Financial statements in Finland: the deadlines and what being late costs
A Finnish limited company (Oy) must prepare its financial statements within four months of the end of its financial year, have them adopted at the annual general meeting within six months, and file the adopted statements with the Trade Register within two months of adoption and no later than eight months after the year end. The tax return is due within four months after the end of the last calendar month of the financial year. So the months count from the end of your own financial year, not from the end of the calendar year.
A limited company's dates
For a financial year ending on 31 December 2026:
| What | Deadline | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Prepare and sign the financial statements | 4 months | 30 April 2027 |
| Tax return | 4 months | 30 April 2027 |
| AGM adopts the financial statements | 6 months | 30 June 2027 |
| File them with the Trade Register | 2 months from adoption | 30 August 2027 if adopted on 30 June |
The board and the managing director sign the financial statements. The tax return and the Trade Register filing are both due even if the company had no activity in the year.
The two-month rule means an early AGM brings the filing date forward too: statements adopted in March are due at the Trade Register by May. PRH's late fee, though, only applies once eight months have passed, in the example after 31 August 2027. You file in the YTJ service, free of charge within the eight months.
The tax deadline does not wait for the AGM
The tax return is due at four months even if the AGM is held later. If a dividend is decided after the return is filed, the dividend details go to the Tax Administration within a month of the decision. More on dividends and salary is in our article on salary or dividends.
You can also send the financial statements to the Trade Register with the tax return. The Tax Administration passes them on to the Finnish Patent and Registration Office (PRH) in about a week, as long as the attachments are named exactly as its instructions say. The Trade Register takes adopted statements, though, so if the AGM comes after the tax return, file the statements after the meeting.
What being late costs
| Late | Consequence |
|---|---|
| tax return, filed before the tax assessment ends | late-filing fee of 100 euros |
| tax return not filed before the assessment ends | punitive tax increase, at least 150 euros |
| Trade Register, up to 2 months | 150 euros |
| Trade Register, 2 to 4 months | 300 euros |
| Trade Register, over 4 months or never | 600 euros |
A company's tax assessment ends no later than ten months after the end of the last calendar month of its financial year. The Trade Register fee applies to financial years ending on 1 December 2024 or later, and it is doubled when the statements are late for two or more financial years in a row. An unpaid fee can be collected through enforcement.
If the statements have not been filed within a year of the end of the financial year, PRH first imposes the late fee and then sends a reminder giving the company three weeks to file. After that, the reminder is published in the Official Journal at least three months before its deadline. If the statements still do not arrive, the company is removed from the Trade Register or ordered into liquidation, and a company removed from the register cannot carry on business.
Sole traders
A sole trader (toiminimi) has no AGM and usually files no financial statements with the Trade Register. Preparing financial statements is only compulsory if at least two of the micro-company limits were exceeded in both the latest and the previous financial year: a balance sheet of 450 000 euros, turnover of 900 000 euros and 10 employees on average. These are not the limits for double-entry bookkeeping, which our article on toiminimi or Oy covers.
Everyone else keeps books and files the business tax return, which for the 2025 tax year was due by 1 April 2026. Your own due date is in MyTax and on the first page of the return. You can ask for more time for a valid reason, such as illness, before the due date. A return filed late, but before the tax assessment ends, costs a sole trader a 50-euro late-filing fee.
Keeping the dates easy
Books that are up to date at the end of the year make it easier to have the financial statements ready on time. In our prices the financial statements and the tax return are part of the monthly fee, with no separate invoice in the spring.
Sources
- Finlex: Accounting Act 1336/1997, chapter 1 section 1 a and chapter 3 sections 6 and 7 (in Finnish)
- Finlex: Limited Liability Companies Act 624/2006, chapter 5 section 3, chapter 8 section 10 and chapter 20 sections 4 and 5 (in Finnish)
- Finnish Patent and Registration Office: financial statements
- Finnish Patent and Registration Office: how limited liability companies file financial statements
- Finnish Patent and Registration Office: fee for financial statements filed late
- Finnish Patent and Registration Office: filing financial statements with the tax return
- Finnish Patent and Registration Office: deregistering companies that have not filed their financial statements
- Tax Administration: income tax return of a limited company
- Tax Administration: penalties in income taxation, sections 2.2 and 3.2.9, detailed guidance (in Finnish)
- Tax Administration: business tax return of a sole trader
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.
Want this off your desk?
We keep the bookkeeping current and file on time, and you get the amount before the due date.
Email usPlease don’t send bank credentials, personal identity codes or other sensitive data by email.