Registration for the prepayment register and its effect on the operation of business

This is an unofficial translation. The official instruction is drafted in Finnish (Ennakkoperintärekisteröinnin vaikutukset yritystoimintaan, record number VH/8185/00.01.00/2020) and Swedish (Förskottsuppbördsregistreringens inverkan på företagsverksamheten, record number VH/8185/00.01.00/2020) languages.

1 The significance of having a registration

1.1 Introduction

The legal rules that govern the prepayment register and the way corporate and individual taxpayers can be entered in the register and removed from it are found in § 25 – § 28 of the Act on tax prepayments (Ennakkoperintälaki (1118/1996)); the rules on making an appeal are in § 48 of the said act, and in § 58 – § 69 of the Act on the assessment procedure of self-assessed taxes (Laki oma-aloitteisten verojen verotusmenettelystä (768/2016)).

Pursuant to § 25, subsection 2 of the act on tax prepayments, the parties that submit an application for registration are entered into the prepayment register if they are, or are likely to be, engaged in business, agriculture or other income-producing activities, provided that the received revenue is not to be classified as wages or fees received by a sportsperson.

Examples of “other income-producing activities” include a rental operation – where property is offered to tenants for rent – and a trading activity that aims for receiving gains from the selling of assets and property (§ 23 of the act on tax prepayments). Revenues from other income-producing activities additionally include the income resulting from fishing, hunting, tips for various services, motor vehicle inspections and technical checks, courses of instruction, private tuition, and other comparable operations (§ 21, decree on tax prepayments (Ennakkoperintäasetus (1124/1996))

When a company or individual is on the prepayment register, the payer does not need to withhold taxes on the amounts of money paid to that company or individual. However, there is no mandatory rule that would require anyone or any company to have the registration. If invoices are sent out by a company that produces services and the company is not prepayment-registered, the party purchasing the service must withhold tax from the sum total of every invoice. If such an invoice is sent by a corporate entity, a partnership, or a joint administration of a benefit, or by a foreign corporate entity deemed a resident taxpayer in Finland, the rate of withholding is 13 percent. If the invoice is sent by a natural person, the rate of withholding is as indicated by the person’s tax card. For more information on tax to be withheld at source when making payments to a non-resident foreign company, see Paying nonwage compensation to a nonresident foreign company - vero.fi.

In addition, entry into the prepayment register can be allowed to self-employed operators and companies that do not charge nonwage compensation, royalties and trade income. For example, even if the company (or the self-employed person) only engages in sales and purchases of goods, it can be entered in the prepayment register.

Nonwage compensation, which is not treated a wages – and is often also called trade income – is the compensation paid for the performance of work, for a one-off assignment, or for the rendering of a service (§ 25, subsection 1, line 1 of the act on tax prepayments).  Royalties are compensation for the right to use a copyright or a patent, trade mark or other industrial rights, including their use, the rights to their use, the selling of such rights. Royalties may also mean the compensation paid in exchange for know-how and detailed information regarding industrial, commercial and scientific endeavours (§ 25, subsection 1, line 2 of the act on tax prepayments).

All parties that pay out wages and salaries, within the meaning of § 13 of the act on tax prepayments, or pay fees to a sportsperson or athlete, are always liable to withhold taxes from the amounts that are paid. From this, it follows that whenever the amount is classified as wage income or sportsperson’s income, the beneficiary’s prepayment registration has no impact on the requirement that the payor must withhold tax.

1.2  Checking a taxpayer’s registration status

The prepayment register is public. This means that any party that plans to purchase a service from someone, or plans to purchase a service from a company, etc., can make a check to find out whether the provider of the service is registered. The BIS website (www.ytj.fi > English) contains a functionality for making these checks. Another way to check the registration is to phone the Tax Administration’s service number 029 497 004 (the general service number for business income taxes (standard call rates)). In addition, for business users that need to make many checks, the Tax Administration has made an online data resource (on the Ilmoitin.fi website, free of charge). Other providers, too, offer a similar checking functionality on the web.

2 Entering a taxpayer in the prepayment register

2.1 Submitting an application for registration

If you are a self-employed individual, a company or a corporate entity and you operate a trade, business, farm or other activity that generates income, the Tax Administration can enter you in the register. Applications for entry into the prepayment register can be submitted electronically through the BIS website or on paper on Form Y1 (limited liability companies and other corporate entities) or on Form Y2 (general partnerships, limited partnerships, other partnerships or consortia) or on Form Y3 (self-employed people (T:mi), other natural persons). If you have a company that already has received a Finnish Business ID, you can submit the application in MyTax, through the e-service of the BIS website, or on paper (Form Y4, Form Y5 or Form Y6). For more information, visit www.ytj.fi

The date when prepayment registration begins is either the date when the application arrives in the Tax Administration or a later date that you may have indicated as the desired date of registration. It is not necessary for your business to be started and ongoing when you ask for the registration: it is enough if you are likely to begin operating the business soon. If you have started up recently, your prospective customers may be reluctant to order any services from you unless your new company has a registration.

