Suomi / Finland·Destination guide · Northern Europe
Finland
60.1699° N · Northern Europe · Schengen
Finland still requires a signed matkustajailmoitus — then housing-company rules, not a tourist tax, gate apartment short stays.
Under Laki majoitus- ja ravitsemistoiminnasta (308/2006) §§ 6–8, anyone running professional lodging (majoitustoiminta) must ensure every arriving guest has a matkustajailmoitus: full name and Finnish personal identity code (or date of birth and nationality), address, arrival country (unless resident in Finland), travel-document number (unless a Nordic citizen or Finnish resident), and arrival/departure dates. The guest personally signs; the operator verifies identity from a travel document or other reliable means for non-Finnish-resident guests. Foreign-guest data go without delay to the local police department; all cards are kept one year from signature, then destroyed. Separately, Finland has no national short-term rental licence number and no tourist tax collecting as of this review — apartment short stays turn on taloyhtiö yhtiöjärjestys, building-use rules, and Verohallinto.
NextStay relevance · Finland
5 / 5
Essential
Laki majoitus- ja ravitsemistoiminnasta 308/2006 requires a signed matkustajailmoitus for every guest in professional lodging — with foreign-guest data sent without delay to poliisi — while Finland has no nationwide Airbnb ban and no tourist tax collecting yet (draft matkailijavero from 2028 at earliest).
At a glance · Finland
Matkustajailmoitus
Signed · ID checked
Poliisi
Foreigners · without delay
Retain
1 year then destroy
Tourist tax
None collecting yet
Who this is for
What hosts and hotels actually need to know
Finland’s lodging stack is lighter than Portugal’s RNAL/SIBA or Lithuania’s E.turistas clock — but it is not optional on identity for professional accommodation. First, matkustajailmoitus: Laki 308/2006 covers ammattimainen offering of furnished rooms or other lodging to temporary guests — Suomi.fi (TEM) lists hotels, motels, guesthouses, hostels, holiday resorts, B&B, campsites and professional holiday-home letting. Capture the statutory fields, obtain the guest’s signature, verify identity where the law requires it, send foreign-guest data to poliisi without delay, and retain one year. There is no same-day national portal akin to SIBA for every stay; the foreign-guest push to poliisi is the proactive channel. Second, short-term apartments: Finland has no nationwide Airbnb ban and no national STR registration number. Occasional letting of your own home during a temporary absence is generally not treated as majoitustoiminta for building-permit purposes in Helsinki’s guidance — but continuous hotel-like use of residential stock can trigger rakennusvalvonta and KHO case-by-case assessment. Taloyhtiö yhtiöjärjestys and Asunto-osakeyhtiölaki hallintaanotto remain the usual hard stop. Third, Verohallinto taxes short-term rental income as capital income (declare in OmaVero). Fourth, matkailijavero: a draft optional municipal tourist tax (2–5% of ex-VAT accommodation price) is in consultation — intended act force from March 2027, collection from 2028 at earliest — collect nothing yet. Self check-in works when required matkustajailmoitus data, signature and ID check happen before access is released.
Front desk or digital, §§ 6–8 are unchanged: every guest gets a signed matkustajailmoitus, identity is verified for non-Finnish-resident guests, foreign-guest data go to poliisi without delay, and records stay one year.
- 01Complete matkustajailmoitus fields for every arriving guest (spouse and minors may share the primary guest’s signed form)
- 02Verify identity from a travel document or other reliable means for guests not resident in Finland
- 03Transmit foreign-guest matkustajatiedot without delay to the poliisilaitos for your district — electronic delivery is allowed
- 04Retain cards one year from signature, then destroy; there is no national tourist tax to remittance-track yet
Chapter · Matkustajailmoitus
Lodging passenger notification (Laki 308/2006 §§ 6–8)
Laki majoitus- ja ravitsemistoiminnasta requires a personally signed matkustajailmoitus for guests in professional lodging — with foreign-guest data pushed to poliisi without delay and one-year retention.
Statute
“Majoitustoiminnan harjoittaja on vastuussa siitä, että matkustajasta tehdään ilmoitus (matkustajailmoitus). … Matkustajan on vahvistettava matkustajailmoituksen matkustajatiedot allekirjoituksellaan. … Majoitustoiminnan harjoittajan … on majoittumisen yhteydessä varmistettava matkustusasiakirjasta tai muulla luotettavalla tavalla todennettava matkustajan henkilöllisyys …”
- 01
Who must keep matkustajailmoitukset
The duty sits on majoitustoiminnan harjoittajat — professional offering of furnished rooms or other lodging to temporary guests (1 §). Suomi.fi (TEM) guidance lists hotels, motels, guesthouses, hostels, holiday resorts, bed-and-breakfast, campsites and professional holiday-home letting. Occasional unpaid private hospitality sits outside that ammattimainen wording; once you operate paid professional overnight lodging, plan for the full matkustajailmoitus duty.
