VAT returns in Iceland 2027: every due date and what happens if you miss one

Kassify · 6 November 2026

The VAT return and the payment must reach Skatturinn one month and five days after the end of each two-month period. When that day falls on a weekend or a public holiday, the due date moves to the next working day, so the next due date is Monday 7 December 2026 for September and October, because 5 December is a Saturday.

Below are the due dates for every period in 2027, who may file once a year or every month, how to file, what the surcharge and penalty interest cost in krónur, and how to change a return you have already filed.

The periods and the due date rule

Under Article 24 of the VAT Act no. 50/1988 each settlement period is two months: January and February, March and April, May and June, July and August, September and October, November and December. The payment date and the final due date are the same day, and there is no grace period after it. A return only counts as on time if the payment has also arrived by the due date.

The rule for weekends and holidays is in Article 8 of Regulation no. 667/1995: when the due date falls on a holiday or a public day off, it moves to the next working day. Skatturinn applies the same rule to Saturdays and Sundays. A return is due for every period, also when the business has been idle. How output and input VAT are worked out, and which rates apply, is in the article on VAT.

VAT due dates in 2027

Each date here is checked against the calendar and Iceland's public holidays in 2027. Easter runs from 25 to 29 March, Ascension Day is 6 May, Whit Monday 17 May and Commerce Day 2 August. None of them falls on a due date, but three due dates move because of a weekend.

The government's legislative programme for the 158th session of Alþingi lists a bill for March 2027 that revises the VAT settlement periods. A consultation paper from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs in September 2025 discussed moving the due date to the 21st of the following month and ending annual returns. None of this has become law, and the dates here follow the Act as it stands on 5 November 2026.

Annual returns for the smallest companies

A company that sells taxable goods and services for less than 4.000.000 kr. in a whole calendar year may use the calendar year as its settlement period. It then files one return a year, due on 5 February of the following year.

• The company must have been on the VAT register the year before, and it applies to Skatturinn before 15 February for the current year.
• Companies on the agricultural register, agents of foreign companies and those with special or voluntary registration may not file annually.
• If sales pass 4.000.000 kr. during the year, the company files for the two-month period in which it passed the limit, and every two months from then on.
• The annual return for 2026 is due on Friday 5 February 2027. The annual return for 2027 is due on Monday 7 February 2028, because 5 February 2028 is a Saturday.

Monthly returns when the company gets money back

A company whose output VAT is usually lower than its input VAT, such as an exporter, can settle each month on its own and get its refund every month instead of waiting two. The application must reach Skatturinn at least one month before the change takes effect, and it applies for at least two years. The due date is still one month and five days after the period ends:

How to file the return

1. 1
   Reconcile the period

   Sales excluding VAT at each rate, output VAT and input VAT come from books that are reconciled to the bank. Input VAT is only claimed with a receipt behind it.

2. 2
   Log in to Skatturinn's service site

   Under Vefskil, with the VAT web key, which Skatturinn can send to your online bank. Accounting software that supports electronic filing can also send the return directly. Skatturinn emails a reminder a few days before the due date.

3. 3
   Fill in and submit

   The return must be signed by the taxpayer, a responsible employee, a bookkeeper or an auditor, and logging in with the web key counts as a signature. The system checks the return for errors and works out the surcharge itself when it is late.

4. 4
   Pay the claim in your online bank

   As soon as a payment return is filed, a claim appears in your online bank. A claim of 10.000.000 kr. or more can only be paid until 16:15. A refund return gives a refund instead.

Filing is not paying. A return filed on the due date but paid the next day gets the surcharge as if it had not arrived. A payment posted on the due date does not count either; it has to have arrived.

A nil return when there are no sales

A company on the VAT register files a return for every period, even when it sold nothing. It then sends a nil return on the service site, with zero sales and zero tax, or a refund return if it paid input VAT on purchases. If no return arrives, Skatturinn estimates the sales and the tax, so an idle company can be sent a bill without having sold anything.

