Foreword by Director General

Dear Reader,

You are looking at a sustainability report that aims to make the work done in our agency visible. I believe that carrying out our core tasks and making everyday solutions responsibly are the best kinds of sustainability as they allow us to make it a reality.

Our sustainability activities aim to help taxpayers act responsibly and correctly. Of course, this also means that we, as an executive public authority, must do our work fairly, ethically and with regard to our customers’ experiences.

Sustainability and responsibility are important values for many of our employees. We have explored this through research cooperation, which has provided us with important information on our employees’ perceptions and wishes. Indeed, we have increased communication in the work community, organised various events and created opportunities for our employees to carry out work that matters. According to an employee survey, fair and accurate taxation is very important to our personnel.

Our task is to ensure tax revenue for the Finnish state, municipalities and parishes. Our work also involves ensuring that no taxes go unpaid due to incorrect grounds. One aspect of responsible activities involves cooperation with our stakeholder groups to eradicate professional offences that target finances. We have also stepped up our public communication on the issue.

For years, the Tax Administration has been a highly development-friendly organisation. We have put the customer at the centre of our efforts to listen to their needs and wishes in everything we do.

However, last year brought major savings measures to the entire central government. We had to reorganise some of our activities in response to both reduced workloads and rescaled automation and customer service. We aimed to conduct co-operation negotiations, dismissals, which we unfortunately had to carry out, and all personnel planning as responsibly as possible and by sustainably planning our future activities.

The savings will also be reflected in limited customer service and service quality degradation. This all makes it crucial that we strive for sustainable solutions in our new situation. We hope that, after their initial disappointment, our customers will also see the long-term goals of the solutions and join us in the efforts to protect the environment by reducing paper mail, for instance. Our digital services and extensive service channels lay a strong foundation for this.

I hope you enjoy the read.

Markku Heikura
Director General
Finnish Tax Administration