Defining actors in the financial sector

From the perspective of taxation, key actors in the financial sector include custodians, brokers, insurance companies and investment firms.

Actors in the financial sector can be defined differently depending on the area of taxation as well as the overall context.

FATCA and CRS/DAC2

Actors in the financial sector are defined in their own right when it comes to FATCA- and CRS/DAC2 regulation.

Value-added taxation

From the perspective of value-added taxation, actors in the financial sector include those in banking, insurance and finance that provide financial services as per § 42 of the Act on value-added tax, which are essentially not subject to VAT.

The above list is not exhaustive, and there are other financial actors that provide services such as described above. For example, the actors liable to insurance premium tax can include other actors besides insurance companies.

Withholding taxation

From the perspective of withholding taxation, actors in the financial sector include those actors that on behalf of the payor in the role of an account operator withhold tax and submit annual information returns on payments such as interest, dividends, and certain insurance claims. This information is utilised in taxation as well as international exchange of information.

Custodians registered in the Tax Administration's Register of Authorised Intermediaries are also considered to be actors in the financial sector. An Authorised Intermediary has a reporting responsibility for dividends paid and forwarded when the payor is a publicly listed company and the underlying share is nominee-registered. Read more about the responsibilities and liabilities of an Authorised Intermediary.

Companies in the financial sector also have their own business activity that come with certain responsibilities; these include for example return payments made by banks, which are subject to tax-at-source on interest. The umbrella term of the financial sector is also related to financial products and services provided by a multitude of different actors, where special attention should be focused on how these are handled from the perspective of withholding taxation and annual information returns.