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Incomes Register reporting in Finland: deadlines, corrections and late-filing penalties

Karma Accounts · Published 28 October 2026

An employer in Finland reports every payment of wages to the Incomes Register (tulorekisteri) on an earnings payment report within five calendar days of the payment date, the day the money is available to the employee. If the fifth day is a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday, the next business day is enough. Once a month the employer also files the employer's separate report, due by the 5th of the following month. A late-filing penalty starts only if the month's first report arrives after the 8th day of the month following payday: 3 euros a day, at most 135 euros, plus 1 % of the taxable pay reported more than 45 days late.

For the steps before the first payday, see our hiring checklist, employer costs and, for a foreign company, hiring without a Finnish company.

The reports and their deadlines

Reports are filed electronically. Paper is allowed only for a special reason, and gives three more days: eight days after payday for an earnings payment report, the 8th of the next month for a separate report.

The earnings payment report

Each report covers one employee and one payment date, and carries both parties' identifiers, the payment date, the pay period, the income types paid (monthly salary, overtime, bonus, benefits), the tax withheld and other deductions, and insurance details for the pension and accident insurers.

Payment date, not earning period. The five days are calendar days. Hours worked in December but paid in January are January income, reported within five days of the January payday.

The employer's separate report

Filed once a month per employer, the separate report carries the month's total employer's health insurance contribution (in 2026, 1.91 % of the wages of employees aged 16 to 67 covered by Finnish health insurance) and any deduction from it, or, in a month without wages, "No wages payable". It is due by the 5th of the following month, or the next banking day if the 5th is a weekend or holiday. Who files it, and when:

• Regular employer, in the register: every month, with "No wages payable" when you pay nothing. Registration is compulsory if you regularly pay two or more employees, or one regular employee plus temporary ones, or six or more at the same time.
• Casual employer, not in the register: only for months in which you pay wages or expense reimbursements.
• Casual employer who registered voluntarily: treated as regular, so every month.

If you paid only tax-free reimbursements in a month, report the contribution as 0 instead of "No wages payable". The figures flow into MyTax, where, with a monthly tax period, you pay the withheld tax and the health insurance contribution by the 12th of the following month.

Benefits in kind and travel allowances

Benefits in kind, such as a car or phone benefit, are reported monthly by the 5th of the month after the benefit month, with the cash wages or separately. Tax-free per diems, mileage and meal allowances are reported by the 5th of the month after payment, even in a month with no salary. Tax-free business travel costs settled against a ticket or receipt, such as a reimbursed train ticket or a hotel invoice the company pays, are not reported. Current rates are in our per diem and mileage article.

How to file, and who can file for you

Payroll software sends the reports through the Incomes Register's technical interface. In the Incomes Register e-service, entered with online banking codes, a mobile certificate or a certificate card, you fill in one report at a time or upload an XML file. A board member or other person with a registered role can file directly; anyone else, an accountant included, needs the Suomi.fi mandate "Reporting earnings payment data", which a MyTax mandate does not cover (how to grant it).

How to correct a report

Correct errors in the Incomes Register, not MyTax, as soon as you notice them.

Replacement report (korvaava ilmoitus). The usual route: made for the same payment date as the original, repeating all its data, correct parts included. A "new report" replaces nothing; it adds a second payment.

Cancellation and a new report, sent on the same day, is needed for some data, including:

• the payment date or the pay period
• the payer's or the employee's identifiers, or the employee's date of birth
• the pension insurance details, or the accident insurer or policy number
• the insurance exception type, the "temporary employer" payer type or the substitute payer details.

Send both before 4 pm or after 6 pm, as reports sent in between can be recorded on different days, and avoid cancelling on the 15th to 20th. If they land on different days, paid tax can show as unpaid in MyTax, with interest. If the correction changes the health insurance contribution, also replace that month's separate report.

The late-filing penalty

The Tax Administration imposes the late-filing penalty (myöhästymismaksu) under sections 22 and 23 of the Act on the Incomes Information System (53/2018). A month's earnings payment reports and separate report count as one: the daily part depends on the first report submitted for the month, and if that one was on time, later reports carry no daily part.

• The 8th, not the 5th. If the 8th is a Saturday, Sunday or public holiday, the next business day still counts.
• The 1 % part. Its base is the taxable pay reported late, or the pensionable earnings if larger; tax-free reimbursements do not count. It can apply even when no daily part was charged, and is capped at 15 000 euros a month.
• Quiet months count. "No wages payable" filed 15 days late costs 15 x 3 = 45 euros.
• No penalty if the delay was beyond your control, such as an e-service failure, or for another valid reason.
• Charging. The decision appears on your monthly summary in MyTax and falls due on the second general due date after that. Amounts under 3 euros are not charged, and the penalty is not deductible in income taxation.

A worked example: November and December 2026

A company in the employer register, with a monthly tax period, pays two employees aged 30 and 45 3 000 euros each on Monday 30 November 2026.

5 December is a Saturday and 6 December Independence Day; 12 December and St Stephen's Day, 26 December, are Saturdays.

• All November reports sent on Friday 18 December: 10 days late, 10 x 3 = 30 euros.
• Earnings payment reports on time, separate report on 18 December: no penalty, because the month's first report was on time.
• All sent on Monday 1 February 2027: 55 days late, 135 euros plus 1 % of 6 000 euros (60 euros), so 195 euros.
• On time, but a 500 euro bonus left off one report: a replacement report by Friday 22 January 2027, 45 days after 8 December, costs nothing; on 1 February it costs 1 % of 500 euros, 5 euros. Either way the separate report is replaced too: the contribution rises by 9.55 euros.

Frequently asked questions

Do I file the employer's separate report if I paid no wages?

Yes, if you are in the employer register, voluntarily or not: report "No wages payable". A casual employer outside the register files only for months with wages or reimbursements.

Can I correct an Incomes Register report without a penalty?

Yes, within 45 days of that 8th day. Later, only if it does not increase taxable pay and is sent as a replacement or a same-day cancellation and new report.

Payroll and reporting with Karma

Karma Accounts runs payroll for employers in Finland, in English or Finnish: we file the Incomes Register reports and corrections and tell you what to pay by the 12th. See our payroll services or request a quote with the number of employees and your paydays.

Sources

• Finlex: Act on the Incomes Information System 53/2018, sections 11, 12, 22 and 23 (in Finnish)
• Incomes Register: deadlines for reporting
• Incomes Register: employer's separate report, detailed guidance valid from 1.1.2026
• Incomes Register: wages, detailed guidance valid from 1.1.2026
• Incomes Register: correcting data, detailed guidance, chapter 6 (in Finnish)
• Tax Administration: correcting wage reports
• Incomes Register: penalty fees, detailed guidance valid from 1.1.2026
• Incomes Register: penalty fees
• Tax Administration: penalty fees, the decision and due date (in Finnish)
• Tax Administration: how to report wages and employer's contributions
• Tax Administration: paying self-assessed taxes
• Tax Administration: social insurance contributions
• Incomes Register: use our services electronically
• Tax Administration: Employer Register
• Incomes Register: reporting reimbursements of expenses

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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