- 02
Fields, personal signature, ID check
Record full name and Finnish personal identity code (or date of birth and nationality), accompanying spouse and minors’ names and codes/dates of birth, address, country from which the guest arrives in Finland (not required for Finnish residents), travel-document number (not required for Nordic citizens or Finnish residents), and arrival/departure dates if known. The guest personally signs; spouse and minors on the same form need not sign separately; a group leader may sign a joint form. At lodging, staff must verify identity from a travel document or other reliable means — except for guests resident in Finland and accompanying spouse/minors covered on the form. A passport photo upload without a signed matkustajailmoitus and verification step does not meet the statute wording.
- 03
Foreign guests to poliisi without delay — one-year keep
§ 8 requires foreign-guest matkustajatiedot to be delivered without delay (viivytyksettä) to the poliisilaitos for the lodging’s district — electronic delivery is expressly allowed. Police may also demand the same fields for other guests when needed for official duties. Keep matkustajailmoitukset one year from the signature date, then destroy them (register copies one year from entry). Unlike Portugal’s SIBA, there is no same-day national web portal for every domestic stay — but the foreign-guest police push is proactive, not merely keep-and-produce.
- 04
Not a nationwide Airbnb guest-fiche for every sofa night
Do not invent a Portugal-style boletim for every keybox. The statute’s majoitustoiminta definition is ammattimainen lodging. Private occasional absence-lets are primarily gated by taloyhtiö rules, tax, and any building-use analysis — plus GDPR-sound operational identity capture before remote access. Hotels and professional lodging remain squarely inside the matkustajailmoitus.
Chapter · Housing & use
Taloyhtiö, Helsinki layers & no national STR ban
Finland has no national STR registration number and no nationwide Airbnb ban. Apartment short stays turn on yhtiöjärjestys, Asunto-osakeyhtiölaki remedies, and case-by-case building-use control.
- 01
No nationwide platform ban — yhtiöjärjestys is the usual gate
Shareholders generally may let their apartments unless the yhtiöjärjestys restricts use. A board circular alone rarely creates a lawful Airbnb ban; changing articles to restrict transfer/use typically needs the consent of shareholders whose rights are weakened (Asunto-osakeyhtiölaki). Always read the specific yhtiöjärjestys before automating remote arrival at scale.
- 02
Hallintaanotto for prohibited use or disturbance
Under Asunto-osakeyhtiölaki 8 luvun 2 §, the company may take an apartment into its possession (after warning and yhtiökokous decision) if, among other grounds, the flat is used essentially contrary to the purpose stated in the yhtiöjärjestys, or if disturbing life is conducted there. Short-stay intensity that causes repeated nuisance can therefore become a housing-company enforcement issue even without a Portugal-style licence number.
- 03
Helsinki — occasional absence-lets vs continuous lodging
Helsinki’s majoitustoiminta-asunnoissa guidance distinguishes: renting your own home (where you are registered) during a temporary absence is not treated as majoitustoiminta requiring a building permit; converting residential stock to continuous lodging use needs asemakaava permission and a rakennuslupa, with fire-egress and compartmentation differences. Do not invent a capital-wide Airbnb ban — and do not ignore rakennusvalvonta when a flat runs like a shadow hotel.
- 04
KHO practice — intensity, not only lease length
Korkein hallinto-oikeus (KHO:2024:75) confirms that property protection supports short-term letting in principle, but case-by-case building-control assessment can treat continuous hotel-like activity in residential buildings as majoitustoiminta contrary to zoning and building permit — lease duration alone is not decisive. Professional multi-unit platforms should expect scrutiny; casual absence-lets sit far lighter.
- 05
No national STR register yet
Unlike Ireland’s forthcoming STL number or Portugal’s RNAL, Finland does not operate a nationwide short-term rental registration scheme for platform nights. Regulation (EU) 2024/1028 standardises data sharing where Member States run registration systems — Finland’s hard gates today remain matkustajailmoitus where lodging applies, taloyhtiö/building-use rules, and Verohallinto — not a missing licence code on Airbnb.
Chapter · Vero & matkailijavero
Verohallinto, platforms & tourist-tax proposal
Verohallinto taxes short-term rental income. Finland has no tourist tax collecting today; a draft optional municipal matkailijavero is in consultation for possible 2028 collection.
- 01
Verohallinto — declare short-term rental income
Vero.fi states that rental income is taxable even when letting is occasional or short-term — including Airbnb and Booking stays. Income is generally capital income for private landlords; declare via OmaVero with tenant, period, income and costs. Direct letting costs (e.g. platform fees) are typically fully deductible; fixed costs such as hoitovastike are apportioned to the let period and area. Whole-home short lets can interrupt the two-year owner-occupancy clock for tax-free capital gains — confirm current vero.fi guidance for your facts.
- 02
Matkailijavero — draft enabling law, not collecting yet
In June 2026 the Ministry of Finance circulated a draft government proposal for an optional municipal tourist tax on all short-term paid accommodation (any form), set by each kunta between 2% and 5% of the ex-VAT accommodation price, remitted via self-assessment to Verohallinto. Acts are scheduled to enter into force 1 March 2027, with first collection from the start of 2028. As of this 20 July 2026 review, collect nothing as tourist tax — the proposal is not yet enacted law.
- 03
Historically limited — still accurate until a kunta collects
Until enabling legislation is enacted and a municipality adopts the tax, Finland remains without a collecting municipal guest-night levy. Voluntary hotel surcharges are commercial, not a statutory remittance. When a kunta does adopt matkailijavero, build it into pricing only after primary local law is actually in force.
Chapter · EU layer
EU and Schengen law that sits underneath
Finland is an EU and Schengen Member State. The matkustajailmoitus implements lodging-record purpose domestically; GDPR governs storage; Reg 2024/1028 matters mainly if Finland later adds an STR registration system.
- 01
Schengen — Article 45 purpose, Finnish form
Article 45 of the Convention Implementing the Schengen Agreement sets the lodging-provider guest-record purpose for Schengen states. Finland implements that purpose through Laki 308/2006 §§ 6–8 (signed matkustajailmoitus, ID check, foreign-guest data to poliisi, one-year retention) — not through a Portuguese-style same-day portal for every stay. Use the Finnish fields, not a generic EU checklist.
- 02
GDPR (Regulation (EU) 2016/679)
Matkustajatiedot, travel-document numbers and access logs are personal data. Collect what the legal basis requires, inform guests, secure storage for the one-year statutory window (and any longer operational retention you justify under GDPR), then destroy as § 8 requires — and avoid unnecessary passport image archives when the statute asks for verified data fields.
- 03
Short-term rental data — Regulation (EU) 2024/1028
From 20 May 2026 the EU framework for STR registration data and platform sharing applies where Member States operate registration procedures and require platforms to transmit activity data. Finland has not layered a national STR registration number on top of that framework as of this review — host duties remain the matkustajailmoitus where lodging applies, taloyhtiö/building-use rules, Verohallinto, and any future municipal matkailijavero — not a missing licence code on Airbnb.
Remote arrival · Still the law
Self check-in under Finnish rules
Remote arrival is common in Helsinki, Tampere and Turku. For professional lodging, the compliance gate is the personally signed matkustajailmoitus plus required ID verification — before door codes or lockbox instructions unlock.
Signed matkustajailmoitus and ID before access
Build the § 6 fields and a personal signature into the check-in flow itself, and verify identity from a travel document (or other reliable means) for non-Finnish-resident guests before releasing access. A booking confirmation alone is not a matkustajailmoitus.
Foreign guests to poliisi — not only a drawer register
Unlike purely keep-and-produce Nordic neighbours, Finland requires foreign-guest matkustajatiedot to be delivered without delay to the local poliisilaitos. Capture early enough that late Vantaa/Tampere/Turku arrivals still leave time to transmit.
One-year retention, then destroy
Keep signed cards one year from signature, then destroy them. Marketing/customer-service copies follow GDPR retention rules separately — do not treat the statutory lodging file as an indefinite archive.
Taloyhtiö and building-use are separate prerequisites
A completed guest form does not override yhtiöjärjestys restrictions or turn continuous hotel-like use into permitted residential use. Confirm housing-company and building-control status before automating remote arrival at scale on apartment stock.
City & tax layers
Matkustajailmoitus rules are national. Apartment short stays turn on each taloyhtiö’s yhtiöjärjestys and local building-control practice. Matkailijavero is draft law only — do not invent a live Helsinki guest-night levy today.
Helsinki — identity first, building-use second
01Helsinki — identity first, building-use second
Helsinki apartments sit densely in asunto-osakeyhtiöt. Pair signed matkustajailmoitus capture (and foreign-guest police transmission) with yhtiöjärjestys checks before late Vantaa arrivals unlock. Occasional absence-lets of your own home are lighter under city majoitus guidance; continuous hotel-like use can draw rakennusvalvonta. No Helsinki tourist tax is collecting as of this review.
Tampere — same national stack, lakeside arrivals
02Tampere — same national stack, lakeside arrivals
Tampere applies the same Laki 308/2006 matkustajailmoitus duty and the same national absence of an STR licence number. Lakeside and event peaks reward pre-completed guest declarations. There is no separate Tampere STR register and no municipal tourist tax collecting yet — watch matkailijavero adoption for 2028+.
