Finland’s Supreme Administrative Court has rejected an appeal by food delivery company Wolt in a case concerning the taxation of delivery couriers.
The ruling means income earned by Wolt couriers must be treated as wages, requiring the company to withhold tax payments from earnings.
Wolt had challenged a decision issued by the Central Tax Board in August last year.
The board concluded that couriers working through the platform should be considered wage earners for tax purposes rather than independent entrepreneurs.
The Supreme Administrative Court upheld that interpretation in a 3–2 decision.
Wolt said it would continue discussions with the Finnish Tax Administration to assess the impact of the ruling and how it will be implemented in practice.
Last year, the same court ruled that Wolt couriers should be classified as employees instead of self-employed contractors.
Following the earlier ruling, Wolt proposed a new system that would allow couriers to choose between employee status and self-employment.
Under the proposal, couriers who become employees would receive employment benefits and fixed terms while earning a reduced share of delivery fees. Those remaining self-employed would continue under the existing model.
Wolt said at the time that the court rulings left several practical questions unresolved, including how flexible schedules and irregular working hours would fit into Finnish labour regulations.
The company operates with more than 10,000 couriers in Finland. Many work part-time, while a large share of drivers are immigrants or international residents using platform work as a primary source of income.
Wolt was founded in Helsinki in 2014 and was acquired by US-based DoorDash in 2022.
HT