Tax return & tax deductions: match made in heaven – tips for checking a light entrepreneur’s tax return

It is again that time of the year when pre-filled tax returns and reviewing them are just around the corner. As a light entrepreneur, to get all the possible benefits from tax deductions and make it easy for you to check your tax return, you should prepare beforehand and report information through MyTax well in advance.

Tax returns will arrive to MyTax in random order now during April-May. If you need to correct your tax return, the deadline is either April 2, May 7, May 14, or May 21, 2024. You can see the date from your own tax return and MyTax. You can make corrections in MyTax or on paper. And best of all, if there is nothing to correct in your tax return, you do not have to do anything!

Online tax return – anticipate and notify in advance

In MyTax, you can report some information for the 2023 tax return in advance, which is recommended (you will thank yourself later for not leaving everything until the last minute). If you have any of the following expenses and you haven’t reported them within a year, you can already submit them to MyTax:

• Travel expenses (between home and work)
• Temporary work-related housing deductions
• Expenses for the production of income
• Rental income
• Capital gains and losses from other property than trading with securities
• Reduction of reduced ability to pay taxes

A light entrepreneur should report at least these work-related expenses

1 Eezy’s service fee and employer’s health insurance payment

Following a decision by the Supreme Administrative Court on July 6, 2023, you automatically receive a “tax deduction” because the service fee and the employer’s health insurance payment are deducted before the formation of income subject to withholding tax, and thus no tax is withheld from them as before. Eezy Kevytyrittäjät has been involved in advocating for this benefit for all light entrepreneurs.

However, you can still deduct the Eezy’s service fee and employer’s health insurance payment for the period from January 1 to July 5, 2023. You can download this information from our online service under: Menu > Salaries and tax information > Tax return summary.

Are the income-generating deductions for 2023 below the deductible threshold (€750)?

In this case, you can make a change directly in the tax return under “Earned income.” Subtract the service fees paid before July 6, 2023, and any employer’s sickness insurance premiums from the amount of earned income on the pre-completed tax return.

See the instructions for 2020-2022. You can also use the instructions for your 2023 tax return.

What does this mean in practice?

In the future, you do not need to add Eezy’s service fee and employer’s health insurance payment as income-generating deductions on the tax return. These are automatically taken into account because these fees are deducted before gross wages are formed.

However, note that you can deduct the employer’s health insurance payment only if you have a YEL insurance, in which case the health insurance payment has been withheld from your salary.

2 Taxable reimbursements (purchase of supplies)

You will receive the necessary information from Eezy for deductions through the messaging section of our online service.

Read Tax Administration’s instructions about travel expenses and other deductions for light entrepreneur.

3 YEL-insurance payments

You can deduct the YEL insurance payments in either your own or your spouse’s taxation. You can declare YEL contributions on the tax return through MyTax under “Other deductions – YEL or MYEL contributions or other compulsory pension insurance contributions.”

4 Other expenses for the production of income

If the expenses of the work have not been reimbursed to you through Eezy already during salary payment, you can and should declare them with a personal tax return as production of income deductions. These are:

• Home office deduction
• Professional literature, research tools and scientific literature
• Expenses on the purchase, maintenance, and repair of tools
• Expenses for the purchase of a computer and its peripherals
• Telecommunication connection expenses
• Representation expenses

You can report these income-generating expenses in MyTax under “Income-generating expenses – Income-generating expenses from salary.”

Best of all – tax-free expenses do not need to be reported

If you have been paid work-related expenses through Eezy as tax-free expenses, they will no longer be reported as deductions on your tax return. You can find more detailed instructions on expenses for the production of income and the right to deduct them on the Tax Administration’s website: Expenses for the production of income from earned income. If you have work-related expenses from the past year but have not been reimbursed through Eezy, you may want to report the expenses on your personal tax return.

Here are some more links to the Tax Administration’s instructions:

• The pre-completed tax return – making corrections
• Here’s how to complete information on paper

And then just wait for the pre-completed tax return! You can already download the summary from the online service and save these instructions so the reviewing of the tax return and any possible corrections will feel as smooth as the cream cheese on your bagel.