Statutory business fees and accounting obligation

Always submit notifications and payments to the Finnish Tax Administration on time:

• Estimate your company’s prepayment tax amount correctly.
• Pay prepayment taxes on time.
• Take care of VAT notifications and payment on your own initiative.
• Take care of any excise tax notifications and payment on your own initiative.
• Submit the required annual notifications.
• Submit tax returns on time.

You can check the amount of taxes, payments and due dates in MyTax. 

• If the amount of prepayment tax is estimated to be too large or too small, apply to the Finnish Tax Administration for a change in the amount of prepayment tax. This helps you avoid surprises.
• If you file your tax return or notify statutory payments too late, you will receive a reminder. If you do not file the returns in spite of the reminder, your company will be ordered to pay the taxes and statutory payments according to an estimate.
• If you do not pay the Finnish Tax Administration by the due date, you will receive a request for payment as part of the monthly summary.

Contact the Finnish Tax Administration immediately if you have problems filing or paying taxes. If you are unable to pay a tax on the due date of the reminder, you can apply for a payment arrangement.

Self-employed persons are responsible for their own social security by taking out a self-employed person’s pension insurance (YEL or MYEL insurance).

Make sure that the earned income on which the payment is based is up to date, because your earned income affects your pension and social security benefits, such as your sickness allowance and unemployment allowance.

Never leave invoices from the employment pension insurance company unpaid and do the following instead:

• If you are unable to pay the contributions by the due date, consult in advance about the payment periods or payment in instalments. 
• You can also apply for flexibility in pension contributions, i.e. pay a lower insurance premium for a calendar year.
• If the income has fallen significantly, it is recommended to check the earned income on which the pension contributions are based with your employment pension institution to make sure they are at the correct level.

You can see the Finnish Centre for Pensions’ My Pension service for information on your pension provider and to access its services directly.

Read more:

• Self-employed person’s pension insurance
• Securing an entrepreneur’s livelihood

You are always responsible for arranging the accounting even if you have outsourced it to an accounting agency. If you fail to keep records with sufficient accuracy, you may be guilty of an offence or crime. In addition, well-managed accounting makes it easier to prevent financial difficulties, cope with them and arrange debts.

Read more about the organisation of accounting.

Read the Kirjanpidon ABC guide for accounting compiled by Suomen Taloushallintoliitto ry (in Finnish).Opens in a new window.

Employers have statutory obligations to submit notifications and make payments to the authorities. 

Always remember to:

• submit statutory notifications to the Incomes Register and take out statutory insurance policies for your employees to avoid fees or negligence fees estimated by the authorities
• pay invoices from the Employment Fund, employment insurance pension company or accident insurance company on time so that you do not have to pay interest on late payment.

Read more about the obligations:

• The employer’s statutory insurance payments
• Prepayment of taxes, health insurance and unemployment insurance contributions
• Occupational safety and health obligations