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The prepayment register in Finland (ennakkoperintärekisteri): checking a supplier and withholding 13 %

Karma Accounts · Published 28 October 2026

The prepayment register (ennakkoperintärekisteri) is the Tax Administration's list of businesses that pay their own tax in advance. If the business you pay for work or a service is in it, you pay the invoice in full. If it is not, you must withhold tax from what you pay for the work, including supplies used up in it, but not VAT: 13 % when the seller is a company such as an Oy, the rate on the seller's tax card when it is a sole trader or other individual, and 60 % if an individual gives you no tax card. Check the register free of charge in YTJ before you pay.

What being in the register means

A registered business pays its income tax in advance through its own tax prepayment, so customers withhold nothing. Registration is voluntary, but without it getting work can be hard.

The register matters for work compensation (työkorvaus), pay for work, a task or a service other than wages, and for royalties. It has no effect on:

• Wages. An employer always withholds from wages according to the employee's tax card, registered or not.
• Goods and rent. No withholding when you buy goods or rent premises or equipment.

How to check a supplier

Search the business by name or Business ID in the YTJ business search; the entry shows whether it is in the prepayment register and from which date. Ilmoitin.fi checks many businesses at once from an Excel file.

What counts is the register when you pay; you can rely on it even if the business is removed later. Check before every one-off payment. If you pay the same business regularly, check at least four times a year: on 1 March, 1 June, 1 September and 1 December.

What counts as work compensation

Work compensation includes the seller's costs of doing the work, such as tools, supplies used up in it and travel.

You can leave goods out only if the work is itemised on the invoice or an attachment, or invoiced separately.

How much to withhold

A tax card for wages cannot be used for work compensation.

Reporting and paying the withheld tax

1. Report the payment to the Incomes Register on an earnings payment report within 5 days of the payment date, as income type "Non-wage compensation for work" (336), and the tax as "Withholding tax" (402).
2. Pay the withholding in MyTax with your employer contributions: with a monthly tax period, always the case outside the employer register, by the 12th of the next month; with a quarterly one, by the 12th of the second month after the quarter. A weekend or holiday moves the date to the next business day.
3. Pay the seller the rest.

If the seller is in the register, you usually report nothing: you just pay the invoice.

If you forget to withhold, still report the payment. You can add the missing tax to later payments to the same seller in the same calendar year, by at most 10 % of each payment unless the seller agrees to more; otherwise tell the Tax Administration, which orders the tax and any late-payment charges on you.

Worked example

Your Oy pays a cleaning company, Siivous Oy, which is VAT-registered but not in the prepayment register. Its October invoice:

The supplies are part of the work compensation, so you withhold 13 % of 1 700.00 = 221.00 euros. You pay Siivous Oy 2 133.50 − 221.00 = 1 912.50 euros on Thursday 5 November 2026, report the payment and the 221.00 withheld to the Incomes Register by Tuesday 10 November, and, with a monthly tax period, pay the 221.00 to the Tax Administration by Monday 14 December 2026, because 12 December is a Saturday. Whether you can deduct the VAT follows the usual VAT deduction rules.

Had Siivous Oy been registered, you would have paid 2 133.50 and reported nothing.

Paying a foreign business

When a Finnish business pays a business that is not tax resident in Finland for work done here, it withholds tax at source: 13 % for a company comparable to an Oy or a partnership, 35 % for a self-employed person. There is no tax at source if the foreign business:

• is in the Finnish prepayment register,
• gives you a 0 % tax-at-source card, or
• shows that a tax treaty prevents Finland from taxing the payment.

The treaty route is closed for building, earthmoving, water and other construction work, installation and assembly projects, shipbuilding, transport, cleaning and care work, and leased workers in these fields: there, tax at source is always withheld unless the business is in the register or has a 0 % card. Give the business a statement of the payment and the tax. Report to the Incomes Register within 5 days, the tax as "Tax at source" (404): for a foreign company whenever tax at source was or should have been withheld, for a foreign individual always. Construction VAT is separate: see construction reverse charge. For example, on 20 000.00 euros invoiced, without VAT, by an Estonian installation company with neither, the buyer withholds 2 600.00 and pays 17 400.00.

