Jari-Matti Latvala as a victim in a criminal case where the prosecutor suspects that the tax inspectors broke the law

Rally influencer Jari-Matti Latvala the tax audit trail continues.

Now a criminal case is pending in the Helsinki District Court, in which Latvala is involved in the role of the interested party, i.e. the victim.

The prosecutor suspects that the two defendants in the case are guilty of breaching the confidentiality of communications and breach of official duty. The deadline is 18.4.2019–25.4.2019.

The defendants were conducting a tax audit related to Latvala in 2018–2020. According to the information provided, the prosecutor believes that the defendants broke the law specifically in the acquisition of teleidentification data.

“The law must be the same for everyone. Everyone makes mistakes, but everyone must take responsibility for them. Also the Tax Administration, if it is deemed to have committed the suspected crimes, Latvala, 39”, emphasizes.

“I have already borne my responsibility in this matter. In my opinion, I paid an inhumane price for the entanglement, so it is extremely good that the rules of the game are now being created for which means tax audits can and cannot be done in Finland,” continues the ex-rally star.

Be the first to report that the case has started Stopmagazine last week.

The taxman and Latvala’s dispute raged when the taxman considered that the rally hero had spent too many days in Finland between 2014 and 2018.

Latvala, who has lived in Monaco for more than ten years, disagreed with the taxman’s assessment.

While living abroad, Latvala had a limited tax liability in Finland. In this case, taxes are paid to the country of residence and not to Finland, but then the days spent in Finland must not exceed the six-month deadline.

The tax administration did not have clear instructions for the situation at that time. According to Latvala, the general perception of people living abroad was that, for example, Departure Day from Finland would be considered a day abroad.

The taxman also disagreed with that.

From 2018 Latvala made a report to the taxman on his own initiative, because he knew that he had spent too many days in Finland that year for tax purposes.

For the other years, the taxman remained firm in his position and ruled that Latvala was partially taxable in Finland.

The tax inspector was thorough in his inspection. Among other things, the tax inspector found out where and when Latvala had used his Ruokauppa bonus card.

“The taxman’s aggressive actions came as a shock. Even the people felt that they wanted me to be an example by any means – a kind of precedent,” says Latvala, who works as a team manager at Toyota.

“The action seemed unreasonable.”

Taxman In the end, you took almost five million euros from Latvala through foreclosure. At the end of 2022, Latvala said in an interview with IS that he would be able to cope with the payment burden during the beginning of 2023 – and this happened later.

Among other things, Latvala’s active career as a World Rally Championship driver, who achieved three World Championship silvers, ended after the 2019 season.

“The tax audit process was mental hell. As a person, I was completely scattered, and I still believe that my career as a World Rally Championship driver ended with that controversy,” Latvala sees.

“I still see that even though I lost the battle to the tax collector, I at least won my life back. I hope that no one will have to experience the same pressure, and that is exactly why the rules of the game must be made common to everyone.”

The trial in the criminal case will be held on August 26, 2025.