Finnish VAT registration and returns for foreign companies

When Finnish VAT obligations arise

Whether a foreign company must register for VAT in Finland depends on the transaction, the customer, any Finnish fixed establishment involved, and whether reverse charge, the OSS or an exemption covers the sale. Typical reasons to register are sales to private individuals, goods already in Finland sold to a private individual or to a foreign buyer with neither a Finnish VAT registration nor a fixed establishment here, admission to events and passenger transport in Finland, and sales through a fixed establishment here.

Reverse charge often covers business-to-business sales to Finland: if the company sells only to businesses on the Finnish VAT register, the buyer usually reports the VAT and the seller does not register. We check the exceptions, such as passenger transport and event admission, any other reason to register, and whether a Finnish fixed establishment takes part.

A business established outside the EU cannot use the Finnish small-business exemption. An EU business may qualify only under the EU scheme for small businesses, within its turnover limits and once registered for the scheme in its home country. The cases, the OSS alternatives and the steps are in our article on VAT registration in Finland for a foreign company.

What we do

• Registration. We first check whether you need a Finnish VAT registration at all. If you do, we use the forms that fit your legal form and any existing Finnish registrations (typically start-up notification Y1 with enclosure 6204) and tell you which documents to attach and translate. Registration takes about three weeks on average; complete documents help.
• VAT returns. We file the return for every VAT period in MyTax (OmaVero) under your Suomi.fi authorisation, including periods with no activity; see how the returns work.
• EC Sales Lists. For reportable intra-EU supplies of goods, and services to EU businesses taxed under reverse charge, we file the EC Sales List (yhteenvetoilmoitus).
• Tax Administration letters. Send us whatever the Tax Administration sends you. We tell you what it says and what the reply needs, and answer as far as the records we handle allow.
• Deregistration. When the activity in Finland ends, we deregister the company, or end all its Finnish registrations, and file the remaining returns.

How it works

1. One data file per VAT period. After each period you send one file in our template, a listing of your sales and purchases, plus supporting documents when we need them.
2. Deadlines. Monthly and quarterly returns and payments are due on the 12th of the second month after the period, annual ones on the last day of the following February; a longer period needs the Tax Administration's approval, and its turnover limits count foreign sales. The EC Sales List is due by the 20th of the following month. A due date on a weekend or public holiday moves to the next business day. We meet the due dates when complete records and authorisations reach us by the cut-off we agree in writing.
3. Payment. No invoice arrives. We send the amount and payment details and tell you how early to pay with your payment method so the money arrives by the due date.
4. Communication in English, Finnish, Hindi or Nepali. The accountant who files your returns answers you.
5. Identification at onboarding. Finnish anti-money laundering law requires us to identify the company, the people acting for it and its beneficial owners before we start. We also set up the right Suomi.fi authorisation route; without Finnish identity codes, it is applied for with documents and takes extra time.

Non-EU businesses and VAT representation

A business established outside the EU and Norway needs a Finnish VAT representative only when it registers voluntarily, on sales its Finnish business customers would otherwise report under reverse charge (section 12(2) of the VAT Act). The representative must have its place of business in Finland and be approved by the Tax Administration, which may also ask for a guarantee (section 173 a). A mandatory registration, for example for sales to consumers in Finland, needs no representative.

Karma Accounts is not an approved VAT representative under section 173 a. We handle mandatory registrations and returns for non-EU businesses, but we can't serve as the required approved representative; that role has to be arranged separately. See when a VAT representative is needed.

Pricing

There is no fixed price for this service. What moves the quote:

• the number of VAT periods a year, and whether EC Sales Lists are needed
• the number of transaction lines in your data file each period
• whether we register the company from the start or take over an existing Finnish VAT registration.

Foreign VAT clients are new for us: the first engagements run as a pilot, with a limited number of foreign clients. Each starts once its scope is agreed in writing and we have confirmed that our insurance covers it.

Ask for a quote

Use the quote request form: choose “Company registered outside Finland” as the business form and tell us where the company is established, what it sells in Finland, to whom and from when, and roughly how many sales and purchase lines a period has. Or email contact@karmaaccounts.fi.

A VAT agency or an accounting firm with clients that need Finnish VAT? See our page for VAT firms and accountants.

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