Outsourcing payroll in Finland: a checklist for small companies (in English)

Karma Accounts · Published 19 October 2026

You can outsource payroll in Finland to an accounting firm or a payroll bureau, and a foreign founder can do it in English: you send the hours and changes in your own language, and the provider deals with the Incomes Register (tulorekisteri) and the Tax Administration. A full service makes the payslips, reports each payday to the Incomes Register, normally within five calendar days, and tells you what to pay by the 12th of the following month. Your company remains the employer, and the Tax Administration holds it responsible for the withholding and the reports even when an accounting firm does the work.

This article is the checklist for doing it well. If you would rather hand the work to us, our payroll services in Finland cover the payslips, the Incomes Register reports and the payments due on the 12th, in English, for 15 euros a payslip plus VAT.

What an outsourced payroll service includes

Ask a provider to confirm in writing that these are in the price:

Payslips on every payday. The Employment Contracts Act requires a calculation showing the amount of the pay and how it was worked out.
The earnings payment report (palkkatietoilmoitus) to the Incomes Register within five calendar days of the payment date, the day the money is available to the employee. A deadline on a weekend or public holiday moves to the next business day.
The employer's separate report (työnantajan erillisilmoitus), which carries the employer's health insurance contribution, by the 5th of the following month, again moving to the next business day if the 5th is a weekend or holiday. A registered employer files it every month, with "no wages payable" in quiet months; a casual employer files it only for months with pay.
The amounts to pay: the tax withheld and the employer's health insurance contribution. With a monthly tax period they are due on the 12th of the month after payday, or the next business day; you can pay in MyTax (OmaVero) or from your online bank. A registered employer that meets the conditions can have a quarterly period instead, with contributions for January to March due on 12 May, for example.
Insurance data: the pension company, the accident insurer and the Employment Fund (Työllisyysrahasto) calculate their contributions from the data reported to the Incomes Register and invoice you. The report must carry the right details, such as the employee's occupational class for accident insurance.
The holiday record: where the Annual Holidays Act applies, the employer must keep a record of each employee's holidays and the holiday pay.
The holiday pay liability: separately from that record, holiday earned but not yet taken, with the employer contributions on it, is booked as a liability in the accounts.
Year-end reconciliation: wages reported to the Incomes Register are not repeated on an annual information return, so the year-end check is that the payroll, the Incomes Register and the books agree. Errors are usually corrected with a replacement report; some, such as a wrong personal identity code or payment date, need the report cancelled and a new one filed.

If mandatory data reaches the Incomes Register after the 8th day of the month following the payment date, the Tax Administration imposes a late-filing penalty, and data that is missing or wrong can also lead to other sanctions, such as a tax increase.

What the employer still decides, and is responsible for

Outsourcing moves the work, not the responsibility. In the Tax Administration's guidance, a company that buys payroll from an accounting firm remains responsible for withholding and reporting; the firm acts as its agent. The Incomes Register's terms say the same: the payer answers for the correctness of the data even when an accounting firm submits it. What stays with you:

The employment contract, the pay, the hours and the trial period. If a generally binding collective agreement covers your sector, you must follow at least its terms, member of an employers' association or not.
The insurances, in the company's name. Accident and occupational disease insurance is required when the wages for work done in a calendar year, all employees together, exceed 1 500 euros, and it must be in force before the work starts, so take it out as soon as you expect to pass that limit. TyEL pension insurance is required from the month after an employee turns 17 until the upper age limit of 68, 69 or 70, depending on the year of birth, for earnings of at least 71.72 euros a month in 2026. In 2025 the Finnish Workers' Compensation Center found 2 618 cases of a missing accident policy, and many of those employers assumed the policy was created automatically when wages were paid. It is not.
Working hours. The Working Hours Act requires the employer to record the hours worked and the pay for them, per employee.
Approvals and payment. You approve the payroll and, unless you have agreed otherwise, pay the net wages, the taxes and the insurance invoices yourself.
Employer registration. A regular employer must join the Tax Administration's employer register: for example, a company that regularly pays two or more employees, one regular employee plus one or more temporary ones, or six or more at the same time.

The full list for a first hire is in our checklist for hiring your first employee, and what the contributions add to the salary is in our article on employer costs in Finland in 2026.

What your accountant needs before each payday

Agree a cut-off date a few working days before payday, and send:

For a new employee: the signed contract (start date, pay, hours, collective agreement), the identity details, the bank account, the tax card, the job title and the insurance policy numbers. If the employer has neither the withholding details obtained electronically nor a tax card, withholding is generally 60 %.
For each pay period: hours worked, overtime and evening or Sunday work, sick leave and holidays taken, bonuses and commissions, fringe benefits such as a phone or lunch benefit, and expense claims such as mileage or per diems, with the travel report. See our guide to mileage and per diems in 2026.
Changes: a pay rise, new hours, a salary advance, or the last working day of someone who leaves.

