Does my business have to be VAT liable?
We recommend registering for VAT.
However, your business does not have to be VAT liable if its turnover remains clearly below €20,000 per year. If you have the slightest doubt that your turnover will be higher than that, register for VAT immediately.
If you operate in a VAT-exempt sector, your business cannot be VAT liable. However, you can still join the Zen service as normal.
I already have an accountant. How do I transfer my business to Holvi?
Transferring your accounting to Holvi is easy. First, see the detailed instructions here on how to start using the service. To transfer your accounting, ask your accountant for your latest profit and loss statement and send it to us. We will continue your accounting from there.
You can find more detailed instructions here: How do I start using the service?
How do I switch to the service during the financial year?
You can join the service during the financial year if your financial year is the calendar year and the accounting for the current financial year has been prepared using single-entry bookkeeping. You can find detailed instructions here on how to join the service, depending on whether you are already a Holvi user.
If you join the service during the financial year, we need your latest profit and loss statement. If you do not have a profit and loss statement, meaning that your accounts have not been prepared, we can prepare your accounts retrospectively. In this case, we charge €79 + VAT for each month for which we prepare the accounts. We will contact you personally first.
You can find more detailed instructions here: How do I start using the service?
How do I make a private withdrawal?
You can make a private withdrawal by making a traditional bank transfer to your personal account. You can either add a comment stating that it is a private withdrawal or create your own expense category in Holvi called “Private withdrawal” and categorise the payment under that category. This tells the accountant not to request a receipt for the payment.
At the end of the month, you will receive a reminder about missing receipts. Check all purchase transactions to which you need to add a receipt or voucher. You can add a comment to private withdrawals if one is missing, but otherwise you can leave private withdrawal transactions without a receipt.
How do I estimate my advance tax in MyTax?
Paying advance tax is not included in the Zen service, so please ensure that advance tax is paid from your Holvi account. Remember that if you change your profit estimate during the year or there are other changes to the payments, you must also update the scheduled payments.
We have compiled instructions for paying advance tax.
- Register in the prepayment register
- Estimate the profit for the entire year
- Submit an advance tax application in MyTax
- Check your advance tax decision in MyTax
- Pay advance tax on its due date
- You can change your profit estimate during the year
You can report advance tax in MyTax at https://www.vero.fi/sahkoiset-asiointipalvelut/omavero/.
Once you have reported your advance tax, schedule the payment from your Holvi account and make sure that your advance tax is paid on time.
You can read more about this here: Advance tax and reporting it in MyTax
How do I attach vouchers to account transactions?
You can add an attachment to all payments.
- Log in to your account.
- Go to Accounts.
- Then select the transaction to which you want to add an attachment.
- Go to “Attachments” and add the attachment.
You should always attach an invoice or other voucher to outgoing payments if one is available. The attachment is saved in Holvi as an accounting voucher.
How do I add transactions outside Holvi to Holvi?
As a general rule, all business income should be collected and expenses paid through Holvi, for example by using the Holvi payment card. However, if you have a transaction outside Holvi, you can add its details to Holvi. Such transactions include, for example, cash sales or purchases made with a personal payment card, which therefore do not appear directly in your Holvi account.
Add external transactions as follows:
- Log in to your account and select Accounting from the left-hand sidebar.
- Click the “Add transaction” button in the top right corner and select either “Add expense” or “Add income”, depending on what you are adding.
- Next, enter the transaction details, add the necessary line-item details and specify the transaction’s VAT. Save the transaction.
- Finally, add the necessary attachments, such as the purchase receipt. Done!
Added transactions can be found on the Accounts page under the tab Add → Holvi Zen: Added transactions.
Payment terminals and cash sales
Record cash sales through the payment terminal so that cash sales transactions are also included in the payment terminal’s sales report for accounting purposes. Always save the monthly sales report to the first payment received in your Holvi account during that month.
If you have occasional cash sales and do not use a payment terminal, you can add the transaction to Holvi with its vouchers as an external transaction.
Does the service include annual accounts?
The Zen package does not include annual accounts. Instead, you receive a monthly profit and loss statement and an annual tax return.
