tell you how much you pay (within a month or so of you importing it). No money is "returned". You have misunderstood the term "tax return".

[VSPerkele]

OK, I think there is a BIG misunderstanding:

what is the legal meaning of a "car import"?
What is "car importing"?
Is driving a car with EU license plates around within Finland considered "car import" from the 1st second I cross into Finnish territory considered a "car import" ????

Example Scenario:

I buy a brand new car in my home Country, I register it in my home country (it has EU license plates).

As a citizen of the EU I am allowed by the EU law to drive my EU registered car freely within Finland.

I arrive in Finland and I cross the border (of course I pay toll taxes or motor way taxes etc. etc.)

At some point while I am staying in Finland, I decide to make a permanent address registration. (lets say for example 3 months after arriving.)

I make my permanent address registration, thus I must now register my car with Finnish license plates.(Since I am obviously driving it around on Finnish road network)

I take my car to the Finnish Police to register it with Finnish License plates.
Now, the car is considered an import car, since it is going to be registered here (in Finland for the first time).

They do the tax calculation, ( the so called Common Tax, since the car is originally purchased in another EU country)

I pay this Common Tax, and I register my car in Finland. My original license plates are removed and handed back to me, and Finnish license plates are installed on the vehicle.

DONE.

(Now I can take my old license plates back to my country to de-register my car there.)

This is the most logical and common-sense based scenario to me.

Now, is this scenario actually realistic and correct, or the Real Life situation is much different than this?

Thank you

[Hämeen Hitain]

Read this:

https://www.traficom.fi/en/transport/ro ... ng-vehicle

[riku2]

As a citizen of the EU I am allowed by the EU law to drive my EU registered car freely within Finland.

The important thing to know is that an EU resident of country A cannot drive cars in country A registered in other countries. This is not specific to finland but applies to all EU countries. It's because the EU can't / won't harmonize car taxation or allow free movement of cars, so has to have this rule to stop people in high car tax countries driving cars registered/bought in low car tax countries.

as regards your question - you are reading too much into the word "import". it really means registering a foreign car in finland, which is "imported" at some point (otherwise how would it end up in finland) but for you it needs to be done when you become a finnish resident (and so would otherwise be prohibited from driving your own car). But this time isn't when you drive off the ferry but become a resident.

[Piet]

As a citizen of the EU I am allowed by the EU law to drive my EU registered car freely within Finland.

The important thing to know is that an EU resident of country A cannot drive cars in country A registered in other countries. This is not specific to finland but applies to all EU countries. It's because the EU can't / won't harmonize car taxation or allow free movement of cars, so has to have this rule to stop people in high car tax countries driving cars registered/bought in low car tax countries.

as regards your question - you are reading too much into the word "import". it really means registering a foreign car in finland, which is "imported" at some point (otherwise how would it end up in finland) but for you it needs to be done when you become a Finnish resident (and so would otherwise be prohibited from driving your own car). But this time isn't when you drive off the ferry but become a resident.

I wonder how that works when you are technically resident of 2 countries at the same time due to f*ck up of the authorities.
Luckily I was never stopped by police but I have been driving my car with other EU country licence plates for 3 weeks while I was both registered here in Finland and in another EU country (origin) during my move (done in 3 weeks by myself with a trailer behind my car).
This would have been a headache situation when checked by nitpicking police.

Because I was registered in both countries, I was not allowed to drive the car with original licence plates in Finland and not with Finnish license plates in the country of origin