The Suomi.fi mandates a payroll provider needs

A provider that works in MyTax and the Incomes Register's e-service needs two separate mandates, because the tax mandate alone does not reach the Incomes Register:

Managing of tax affairs (Veroasioiden hoito) opens MyTax for the provider. It does not let anyone file Incomes Register reports; the Incomes Register has its own mandates.
Reporting earnings payment data (Palkkatietojen ilmoittaminen) lets the provider submit and view your earnings payment reports in the Incomes Register's e-service.

Reports sent straight from payroll software through the Incomes Register's interface work differently: they use a certificate from the Tax Administration that identifies the sending organisation. Who in your company can approve a mandate depends on the Trade Register: the managing director, a deputy managing director or another person entitled to represent the company alone, or someone the company has given mandate rights. Our guide to approving a Suomi.fi mandate request shows the steps, including the routes for someone without Finnish online banking codes.

Payroll software or outsourcing?

With payroll software you enter the hours and changes yourself, and many programs send the reports to the Incomes Register through its interface. The free Palkka.fi payroll service works that way, but it is available in Finnish and Swedish only, and the Tax Administration notes that it does not take collective agreements into account. Software suits an owner who has time, reads Finnish and knows the collective agreement, and who will notice a missed report or a wrong tax card. Outsourcing suits an owner who would rather send the data and get back finished payslips. Either way, the company carries the responsibility.

Comparing payroll providers and questions to ask

Fees: per payslip, per employee or a monthly base fee, and whether you pay in months with no payroll.
Extras: starting a new employee, a leaver's final pay, holiday pay and the year-end.
Language: whether you can send the hours, ask your questions and get the explanations in English.
Deadlines: the cut-off for hours before payday, and what happens when they arrive late.
Who answers: the person who runs your payroll, or a general helpdesk.

Before signing, ask whether the reports and the amounts to pay are all in the price, which collective agreements the provider already works with, who corrects a report built on wrong data and whether that is charged, whether the holiday record and the holiday pay liability are kept, and how the payroll records are handed over if you leave. Get the answers in writing. For choosing a firm more generally, see how to compare accounting firms in Finland.

What we do

Karma Accounts runs payroll for small employers in Finland as part of our bookkeeping. We communicate with you in English, Finnish or Hindi, as agreed, and file the statutory reports ourselves. On each payday we make the payslips, file the earnings payment report within five days and the employer's separate report by the 5th of the following month, tell you what to pay by the 12th, and keep the holiday pay liability in the books. The person who runs your payroll is the person who answers your email.

Payroll costs 15 euros per payslip plus VAT 25.5 %, charged only in months with a pay date: paying five people on one payday is five payslips. It sits on top of the monthly bookkeeping fee on our price list. See our payroll services page, or request a quote and tell us how many people you pay and how often. The pension rates the payroll uses are in our article on TyEL contributions in 2026; an owner on the payroll may fall under YEL instead.

Frequently asked questions

Where can I outsource payroll in Finland as a foreign founder who doesn't speak Finnish?

To an accounting firm or payroll bureau that serves clients in English. You send the hours and changes in English and approve two Suomi.fi mandates, one for MyTax and one for the Incomes Register; the provider files the reports. Your company stays responsible for the reports, so choose a provider that tells you plainly what was filed and what to pay.

Which accounting firms in Finland handle payroll and Incomes Register reporting in English?

Ask each firm whether the payroll itself, not only the bookkeeping, is run with you in English, and whether the person who answers your questions is the one who runs it. We run payroll and file the Incomes Register reports ourselves, communicate with you in English, Finnish or Hindi, and charge 15 euros per payslip plus VAT; see our payroll services page.

How do I choose an online payroll service for a small limited company in Finland?

Compare written quotes for the same work: the price per payslip or per employee, any base fee, whether the Incomes Register reports and the employer's separate report are included, the language, the cut-off before payday and who answers your questions.

Does an outsourced payroll provider take over the employer's responsibility?

No. The Tax Administration treats an accounting firm that runs payroll in the company's name as its agent, and the company remains responsible for withholding and reporting.

Sources

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.

Payroll from the first hire

Payslips, the Incomes Register report within five days and the amounts to pay by the 12th worked out, for 15 € a payslip plus VAT. See payroll services.

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