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Finnish accounting and tax terms in English: a glossary for business owners

Published 2 October 2026

Running a business in Finland means meeting Finnish words in letters, forms and bank screens long before your Finnish is ready for them. This glossary explains the ones business owners meet most often, in plain English, grouped by where you meet them. Where we have written about a term in depth, the term links there.

Your company

• Toiminimi: a sole trader, a business you run in your own name. Also the word for a business name. See toiminimi or Oy.
• Osakeyhtiö (Oy): a limited company, a separate legal person owned through shares.
• Kevytyrittäjä: a light entrepreneur who invoices through an invoicing service instead of having a business ID. See light entrepreneur or toiminimi.
• Y-tunnus: the business ID, the number that identifies a business in every register.
• Henkilötunnus: the Finnish personal identity code.
• Aputoiminimi: an auxiliary business name, used for a separate line of business.
• Sivuliike: a branch of a foreign company. See branch or subsidiary.
• Apportti: paying for shares with property instead of money, for example with the business of a toiminimi. See turning a toiminimi into an Oy.

Registers and authorities

• Verohallinto (Vero): the Finnish Tax Administration.
• OmaVero: MyTax, the Tax Administration's online service, where returns are filed and taxes paid.
• PRH: the Finnish Patent and Registration Office, which keeps the Trade Register.
• Kaupparekisteri: the Trade Register.
• YTJ: the joint business information service of PRH and the Tax Administration, where a business is registered.
• Ennakkoperintärekisteri: the prepayment register. Customers pay the invoices of a business in it in full, without withholding tax from them; the business pays its own tax through tax prepayments.
• Alv-rekisteri: the VAT register. See the VAT registration limit.
• Työnantajarekisteri: the employer register, for employers who pay wages regularly.
• Tulorekisteri: the Incomes Register, where every salary payment is reported.
• Suomi.fi-valtuus: a Suomi.fi mandate, which lets your accountant act for you in MyTax. See how to approve a mandate.

Bookkeeping

• Kirjanpito: bookkeeping. Kirjanpitolaki is the Accounting Act, which obliges every business to keep books.
• Tosite: a voucher, the document behind every entry; a kuitti is a receipt. See what a receipt must show.
• Tilikausi: the financial period, usually twelve months.
• Tilinpäätös: the financial statements. See financial statement deadlines.
• Tase and tuloslaskelma: the balance sheet and the income statement.
• Tilintarkastaja: an auditor. Most small companies are not required to have one.
• Yksityisotto: a private withdrawal, money a sole trader takes out of the business.
• Nettovarallisuus: net assets. In a sole trader's business they set the capital income share of its profit; in a limited company they set the share of dividends taxed as capital income.
• Poisto: depreciation.
• Ajopäiväkirja: a driver's log. See car in the business or in your own name.

Taxes

• Arvonlisävero (alv): value added tax, VAT. See VAT rates in 2026 and the VAT guide.
• Arvonlisäveroilmoitus: the VAT return. See VAT return deadlines.
• Käännetty verovelvollisuus: the reverse charge, where the buyer pays the VAT. See reverse charge.
• Yhteenvetoilmoitus: the EU recapitulative statement of sales to businesses in other EU countries. See selling services abroad.
• Ennakkovero: the tax prepayment an entrepreneur pays during the year. See tax prepayment.
• Lisäennakko: an additional prepayment, paid to avoid interest when the prepayment was too low.
• Jäännösvero: back tax, the amount still owed after the assessment.
• Veroilmoitus: the tax return. A sole trader's business tax return is form 5. See the sole trader tax return.
• Verokortti: the tax card, which tells an employer how much tax to withhold.
• Ennakonpidätys: tax withheld from a payment.
• Ansiotulo and pääomatulo: earned income and capital income, which are taxed differently.
• Yhteisövero: corporate income tax, 20 % of a company's taxable profit.
• Osinko: a dividend.
• Myöhästymismaksu: a late-filing fee.
• Veronkorotus: a tax increase, added when income was left out of a return.

Employees and the entrepreneur

• Palkka: salary or wages. Palkkalaskelma is the payslip.
• TyEL: the earnings-related pension insurance for employees.
• YEL: the self-employed person's pension insurance. See YEL in 2026.
• Työterveyshuolto: occupational health care, compulsory from the first employee. See hiring your first employee.
• Lomaraha: a holiday bonus, paid where the collective agreement requires it.
• Työehtosopimus (TES): a collective agreement.
• Päiväraha and kilometrikorvaus: the tax-free per diem and mileage allowance. See mileage and per diems.
• Työhuonevähennys: the home office deduction. See the home office deduction.
• Edustuskulut: entertainment expenses, such as client meals. See entertainment expenses.

If a letter arrives with words that are not on this list, an accounting company in Finland that works in English can tell you what it says and whether you need to do anything. That is part of our everyday work: see working with an English-speaking accountant.

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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