Elderly people could markedly increase they standard of living by releasing their housing equity. Purchase of a single-payment life annuity would increase the benefits of this release. The tax treatment of these annuities is, however, very strict in Finland, because both yield and capital are...

We analyze how the tax treatment of voluntary retirement insurance has influenced individuals retirement decisions. Before 2005, the after-tax return to voluntary retirement savings was highest for those drawing their voluntary pensions before statutory pen-sions. This may have created an...

This paper studies the taxation of non-listed companies and their owners in Finland. We first describe the main features of the Finnish tax system regarding the taxation of dividends from non-listed companies. We use firm-level data to illustrate how the tax incentives are reflected in firms’...

We analyze how changes in the mandatory pension system and the increasing life expectancy will affect the need for private retirement savings in Finland. The time horizon we consider is that of current young generations. We discuss private retirement savings from the point of view households,...

The Ministry of Finance commissioned a report from Etlatieto Ltd on maritime operating conditions, competitiveness and the adaptability of this sector. The competitiveness of cargo ship has significantly improved when mixed-nationality crews were allowed and the Tonnage Tax Act went into force....

Subsidies to business sector R&D can be given either as R&D tax credits or direct grants. Majority of the OECD countries use both policy tools, Finland has used only grants. The Finnish support system has been functioning relatively well, but it has been argued that it does not support well...

It is popular to promote private R&D investments with tax credits or tax allowances in the OECD countries. This report depicts the justifications and criteria presented in economic literature, which should be used when decisions about tax incentives are made. The main argument is that firms do...

The report surveys the incentive effects of taxes on capital and entrepreneurial income in light of the research in the field. The cash flow tax, the ACE tax and the tax on distributed profits of mature firms are known to be neutral with respect to the investment decisions. It is not widely...

We compare different tax incentive schemes for private R&D investments using a numerical model of R&D-investments and firm dynamics. We find that tax incentives that are based on the incremental annual spending increase firms' R&D spending much more than tax incentives that are based on the...

Evaluating the possible consequences of R&D tax incentives before their introduction is challenging, not least because the details of the system remain unknown, and because the ultimate reactions and responses of various actors involved remain uncertain. In order to shed some light on the issue,...