How business tax payments change in November

Limited companies, organizations and partnerships will be able to pay their taxes using the general tax reference number from 18 Nov. onwards. Until now, each type of tax has had its own reference number. The change does not affect sole traders or personal customers.

The Tax Administration says in its announcement that the new reference number will automatically update in MyTax and on e-invoices.

“Paying with the general tax reference number clarifies how payments are allocated to taxes. This makes everyday life easier for companies,” says Henna Ritari, leading tax specialist at the Tax Administration, in a press release.

If a company’s financial administration software still has the previous tax-type-specific reference numbers saved, the Tax Administration recommends updating the systems with the new reference number.

The Tax Administration says the changes to tax payments have been made at the request of corporate customers and accounting firms.

Parliament approved the legislative amendments related to the reform in summer 2025.

Oldest arrears first

When a company pays tax using the new reference number, the payment will be allocated to the tax on its due date. If the company has several overdue taxes, payments will be allocated to them in order of due date, from oldest to newest.

“Currently taxes are paid using tax-type-specific reference numbers, but because these payments are used in different ways, it can be difficult for customers to predict and understand how payments are allocated to taxes,” Ritari says.

The existing tax-type-specific reference numbers can still be used. However, the Tax Administration hopes that companies will, in the future, pay all taxes in just one way.

“If some taxes are paid with the general tax reference number and others with a tax-type-specific reference number, there is a risk that payments will not be allocated correctly, and interest may accrue on the tax,” Ritari says.

Changes to tax refunds too

There will also be changes to the use of tax refunds to cover unpaid taxes. This change applies to all Tax Administration customers, including individual taxpayers.

Up until now, the Tax Administration says problems have been caused by the fact that payments appear in the system with a small delay. If a customer has been due to receive a tax refund and has, for example, paid their property tax on the due date, the payment has not yet appeared in the Tax Administration’s system on that date.

“In such cases the tax refund has been used to cover the tax payment instead of being paid to the customer. When the customer’s payment has later been recorded in our system, it has been allocated to another tax. As a result, the treatment of both the refund and the payment has caused confusion, investigation work and unnecessary effort,” says leading specialist Henna Ritari.

In future, all payments made by the due date will be used for paying the tax. Tax refunds can still be used to cover taxes, but only after payments made by the due date have been taken into account.

The Tax Administration has annually sent 1.2 million paper summaries of tax payment status to limited companies, sole traders and farmers. They have received the summary by post upon request. Starting in November, the summary will only be provided electronically in MyTax.

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