What kind of work entitles you to the credit?

Valmista

This page outlines the typical forms of work that qualify you to claim a tax credit for household expenses, in Finland. Please note that the credit applies for the work, not goods as a generic rule.

 

Maintenance and modernization work

 

Tax deductions are available for various updates and repairs undertaken at your main residence or holiday home, including (Vero, 2024):

  • refurbishing kitchens, bathrooms, and other areas
  • renovating basements or saunas in a single-family home
  • electric, plumbing, and wiring tasks in a single-family home
  • painting of external structures
  • installing security locks. This tax benefit is also applicable if the improvements were made in your secondary residence or city apartment. However, updates to investment properties or construction of extensions or additions akin to new constructions are not eligible for this credit.

 

Household tasks, nursing, and caregiving services

 

You are eligible to claim a tax credit for household expenses if the following types of work have been performed at your home or vacation property (Vero, 2024):

 

  • cleaning
  • cooking
  • washing, ironing, and taking care of clothes
  • maintaining the yard and gardening
  • clearing snow.

 

Nursing and caregiving tasks cover the nursing and care of children, the elderly, and individuals with disabilities, including bathing, dressing, feeding, and other care activities. Payment for these services can qualify you for a household expense credit.

 

However, you cannot claim the tax credit for household expenses for nursing and caregiving services that are offered by healthcare providers and are exempt from VAT.

 

Frequently Asked Questions on Various Types of Work

 

Below is a table detailing common types of work typically performed in a residence or vacation home (Vero, 2024):

  • Ordinary household work, nursing and care
  • Maintenance and modernisation of the home or holiday home

