Finland's reduced VAT rate has been 13.5%, not 14%, since 1 January 2026
- Jurisdiction
- Finland
- Tax
- VAT
- Change type
- Rate change
- Status
- In force
- Impact
- FYI
- Announced
- 22 December 2025
- Effective
- 1 January 2026
- Instrument
- FI-1358-2025
- Authority
- Finlex (Edita Publishing Oy, official statute database of the Finnish Ministry of Justice)
- Systems
- Tax engine, ERP
- Verified
- Fetched from official source · high confidence
Businesses supplying goods and services under section 85 of the VAT Act — foodstuffs, restaurant and catering services, accommodation, passenger transport, pharmaceuticals — and, separately and under a different instrument, public broadcasting services.
No action — monitoring only. Confirm Finnish reduced-rate tables read 13.5% rather than 14% for supplies from 1 January 2026.
Tax engineERP
Under Law 1358/2025 (Laki arvonlisäverolain 85 §:n muuttamisesta), signed in Helsinki on 22 December 2025 and in force from 1 January 2026, the lower reduced VAT rate on the goods and services listed in section 85 of Finland's VAT Act (including foodstuffs, restaurant and catering services, accommodation, passenger transport, and pharmaceuticals) was cut from 14% to 13.5%. Separately, and not under this Act — Law 1358/2025 amends section 85 alone and does not mention broadcasting — public broadcasting services moved from 10% to 13.5% on the same date, which Verohallinto states on its rates page. Newspapers and magazines remain at 10%.
What changed in detail
This is a back-catalogue entry, not news: Finland’s lower reduced VAT rate has been 13.5%, not 14%, since 1 January 2026, under Law 1358/2025 (Laki arvonlisäverolain 85 §:n muuttamisesta), signed in Helsinki on 22 December 2025. The rate applies to the goods and services listed in section 85 of Finland’s VAT Act — foodstuffs, restaurant and catering services, accommodation, passenger transport, and pharmaceuticals. Law 1358/2025 amends section 85 alone — its text does not mention broadcasting anywhere. Public broadcasting services did move from 10% to 13.5% on the same date, but under a separate legislative package (the broadcasting-tax and broadcasting-VAT reform), and Verohallinto states that outcome on its VAT rates page. Newspapers and magazines remain at 10%. We are recording this more than seven months after it took effect.
What it means
Finland’s standard VAT rate is a separate figure — 25.5% — and is unchanged by this law; only the lower reduced rate moved, from 14% to 13.5%. Our own public rate table for Finland had the standard rate listed as 24% until this run corrected it, so any system that synced from that table before now should double-check both the standard rate (25.5%) and this reduced rate (13.5%) it is charging on Finnish supplies.
Proof
Seuraavien palvelujen myynnistä sekä seuraavien tavaroiden myynnistä, yhteisöhankinnasta, siirrosta varastointimenettelystä ja maahantuonnista suoritettava vero on 13,5 prosenttia veron perusteesta:The tax payable on the sale of the following services and on the sale, intra-Community acquisition, transfer from a warehousing arrangement and importation of the following goods is 13.5 per cent of the tax base:
Source snapshot of the official page. Open full size ↗