Did you know that, for example, for a bank loan, a profit and loss statement confirmed by an accountant is also sufficient, and this customer receives one through the service? A profit and loss statement prepared by an accountant is also required for an extension application for a start-up grant.
How do I deduct VAT on purchases? What expenses can I deduct for tax purposes?
If your business is VAT liable, you can deduct the VAT included in the price of goods or services purchased from another VAT-liable business. You can read more about VAT deductions here.
You can deduct various expenses related to your business for tax purposes. Read more about deductions here and check which expenses are deductible.
How do I deduct car expenses?
A car in which more than half of the driving is related to business activities belongs in the company’s name.
In this case, all car expenses, such as fuel, servicing and accessories, are recorded in the company’s accounts. At the end of the financial year, the share of private driving is deducted from the recorded car expenses based on the mileage log.
If less than half of the driving is related to business activities, the car belongs in the individual’s name. Based on the mileage log, the company can pay the car owner mileage allowances, for which an additional deduction is made on the business tax return.
Cars and VAT
VAT on a passenger car and related expenses can only be deducted if the car is used 100% for business purposes. If the car is used even slightly for private driving, the right to deduct VAT is lost entirely.
An exception is a passenger car acquired for sale, hire or use as a taxi or driving-school car. In this case, VAT can be deducted to the extent that the car is used for business purposes.
The Tax Administration is very strict about the right to deduct VAT on passenger cars. In order for VAT on a company passenger car to be deducted, the Tax Administration has even required the entrepreneur to have their own car for private driving.
VAT on a van or lorry and related expenses can be deducted to the extent that the vehicle is used for business purposes. A van can therefore be used for private driving and VAT on car expenses can still be deducted, but only for business driving.
Mileage log
A mileage log must be kept when a car is used for business activities. The mileage log distinguishes business journeys from private ones. The distinction can also be made using “other reliable evidence”, but a mileage log is the clearest and most reliable method and is certain to be accepted by the Tax Administration.
If the car is used 100% for business purposes, a mileage log may not necessarily be required for accounting. However, it is advisable to keep one for the Tax Administration, especially if the vehicle is a passenger car. In tax matters, the burden of proof lies with the entrepreneur. If there is a disagreement with the Tax Administration, for example regarding recorded car expenses, it is often difficult to prove the legitimacy of the expenses without a mileage log.
The mileage log must include the following:
For business journeys:
- the start and end times of the journey
- the starting and ending locations and, where necessary, the route
- the odometer reading at the start and end of the journey
- the length of the journey
- the purpose of the journey
- the driver.
For private journeys:
- the odometer reading at the start and end of the journey
- the length of the journey.
Remember to sign the mileage log too!
How do I deduct telephone expenses?
If the phone is used both personally and for your sole trader business, half of the bill can be recorded as an expense in your business accounts. In addition, half of the VAT on the bill can be deducted.
In practice, you can pay the bill from your Holvi account and attach the bill to the payment transaction. We will take care of the rest.
How is the home office deduction calculated?
The deduction for a home office is made on your tax return in accordance with the deductions confirmed by the Tax Administration. The expenses are therefore not recorded in the accounts.
How is one of the three home office deduction options selected?
- The full deduction can be selected when you work as a full-time entrepreneur and use the home office at home to earn your main income.
- If you use the home office part-time for income-generating work, you can select the so-called half home office deduction.
- The final, lowest option is selected when the home office is used to earn occasional additional income.
If you work remotely from home for more than 50% of all working days in a year, you can claim the full home office deduction. Please note that you can claim the home office deduction related to earned income only once, either in your personal tax return or on your sole trader tax return.
Rent for a workspace
If your business has a workspace for which you pay rent, please attach the voucher to the payment transaction each month. The voucher can be, for example, a tenancy agreement showing whether the rent includes deductible VAT.
How do I allocate an incoming payment to an invoice?
An invoice can only be marked as paid if the corresponding payment has arrived in Holvi. If an invoice appears to be overdue but you know it has been paid, the corresponding payment will probably be found in your income category Uncategorised.
To allocate an incoming payment to an invoice:
Note: First make sure that the payment has not been allocated to the wrong invoice, for example because of an incorrect reference number. If it has, detach it from the wrong invoice first.
