Reporting data to the Incomes Register: mandatory and complementary data in the earnings payment report
- Date of issue
- 12/23/2019
- Record no.
- VH/6313/00.01.00/2019
- Validity
- 12/23/2019 - 12/31/2020
These instructions are intended for payers of contributions. The instructions describe the mandatory data and the voluntarily submitted complementary data reported in the earnings payment report to the Incomes Register. Some of the mandatory data must be submitted in every report, while some must be submitted in specific situations, for example when making a specific payment. Some of the data is complementary additional data, which can be reported by the payer on a voluntary basis.
The contents of mandatory and complementary data are described on a general level. The reporting of data is also dealt with in other detailed instructions concerning the Incomes Register. Descriptions of income types are provided on the page Wage income types.
These instructions only deal with the data in an earnings payment report. In certain situations, the payer must also submit an employer's separate report. Submitting an employer's separate report is described in the instruction Reporting data to the Incomes Register: employer’s separate report.
These instructions replace the earlier instructions titled Reporting data to the Incomes Register: mandatory and complementary data of earnings payment reports. Instructions on reporting data as a whole have been added to Section 1. Specified in more detail what data must be reported to the Employment Fund, Statistics Finland and the employment pension sector in Section 3.3. Also included in the instructions: data added to the data content for the year 2020. Otherwise, the contents of these instructions match the previous instructions.
1 Regularly submitted mandatory data
The regularly submitted mandatory data correspond to the annual information returns collected by the Tax Administration, earnings-related pension providers, the Employment Fund and occupational accident insurance companies prior to 2019. On the basis of these mandatory data, at least the above-mentioned social insurers have discontinued using wage-related annual information returns. In addition to annual information returns, the Tax Administration has also discontinued using the self-assessed tax returns for employer contributions.
The data for a single payment transaction must be reported to the Incomes Register as a whole. In addition to the income paid, the items deducted from the income as well as the necessary income earner and payer details are reported at the same time. The payment, deducted items and additional income earner and payer details cannot be divided into different reports. When all data related to a payment is reported as a single whole, the data users are able to correctly obtain the data they require, and no further information needs to be requested from the payer. In certain exceptional situations, the Incomes Register directs the user to use two separate reports so that the data users can correctly obtain the data they require in these situations as well. All data related to the payment transaction, such as the additional income earner and payer details, must then be submitted on both reports.
The types of regularly reported mandatory data are described below.
1.1 Identifying information of the earnings payment report and technical record information
Some of the data in the earnings payment report must be submitted in every report. Such mandatory identifying information includes
- pay period
- payment date or other report date
- technical record information.
The technical record information must be provided when the data is submitted via the technical interface or by uploading a file. Technical data includes
- type of record
- time of record creation
- data source
- payer's record reference
- record owner
- record creator
- record submitter
- rule for processing invalid data
- contact person for the record.
1.2 Identifying and contact information in the earnings payment report
The report must identify the payer and income earner either
- with a customer ID or, if this is unavailable,
- using other identifying information.
The payer is primarily identified using a Finnish customer ID (a Business ID or personal identity code, for example). If the payer does not have a Finnish customer ID, a foreign identifier must be provided. This also requires entering further identification and contact information, such as the payer’s name and address. This information must also be provided when the payer is a temporary employer.
The income earner is identified primarily with a Finnish customer ID. If the income earner does not have a Finnish customer ID, the foreign identifier must be reported. This also requires entering the person’s or company’s name and address. If the income earner is a natural person, the date of birth and gender must also be entered. If the income earner has both a Finnish and a foreign identifier, both identifiers should be reported.
1.3 Income types
Wages and other payments are reported to the Incomes Register using income types. Each income type has a specific code value. The income types used in earnings payment reports are grouped as follows:
- 100-series income types – paid monetary wages as a total amount
- Reporting of monetary wages at a lower level of detail, reporting method 1
- 200-series income types – paid monetary wages itemised
- Reporting of monetary wages at a greater level of detail, reporting method 2
- Alternative method of reporting wages
- 200-series income types are included in 100-series income
- 300-series income types – separately reported income types
- The income is not included in 100 series income types
- 400-series income types – items deducted from income
Some of the income types available in the earnings payment report are regularly submitted mandatory data when the income in question is paid. The classification corresponds to the information laid down in section 6 of the act on income information system (laki tulotietojärjestelmästä 53/2018). Regularly submitted data is the data required by a data user of the Incomes Register for performing their statutory duties. These duties affect all income earners through taxation or social insurance, for example.
Employers and other payers are obligated to provide the mandatory income types without a separate request when the income in question is paid.
Reporting the income types in itemised form, at a greater level of detail (reporting method 2), is voluntary. Monetary wages must always be reported by the fifth calendar day after the payment date, even if they are reported in an itemised manner by using complementary income types (reporting method 2). If income data is reported at the greater level of detail, the data users will not usually need to request additional information from the payer. Advance pay can be reported by the same deadline as that for the wages paid later during the same pay period, as long as the wages are paid during the same calendar month. Additionally, a registered association can report one-off payments of no more than EUR 200 to the Incomes Register monthly no later than on the fifth day of the calendar month following the payment date.
Complementary income types are described in Section 2.1. Complementary income types.
The following sections describe regularly reported mandatory income types.
