Fre­quently asked ques­tions about fi­nan­cial state­ments filed late 

You have received a reminder letter because your company’s financial statements have not been filed with the Finnish Trade Register within 8 months of the end of the financial period.

We send the letter to the company’s mailing address, as recorded in the Finnish Business Information System at ytj.fi, and also by email if an email address has been entered in the company’s Trade Register details. If the company does not have an address, we send the letter to the company’s responsible person entered in the Finnish Trade Register.

Financial statements attached to the tax return will arrive in the Finnish Trade Register only if the financial statements have been attached to the tax return exactly as instructed by the Finnish Tax Administration. See the frequently asked questions about attaching financial statements to your tax return at vero.fi (in FinnishAvautuu uuteen välilehteen or in SwedishAvautuu uuteen välilehteen).

We will send you a Trade Register extract once your financial statements have been registered. You can also use our Virre Information ServiceAvautuu uuteen välilehteen to check the situation. Virre allows you to view the company’s Trade Register details and download Trade Register extracts free of charge. The extract contains the company’s latest register details, including information on the five most recently registered financial statements.

Limited liability companies and co-operatives must file their financial statements with the Finnish Trade Register for each financial period, even if the company is inactive. There are no legal provisions on exemption from the duty to file financial statements. Therefore, the financial statements must be filed, even if the company is inactive, it has not conducted any actual business during the financial period, or it has no assets or bank account.

If the company is inactive, and the company has no intention to continue its operations in the future, it may be the right time to remove the company from the Finnish Trade Register. See the question:How is a limited liability company removed (dissolved) from the Finnish Trade Register?

The law requires companies to file their financial statements with the Finnish Trade Register. The purpose of the Finnish Trade Register is to provide reliable information on companies and organisations operating in Finland. Therefore, it is important that the company details in the register are publicly and easily available. Financial statements contain important information for the company’s stakeholders, such as investors, partners, clients, and lenders.

As long as the company is registered in the Finnish Trade Register, it is obligated to file its financial statements. If the company is inactive, and the company has no intention to continue its operations in the future, it may be the right time to remove the company from the Finnish Trade Register. See the question: How is a limited liability company removed (dissolved) from the Finnish Trade Register?‍

Companies are responsible for filing their own financial statements by the deadline. The deadlines are based on the legislation. The PRH cannot extend the deadline for filing.

The PRH cannot give advice on how to draw up financial statements. More information is available from accounting firms, entrepreneur organisations or online. Read in our instructions which details and documents the financial statement notification must contain.

1. Read our instructions on which details and documents you must file.
2. Log into the online filing service at ytj.fiAvautuu uuteen välilehteen using, for example, your personal internet banking codes. The online service is available in Finnish and Swedish.
3. Select “Muuta yrityksen tietoja tai lähetä tilinpäätös” or ”Ändra företagets uppgifter eller skicka in bokslut” (Change company details or send financial statements). Enter the Business ID and continue. Select “Ilmoita tilinpäätös kaupparekisteriin” or “Lämna in bokslut till handelsregistret” (File the financial statements with the Finnish Trade Register). Select the option to file financial statements as PDF documents.
   
4. Upload the requested documents. If all the documents are in one file, answer for the other documents “Tiedot ovat jo liittämässäni dokumentissa” or “Uppgifterna ingår i det redan bifogade dokumentet” (The details are included in the document already attached).
   
5. Accept and sign the notification in the service.

If you have not filed financial statements within a year of the end of the financial period, the PRH sends a decision on the fee for late submission of financial statements. The fee is at least 600 euros when the financial statements are more than 4 months late. Read more about the fee for late submission and what affects its amount.

The PRH does not extend the deadline for paying the fee for late submission. The Legal Register Centre (LRC) sends a separate payment reminder, and the fee must be paid by the due date in the payment reminder. Read more about the enforcement of the fee for late submission on the LRC’s website.Avautuu uuteen välilehteen

If the company does not pay the fee for late submission by the due date provided by the Legal Register Centre, the fee can be sent for debt collection.

If the company does not pay the fee for late submission during the debt collection process or the company has no distrainable income or property, the execution officer will conclude that the company lacks means and refer the execution matter back to the Legal Register Centre. The Legal Register Centre can later resend the fee for late submission for debt collection.

The decision on the fee for late submission concerns the company that is registered in the Finnish Trade Register, not the person responsible for the company. The company is liable for the fee imposed on it.

A limited liability company cannot be informally closed, and it is not sufficient to submit a notification of termination of business to the Finnish Tax Administration.

A limited liability company must be dissolved through liquidation. The liquidation procedure has four steps, and it takes at least five months. Notifications related to liquidation are subject to a fee. A board member, the company’s shareholder, bookkeeper, or some other person can act as the liquidator. Read our instructions on how limited liability companies are dissolved through liquidation.‍