Tax registrations and filings in Finland

No. A foreign company can hold a Finnish VAT number in its own name without setting up a Finnish subsidiary or branch. Registration is made with the Finnish Tax Administration (Vero) on the basis of the foreign company’s own registration documents. Setting up a Finnish company or branch is a separate commercial decision, not a precondition for VAT registration.

It depends on where your company is established. A business with no domicile or fixed establishment in an EU country or Norway needs a representative approved by the Finnish Tax Administration in order to register for VAT on application. Companies established in the EU normally do not need one. 1Office Finland can act as your representative where the rules require it.

Foreign businesses with taxable activity in Finland generally need to register for VAT, and for employer obligations if they pay wages here. Unlike Finnish companies, foreign businesses have no turnover threshold, so the obligation can start with the first taxable sale. The process starts with a review of what you sell in Finland and to whom, since reverse charge rules can shift the VAT liability to your Finnish business customers. We then prepare the start-up notification and the application, submit them to Vero, and handle the follow-up questions until the registration is granted.

Often yes. If you hold no stock in Finland and sell to Finnish consumers from another EU country, the One Stop Shop scheme in your home country may cover the Finnish VAT, in which case a separate Finnish registration is not needed. It stops being enough once you store goods in Finland, sell locally from a Finnish location, or make supplies that fall outside the scheme. We review the setup and tell you which of the two applies.

If you import goods into Finland in your own name, yes. An EORI number identifies you to customs and is separate from your VAT number. Once you hold both, import VAT is normally reported and deducted in your Finnish VAT return rather than paid at the border. We arrange the two registrations together so the goods are not held up.

A company established in Finland must register once taxable turnover exceeds €20,000 per calendar year, a threshold that replaced the earlier €15,000 limit on 1 January 2025. Foreign companies without a fixed establishment in Finland have no threshold and may need to register from the first taxable sale. Voluntary registration is also possible below the threshold, which is often worth it if you have significant Finnish input VAT to deduct.

Registration with the Finnish Tax Administration usually takes around three to four weeks from a complete application, and longer if documents are missing or the activity needs clarification. The whole process is handled remotely. We collect the documents electronically, file through the Finnish systems and report back to you, so no travel to Finland and no Finnish bank account is needed to get registered.

Businesses operating in Finland may need to register for VAT, for employer obligations if they pay wages, and for the prepayment register in connection with corporate income tax. Which of these apply depends on the activity, so the first step is establishing which registrations your business actually needs. We assist with each of them and make sure the applications are consistent with one another.

E-commerce has its own set of rules covering digital services, marketplace liability and cross-border sales, and the right answer often depends on where stock is held and who the buyer is. We look at the sales channels you use, work out whether a Finnish registration, an OSS or IOSS registration or a combination is required, and handle the applications and the later reporting.

Filing frequency normally follows turnover: monthly above €100,000, quarterly between €30,000 and €100,000, and annually below €30,000. Foreign companies registered in Finland are generally on a monthly cycle. Returns are filed electronically, and late filing carries penalty interest and late-filing fees, so the deadlines are worth tracking carefully.

After registration come the recurring obligations: VAT returns on your assigned cycle, corporate income tax returns, employer reporting to the Incomes Register where relevant, and accurate accounting records behind all of it. Payments have to be made on time as well as the filings. We handle the recurring work, keep track of the deadlines and flag anything that needs a decision from you.