1.3.1 Monetary wages
Paid monetary wages are reported as a total amount or in itemised form. The report submitter chooses which method to use in the report.
The payer must report the wages paid at minimum as a total amount (reporting method 1). This is the minimum level for reporting monetary wages. The payer may also itemise the monetary wages paid in more detail using complementary income types (reporting method 2). In this case, the total amount of monetary wages is not reported.
If the payer uses the total amount in reporting, the information is provided using the income types below:
Reporting method 1 (lower level of detail of reporting monetary wages)
| Code* | Income type name | |
|---|---|---|
| 101 | Total wages | |
| 102 | Total wages subject to earnings-related pension insurance contribution | |
| 103 | Total wages subject to social insurance contributions | |
| 104 | Total wages subject to health insurance contribution | |
| 105 | Total wages subject to unemployment insurance contribution | |
| 106 | Total wages subject to accident and occupational disease insurance contribution | |
* The code preceding the income type name is the income type code value used in the earnings payment report.
The payer may only select one reporting method. If the paid monetary wages are reported at a lower level of detail using reporting method 1, no wages may be reported in the same report at the greater level of detail using reporting method 2, or vice versa. However, you are free to change reporting methods between reports.
It is recommended that the wages be reported in an itemised manner, at a greater level of detail. This allows the information to be utilised for the processing of benefits and calculation of customer fees, as well as for the compilation of statistics. The greater level of detail for reporting monetary wages is outlined briefly in these instructions in Section 2.1 Complementary income types.
The instruction Reporting data to the Incomes Register: monetary wages and items deducted from wages provides detailed examples of the two different methods of reporting wages. Descriptions of income types are provided on the page Wage income types.
1.3.2 Separately reported income types
In addition to monetary wages, the payer must report certain income types separately, if paid. Such separately reported income should not be included in the reporting of monetary wages (reporting methods 1 and 2). The separately reported income types correspond largely to the payment types that were previously itemised on reports submitted to the Tax Administration.
The separately reported income types are income that the data users, or some of them, need as itemised data. Such income data includes the following income types:
| Code | Income type name | Code | Income type name |
|---|---|---|---|
| 302 | Interest benefit for a housing loan | 332 | Capital income payment |
| 304 | Car benefit | 335 | Reimbursement of costs, paid to conciliator |
| 308 | Compensation for membership of a governing body | 336 | Non-wage compensation for work |
| 309 | Share of reserve and surplus drawn from personnel fund (taxable 80%) | 337 | Supplementary daily allowance paid by employer-specific health insurance fund |
| 310 | Monetary gift for employees | 338 | Pension paid by employer |
| 311 | Kilometre allowance (tax-exempt) | 339 | Dividends/profit surplus based on work effort (wages) |
| 312 | Treatment fee for municipal veterinarian | 340 | Dividends/profit surplus (wages) based on work effort (non-wage) |
| 313 | Compensation for use, earned income | 341 | Employer-subsidised commuter ticket, tax-exempt share |
| 314 | Compensation for use, capital income | 342 | Employer-subsidised commuter ticket, taxable share |
| 315 | Other taxable benefit for employees | 343 | Employee stock option |
| 316 | Other taxable income deemed earned income | 350 | Wages transferred to athletes' special fund |
| 319 | Kinship carer's fee | 351 | Wages paid from athletes' special fund |
| 320 | Stock options and grants | 352 | Wages for insurance purposes |
| 321 | Wages paid by substitute payer: the employer pays for the employer's social insurance contributions (earnings-related pension, health, unemployment, and accident and occupational disease insurance) | 353 | Taxable reimbursement of expenses |
| 322 | Wages paid by substitute payer: employer pays for employer's earnings-related pension insurance contribution | 354 | Private day care allowance municipal supplement |
| 323 | Wages paid by substitute payer: employer pays for employer's unemployment insurance contribution | 355 | Private day care allowance (wages) |
| 324 | Wages paid by substitute payer, employer pays for accident and occupational disease insurance contribution | 356 | Private day care allowance (non-wage) |
| 325 | Wages paid by substitute payer, employer pays for employer's health insurance contribution | 357 | Kilometre allowance paid by non-profit organisation |
| 327 | Reimbursement of private caretaker's expenses | 358 | Daily allowance paid by non-profit organisation |
| 328 | Private caretaker's fee | 359 | Unjust enrichment |
| 329 | Reimbursement of family day care provider's expenses | 361 | Employee stock option with a subscription price lower than the market price at the time of issue |
| 331 | Daily allowance |
1.3.3 Deducted items
The items deducted from wages listed below are mandatory data:
| Code | Income type name |
|---|---|
| 401 | Compensation collected for car benefit |
| 402 | Withholding tax |
| 403 | Elected official fee |
| 404 | Tax at source |
| 405 | Tax at source deduction |
| 407 | Reimbursement collected for other fringe benefits |
| 410 | Employer-paid premium for collective additional pension insurance |
| 411 | Employer-paid premium for collective additional pension insurance, employee's contribution |
| 412 | Employee's health insurance contribution |
| 413 | Employee's pension insurance contribution |
| 414 | Employee's unemployment insurance contribution |
| 415 | Reimbursement for employer-subsidised commuter ticket |
| 418 | Voluntary individual pension insurance premium |
| 419 | Deduction before withholding |
The reporting of items deducted from wages is described in Reporting data to the Incomes Register: monetary wages and items deducted from wages.
