The Finnish household tax credit in 2026: what qualifies and what does not

Cleaning qualifies for the household tax credit. Moving does not. Same company, same invoice, different treatment in tax — and the difference is not arbitrary. It rests on what the law treats as ordinary household work.

The 2026 figures

For the 2026 tax year the kotitalousvähennys is 35 % of the labour cost when the work is bought from a company. The maximum is 1,600 euros per person, with a 150 euro own-liability per year.

The maximum is personal. Spouses each get their own credit if both claim it in their own tax return, so a household ceiling is effectively double.

If you employ someone directly, the percentage is lower than buying from a company — in 2026 it is 13 % of the wages paid including related costs. For most people buying from a company works out cheaper, even where the hourly rate looks higher.

In June 2026 the government proposed raising the credit to 40 % and 2,100 euros for 2026–2027. The increase is intended to apply retroactively from 1 January 2026, meaning it would also cover work done earlier in the year. Check on vero.fi which rate is in force when you make your claim.

What qualifies

Ordinary household work: cleaning, laundry, ironing, cooking, yard care, mowing, raking, snow clearing.

Care and nursing work at home.

Maintenance and improvement work on a dwelling: painting, tiling, fitting furniture, small repairs.

The work has to be done in a home. That covers your own home, a holiday home, and a home used by your parents, grandparents or your spouse's parents. A rented home counts too: a tenant gets the credit for work done in the flat they rent.

What does not qualify

Materials. The credit covers the labour share only — tins of paint, tiles, cleaning products and consumables fall outside.

Transport and travel costs. The worker's travel to the site is not deductible even if itemised on the invoice.

Moving services. This is the one that surprises people most. According to the Tax Administration's guidance, moving is not by its nature ordinary household work, so a move provided by a transport company does not qualify.

Machinery and equipment costs where they are itemised separately from labour.

Work for which other public support has been received for the same purpose.

A move and a clean on the same invoice

The practical situation: on moving day you book both movers and an end-of-tenancy clean. The moving is not deductible; the cleaning is.

So ask for them itemised separately. A single line reading "moving service 620 €" does not work as a basis for the credit for the cleaning part, because it does not show how much cleaning there was.

On our invoices these are separate lines. Ask others for the same — it is not an unusual request.

What the invoice has to show

Three things:

The labour share on its own line, separate from materials and any transport. That is the basis of the credit.

The company's business ID and its entry in the prepayment register. Without that registration there is no credit.

Where and when the work was done. The credit falls in the tax year in which the invoice was paid, not the year the work was done.

How to claim

Two routes. You can amend your tax card straight away, in which case the benefit shows up monthly as lower withholding. Or you can report the costs in your tax return in spring, in which case it comes back as a refund.

Both are done in OmaVero. Receipts are not attached, but keep them — the Tax Administration can ask for them later.

One practical note: if the year has been light and there is little tax to pay, there is nothing to deduct the credit from. In that case it is worth thinking about which spouse should claim it.

A worked example

A seasonal snow contract of 800 euros, all of it labour. The credit at 35 % is 280 euros, from which the 150 euro own-liability is subtracted once a year. That leaves 130 euros from the first purchase.

If 1,200 euros of cleaning is bought in the same year, the credit on that is the full 420 euros, because the own-liability has already been used. That is 550 euros in total.

So the own-liability is best seen as a one-off threshold rather than a surcharge on every invoice.

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This is general information rather than tax advice — check your own situation on vero.fi or with the Tax Administration's phone service. Our services that qualify are cleaning, yard care, lawn mowing, snow work and minor repairs. Moving is not.