Prepayment registration on a voluntary basis is also available to foreign companies and natural persons who are foreign citizens. Foreign corporate entities that are Finnish tax residents are allowed entry into the register under the same conditions as domestic Finnish companies. Foreign corporate entities are resident in Finland for tax purposes when their place of effective management is situated in Finland. Non-resident foreign companies and non-resident natural persons can be entered in the prepayment register on application, if the applicant has a permanent establishment in Finland or if the applicant’s country of residence has signed a tax treaty with Finland.

2.2  Finding out whether registration is approved

Tax Administration sends a notice on registration to all newly prepayment-registered applicants. In addition, the information about your registration is shown on the BIS website as soon as you have been registered. The pre-scheduled dates for registration checks are 1 March, 1 June, 1 September and 1 December. This is a general check routine, and the check dates concern all kinds of parties that receive various payments from other parties. If you are the payor, and there is an ongoing business relationship between you and the person or company you buy from, you must make regular checks, repeating the search at least four times every year on the above dates. If your business relations with the person/company are not as active as that, you must check their registration every time you are about to pay an amount of money to them. The requirement to run the above checks does not apply to purchases of goods or operations with rental property. Although a regular check routine has been established, the latest check date’s information becomes void if you, the payor, receive a written note stating that the person or company has been removed from the prepayment register.

3 Refusal of registration

3.1 Receiving wages and receiving fees of an athlete or sportsperson

Not all applicants can be entered in the prepayment register.  One reason for turning down an application is that the applicant’s income only consists of wages or sportsmen’s fees as the act on tax prepayments defines these items of income. However, it only occurs quite rarely that at the time when an applicant has submitted their applications for entry in the register, the fiscal authority would deem that the future income is wages or sportspersons’ fees. Correspondingly, after a decision on prepayment registration is issued, that decision itself must not be construed as a statement on how the applicant’s future items of income should be classified. Payors are always required to withhold tax when the amounts they pay are wages.

3.2 Companies established for the sole purpose of selling them

There are commercial service operators whose sole purpose of setting up Finnish limited liability companies is to re-sell the companies on to people who want to buy a company. This makes it evident that the company’s founder has no intention to conduct business through it. Instead, the founder only intends to re-sell it. If it has become known that the applicant for prepayment registration is a commercial service operator that sets up companies and then re-sells them, prepayment registration can be refused. For refusal in these circumstances, it is enough if the person who is the founder, or the persons whose names are among the Board members, have a history of re-selling the shares of new companies to others. However, newly established companies as described above may be allowed entry into the register later, when a new Board has been appointed and it has become clear that the company will operate a business under the new management.

3.3 Neglected obligations

Pursuant to the provisions of § 26 of the act on tax prepayments, prepayment registration may be refused if the applicant has neglected the tax and accounting obligations that concern the applicant. In addition, registration may be refused if it is likely that the applicant will continue neglecting the obligations in the future, due to his or her personal history of non-compliance or due to such a history in the companies where he or she has previously been in charge, in a managerial position. In the same way, if the applicant is a corporate entity or a partnership, registration may be refused if it is likely that neglect with the entity’s or partnership’s obligations will occur again because the natural person in charge has a history of non-compliance, or because his or her previous companies have that history, or because he or she is currently in charge of a non-compliant company.

3.4 Setting up a new company in order to continue a terminated operation

The purpose of the provisions in § 26 laying down that a history of neglected obligations can lead to refused registration is to prevent situations where there is an attempt to avoid the negative effects of deregistration by setting up a new company. It is within the jurisdiction of the Tax Administration to apply the above provisions when it is noted that someone who is removed from the prepayment register attempts to continue his or her activities through a new company or as a self-employed person with a new business name.

Some applicants have attempted to avoid the negative consequences of deregistration also by setting up a new company where the applicant’s name or identity as a natural person cannot be found among the people in charge of that company, not as a company shareholder and not as a board member. These applicants have indicated that the founder of the new company is someone else; for example, they may have entered a family member’s name in the documents. Nevertheless, regarding the new company’s business operation it seems clear that the negligent person’s skills and experience are in a key role. Accordingly, this person, the applicant, is the real manager or director, and when the new company begins its activity, it is likely to be no different from the activity of the old company that was removed from the register. Under the circumstances, the Tax Administration can refuse registration on grounds of high likelihood of future neglect, because the individual who actually is in charge of the company has a personal history of non-compliance, or the companies previously managed by him or her that history. In other words, the important factor is whether the individual who really runs the company has been non-compliant. The nominal role that he or she gets in the new company is not significant.

