Employer's and representative's obligations

A Finnish employer and international situations

In international situations, a Finnish employer must report the following data to the Incomes Register:

• income paid for working abroad (to persons living abroad and in Finland);
• income paid for working in Finland to an income earner coming to Finland from abroad to work;
• wages paid by a foreign group company for working abroad, when a Finnish employer has posted an employee abroad and the employee is insured in Finland;
• wages for insurance purposes agreed for the work abroad;
• additional information on the work abroad for the Tax Administration (the so-called six-month rule); and
• additional information on work in a Nordic country for the Tax Administration.

Foreign employer's obligation to submit data to the Incomes Register

A foreign employer is also obligated to report data to the Incomes Register on wages it has paid. Furthermore, a foreign employee leasing company that leases employees to a service recipient in Finland must submit data to the Incomes Register concerning the employee's work in Finland.

Social insurance contributions must be paid to Finland and the necessary data reported to the Incomes Register when the employee is insured in Finland. Social insurance contributions or other fees collected from the employee abroad are not reported to the Incomes Register.

The employer's obligations are affected by whether the employer has a permanent establishment in Finland as regards income taxation.

A foreign corporate entity with resident tax liability in Finland is also considered as Finnish employer.

Representative of a foreign employer

If a foreign employer is registered in the Prepayment Register, it must submit both an earnings payment report and an employer's separate report to the Incomes Register.

If a foreign employer is not registered in the Prepayment Register, a representative of the foreign employer has an obligation to report the data required for taxation. If there is no representative, the foreign employer must report the data.

The representative is obligated to report the following data to the Incomes Register on behalf of the employer:

• the wages paid by a foreign employer for work performed in Finland when a foreign employee leasing company has leased an employee to a service recipient in Finland and when the tax treaty between the employee's country of residence and Finland does not prevent Finland from taxing the wages; and
• the wages paid by a foreign employer when the employee stays in Finland consecutively for more than six months.

Please note that, whenever an income earner is insured in Finland, the foreign employer must report the data to the Incomes Register for insurance providers. This is not affected by whether the employer has a representative or not.