1.4 Other regularly submitted data
The mandatory data related to income types in the earnings payment report has been described above. There is other data in the earnings payment report, which must also be reported if certain criteria laid down in law are met. This data may concern the payer, income earner or a payment, for example.
Data reported on a payer:
- payer type, if the payer is
- a household
- a temporary employer
- a public sector entity
- a foreign employer
- a foreign group company
- a state
- an unincorporated state enterprise or governmental institution with separate administration
- the payer’s suborganisation, if the payer has a suborganisation in accordance with Keva's submitter codes
- payer's suborganisation: government agency identifier, if the payer is a government agency
- information provided by the substitute payer on the actual employer, if the payer acts as a substitute payer – correspondingly, the actual employer must report the wages paid by the substitute payer for which the employer pays the social insurance contributions.
Data reported on an income earner:
- additional income earner information, i.e. the following data if applicable to the income earner:
- details on partial ownership, if the income earner is a partial owner in accordance with the unemployment security act (työttömyysturvalaki 1290/2002)
- key employee
- leased employee living abroad
- person working in a frontier district
- person working abroad
- athlete
- performing artist
- the income earner did not stay longer than 183 days in Finland during the Tax-Treaty-defined sojourn period
- the employer pays taxes on behalf of the employee ('Net-of-tax' employment contract)
- organisation
- Self-employed person, no obligation to take out YEL or MYEL insurance
- Person working on a road ferry on Åland Islands
- information on whether the income earner is a non-resident taxpayer, as well as
- country of residence
- the Tax Identification Number (TIN) of the country of residence, if the identifier is in use in the non-resident taxpayer's country of residence
- contact information in the country of residence.
- Whether tax has been withheld from a payment made to a non-resident taxpayer instead of collecting tax at source.
Data reported on an income earner’s employment relationship:
- information on the employment being terminated due to retirement on old age pension
- time of employment, if the employment is insured under the public sector pensions act (julkisten alojen eläkelaki 81/2016) or is employment with the Bank of Finland
- reason for the termination of employment, if the employment is insured under the public sector pensions act or is employment with the Bank of Finland
- occupational class and other information on the occupation, if the income earner has accident and occupational disease insurance or the employment is insured under the public sector pensions act or the seafarers’ pensions act (merimieseläkelaki 1290/2006) or is employment with the Bank of Finland
- grounds for registration, if the employment is insured under the public sector pensions act or is employment with the Bank of Finland.
Data reported on insurance:
- earnings-related pension provider code and pension policy number, if the income earner has an earnings-related pension insurance
- insurance number and company identifier (Business ID) of an accident and occupational disease insurance, if the employer currently has several valid accident and occupational disease insurances
- earnings-related pension insurance information, e. information on whether the person is insured under the employee's pensions acts or self-employed persons’ pensions acts
- type of exception to insurance, if the employer does not have an obligation to insure the income earner or the income earner is not subject to Finnish social security
- type of insurance information, if the social insurance contributions paid from the income type differ from the default defined for the income type.
Data reported on paid income:
- information if the payment was unjust enrichment
- information on recovery of the income
- information if the income was paid as seafarer’s income and the time of cross trade, if the income earner is entitled to a cross trade deduction.
Data reported for international work:
- information on whether the six-month rule applies
- the number of workdays, if the income was paid to a leased employee who is a non-resident taxpayer
- details on work abroad. The mandatory data to be reported depends on the report (type of form) in question (NT1, NT2, Employer's report of periods of stay in Finland or Employee leasing notice):
- details on the representative
- information on whether the representative will report the data on behalf of the employer
- details on the Finnish service recipient
- customer’s details
- country of work
- periods of stay in Finland
- length of employment in Finland and the number of workdays of a lease employee
- periods of work abroad
- periods of stay in the country of work
- information on whether the country of work has the right to tax the wages
- information on whether the pay burdens the result of the employer’s permanent establishment in the country of work
- an estimate of the lease employee’s wages.
1.5 When should mandatory data be reported?
As a rule, the data must be reported to the Incomes Register no later than on the fifth calendar day after the payment date. If the report deadline is a regular Saturday or holiday, the information can be reported on the following business day.
The date of payment refers to the date on which the payment is available to the income earner, for example withdrawable on the income earner's account. The deadline of five calendar days prescribed by law applies to mandatory data (sections 6 and 8 of the act on the incomes information system (laki tulotietojärjestelmästä 53/2018)).
The act specifies certain exceptions to this deadline related to the reporting of certain data and the reporting channels, as well as to the party submitting the data. The deadlines related to reporting data and their exceptions are described in more detail on the page Deadlines for reporting.
2 Complementary data
In addition to mandatory data, complementary data can also be reported to the Incomes Register. Reporting complementary data to the Incomes Register is voluntary for the payer. However, all the complementary data is such that the payer must, by law, provide it to data users upon request. The complementary data is necessary for the execution of the income earner's statutory benefits or customer fees, for example, or the performance of other duties by the data users. The information is used for social insurance purposes, for example.
Most of this complementary data can be obtained from companies’ payroll information systems. The data is almost without exception related to certain income data subject to the mandatory reporting obligation. Complementary data provides further details on regularly reported mandatory data that would not otherwise be sufficient in the execution of statutory benefits, for example.
