A courier's guide to VAT deductions

If you do gigs for Wolt, the internet is full of tips claiming you can deduct everything from your home-office coffee maker to dog food on your taxes. This isn't actually true.

Typically, a courier's VAT deductions come down to two things: tools and the service fee.

Tools

If you use some piece of equipment to do your work, it's an expense.

• E-bike: E-bikes take a beating on asphalt. If you need to buy spare parts or have the bike repaired, that's a deductible expense. Just make sure the bike's service life and purchase price fall within the criteria for VAT deductibility.
• Phone: This is your most important tool. Both buying a new phone and your monthly phone bills are VAT-deductible.

Truster's service fee

Yes, our service fee is a VAT-deductible expense. But, we handle this deduction for you in a way that gets you the money right away, not later.

‍When you receive a payment through Truster, we automatically deduct the VAT on the service fee before we transfer the payment to you. This way, you get the tax benefit immediately. You keep more cash in hand right on the payment date.

Because you've already received the benefit (the money) at the time of payment, you won't get a refund for this later from the Finnish Tax Administration. You'll see the service fee on your VAT report, but don't expect any further "extra credit" from the tax authorities for it.

Is a car deductible?

For car expenses to be VAT-deductible, the car must be used 100 % for your business. This means there can't be a single metre of private driving. So you can't drive home via the grocery store after a workday, and you can't take even short drives in the car during your free time. This is why most people don't meet the criteria for VAT deductibility on a car.