Turku — Aura River arrivals, draft tax watch
03Turku — Aura River arrivals, draft tax watch
Turku sits on the same national guest-notification and housing-company stack, with ferry and airport timing that rewards pre-arrival signatures. Draft matkailijavero may matter for coastal reiselivskunnat if enacted — but collection still requires national law plus a municipal decision, with 2028 as the practical start window in the proposal. Collect nothing as tourist tax unless primary local law is actually in force.
This is the law · Here is the reference
Sources & references
Primary statutes, EU instruments and competent authorities. Open the link when your property is at stake.
- [01]Local lawLaki majoitus- ja ravitsemistoiminnasta 308/2006
Primary statute: §§ 6–8 matkustajailmoitus fields, signature, ID check, foreign-guest data to poliisi without delay, one-year retention; § 13 fine for intentional/grossly negligent failure.
- [02]AuthoritySuomi.fi / TEM — Matkustajailmoituksen laatiminen
Official service description: who must file, field list, signature, ID check, foreign-guest delivery to poliisi, one-year retention (updated 5 Jan 2026).
- [03]Local lawAsunto-osakeyhtiölaki 1599/2009 — 8 luku (hallintaanotto)
Housing-company remedies including taking an apartment into company possession for use contrary to yhtiöjärjestys purpose or for disturbing life.
- [04]AuthorityHelsingin kaupunki — Asunnossa tapahtuvaa majoitustoimintaa koskeva ohje
Municipal guidance: occasional letting of own home during temporary absence is not majoitustoiminta requiring a building permit; continuous lodging use needs kaava permission and rakennuslupa.
- [05]Local lawKHO:2024:75 — short-term letting vs majoitustoiminta
Supreme Administrative Court: short-term letting is protected in principle, but continuous hotel-like use in residential buildings can be prohibited under building control on a case-by-case basis.
- [06]AuthorityVero.fi — Lyhytaikainen ja satunnainen vuokraus
Citizen guidance: short-term and occasional rental income is taxable; deduction rules for platform fees and apportioned fixed costs.
- [07]AgencyVero.fi — Vuokratulojen verotus (syventävä ohje)
Detailed Tax Administration guidance on rental income under the Income Tax Act, including when short-term multi-unit activity may be elinkeinotoiminta.
- [08]AuthorityFinnish Government — Proposal for a tourist tax circulated for views
June 2026 Ministry of Finance draft: optional municipal 2–5% matkailijavero on short-term paid accommodation; acts targeted 1 March 2027; collection from start of 2028 — not yet collecting.
- [09]EU lawConvention Implementing the Schengen Agreement — Art. 45
Schengen lodging-provider guest-record purpose implemented in Finland via Laki 308/2006 §§ 6–8.
- [10]EU lawGDPR — Regulation (EU) 2016/679
Personal-data rules for identity, matkustajailmoitus and access processing — fully applicable in Finland.
- [11]EU lawRegulation (EU) 2024/1028 — short-term rental data
EU framework for STR registration data and platform sharing where Member States operate registration systems (applicable from 20 May 2026).
- [12]AgencyEuropean Commission — STR transparency rules
Plain-language explanation of the May 2026 framework.
After the law · The product
Where NextStay fits
After the law is clear: we build the personally signed matkustajailmoitus into the check-in gate — so Finnish hosts can run remote-friendly arrivals without skipping Laki 308/2006 identity duties.
01
Signature before the key
Online check-in collects and personally signs the matkustajailmoitus before door instructions unlock — matching § 6 field and ID checks for professional lodging.
02
Police-ready foreign-guest records
Structured guest data stays organised for without-delay transmission of foreign-guest fields to poliisi and for the one-year retention window — without pretending Finland runs a Portuguese-style SIBA portal for every stay.
03
Host visibility without desk chaos
Hotels and individual hosts see who has completed check-in, who is blocked, and when access can release — including late Vantaa, Tampere and Turku arrivals.
04
Destination guidance in the workspace
This Finland dossier stays attached to the market — matkustajailmoitus, taloyhtiö/building-use, Verohallinto, draft matkailijavero from 2028, and Schengen/GDPR accuracy — not a generic EU footnote.
Cities in Finland
Helsinki
Dense asunto-osakeyhtiö stock make signed matkustajailmoitus capture and yhtiöjärjestys checks essential before keys go out — with no city tourist tax collecting yet.
Matkustajailmoitus · Taloyhtiö rules · Self check-in gate
Tampere
Lakeside and event peaks reward pre-completed guest declarations — same national register duty; still no municipal tourist tax collecting as of this review.
Commercial overnight register · Event peaks · No tourist tax yet
Turku
Aura River and ferry timing reward timed check-in with completed guest declarations — same national stack; watch draft matkailijavero for 2028+.
Matkustajailmoitus · Ferry-timed arrivals · Matkailijavero watch
NextStay provides operational tools and general regulatory information, not legal advice. Hosts remain responsible for confirming the rules that apply to their accommodation in Finland. Research last verified .