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Trade Register

How to file the financial statements of a branch of a foreign-based trader

Branches of foreign-based traders are in most cases obliged to submit their financial statements for registration (see section 17 a of the Finnish Trade Register Act). As regards branches of insurance companies and credit and financing institutes, there are special provisions for them in laws which regulate their operation.

As a rule, when a foreign-based trader has set up a branch, it must file its own financial statements to the Trade Register for registration. In some cases, however, it is the branch in Finland that must file its financial statements for registration.

1. Branch files the financial statements of the foreign-based trader

A branch must file the financial statements of the foreign-based trader (for example, of a Swedish limited company which has established a branch in Finland) if the statements have been drawn up, audited and published in accordance with the statutes of the European Community, or in an equivalent manner. In those cases:

• The branch files the financial statements of the foreign-based trader which have been drawn up, audited and published in accordance with the trader’s home nation's legislation.
• The trader must also submit evidence on the adoption or similar completion of the financial statements.
  

2. Branch files its own financial statements

If the statements have not been drawn up, audited and published in accordance with the statutes of the European Community, or in an equivalent manner, the branch registered in Finland must file its own financial statements with the Trade Register.

3. Some practical points for filing

The financial statements of a foreign-based trader’s branch in Finland, or the financial statements of the branch itself, must be submitted to us in Finnish, Swedish or in any other official EU language.

The profit and loss account submitted to us must state the Business Identity Code (Business ID) and the full official name of the company that is obliged to keep accounting records. The copies must be clear and legible so that they can easily be read and microfilmed. They must not be stapled or bound and must be single-sided and A4 size.

Form

• Financial statements form
  in Finnish
  in Swedish

Handling fee

• The financial statements notification is free of charge.

Deadline

• The documents must be submitted to us within a period of six months after the end of the accounting period.
• If the foreign-based trader is governed by the laws of a state which belongs to the European Economic Area, and the deadline for making the financial statements documents available to the public is therefore longer than six months, the statements must be submitted for registration by the deadline laid down by the law of that state.

4. Processing of financial statements information at the Trade Register

When you submit the financial statements documents directly to the Trade Register, we check that all the required documents have been included before registration. We do not check them as to their content, so they are registered as filed. The registration of the financial statements is added in the Trade Register entries of the company in question and the documents become publically available in PDF format. We do not send any free Trade Register extract to you once the registration is done.

After registration, financial statements documents are public by law and they can be ordered from service providers or viewed through various services. We also disclose documents in large quantities to businesses and authorities. Businesses pick certain key figures from the electronic documents for processing into different services for their clients.