Data to be reported to the Incomes Register can be compared to how the equivalent data must currently be reported. Payers must currently submit data, corresponding to the mandatory data for the Incomes Register, voluntarily on all income earners. Data corresponding to the complementary data for the Incomes Register must currently be provided upon request, and only with respect to those income earners for whom a matter becomes pending regarding a data user. Some complementary data is used more often than other data.
With the deployment of the Incomes Register, payers will have the opportunity to report complementary data voluntarily for meeting data users’ needs. This will ensure that data users do not need to request the data separately from the payers at a later time. The benefits of reporting complementary data are described in Section 3.
Some complementary data comprises individual income types, while some comprises separate data sets. It is recommended that complementary income types and other complementary additional data be provided as comprehensively as possible, so that all data users obtaining data from the Incomes Register can use the data at the level of detail they need. This would enforce the single report principle and eliminate the need to request data in the register from the payer or income earner afterwards.
The complementary data is described in the following sections.
2.1 Complementary income types
2.1.1 Monetary wages
Paid monetary wages are regularly reported mandatory data, which must be reported to the Incomes Register within five calendar days from payment. Payers can choose to report paid monetary wages in a more itemised manner than the mandatory sum level data. Payers can report income data itemised at a more detailed level than required if submitting regularly reported mandatory data (so-called reporting method 2 for monetary wages).
At a minimum, the payer must report the wages paid as a total amount (reporting method 1, see Section 1.3.1 above). In many cases, the total amount of wages reported on a mandatory basis is not sufficient as such for the processing of benefits. Itemised data required for the processing of benefits includes, for example, information on lecture fees, holiday bonuses, various working condition compensations, overtime compensations and compensations for accrued time off paid to the income earner, which are all included in the total amount of wages subject to the mandatory reporting obligation (so-called reporting method 1).
The payer can choose to report monetary wages in itemised form to the Incomes Register, which will enable some data users to utilise the data directly for the processing of benefits or the calculation of customer fees, for example. For data users that do not need itemised data, the income earner's pay is the total amount of the itemised data. The payer does not need to report the total amount of wages separately. In such a case, the income types listed below will be available to the payer.
Reporting method 2 (greater level of detail of reporting monetary wages)
| Code | Income type name | Code | Income type name |
|---|---|---|---|
| 201 | Time-rate pay | 219 | Partial pay during sick leave |
| 202 | Initiative fee | 220 | Commission |
| 203 | Bonus pay | 221 | Sunday work compensation |
| 204 | Complementary wage/salary paid during benefit period | 222 | Benefit arising from synthetic option |
| 205 | Emergency work compensation | 223 | Performance bonus |
| 206 | Evening work compensation | 224 | Monetary compensation from a working time bank |
| 207 | Evening shift allowance | 225 | Compensation for accrued time off |
| 208 | Notice period compensation | 226 | Share issue for employees |
| 209 | Kilometre allowance (taxable) | 227 | Contract pay |
| 210 | Meeting fee | 229 | Damages in conjunction with termination of employment |
| 211 | Saturday pay | 230 | Stand-by compensation |
| 212 | Extra work premium | 231 | Voluntary compensation in conjunction with termination of employment |
| 213 | Holiday bonus | 232 | Weekly rest compensation |
| 214 | Lecture fee | 233 | Profit-sharing bonus |
| 215 | Compensation for acting in a position of trust | 234 | Annual holiday compensation |
| 216 | Other compensation | 235 | Overtime compensation |
| 217 | Waiting time compensation | 236 | Night work allowance |
| 218 | Working condition compensation | 237 | Night shift compensation |
Even if the payer itemises the monetary wages paid according to reporting method 2, the data in question is regularly reported mandatory data, which the payer must submit within five calendar days from the payment date. Only the level of detail of the itemisation is voluntary.
The reporting methods of monetary wages do not affect other complementary additional data reported voluntarily. This means that an employer using reporting method 1 for monetary wages can submit other complementary additional data on the same report, such as absence information or the earnings periods of income types. Correspondingly, an employer using reporting method 2 can choose not to submit other complementary additional data.
The total amount of the payment made to the income earner consists of wages based on reporting method 1 OR reporting method 2, AND separately reported income types (see Section 1.3).
The two different methods of reporting monetary wages paid are described in more detail in Reporting data to the Incomes Register: monetary wages and items deducted from wages.
2.1.2 Separately reported income types
Separately reported, regularly submitted income types are described above in Section 1.3.2. Some of the separately reported income types may also have alternative ways of reporting the data to the Incomes Register. Such income types include the following:
| Code | Income type name |
|---|---|
| 301 | Accommodation benefit |
| 303 | Meal allowance |
| 326 | Compensation for employee invention |
| 330 | Telephone benefit |
| 334 | Meal benefit |
At a minimum, fringe benefits (accommodation, meal, telephone and other fringe benefits) must be reported as a total amount with the Other fringe benefit (317) income type. In addition to the total amount, the fringe benefits included in the reported total amount must be itemised. This itemisation is done using the Type of benefit data.
Some of the fringe benefits are of such a nature that the payer can, if they so desire, report the data using the individual income types for the benefits in question. Such income types are
- 301 accommodation benefit
- 330 telephone benefit
- 334 meal benefit.
