What expenses can I deduct?

You can deduct all expenses that can be directly expected to promote your business operations in taxation. Below are detailed descriptions of products and expenses that are deductible.

Directly business-related purchases:

• Tools and supplies, as well as other expenses included in the executor's invoicing.

Expenses supporting and developing business conditions:

1. Office supplies.
2. IT programs and licenses.
3. Small acquisitions (Note! Up to 1200 euros).
4. Marketing expenses.
5. Home office expenses.
6. Representation expenses.
7. Public transportation tickets.
8. Professional and trade magazines.
9. YEL costs/pension costs/pension contributions.

1. Office Supplies: Deductible expenses include items such as pens, notebooks, postage stamps, and similar small consumables used in normal office use.
2. IT Programs and Licenses: These may include, for example, Microsoft Office software license fees and other software and licenses necessary for your business—e.g., Adobe Photoshop for a photographer.
    
3. Small Acquisitions: The following can be considered small acquisitions.
   - Printers
   - Phones
   - Laptops
   
   The estimated service life of small acquisitions can be up to 3 years, or if the small acquisition is long-term, its VAT-excluded purchase price can be up to 1200 euros (up to a total of 3600 euros within the calendar year).
    
4. Marketing Expenses: If you want to print your company's logo on clothing or purchase paid advertising for your business, you can deduct these costs in your bookkeeping.
    
5. Home Office Expenses: If you primarily work from home, the expenses are deductible. For example, if your home office occupies at least 20 square meters in a 100-square-meter apartment, you can deduct 20% of the apartment expenses. Home office cost deduction can be done either based on actual expenses or as a flat-rate home office deduction in your annual tax return. For separately rented office space, you can deduct the costs by adding expense receipts directly to your bookkeeping.
    

6. Representation Expenses: You can deduct half of representation expenses when the costs are related to improving customer relationships. Representation expenses include costs that could otherwise be interpreted as negotiation expenses, but whose cost is unusually high, such as costs higher than a regular lunch.

    

7. Public transport tickets. If you use public transport for business travel, you can deduct the cost of your ticket in the same way as other expense by adding it to your business’s bookkeeping as an expense. You report the kilometres driven in your own car once a year on your business tax return, based on your mileage log. Read more in our article Can I deduct car expenses?
    
8. Professional and Trade Magazines: Magazines ordered for business use can be deducted. Professional literature also falls into the same category.
    
9. YEL Costs/Pension Costs: You can deduct pension costs either in your personal taxation or in business deductions. Note that union and unemployment fund membership fees are always deducted in personal taxation during the tax return.

Unfortunately, these rules are not absolute, so it's good to confirm the eligibility of deductions with the tax authorities or UKKO Light Entrepreneur with a business ID customer service at kevytyritys@ukko.fi.
 

When you add an expense to the UKKO service, our team checks the expense and its supporting document. 

If the expense is not deductible, we will let you know and may ask you to provide additional information. We aim to keep expenses with unclear deductibility out of your business’s bookkeeping. If we cannot clearly establish how an expense relates to your business, we will always ask for clarification.

Remember: to add an expense, you need a supporting document showing the applicable VAT rate. 

Keep this in mind especially when paying by card: make sure you receive an itemised receipt showing what you purchased and the VAT rate, as the slip printed by the payment terminal often shows only the total amount.
 

Note! If you have larger purchases such as a car, unfortunately, invoicing cannot usually be done through the UKKO Light Entrepreneur service. In such cases, we recommend transitioning to the UKKO Entrepreneur service as a private trader, where larger purchases can be easily managed!