- Open the Invoicing page.
- Open the invoice you want to link to the payment.
- Scroll down to Payment reconciliation and select Reconcile in the top right corner.
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You will then see all payments found in the income category Uncategorised.
Note! Only uncategorised payments can be linked to invoices. If you cannot find your payment in the list, check that it has not been added to an income category.
- Select the payment you want to reconcile with the invoice.
If you cannot find the payment in the Reconciliation list but are sure that it has arrived in your account, check the following:
- Make sure that the invoice has been sent.
- The payment must be in the income category Uncategorised in order to link it. Find the payment on your home page and change the income category to uncategorised.
- Make sure that the payment has not been reconciled with another invoice. If it has, detach it first.
- If you still cannot find the payment anywhere, it has probably been archived because of budget periods. To retrieve the payment from the archives, go to Account settings and select Budget periods. You must delete the previous budget period in which the payment arrived. This will remove all payments made during the same period from the archive. You can then link the payment to the invoice.
What should I do with an overpayment?
An overpayment must be returned to the customer by bank transfer. Add a comment to the overpayment in Holvi stating which invoice it relates to, for example “overpayment for invoice 10-2020”. Remember to add comments to transactions so that the accountant knows how to account for them correctly.
In Holvi, a payment cannot be detached from an invoice once it has been paid using the reference number linked to that invoice. The invoice will then remain in the status overpaid. For this reason, it is particularly important to use the correct reference numbers and amount when making payments.
When will my accounts be prepared?
The accountant retrieves the data from your Holvi account at the beginning of each month and prepares the previous month’s accounts by the end of the following month. You will receive a profit and loss statement by email once your accounts have been prepared.
When is VAT paid?
We always pay taxes on the weekday preceding the due date. The due date for VAT payments is the 12th of the month. If the VAT period is, for example, one month, the due date for January’s VAT is 12 March. (See Important dates.)
Why is VAT paid on the banking day preceding the due date?
We always pay VAT on the weekday preceding the due date so that the payment is certainly received by the Tax Administration on time.
How do I terminate the service?
If you want to terminate the Zen service, notify our customer support either by Messaging or by email at support@holvi.com. Your termination notice must state whether you will continue under another Holvi pricing plan or whether you want to close your Holvi account entirely.
The notice period for the Holvi Zen service is one calendar month. If you terminate the agreement, for example, on the 15th of the month, you will be charged the full monthly fee for both the current and following month. The accounts will also be prepared until the end of the following month. If you want to continue using Holvi under another pricing plan, we will move you to the other pricing plan on the last banking day of the following month. If you want to close your account, we will close it on the 8th day of the month following the end of the notice period.
We will still submit the VAT return for the relevant month if the termination month is the final month of the VAT reporting period. You must pay the VAT yourself if your Holvi account is no longer open on the payment date.
You will receive the profit and loss statement by email once the accounts for the termination month have been prepared. Finally, we will send a separate email containing a download link through which you can download all profit and loss statements prepared during your use of the service.
Intra-Community sales and reporting obligations
Sales to another EU country (intra-Community sales)
If you sell services or goods to a business operating in another EU country that has a valid VAT number, this is an intra-Community sale. In this case, VAT is not added to the invoice.
If the buyer does not have a valid VAT number, intra-Community sales treatment cannot be applied. In this case, you should sell with 24% VAT and pay the VAT yourself.
Create an income category called “Intra-Community sales” in your account so that you can keep better track of how much intra-Community sales you have made. Intra-Community sales must be invoiced in the same month in which the service was provided.
Intra-Community sales must be reported to the Tax Administration by the 20th day of the month following the month concerned in the VAT recapitulative statement. We will do this for you if the sales invoice was created in Holvi.
Because of the reporting obligation, the VAT number of the invoice recipient must be included on the sales invoice.
The invoice must also state that the sale is exempt from VAT, for example “VAT 0% (Intra-community supply)”. You can check your customer’s VAT number here.
Similarly, purchases from EU countries are reported to the Tax Administration so that imports and exports can be monitored in the destination countries. As a general rule, purchases from EU countries do not include deductible VAT.
You can read more about the subject: