You can receive guardian’s fees if you act as a guardian or a donee of a continuing power of attorney.
As guardian, you are responsible for the financial affairs of the person whose rights and interests you are overseeing, i.e. your client.
As a donee of a continuing power of attorney, you can manage the financial affairs of the person who has issued you a continuing power of attorney, provided that they have given you the right to do so.
When you receive a fee or reimbursement of expenses for acting as a guardian, you must report it to the Incomes Register. The fee is considerednon-wage compensation for workfor you (income type 336 in the Incomes Register).
Please note that as a guardian, you cannot receive any tax-exempt reimbursement of expenses such as daily and kilometre allowances. This means that you need to include any reimbursements of expenses in the amount of non-wage compensation for work. Include also reimbursements that have paid to you based on a receipt in the amount of non-wage compensation for work, e.g. travel tickets and accommodation expenses and parking fees paid during business trips.
Because the fee is non-wage compensation for work, you do not need to submit the employer’s separate report.
See also the Finnish Tax Administration’s instructions for guardians:
Report your guardian’s fee to the Incomes Register in electronic format
Report the data in the Incomes Register’s e-service by the 5th day of the month following the payment month.
You can report a guardian’s fee via the e-service if you have received a Suomi.fi authorisation from your client or if you are acting as a donee of a continuing power of attorney and the following conditions are met:
you have the right to manage the assignor’s financial affairs
the right to manage financial affairs applies to the assignor’s all assets and not just part of them such as a specific property or business
you have the right to act alone on behalf of the assignor.
Private guardians cannot provide information in electronic format as of yet.
You will need the following information for reporting:
the payment date;
the pay period – report the first working day as the start date and the last working day as the end date;
the payer’s name and personal identity code;
the name and identifier of the recipient of non-wage compensation for work; for example, a personal identity code or business ID;
Enter the necessary data in the earnings payment report. For more detailed instructions, see below:
If you have received at most 1,500 EUR in fees and reimbursements of expenses from a single principal or assignor in a year, report like this
Add up the guardian’s fees and reimbursements of expenses. Report their total amount under income type 336 Non-wage compensation for work.
You do not need to withhold tax from the amount.
If you have received more than 1,500 EUR in fees and reimbursements of expenses from a single principal or assignor in a year, report like this
Add up the guardian’s fees and reimbursements of expenses. Report their total amount under income type 336 Non-wage compensation for work. Do not withhold taxes or deduct any other payments from the reported amount.
Report the tax withheld from the amount under income type 402 Withholding tax.
Report the guardian’s fee to the Incomes Register using a paper form
If you are unable to use the e-service, you may submit the data on a paper form. Report the data on a paper form by the 8th day of the month following the payment month.
If you have received at most 1,500 EUR in fees and reimbursements of expenses from a single principal or assignor in a year, report like this
Sum up the guardian’s fees and reimbursements of expenses.
Enter the total amount under 3B Separately reported income types of the paper form. Enter 336 as the income type code. Do not enter the name of the income type in the form.
You do not need to withhold tax from the amount.
If you have received more than 1,500 EUR in fees and reimbursements of expenses from a single principal or assignor in a year, report like this
Sum up the guardian’s fees and reimbursements of expenses.
Enter the total amount under 3B Separately reported income types of the paper form. Do not withhold taxes or deduct any other payments from the reported amount. Enter 336 as the income type code. Do not enter the name of the income type in the form.
Enter the tax withheld from the reported amount in the Total tax withheld field under 3A Total wages and items deducted. Leave the Total wages field blank because the question is of non-wage compensation for work.
You can have letters sent from the Incomes Register to your address
If your paper form includes any incorrect or insufficient information, a notification will be sent from the Incomes Register by letter. By default, the letter will be sent to the principal’s address, because the principal pays your fee.
You can replace the principal’s address with your address, for example. Once you have changed the address, all letters will be sent from the Incomes Register to this address.
You can change the address for letters sent from the Incomes Register in either of the following ways:
Fee calculators are available (in Finnish) on the Forms page under “Edunvalvojan palkkiolaskurit” (Guardian’s fee calculators).
If the guardian is a company or another party registered in the prepayment register, the fee is not to be reported to the Incomes Register.
This also applies to fees received by self-employed individuals, even if they carry out the duties of a guardian or donee of a lasting power of attorney as a private individual and not through their company. In these cases, the guardian or donee of a continuing power of attorney must report the fee in their personal taxation.