If the payer reports the above-mentioned fringe benefits using the separate income types, they are not reported as a total amount with the Other fringe benefit (317) income type. The method of reporting these three fringe benefits does not affect the method of reporting monetary wages. Even if the employer reports the monetary wages as a total amount, these fringe benefits can be itemised with their own income types or vice versa.
A company car benefit and employer-subsidised commuter ticket must always be itemised and reported with their own income types. This topic is described in more detail in Reporting data to the Incomes Register: fringe benefits and reimbursements of expenses.
At a minimum, tax-exempt daily allowances must be reported as a total amount using the separately reported Daily allowance (331) income type. The total amount of tax-exempt daily allowances and meal allowances are reported using the Daily allowance income type. The daily allowances included in the amount must also be specified. The type of daily allowance can be
- meal allowance
- full daily allowance
- partial daily allowance
- international daily allowance.
The total amount of the daily allowances paid is reported using the Daily allowance income type, and the Type of daily allowance data is used to itemise which of the above-mentioned four types the amount of the income type contains.
The payer can choose to report a meal allowance using a separate income type. If a meal allowance is reported with its own income type, it is not reported in the total amount of the Daily allowance (331) income type. This topic is described in more detail in Reporting data to the Incomes Register: fringe benefits and reimbursements of expenses.
A compensation for employee invention can be reported either with its own income type or as compensation for use or wages, depending on whether the compensation is regarded as remuneration for work, i.e. whether the income earner's duties agreed in the employment contract include inventions. The income type is described in more detail on the page Wage income types.
2.1.3 Deducted items
Reporting the items deducted from wages listed below is voluntary.
| Code | Income type name |
|---|---|
| 406 | Wages paid |
| 408 | Other item deductible from net wage or salary |
| 409 | Net wage or salary |
| 416 | Tax paid abroad |
| 417 | Distraint |
2.2 Other complementary additional data
The additional data listed below complement the regularly reported mandatory data on the earnings payment report:
Payer-related additional data includes
- information on the payer’s suborganisation, if the payer uses the payer’s own suborganisation identifier
- contact language
- payer type, if the payer is a specialised agency.
Income earner-related additional data includes
- income earner's place of business
- income earner's suborganisation
additional income earner information, i.e. information on whether the income earner is- a joint owner with payer
- employed with assistance from the State employment fund.
Absence-related data includes
- reporting frequency for absences
- information on paid absence
- period of absence
- number of days of absence
- cause of absence
- amount of wages during the period of paid absence
- estimated date to which the absence will last
- reimbursement application data for Kela
- information on unpaid absence
- period of absence
- number of days of absence
- cause of absence.
Employment-related data includes
- information on whether the income earner is in an employment relationship
- the collective agreement applicable to the employment relationship
- type of employment
- duration of employment
- information on the reason for the termination of employment
- this information is mandatory if the employment is insured under the public sector pensions act (julkisten alojen eläkelaki 81/2016) or is employment with the Bank of Finland
- form of payment
- part-time %
- regular agreed working hours per week
- free-form title.
Insurance-related data includes
- social security certificate
- insurance policy number and insurance company identifier (Business ID) of the accident and occupational disease insurance
- this data is mandatory if the employer has insured its employees under more than one insurances
- the payment reference number and payment specifier specified for the earnings-related pension provider.
Data related to income paid includes
- income earnings periods
- information on whether the payment was made as payment other than money
- information if the payment was a one-time payment
- the unit of wages data
- unit: hour, day, week, period
- unit price
- number of units
- the original date of payment of recovered income and the tax withheld or tax at source collected from it at the time of payment
- income withdrawal periods, if the income is seafarer’s income
Data related to international working includes
- work periods in Finland if the employees are not leased employees
- address in the country of work
- district where work is performed
- pay per month
- other remunerations and benefits.
2.3 When should complementary data be reported?
The deadline of five calendar days prescribed by law for reporting only applies to mandatory data. No deadline has been separately decreed for the reporting of complementary additional data. However, the data users usually need the complementary additional data at the same time as other mandatory data reported to the Incomes Register. Such data includes certain employment relationship data, for example. For this reason, it is recommended that such data be submitted together with regularly reported mandatory data, if submitting the data in the same rhythm is possible.
Some complementary data may not necessarily be known during the current pay period. Such data includes absence data, if wages are paid, for example, in the middle of the pay period. The recommendation for reporting absences is that absences during the previous pay period be reported in the report for the current pay period at the latest. This would mean that the data is reported quickly enough for the data users’ needs. This topic is described in more detail in Reporting data to the Incomes Register: absence data.
If the payer cannot reasonably submit or is otherwise unwilling to submit complementary data in real time to the Incomes Register, the data users may need to request such data separately from the payer at a later time. In this case, the payer can submit the data to the Incomes Register later, correct the data in the Incomes Register, or provide the complementary data to the data user in the current manner on a separate salary certificate, for example.
Even if monetary wages are reported in an itemised manner using complementary income types (reporting method 2), earnings payment data must always be submitted no later than on the fifth calendar day after the payment date. The reporting deadline differs from the main rule if advance pay or a one-off payment of no more than EUR 200 by a registered association is reported. These are discussed in more detail in the instructions Reporting data to the Incomes Register: monetary wages and items deducted from wages.
3 Complementary data – what are the benefits of reporting it?
3.1 What is mandatory data used for?
Section 1 above describes regularly submitted mandatory data. Correspondingly, Section 2 describes voluntarily submitted complementary data.
If the payer reports wages using the lower level of detail in accordance with reporting method 1, and no other complementary additional data is submitted, data submitted to the Incomes Register in the earnings payment report will replace the following annual and monthly report data flows previously in use:
- Wage sum report
- Submitted annually to the Employment Fund.
- Salary notification
- Submitted annually to the occupational accident insurance company.
- Annual information return or monthly information return
- Submitted annually or monthly to the earnings-related pension provider.
- Employer's or payer's annual information return (form 7801 and record description VSPSERIE) as well as other related data flows
- Income earner's cost reimbursements (VSPSKUST)
- Employer's or payer's annual information return, recipient-specific itemisation without cost reimbursements (VSPSERIK)
- Payer-specific summaries of an employer's annual information return (VSPSVYHT)
- Submitted annually to the Tax Administration.
- Non-resident taxpayer's annual information return (form 7809 and record description VSRAERIE)
- Submitted annually to the Tax Administration.
- In the tax year 2019, applies to wage payment types starting with A or R, with the exception of benefit-related payment types (AE and RE).
- Tax return on self-assessed taxes, employer contribution information (form 4001 and record description VSRTASKV)
- Submitted monthly or according to the extended tax period to the Tax Administration.
- Tax return on self-assessed taxes, information on other self-assessed taxes, tax ID 25 'Amount withheld from a payment to a limited company, cooperative or other corporation' (form 4001 and record description VSRMUUKV)
- Submitted monthly to the Tax Administration.
- Tax return on self-assessed taxes, information on other self-assessed taxes, tax ID 69 'Tax at source from interest and royalties (for compensation for use paid by non-residents to non-residents' (form 4001 and record description VSRMUUKV)
- Submitted monthly or according to the extended tax period to the Tax Administration.
- Notifications concerning international taxation:
- Employee leasing notice (6147a)
- Notification of wages earned abroad where the six-month rule is applied to withholding tax, so-called monitoring report for work abroad (5053a)
- NT1, notification of tax being withheld in Finland when work is performed in another Nordic country (6134a)
- NT2, notification of tax not being withheld in Finland when work is performed abroad (5052a)
- Submitted to the Tax Administration.
3.2 What information will not be replaced by the data submitted to the Incomes Register?
The earnings payment report in the Incomes Register will not replace
- the employer's payslip
- certain employer's obligations to provide statistics to Statistics Finland or labour market organisations (the obligation to provide statistics does not apply to all payers).
Data not included in the earnings payment report also includes the following:
- labour union membership fees and unemployment fund contributions
- elected official fee paid directly to a political party
- a majority of capital income, such as interest and dividends
- absence reason details of a sensitive nature:
- An infectious disease or tissue donation as the cause of absence is not included in the Incomes Register, in order to protect the income earner’s privacy.
- Sickness allowance on account of an infectious disease or sickness allowance on account of human cell, tissue or organ donation will continue to be applied for directly from Kela.
Income earners will continue to apply for benefits in the same way as before, but the principle is that the income data will be obtained from the Incomes Register.
The Incomes Register only affects the reporting of data and will not affect the payment obligations or cash flows of the payer. Even after the Incomes Register becomes operational, payers must continue to pay self-assessed taxes to the Tax Administration, earnings-related pension insurance contributions to the pension provider, unemployment insurance contributions to the Employment Fund, accident and occupational disease insurance contributions to the accident insurance company etc.
Only a limited number of authorities and other data users are Incomes Register data users. Needs for voluntary insurance data, for example, are thus not included in the Incomes Register (for example, if information is needed for medical expense insurance). Data can be disclosed from the Incomes Register only for the claims handling of statutory occupational accident insurance and traffic insurance, and other tasks related to the handling of statutory insurance policies.
3.3 What are the benefits of reporting complementary data?
Complementary income types and other complementary additional data are required by some data users as grounds for granting or paying benefits, for example. If the employer reports the complementary data together with the wages paid, the data will not need to be reported several times to different parties. The procedure followed by each data user and the benefits of submitting complementary data are described below.
Development and administrative centre for ELY Centres and TE Offices (KEHA Centre)
The KEHA Centre will utilise the data from the Incomes Register for paying discretionary government grants (including pay subsidy). The income data reported using reporting method 1 is insufficient for the needs of the KEHA Centre. This means that the KEHA Centre will need to request additional information from the employer, including a breakdown of what the monetary wages consist of (itemisation), the payment type, the type and duration of the employment relationship, the reason for the termination of employment and unpaid absences. If the payer reports monetary wages using reporting method 2 and also provides the complementary additional data, the KEHA Centre will not need to separately request further information from the employer on income data or details of employment. Submitting mandatory and voluntary data as comprehensively as possible will facilitate the payment of pay subsidy, and may even release employers entirely from having to apply for payment.
The Social Insurance Institution of Finland (Kela)
Kela extensively utilises data obtained from the Incomes Register in the processing of all those benefits in which wage income, employment relationships, or absences affect the granting of the benefit or the amount of the granted benefit. The mandatory data is not usually sufficient for the processing of basic social assistance, housing allowance, and unemployment benefits, but by reporting the voluntary data, employers may avoid having to supply separate income certificates. The most important required voluntary data includes employment relationship data, reporting earnings periods that differ from the pay period, and reporting unpaid periods of absence.
