Instructions for guardians – the guardian’s and their principal’s taxes
If you are a guardian, you are responsible for the financial matters of the person who is under your guardianship. This person is referred to as your principal. You must manage your principal’s taxes on their behalf. Acting as a guardian may also affect your personal tax assessment.
Note that the guardian cannot receive tax-exempt reimbursements of expenses, such as daily allowances and kilometre allowances, from the principal.
How to take guardianship into account in your personal taxation
Select instructions
You need a tax card for trade income. There is no employment relationship between the guardian and the principal. For this reason, you cannot use the tax card for wages. Instead, the guardian’s fee is regarded as trade income, or non-wage compensation for work.
Go to How to order a tax card in MyTax and select “I receive trade income – I am not in the VAT register”.
If you are in the prepayment register:
You make prepayments on the guardian’s fee.
Read how to request and make prepayments
Report the information on a paper form: Earnings payment report (TULOR 6101e).
How to fill in the earnings payment report
If the total amount of the fees and reimbursements of expenses from the same principal is no more than €1,500 a year
Report the total amount of the guardian’s fees and reimbursements of expenses under income type Non-wage compensation for work (336) in section 3B of the paper form.
No tax needs to be withheld.
If the total amount of the fees and reimbursements of expenses from the same principal exceeds €1,500 a year.
Report the total amount of the guardian’s fees and reimbursements of expenses under income type Non-wage compensation for work (336) in section 3B of the paper form, and report the withholding in section 3A Total tax withheld.
Note:
- Do not file the employer's separate report on trade income.
- If you are in the prepayment register, the fees paid to you do not need to be reported to the Incomes Register.
- Although information is usually reported to the Incomes Register electronically, the guardian's fees must be reported on a paper form. Your principal cannot authorise you to use the Incomes Register's e-service on their behalf.
Read more about how to report the guardian’s fee to the Incomes Register (tulorekisteri.fi)
How to withhold tax
To withhold tax, you will need the principal’s reference number for self-assessed taxes and the Tax Administration's bank account number. You can request these by calling our telephone number on 029 497 026 (payment transactions).
Pay the tax in your e-bank. When you pay, remember to use your principal’s reference number for self-assessed taxes, not your own.
How to manage your principal’s taxes
As a guardian, you can manage your principal's tax matters on paper. How to declare with paper forms.
Are you looking for information about a continuing power of attorney?
If you have been granted a continuing power of attorney and it has been confirmed, you are automatically authorised to manage the granter’s tax affairs in MyTax. After logging in to MyTax, select “Act on behalf of someone else”. However, you cannot submit or change another person’s bank account number.
You will need a separate Suomi.fi authorisation from the person on whose behalf you are acting in the following situations:
- There are multiple attorneys.
- Your right to manage financial affairs concerns a certain part of the property, or your jurisdiction is otherwise limited.
Read more about the continuing power of attorney (Digital and Population Data Services Agency)
Page last updated 5/29/2024
