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Behind on bookkeeping in Finland? How to catch up, step by step

Karma Accounts · Published 8 October 2026

If you are months behind on your bookkeeping (kirjanpito), it can be caught up. Finnish law lets most entries be made monthly, but they must be made in time for your VAT and other returns to be filed from up-to-date books. Catching up means collecting the missing months' bank statements and receipts, booking them in date order and filing what is overdue, most urgent first. Starting promptly can limit further charges and makes the work easier.

What the law asks

Under the Accounting Act (kirjanpitolaki, KPL), chapter 2 section 4:

• cash payments are booked without delay and in daily order
• other entries may be made monthly or for a similar period
• they must be made in time for tax and other returns to be prepared from up-to-date books, and for those responsible for a company's bookkeeping to supervise it

The old four-month limit was removed in 2015. The Accounting Board (kirjanpitolautakunta, KILA) says the VAT period and its filing schedule set the pace in practice, and for payroll the Incomes Register (tulorekisteri) deadlines do. KPL 2:6 adds that the trail from the books to a periodic tax return must be traceable both ways.

What falling behind can lead to

• Late VAT returns. A late-filing fee (myöhästymismaksu) and interest on tax paid late. The amounts are in our article on late VAT returns.
• Late Incomes Register reports. The earnings payment report is generally due five calendar days after payday, and the employer's separate report by the fifth of the following month. Reports arriving after the eighth day of the month following payment bring a fee: 3 euros a day for up to 45 days, then 1 % of the late-reported pay, capped at 15 000 euros a month.
• A missing tax return. An income tax return filed late, but before the assessment ends, generally carries a late-filing fee: 50 euros for a natural person or an estate, 100 euros for others, such as an Oy. If no return comes, the Tax Administration (Verohallinto) generally asks for it first; if it still does not come, the tax can be set by estimate (arvioverotus) with a tax increase (veronkorotus), after you have been heard.
• Financial statements. Where they are required, they must be prepared within four months of the end of the financial year (KPL 3:6). A sole trader generally need not. Filing them with the Finnish Patent and Registration Office (PRH) is a separate duty; see financial statement deadlines.

Two things can make it worse. VAT-free small business status needs turnover of at most 20 000 euros in both the current and the previous calendar year. If you passed the limit and never registered, you must register retroactively from the sale that crossed it, and the returns for the tax periods since may already be late; see our article on VAT registration. And your tax prepayment (ennakkovero) rests on your own estimate of the year's income. A shortfall can result in residual tax (jäännösvero) and interest, so once the figures are known, update the prepayment or apply for an additional one (lisäennakko).

The criminal provisions, briefly

Under KPL 8:4, failing intentionally or through gross negligence to make entries within the time KPL 2:4 requires is an accounting violation (kirjanpitorikkomus), punished by a fine unless it is an accounting offence.

The accounting offence (kirjanpitorikos), Criminal Code (rikoslaki) 30:9, requires intent: neglecting entries or the financial statements against the accounting rules and thereby making it harder to get a true and fair view of the result or financial position. A sole trader, a company's responsible persons, a person actually controlling it and the person the bookkeeping is entrusted to can be liable. The penalty is a fine or up to two years in prison. Under section 9a the offence can be aggravated (törkeä kirjanpitorikos), for example when entries or the financial statements are neglected entirely or in essential parts and the offence is also aggravated as a whole: four months to four years. Section 10 covers grossly negligent conduct separately.

The order to catch up

1. Pin down the gap. Find the last month booked and matched to the bank, and the last return of each kind filed. Read the letters in MyTax (OmaVero).
2. Get the bank statements. For every business account and card, as importable files, plus reports from card terminals, online shops and delivery platforms.
3. Collect sales and purchases. Sales invoices, daily sales reports, purchase invoices and receipts. E-mail and supplier accounts often hold copies.
4. List what is missing and replace it. Every entry needs adequate documentary support. The bank's records serve for the payment itself, but a purchase also needs a document showing what was bought, so ask the seller for a copy first. If none can be had, KPL 2:5 allows an internally prepared, duly verified voucher. The Accounting Board treats it as an exception: it records the usual voucher details, who prepared it and why the original is missing. It is not the seller's invoice, so it does not by itself give a right to deduct VAT; see our receipts article.
5. List the overdue filings with their deadlines. VAT returns, Incomes Register reports, the tax return and, where required, the financial statements.
6. File by real deadlines. A request from the Tax Administration with its own date comes first, then whatever is nearest the next fee threshold: the daily VAT and Incomes Register fees stop after 45 days, but a percentage is added after that. An imminent tax return or financial statement deadline may come before older VAT periods. Book in date order, because each VAT return draws on the records for its tax period, which can be a month, a quarter or a year.
7. Then keep current. Match bank lines with receipts monthly and know the VAT before the due date.

Booking unrecorded transactions differs from changing existing entries. Once an official return has been made from the books, those entries are kept (KPL 2:7): an error is fixed with a traceable correcting entry, and the return is corrected too.

What an accountant needs to quote

To price the catch-up work, an accountant needs:

• the number of months behind, and whether the last financial statements were done
• the company form, Oy or sole trader (toiminimi), and your VAT status and VAT period
• the number of bank accounts and roughly how many transactions a month
• whether you pay salaries
• the overdue filings, and any letters from the Tax Administration or PRH
• where the material is now

If the books are with another accountant, see switching accountant. To file for you, we need a Suomi.fi mandate.

What we do

We take on catch-up work for new clients: we book the past months, file what is overdue in the order above, and then keep your books current. The catch-up is quoted once we have seen the material. The monthly fee is 199 euros for a limited company up to 240 000 euros of turnover and 249 euros above, from 69 euros for a sole trader, and 15 euros per payslip for payroll, all plus VAT 25.5 %, with software and the year-end financial statements included and no limit on receipts. We are based in Helsinki and work online across Finland. Start on our bookkeeping and accounting page.

Sources

• Finlex: Accounting Act 1336/1997, chapter 2 sections 4–7, chapter 3 sections 6 and 9, chapter 8 section 4 (in Finnish)
• Finlex: Criminal Code 39/1889, chapter 3 section 5 and chapter 30 sections 9, 9a and 10 (in Finnish)
• Accounting Board (KILA): general guideline on bookkeeping methods and materials, 2021 (in Finnish)
• Tax Administration: did you file self-assessed taxes late?
• Tax Administration: Incomes Register, penalty charges for late reports (in Finnish)
• Tax Administration: employer's separate report in the Incomes Register (in Finnish)
• Tax Administration: penalty charges in income taxation, detailed guidance (in Finnish)
• Tax Administration: accounting, financial year and tax period for a new business (in Finnish)
• Tax Administration: VAT-free small business activity, detailed guidance (in Finnish)
• Tax Administration: guide for VAT-registered businesses (in Finnish)
• Tax Administration: prepayment for businesses (in Finnish)

Please note: this is general information about Finnish rules, not advice for your own situation, and the rules change. Ask us before you act on it.

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