Ordinary household work, nursing and care

Tax Credit Available

Cleaning of aquariums and terrariums No
Professional organisers’ work Professional organisers go over the customer’s home   systematically in cooperation with the customer, organising and making space.   They help the customer to dispose of unnecessary items and organise their   important possessions and papers better. Yes
Cleaning of the apartment (includes cleaning of both the old and new apartment when you are moving) Yes
Mold and mildew cleaning of the home or holiday home and its furniture Yes
Installation of a digital set-top-box, DVD player or TV, and user guidance (also when you are   moving) Yes
Leaf raking and other maintenance of the yard or garden Yes
Re-upholstering of furniture No
Waste transport No
Going to a shop, bank, pharmacy, etc. No
Going to a shop, bank or pharmacy when it is part of a more extensive service entitling to the tax credit. Yes
Walking a dog or another pet when it is part of a more extensive service entitling to the tax   credit (even though, literally speaking, the work is not done in the   taxpayer’s home) Yes
Sleep-school at home (a sleep consultant comes to your home to help the family find a good sleeping rhythm) No
Garment care in the home (laundering, ironing, repairing) Yes
Transport service No
Watering the flowers in the home and garden Yes
Nursing and caring for children or for sick, disabled or elderly people in the taxpayer’s home or holiday home Yes
Home teaching or additional tuition for children in the home No
Helping children with homework as part of a more extensive nursing or care service that entitles to the tax credit Yes
Cesspit emptying No
Snow shovelling and snow removal from the garden or yard Yes
Nursing and care, provided by your employer as a fringe benefit No
Household work, provided by your employer as a fringe benefit No
Musicians, orchestras or other performing artists requested to perform (e.g. in a   wedding or birthday party) No
Removal service and associated packing of personal possessions and dismantling and reassembling of furniture No
Goods collection service No
Assembling of new pieces of furniture Yes
The basic charge for sheltered housing, and other associated charges (for rent, water, sauna, electricity, meal service and garment care) No
A service voucher granted by a local government unit for the same household work,   nursing or care (irrelevant whether you have used the voucher or not) No
Household work, nursing or care in the personal facilities of a person living in a sheltered   housing unit, if the taxpayer has not received a municipal service voucher for the same purpose Yes
Catering, coffee making and cooking service in connection with a family function at home Yes
Piano tuning No
Logging of trees in the garden or yard or pruning of branches Yes
Logging of trees in connection with new construction No
Chopping   firewood and collecting the chopped wood in a certain spot Yes
Gardening and planting Yes
Weeding Yes
Installation of a robot lawnmower in the garden of your home or holiday home Yes
Cooking Yes
Home transport of groceries and other supplies No
Cutting the grass or hedge Yes
Ironing, laundering and other garment care in the home Yes
Planning, when it is a minor part of a more extensive service that entitles to the tax   credit Yes
Installation of Venetian blinds Yes
Installation of a computer, and user guidance (also when you are moving) Yes
Installation and updating of software, and performing of virus checks on applications and files Yes
Pest control in the home or garden or yard Yes
Security services in a sheltered housing unit No
Security and guarding services (for example, alarm visits and control visits to an empty   apartment or holiday home) No
Expenses arising from service charges, devices or supplies and transport, travel and travel time expenses in association with ordinary household work, nursing and care No
Maintenance of green walls, including leaf cutting, removal of yellow leaves, checking the   plants, dusting, etc. Yes
Maintenance and modernisation of the home or holiday home Tax Credit Available
Maintenance and modernisation (painting of the interior, wallpaper hanging, repairing or changing the floor coating, renovating the bathroom or sauna, installation of kitchen cupboards, installation of a central vacuum cleaning system) Yes
Professional supervisor work during a maintenance and modernisation project Yes
Washing the walls in preparation for a paint job (maintenance work) Yes
New construction of an apartment or building No
Installation of solar-energy panels in a house, holiday home, housing-company dwellings if the shareholder is responsible for the upkeep of such panels under the provisions of the Act governing housing companies. Yes
Further construction associated with new construction, and separate additional and   alteration jobs No
Construction of separate covered buildings and structures in the yard or garden No
Maintenance and   modernisation of separate covered buildings and structures in the yard or   garden Yes
Dismantling of separate covered buildings and structures in the yard or garden, in full or in part No
Construction or dismantling of lightweight structures (patios, terraces, light roofings, jetties) Yes
Glazing of a   terrace of patio included in the home when heat insulation is not installed Yes
Expanding of the apartment or building No
Conversion of an unheated space (attic or basement) and a storage room into a living space No
Partial   modernisation of the apartment without changing its purpose of use (removal   of a supporting wall, changes to the room layout, building of a sauna) Yes
Doing up a detached house by painting it from the outside Yes
Installation and maintenance of an antenna for a detached house Yes
Recladding of a detached house and associated dismantling Yes
Renovation of an empty apartment, when the apartment is to be taken for the taxpayer’s own use immediately after the renovation Yes
Renovation of an empty apartment (also if an estate pays for the renovation), when the   apartment is not to be taken for own use after the renovation No
Condition checks, measurements and surveys No
Condition checks, when they are part of more extensive maintenance or modernisation that entitles to the tax credit Yes
Installation of security locks Yes
Installation and maintenance of alarm and security systems Yes
Service charges of alarm and security systems No
Boiler cleaning and boiler efficiency measurement Yes
Maintenance of a boiler oil burner Yes
Cleaning, measuring, adjustment and maintenance of ventilation equipment Yes
Chimney sweeping No
Maintenance and modernisation of water pipes, the sewage system, the electric system, the lighting system or data communications networks in the garden or yard of a detached house or holiday home Yes
Tiling, asphalt paving and other coating work in the garden or yard Yes
Building and maintenance of a garden fence Yes
Construction of a drilled or other well in the garden or yard Yes
New construction of the garden or yard No
Costs of building a driveway within the garden or yard Yes
Work done outside the garden or yard (dredging; road building; wiring, cabling and   piping systems) No
Installation of electric wiring or a water piping system in an old holiday home Yes
Connection charges (relating to power, water, sewage, district heat and telecommunications networks) of a detached house or a holiday home insofar as the charges are   considered to immediately follow from the maintenance and modernisation performed in the garden or yard Yes
Connection charges of a detached house or a holiday home when the taxpayer has received  public financial support for repairs in the home No
Construction of a sewage system in a sparsely populated area Yes
Upgrading, improvement and repair of a heating system, installation and dismantling of such systems, if no energy subsidy has been granted for the heating system conversion. Yes
Upgrading, improvement and repair of a heating system, installation and dismantling of such systems, if energy subsidy has been granted for the heating system conversion. No
Installation of a solar or ground heat system and an air source heat pump in a detached house or holiday home Yes
Maintenance of an air source heat pump Yes
Installation of a home charging station for an electric car Yes
Construction of a pellet storage room Yes
Separate installation of household appliances and equipment (refrigeration equipment, cooker, cooker hood, washing machine) No
Installation of household appliances as part of more extensive maintenance or modernisation work that entitles to the tax credit (e.g. in connection with kitchen   renovations) Yes
Installation and maintenance of ICT equipment Yes
Change, maintenance and improvement of a jetty located adjacent to the garden or yard Yes
Building a swimming pool, hot tub, bathtub or the like in the garden or yard No
Building a compost bin No
Maintenance and improvements insofar as they are the shareholder’s responsibility in accordance with the Limited Liability Housing Companies Act or the Articles of Association Yes
Maintenance and improvements insofar as they are the housing company’s responsibility in accordance with the Limited Liability Housing Companies Act, the Articles of   Association or a decision of the General Meeting. No
Installation of   a chair lift for stairs in the home Yes
Maintenance and improvements of the interior of the apartment and balcony Yes
Glazing of the balcony of the apartment Yes
Maintenance and improvements of the outer surfaces of the apartment and balcony No
Maintenance, change and rekeying of the locks in the apartment No
Installation of an air source heat pump and a dish antenna outside the apartment or on the balcony Yes
The structures, insulating materials and basic systems (heating, electricity, data   communications, gas, water, sewage, ventilation, etc.) of the apartment No
Maintenance and improvements in the interior of a garage or carport associated with the   taxpayer’s shareholding in the housing company Yes
Maintenance and improvements on the exterior of a garage or carport when the taxpayer is a   shareholder in a housing company and when the Articles of Association state that the maintenance is the shareholder’s responsibility Yes
Building and maintenance of patios, terraces, light roofings, jetties, fences or tiling in   the garden or yard of an apartment in a housing company, and planting of flowers and shrubs Yes
Glazing of a patio or terrace in the garden or yard of an apartment in a housing company when heat insulation is not installed Yes
Professional supervisor work during maintenance and improvement of the apartment entitling to the credit Yes
Maintenance and   improvements in the home or holiday home insofar as the State, municipality or another public body has granted financial support for the work No
Financial support granted to the housing company for maintenance and improvement work for which the shareholder is responsible and which entitles to the tax credit Yes
Maintenance and improvements for which the shareholder is responsible and for which they pay to the housing company in the form of charges or other payments No
The portion of maintenance and improvements paid by the insurance company No
Asbestos survey No

Source list:

Basic info from vero. n.d. vero.fi webpage. Referenced 04.05.2024. https://www.vero.fi/en/individuals/tax-cards-and-tax-returns/deductions/Tax-credit-for-household-expenses/taulukko-kotitalousv%C3%A4hennykseen-oikeuttavista-t%C3%B6ist%C3%A4/

 

We hope this summary helps you understand which household and home maintenance tasks qualify you for a tax credit. Legal notice: The official and current guidelines are always available on the authorities’ websites, and Valmista is not responsible for any changes to these guidelines.

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