3.5 Starting up

Although a company’s application for entry in the prepayment register is turned down, it can still begin operating a trade of business. In this case, any customers and other parties that pay compensation, royalties, or trade income to the company must withhold tax every time. By taking care of their obligations relating to taxation and bookkeeping, companies like this can demonstrate that they would probably not fail to fulfil the obligations, going forward. This way, a while later, such a company can submit an application for prepayment registration and be registered.

4 Removal from the prepayment register

4.1 Termination of activities

All prepayment-registered parties that ask to be removed from the register are removed from it. Most companies and individuals that ask for removal have discontinued their business or trade, so they are now ready to leave the prepayment register. You can submit a notice of amendments and termination (Form Y4, Form Y5 or Form Y6), via the ytj.fi website, or in MyTax to leave the register.

However, if you no longer conduct your trade or business, it may be that the Tax Administration takes action to remove you from the register. The Tax Administration does so after a prepayment-registered company has reported that it goes out of business but it has not asked for removal from the register. For example, after the company’s income tax return has indicated that operation is terminated, the Tax Administration proceeds remove the company from the register. Another situation where a company is removed on the Tax Administration’s initiative is when it has informed the Tax Administration of an interruption of its business operation for an indefinite period. After the company resumes its business, it has to submit an application for prepayment registration, and the Tax Administration will enter it in the register again.

Yet another situation where the Tax Administration makes the conclusion that a company no longer continues its operation is if VAT returns or payroll reports have been received for a longer period indicating “no activity” or “no wage payments”. However, in this case the Tax Administration will first send a letter and arrange for the company or individual to provide an account explaining their current circumstances, before the Tax Administration carries out the removal. If the answer contains an account that indicates that the company or individual will still continue their business, the Tax Administration refrains from removing the company or individual from the register.

4.2 Hobby business

Prepayment registrations are designed for parties that conduct an operation that produces income. However, some activities may not produce enough income to be considered other than a hobby, and to predict such an outcome before startup is difficult. As a result, at the stage when an individual or a company submits an application for registration, the Tax Administration relies strongly on the description given by the applicant on the actual characteristics of the planned activity. However, a registered party will later be removed from the prepayment register if it is established that the operation only is a hobby. In the same way as above, the Tax Administration will also in this case send a letter to the registered party first, and arrange for the party to provide an account explaining its current circumstances before the Tax Administration removes it from the register.

4.3 Corporate bankruptcy, corporate restructuring, an individual’s debt restructuring

After bankruptcy proceedings have been initiated for a registered corporate entity, the usual conclusion is that it is no longer conducting business. The bankrupt company is removed from the prepayment register as of the date when bankruptcy begins. However, if the bankruptcy estate submits an application for prepayment registration, the estate can be registered. Later, the Tax Administration removes the bankruptcy estate from the register when the estate announces that it no longer receives any payments, when the estate has presented its final accounts, or when the bankruptcy has lapsed.

Companies are not removed because a process has started for corporate restructuring, and individuals are not removed because of their debt restructuring. Correspondingly, the existence of debts that are under restructuring is not a reason for a company’s or individual’s removal from the register. If after submitting an application for restructuring, a company asks for registration, the Tax Administration can enter it in the register again in situations where the removal of the company from the register had been due to a failure to repay a debt that later becomes re-structured.   However, after the restructuring program has been agreed upon but the company or individual fails to follow the payment plan – or fails to pay the relevant taxes – the Tax Administration may, in order to prevent continued neglect, remove the company or the individual from the register.

4.4 Neglected obligations

A registered party can be removed from the register due to non-payment of taxes, failure to file tax returns, keep records, maintain an accounting system or due to failure to meet other obligations relating to taxes.

In addition, individuals and companies can be removed if it is obvious that continued neglect will be likely because of a director’s history of neglected obligations, or because of such a history by corporate entities and partnerships where the director has previously been a person in charge. Companies can be removed because of a director’s non-compliance or because of non-compliance on the part of other corporate entities managed by the director.