How a foreign business gets in. A non-resident business can be registered if it has a permanent establishment in Finland or its home is in a country with a tax treaty with Finland; since 1 January 2026, a home in an EEA country also qualifies. Registration alone creates no Finnish income tax liability. Apply on start-up notification Y1 (company), Y2 (partnership) or Y3 (sole trader), with a trade register extract in English, Finnish or Swedish. The 0 % card is form 6202 for a company and form 5057 with form 6205 for a self-employed person. Apply before the work starts: payments made before the registration date are still withheld.

Getting into the register yourself

You can apply for a business or other income-producing activity, even one about to start: on the start-up notification at ytj.fi, or later in MyTax or with a change notification. The paper forms are Y1 (Oy), Y2 (partnerships) and Y3 (sole traders), and Y4–Y6 for changes. Once accepted, you are registered from the day the application arrived, or a later date you gave, and YTJ shows the entry as soon as it is made. It is refused for a clear hobby, and can be refused if the applicant has materially neglected its tax or bookkeeping duties, or earlier neglect by it or its managers' companies suggests it will. Put your Business ID on every invoice so customers can check you; our invoice template has a field for it.

When a business is removed

A business is removed at its own request, or by the Tax Administration if it has ended, is a hobby or materially neglects its obligations: unpaid taxes, returns or Incomes Register reports still missing after a reminder, or neglected bookkeeping. A manager's earlier neglect or business prohibition can count too; a new company does not avoid it.

• Notice first. You are told in advance and can put things right.
• Small lapses. A one-off, minor lapse does not count; there is no fixed euro limit.
• Payment plan. Tax debt in an approved payment arrangement does not block registration; debt in enforcement can lead to removal.
• Coming back or appealing. Apply again once the neglect is fixed; a claim for adjustment goes to the Assessment Adjustment Board within 60 days of receiving the decision.

Common mistakes

• Checking a supplier once and never again.
• Withholding 13 % from an individual instead of their tax card rate.
• Leaving supplies used in the work out of the withholding.
• Not reporting a payment because you forgot to withhold.
• Not checking foreign suppliers, whose construction, cleaning or transport work here is taxed at source without a register entry or 0 % card.

What we do

Karma Accounts handles invoicing, supplier register checks, withholding and Incomes Register reports for small businesses in Finland, in English. See our payroll services, or tell us what you pay and to whom through our quote request form.

Frequently asked questions

How do I check if a company is in the prepayment register?

Search it by name or Business ID in the free YTJ business search at ytj.fi. The entry shows the register and its start date.

What if the company is not in the prepayment register?

Withhold 13 % of the work compensation, without VAT, from a company; from an individual, their tax card rate or 60 %. Report within 5 days and pay by the 12th of the next month (monthly tax period).

Do I withhold tax when I buy goods?

No, as long as they are shown separately from any work.

Does a foreign company need to be in the Finnish prepayment register?

Not always. Without registration or a 0 % card, 13 % tax at source is withheld from its work in Finland unless a tax treaty prevents Finnish tax, and in construction, installation, transport, cleaning and care work always. A company from an EEA or tax-treaty country can register without a Finnish establishment.

Sources

• Tax Administration: prepayment register
• Tax Administration: registration for the prepayment register and its effect on business, detailed guidance (18.3.2026)
• Tax Administration: Ennakonpidätyksen toimittaminen, detailed guidance, sections 6.4 and 11.1 (in Finnish)
• Incomes Register: non-wage compensations for work
• Tax Administration: how to report wages and employer's contributions
• Tax Administration: instructions for paying self-assessed taxes
• Tax Administration: paying non-wage compensation to a non-resident foreign company, detailed guidance (6.5.2026)
• Tax Administration: starting up business in Finland, detailed guidance (6.5.2026)
• Tax Administration: buying services from a foreign company
• Finlex: Act on tax prepayments 1118/1996, sections 19 and 25–27 (in Finnish)
• Finlex: Act 382/2025 amending section 25 of the Act on tax prepayments (in Finnish)
• YTJ business search

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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