The start of the new year means it’s time for sole proprietors to file their tax returns. You must file a business tax return (Form 5) if you have an active business ID—even if you did not conduct any business activities during the tax year.
When you invoice using your business ID through us, we’ll prepare your business tax return free of charge and submit it to the Tax Administration before the deadline on April 1. The return is prepared based on the materials we have on file (invoices and expenses you’ve submitted via the receipt scanner), as well as the information you provided in the tax return questionnaire.
You will receive your tax return in the app at the end of March so that you know in advance what information we are reporting.
How do you read a tax return?
Recognition of personal use: If personal trips or other non-business-related use has been included in the company’s accounting, these expenses are not tax-deductible. They must be recognized on the business tax return, meaning they are added back to taxable income. These appear in section 2.1 of the form.
Depreciation: Equipment and furnishings (e.g., a car) acquired primarily for business use and expected to be in service for more than three years are deducted for tax purposes as depreciation over several years, rather than all at once at the time of purchase. This amount is shown in section 2.3 of the form, and more detailed information is provided in section 5.
Car expenses and logbook: Always keep a logbook for business trips. How you report car expenses depends on the proportion of business trips. If more than 50% of the total mileage driven is for business purposes, the car is considered company property and the information is reported in section 6 of the tax return. If business mileage is less than 50%, the car is considered a personal vehicle and the information is reported in section 10.
Additional deductions: You can claim an additional deduction on your tax return for temporary business trips related to your business activities. This includes amounts equivalent to tax-exempt per diem allowances and mileage reimbursements. These should be reported in section 9 of the form.
Deductions not recorded in the books: The tax return also includes deductible expenses that have not been recorded in your company’s official accounting records. The most common such item is the home office deduction. This is found in section 3 of the form. These are expenses that you have reported separately in the tax return questionnaire—and submitted to us separately.
You can find detailed instructions on how to fill out your tax return on the Tax Administration’s website. Please note, however, that you do not need to file the return yourself if you invoice through us using your business ID and have granted us business authorization. You can use the Tax Administration’s guidelines to help you interpret your tax return.
Personal tax return
As a business owner, you will also receive a pre-filled personal tax return from the Tax Administration for review. You must review your personal tax return yourself. The deadline for this is the same as for the business tax return. We do not make any changes or corrections to your personal tax return.
What is preventing you from filing your tax return?
The first obstacle is that we do not have your Suomi.fi business authorization. Without this authorization, we cannot access your tax return at all. Please follow the instructions provided here and grant us authorization if you haven’t already done so. We will contact you separately regarding any missing authorizations.
Another issue is that Light Pro Light is not active. To file a tax return, your subscription must be valid at the time you file the return.