With voluntary data, the employer can also apply for sickness allowance, maternity, paternity or parental allowance, special maternity allowance, rehabilitation allowance, and family leave compensation. If these benefits are applied for via the Incomes Register, the submitter must ensure that the employer has first notified Kela of its consent to receive electronic decisions. Additionally, the submitter of the report file is requested to ensure that the report includes all information required for the application. Read more in Kela's instructions (in Finnish).
With regard to daily allowances, applying for benefits via the Incomes Register replaces the employer's application (Y17) and, with regard to family leave compensation, the application (SV18). If an employer or an income earner applies for the determination of Kela's daily allowance based on the income presented on the application, Kela will check whether the necessary income data is found in the Incomes Register. If data is required for wage income earned prior to 1 January 2019, or earnings payment data has not been reported to the Incomes Register with sufficient detail from that date onwards, Kela will request the missing information during the processing of the application from the employer or the benefit applicant.
If Kela is unable to determine from the amount of the reported wages whether the person was working full time, the payer of the wages may have to be requested for a separate report of working hours per calendar week in order to determine whether the employment condition is fulfilled. The reporting of data concerning the type of the employment relationship (part-time, etc.) and unpaid absences would most often eliminate the need for additional investigation.
Specifying data on part-time employment, unpaid periods of absence, and wages for the duration of illness will make it easier to process the benefit applications of those customers who are applying for an adjusted unemployment benefit in addition to their wages.
Employment Fund
For the Employment Fund, the reporting method 1 itemisation of wage amount data is sufficient for determining the unemployment insurance contribution. However, in benefits processing, the Employment Fund is unable to utilise earnings payment data reported using only reporting method 1. The total amount may include income items that the Employment Fund cannot take into account in the determination of wages or the adjustment of the adult education allowance. Compared with reporting method 1, submitting complementary data may avoid the need for requesting additional information.
Complementary data necessary for the determination of the unemployment insurance contribution include:
- Contact language
- Employed: Yes/No
- International situations – voluntary data.
The Employment Fund requires partial owner data if the person is a partial owner in accordance with the unemployment security act (työttömyysturvalaki 1290/2002). The data on the partial owner of the company is important for the unemployment insurance contributions to be correctly assessed. Partial owners of a company pay lower unemployment insurance contributions than wage earners.
For benefits processing, the Employment Fund has to request a wage itemisation of the total amount of reporting method 1, specifying what items have been paid as wages. The Employment Fund must determine the reporting method 2 data and complementary data, such as
- employment relationship data (is the employment permanent or fixed-term)
- study leave data
- data on unpaid and partially paid absences.
The Employment Fund must ask for additional information whenever earnings payment data is required in its benefits processing.
If the payer reports the income data as per reporting method 2 without also submitting other complementary income data, the data will not be sufficient for processing an adult education allowance application and issuing a decision. Without additional information, the income data cannot be used for determining the wages, because the data submitted as per reporting method 2 does not include details on issues such as whether the person has had partially paid absences over the last 12 months, the period based on which the wages are determined.
The granting of the adult education allowance requires that the applicant is currently in full-time employment. An employment relationship with a minimum of 18 weekly working hours is considered to be full-time. If the benefit applicant's regular weekly working hours are less than 18, but in actuality, the applicant has worked more hours, the fund needs data on the applicant's actual working hours from the 12 months preceding the study leave, in order to process the benefit. The data in the Incomes Register can be utilised in this regard, at least with persons paid an hourly rate. However, this requires that the hourly rate, unit price and earnings period have been reported to the Incomes Register every month over a 12-month period. Such situations can occur for those benefit applicants who work under a so-called zero-hour contract or a part-time employment contract, where the number of weekly working hours is low but, in actuality, the employee has worked more hours.
When reporting method 2 is used, the submitted income data can also be used in the determination of wages, but this requires that this reporting method has been used every month. If the data has been reported differently in any month, it cannot be used for determining wages.
Municipalities
The municipalities need the data at the reporting method 2 level of detail, because not all income types are taken into consideration when determining customer payments. Of the other complementary additional data, at least the earnings periods are needed. If this data is not reported to the Incomes Register, it must be requested from the customer.
Statistics Finland
With regard to pay and labour cost statistics, reporting voluntary data relieves payers (companies) from additional data collection by Statistics Finland.
If Statistics Finland receives only mandatory data, it must maintain its own complementary data collection efforts for several sets of statistics (income distribution statistics, employment statistics, pay statistics). Voluntarily reported complementary data is used in the production of official statistics.
It is also difficult for Statistics Finland if the payer reports voluntary data irregularly – for one month, the voluntary data is included in the report, but for another it is not. Statistics Finland must arrange complementary data collection efforts with regard to the missing data, and targeting data collection is difficult in such situations. It is therefore important to also report voluntary data comprehensively.
In such a case, the data collections maintained by Statistics Finland (ST) include:
- ST's title data collection (plain language title)
- ST's place of business data collections (public and private sector)
- ST's private sector monthly pay data collection
- ST's private sector hourly pay data collection
- ST's municipal sector monthly pay data collection
- ST's municipal sector hourly pay data collection
- Other administrative data for the income distribution statistics.
