Metal-scrap VAT guidance updated to 25.5% rate, €20,000 limit

The metal-scrap reverse-charge VAT guidance now reflects the current rate and threshold. Both language versions of the guidance were updatedVero on 27 October 2026Vero: the general VAT rate used on reverse-charge purchases is 25.5 per cent instead of 24 per centVero, following the rate change in force since 1 September 2024, and the small-business turnover threshold is 20,000 euro instead of 15,000 euroVero. The buyer section was clarified and the obsolete 2015 transition chapter was deleted.

Reverse charge under AVL 8d § applies to sales of non-precious metal scrap and waste between traders entered in the VAT registerVero. Where the seller's financial-year turnover is at most 20,000 euro and the seller is not in the VAT register as a small-scale operator, reverse charge does not apply; nor does it apply to non-profit or religious sellers outside VAT-taxable business. Sellers in these groups that have voluntarily registered are inside reverse charge. No turnover threshold applies to foreign traders without a Finnish fixed establishment, who may register voluntarily and then carry the same rights and duties as other taxable persons.

The buyer reports the aggregate of reverse-charge scrap purchases under purchases of construction services and metal scrap and computes the VAT due at the general rate of 25.5 per centVero. The buyer deducts the VAT it accounts for on the seller's behalf once the general deduction conditions are met and its reporting duties are fulfilled, under AVL chapter 10. Invoices carry the buyer's VAT identifier (Y-tunnus) and the note reverse charge, with an optional reference to AVL 8d § — or AVL 9 § for unregistered foreign sellers, whose invoice is tax-free with the buyer liable — or to Article 199 of Directive 2006/112/EC, plus a self-billing note where the buyer issues the invoice.

Cross-border examples are now tied to sales in Finland: a foreign trader not registered in Finland selling scrap in Finland to another unregistered foreign trader stays outside reverse charge, with the foreign seller liable, VAT on the invoice, and a registration duty. The guidance also confirms the demolition treatment backed by KHO 2019:48 — a demolition contractor paid only in scrap, or in cash plus scrap, effects two sales, each party accounting for its own sale — with the real-property exception where the buyer is a construction operator falling under the construction reverse charge of AVL 8c §.

Legal basis: AVL 8d § (Act 507/2014) for the metal-scrap reverse chargeVero, applied through the guidance as updated on 27 October 2026.