Surcharge, penalty interest and estimates

The surcharge is in Article 27 of the Act and penalty interest in Article 28. The surcharge can be waived when valid reasons are shown, and a request to waive the 5.000 kr. fee must arrive within 90 days. Penalty interest is only waived for events the company could not control. The claim disappears from the online bank ten days after the due date; after that you pay by transfer to Skatturinn's account and email the receipt to 85002@skatturinn.is with the VAT number and the period.

An example in krónur

Assume a company with 1.150.000 kr. in output VAT and 550.000 kr. in input VAT for January and February 2027, so it owes 600.000 kr. on the due date, Monday 5 April 2027. Assume also that penalty interest stays at 15,75%, the rate the Central Bank set for November 2026, and that it is counted on the tax alone. The amounts are the example's assumptions, not figures from Skatturinn.

Two days cost 12.000 kr. On the tenth day the surcharge reaches its cap, 60.000 kr. Once a month has passed, penalty interest is added, counted from 5 April: 600.000 kr. times 15,75% times 63 days divided by 365 comes to 16.311 kr.

Correcting a filed return

A mistake in a return you have already filed is changed on the service site by choosing “Leiðrétta skýrslu” (correct return) instead of “Skila skýrslu” (file return) for the period. If the year's tax return has already been filed, the correction cannot be made online. You then fill in form RSK 10.03 and send it to skatturinn@skatturinn.is, with the VAT number and the period in the subject line.

A correction that raises the tax carries penalty interest from the due date of the original period, not from the day the correction is sent. That is how Skatturinn calculated it in a case the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs ruled on in March 2026, no. 4/2026. A mistake corrected at once therefore costs less than one found at year end.

At year end the filed returns are compared with the books and the annual accounts on reconciliation form RSK 10.25. If they differ, the company fills in the correction return RSK 10.26 and pays any unpaid tax. A company with one VAT number that files business tax return RSK 1.04 does not need the reconciliation form.

The mistakes that cost the most

• No return because there were no sales. Skatturinn estimates, the surcharge is added to the estimate, and the return that follows costs another 5.000 kr.
• Filed on time but paid late. The surcharge is counted on the unpaid amount, so filing without paying protects nothing.
• A large payment late in the afternoon of the due date. A claim of 10.000.000 kr. or more can only be paid until 16:15.
• Staying on annual returns after sales pass 4.000.000 kr. The period in which the limit was passed is settled right away, not in February.
• Applying for annual or monthly returns too late. Annual returns must be applied for before 15 February, and monthly returns a month before they should apply.
• Keeping a mistake until year end. Penalty interest runs from the original due date, and after the tax return the correction is on paper.
• Repeated estimates. A company removed from the VAT register, for example for repeated estimates or arrears, goes on special monthly returns for at least two years after it re-registers, due only 15 days after the end of each month.

Kassify files the VAT return before the due date

Everything above is work that has to be done six times a year: reconcile, count the input VAT, send the return and watch the date whenever the 5th falls on a weekend. Kassify is an accounting firm that uses AI and takes this work off the company, as part of a whole finance department for one fixed price.

• The VAT return is prepared from the books and sent to Skatturinn every two months, before the due date. You see the amount before the return goes, and the payment itself stays in your hands in your online bank.
• Every transaction gets the right VAT treatment, 24%, 11% or exempt, and input VAT is only claimed with a receipt behind it. Each bank is connected directly, and manual entries are 0.
• If the company is behind on its returns, Kassify files what is missing and sends Skatturinn corrections where needed.
• VAT returns are part of the fixed monthly price with bookkeeping, payroll and the app, 20% below a traditional accounting firm. The annual accounts and tax return are included in the same price, and the price comes in writing before you decide.
• The move takes less than 7 days and is included in the price. Kassify talks to your old bookkeeper and the history comes along. How that works is in the article on how to change bookkeeper.
• A bookkeeper replies within 24 hours, and accredited bookkeepers and certified auditors stand behind the work.

More on the page about VAT filings at Kassify.

Questions

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