Statistics Finland, in particular, needs the following data:
- monetary wages paid in accordance with reporting method 2;
- income earnings periods;
- free-form title;
- information on the income earner's place of work;
- information on whether the employment is full-time or part-time;
- part-time percentage;
- form of payment;
- type of employment;
- regular agreed working hours per week;
- number of paid days of absence, their causes and the amount of wages;
- number of unpaid days of absence and their causes; and
- information on the unit of wages.
Earnings-related pension sector
The earnings-related pension sector does not necessarily need income data at the reporting method 2 level of detail, although this would facilitate the investigation of unclear cases. The information is used, for example, for determining the distinction between employment and entrepreneurship, estimating the earned income used as a basis for calculating the pension, allocating income from work, evaluating full-time employment, and insurance monitoring. The required data includes the following in particular:
- the payer's date of birth and contact language if the payer's identifier is other than a Business ID or a Finnish personal identity code;
- the income earner's date of birth and sex if the income earner's identifier is other than a Finnish personal identity code; and
- the payer's street address or P.O. Box and postal code if the payer is a temporary employer.
Labour protection
Data reported as per reporting method 2 and other complementary additional data can help in, for example, assessing whether the minimum employment conditions are fulfilled with regard to pay. If the payer reports complementary data, this reduces the number of enquiries made to the employer and additional reports required from the employer. Furthermore, if the data has been reported comprehensively, and the minimum employment conditions are fulfilled (in relation to reference data), control measures do not necessarily need to be taken with regard to the minimum terms of employment (pay). Reporting complementary data will reduce the need for enquiries, which will also make control quicker and more efficient when the inspector has advance information on the subject. Systematically and comprehensively submitted, extensive earnings payment data can be of use in the investigation of a pay or discrimination case.
Accident insurers
The data of reporting method 1 is insufficient when an occupational accident insurance company is about to pay compensation to an employee for loss of earnings due to inability to work caused by an accident at work or an occupational disease.
Determining the amount of compensation requires data included only in reporting method 2, or data that constitutes other complementary additional data. If an employee is unable to work after 28 days have passed since an accident at work, annual earnings from work are used as the basis for compensation for loss of earnings. The calculation of annual earnings from work requires data on the holiday pay paid to the employee. In addition, the calculation takes consideration of issues such as the effect of absences on earnings from work.
If the payer has used reporting method 1, information on the holiday pay paid and any unpaid absences and their causes is requested from the employer. Annual earnings from work also take account of payments based on separate tasks. This means that, for example, the payer will be separately requested to report a non-employment meeting fee included only in reporting method 2.
If the payer reports the payments made at the reporting method 2 level of detail and submits the other complementary additional data required, compensation for loss of earnings could be paid based on data available in the Incomes Register without having to separately request the data from the employer or other payer. Regardless of the reporting method, the employer must file an accident event report for an occupational accident or occupational disease with the accident insurance company in accordance with the Workers' Compensation Act.
Accident insurers require the following data in particular:
- information on whether the income earner is in an employment relationship with the payer
- type of employment
- duration of employment
- form of payment
- applicable collective agreement
- income earner's shareholder status
- earnings period
- absence data
- wage supplements and their earning periods.
Unemployment funds
In an earnings-based system, the income data reported using reporting method 1 is insufficient for the needs of unemployment funds. If the complementary income types of reporting method 2 and other complementary additional data are not submitted, the unemployment funds need to request additional information, including:
- type of employment (full-time/part-time)
- duration of employment
- form of payment
- reason for the termination of employment
- wage supplements and their earning periods
- compensation relating to the end of employment
- period of unpaid absence
- some of the reasons for unpaid absences.
If the data is not submitted at the level of detail of reporting method 2 and the other complementary additional data is not included, the unemployment funds must continue requesting salary certificates from the employer for calculating the daily allowance.
Finnish Tax Administration
Reporting method 1 of monetary wages provides a sufficient level of precision for the Tax Administration. Reporting method 2 is not essential to the Tax Administration. As a rule, the Tax Administration does not use complementary additional data. In addition to the mandatory data on the earnings payment report, the Tax Administration also needs the data on the employer's separate report described in Reporting data to the Incomes Register: employer's separate report.
4 Table of mandatory and complementary data
| MANDATORY DATA | COMPLEMENTARY DATA |
|---|---|
| Technical record information and other data | |
|
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| Identification and contact information | |
|
The report must identify the payer and income earner either
If the income earner does not have a Finnish customer identifier, the information should be reported using a foreign identifier. In such a case, the following data must also be provided:
If the payer does not have a Finnish customer identifier, the information should be reported using a foreign identifier. In such a case, the following data must also be provided:
If the income earner has both a Finnish and a foreign identifier, both identifiers should be reported.
|
|
| Payer details | |
|
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| Income earner details | |
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| Income earner’s employment details | |
|
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| Insurance details | |
|
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| Data related to income paid | |
|
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| Data related to international working | |
|
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| Absence data | |
|
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| Income types | |
| Monetary wages | Monetary wages |
|
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| Separately reported income types | Separately reported income types |
|
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| Deducted items | Deducted items |
|
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| Additional data related to income types | |
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