In addition, anyone on whom a ban on business operations is imposed may be removed from the register. Correspondingly, if a natural person who is a director in a corporate entity or partnership has a ban on business operations, that corporate entity or partnership can be removed from the prepayment register

5 The neglected obligations that prevent registration

5.1 Neglected obligations directly related to taxes

Applicants who substantially neglect tax obligations can be denied entry into the prepayment register, or registered parties can be removed from it, if:

• taxes are unpaid
• tax returns are not filed
• the registered party fails to keep books, accounts, records; or if
• other obligations of a taxpayer are not complied with.

In addition, registered parties can be removed, or applicants can be denied entry, if there is reason to assume that continued neglect – as above – will be likely because of a history of neglected personal obligations, or because of such a history in the corporate entities and partnerships where the natural person has been a director. Prepayment-registered corporate entities can be removed, or corporate applicants can be denied entry, because of a director’s history of neglected personal obligations, or because of such a history in the corporate entities and partnerships currently – or previously – managed by the director.

5.2 Ban on business operations

As of 1 January 2021, if authorities have imposed a ban on business operations on a natural person, the ban is treated in the same way as neglect and is an obstacle to registration within the meaning of the act on tax prepayments.

The provision of § 26, subsection 3 of the act on tax prepayments lays down that anyone with a ban on business operations can be removed from the prepayment register or denied entry to the register. Moreover, if the ban on business operations is in effect for a natural person who is a director in a corporate entity or partnership, that corporate entity or partnership can be removed from the prepayment register or denied entry into the register. 

5.3 A newly established company

When a new company has submitted an application for registration, the Tax Administration examines whether the natural persons in charge of the newly established company have a history of non-compliance and whether the corporate entities they are in charge of, or have previously been in charge of, have that history. If non-compliance is found, even a newly established company can be denied entry into the register because continued neglect is deemed likely. The authorities that examine whether the requirements for entry are fulfilled will only focus on any previous neglect that relates to business activities.

5.4 Drawing a line between the material and the unimportant

Each case is decided separately and an overall evaluation of the parties’ circumstances is made before a decision of removal or denial of entry is made due to non-compliance. If problems are found, the neglected obligations must be material, i.e. significant enough to justify the removal from the register or the denial of entry into it. If the party has neglected its obligations just once, or if the importance of the non-compliant behavior is small, the problem stays below the threshold of materiality.

5.5 Paying the taxes

All non-payments of any type of business-related tax are noted when the authorities determine whether the applicant can be registered or whether a registered party should be removed. This means that even if the amount of the tax had been based on an estimate, it has to be accounted for if the tax is left unpaid.

We do not set an exact threshold of materiality for the size of an unpaid tax. Instead, we aim for making an overall evaluation of the applicant’s circumstances. For example, it may be that the prepayment-registered taxpayer has paid taxes in small amounts only, and in proportion to unpaid tax balances, the paid amounts are lower. In these circumstances, there are good reasons to remove that taxpayer from the register. In the reverse case, the Tax Administration will not remove a company or a self-employed individual that has paid up almost all of their taxes and only a small balance remains unpaid.

5.6 Suspension, interruption or stay of proceedings

If the applicant owes a tax but the recovery proceedings are aborted by virtue of an official decision on suspension or stay, the unpaid tax is not deemed as an impediment for the applicant’s entry to the prepayment register. Official decisions on an unpaid tax’s suspension, interruption or stay can be requested if a tax decision has been issued to a taxpayer and the taxpayer has made an appeal against it.

5.7 Payment arrangements

Taxpayers are entitled to ask the Tax Administration to agree upon an arrangement in order to recover an unpaid balance of taxes. For such an arrangement to be made, it is required that the taxpayer’s financial difficulties are temporary, and that according to the Tax Administration’s full evaluation of the taxpayer’s circumstances, the payment arrangement can be feasible. Tax debts covered by a payment arrangement with the Tax Administration are not an impediment for an applicant’s entry to the prepayment register, nor are they sufficient grounds for removing a prepayment-registered taxpayer from the register.

More information on payment arrangements

• Financial difficulties - vero.fi

Taxpayers with outstanding tax debts transferred to the enforcement authorities for recovery are not eligible for payment arrangements. Instead, taxpayers with this type of debts must contact the enforcement authority in order to discuss any measures to be taken. Even if the taxpayer and the enforcement authority have made a payment plan, a debt balance transferred to the enforcement authorities can be considered a reason for removing the taxpayer from the prepayment register. In these circumstances, it is important to look into the proportional sizes, with respect to the taxpayer's recovery payments, of the tax debt and the taxpayer’s other liabilities that are undergoing enforced recovery.

