In 2017, Finnish Customs collected a total of around 2.9 billion euros in taxes and charges. The amounts of nearly all the taxes and charges collected by Customs increased in 2017. The tax arrears amounted to 1.9 million euros (0.07%).
The largest tax revenues in 2017 and 2016
2017 | 2016 | |
Import VAT | €2.69 billion | €2.37 billion |
Customs duties and similar charges | €174 million | €163 million |
Fairway dues | €47 million | €46 million |
Service charges etc. | €3 million | €4 million |
What increased the most, by more than 300 million euros, was the revenue from the import VAT. The revenue from customs duties increased by 11 million euros. The revenue from fairway dues also increased, by one million euros from 2016. Customs collected one million euros less in service charges and other similar charges than the year before.
Customs clearance helps to implement EU trade policy. The collected customs revenues are remitted to the EU, so they are a part of the EU’s appropriations (the EU’s own resources). Trade can be controlled, restricted and secured trough customs duties. For example, an anti-dumping duty can be imposed if goods have been brought into the EU at a dumped price that is lower than the cost of production or the domestic prices in the exporting country. The State retains a collection fee of 20%. An amount of 139 million euros in customs duties was remitted to the EU, and the State retained a collection fee of 35 million euros. The total amount of customs duties collected was 174 million euros.
On 1 January 2018, the import VAT was transferred to the Finnish Tax Administration. However, Customs continues to collect the import VAT from unregistered importers liable to pay VAT as well as from importers registered for VAT, if the provisions governing the customs procedure have been infringed, for example, if untaxed goods disappear from a customs warehouse. The customs value is also established in connection with customs clearance. Based on the customs value, businesses declare the VAT to the Tax Administration. Controlling that the import VAT is collected in the proper amount is also based on the customs value.
The tax arrears payable to Customs remained almost at the same level as the year before. The tax arrears amounted to 1.9 million euros (0.07%). The year before, the corresponding figures were 9 million euros and 0.08%.
Finnish Customs is a part of the customs system of the European Union. Customs is a state agency supervised by the Ministry of Finance through management by results. Finnish Customs cooperates with the trade community as well as with domestic and foreign authorities. Finnish Customs has approximately 1 900 employees.
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