5.8 The requirement to report information

Taxpayers are under the obligation to supply a number of reports and notices to the Tax Administration regarding their economic activity. Examples of these reports and notices include income tax returns, VAT returns, Excise duty returns and car tax returns. The reports required from employers, up to 2018, have been the regularly submitted employer payroll reports, and starting 2019, the earnings payment reports submitted to the Incomes Register. All these reports are taken into consideration when evaluating whether a taxpayer fulfills their information-reporting requirement. The specific types and categories of reports depend on the characteristics and the size of the taxpayer’s business operation. In case of non-reporting, the extent of the breach against the information-reporting requirement must be evaluated. When we do so, account must be taken of all the missing reports and notices. To regard an occurrence of non-reporting as a neglected obligation, the threshold of materiality is reached at the stage when the Tax Administration has prompted the taxpayer to provide a report, but the taxpayer has still failed to do so.

Another factor affecting materiality is whether the taxpayer’s non-reporting has a big impact. For example, there might be an employer with many workers on its payroll. This employer fails to submit earnings payment reports to the Incomes Register. A reminder letter is sent, but the employer still does not submit the reports. This has an important impact because it makes it difficult for the Tax Administration to assess the income taxes of a large number of individuals, i.e. of the workers who work for this employer. Under the circumstances, the non-compliant employer can be removed from the prepayment register; the non-compliant behaviour is material.

Partial non-compliance such as submittals of an incorrect VAT return or income tax return, also falls in the category of “neglected obligations related to taxation”.

5.9 The obligation to keep accounting records or other records, and other tax-related obligations

All companies and self-employed individuals that operate a trade or business must keep accounting records. If the company or individual operates another type of income-producing activity, they must maintain records and a notebook in order to provide a sufficiently accurate itemisation of the amounts and other information necessary for purposes of taxation. The authorities may consider it adequate grounds for removal of a party’s prepayment registration if the party has failed to keep records as described above, and the failure reaches the threshold of materiality. This is due to the fact that business taxation is based on the taxpayer’s bookkeeping or other recordkeeping.

An example of non-compliance with other tax-related obligations is a situation where a prepayment-registered taxpayer has employed someone to work for the taxpayer but fails to pay the amounts withheld from the employee’s wages on to the Tax Administration; or fails to hand a payslip to the employee.

6  Re-entering the prepayment register

6.1 Remedying the errors or neglected obligations

An individual or company can be re-entered in the prepayment register. This requires that an application is submitted for prepayment registration and that the taxpayer has remedied the neglected obligations that had caused the taxpayer’s removal from the register. Another condition for a new registration is that the applicant has not neglected any other obligations, i.e. there must be no recent occurrences of non-compliance. However, it is not enough if the applicant merely remedies the errors. For re-entry into the prepayment register, the individual or corporate taxpayer must submit a new application for prepayment registration. The earliest possible date when the applicant can be re-entered is the date when the new application arrives at the Tax Administration.

6.2 Recurring neglect

As noted above, if the taxpayer has remedied the errors and has no other non-compliance or neglected obligations, the requirements for re-registration are likely to be satisfied. However, if the taxpayer has a history of neglected obligations occurring often, and if the taxpayer has already been removed from the register more than once, new registration can be refused although at the present time, there would be no evidence of negligence when the taxpayer’s application is submitted. However, new registration would only be refused if it is established, by investigating the taxpayer’s payment history and the records on tax-return filing, that this taxpayer tends to wait until the authorities have prompted him to fulfil an obligation, or tends to wait until the authorities have removed him from the prepayment register until errors are remedied. Under the circumstances, the official grounds for refusal would be that the taxpayer is deemed likely to continue being negligent.

Even in this case, unless it is likely that errors or negligence will continue, any taxpayer that submits a request can be re-entered into the register within a one-year period starting from the date when the taxpayer was removed from the register. This approach indicates that by filing their returns and making their payments on time, taxpayers have an opportunity to prove that they will not neglect their obligations in the future in spite of their history of negligence. The authorities can establish, at least when a full year has elapsed with no problems, that it is no longer likely that the taxpayer is going to neglect his tax-related obligations. After that, the taxpayer can submit an application and become prepayment-registered again.

7 Decision on tax prepayment registration, appeals against the decision

7.1 Arranging for a hearing before the decision is made

In the case of an applicant for whom the Tax Administration cannot make a prepayment registration, a letter is first sent to the applicant in order to list the reasons that prevent the applicant’s entry in the prepayment register. The letter prompts the applicant to give further information on the matter. The Tax Administration sends this letter before the decision is made. If the refusal to register is due to the applicant's – or someone else’s – prior negligent actions, they are itemised on this letter. The applicant will not be entered into the register unless the negligent actions are remedied within the deadline, or unless an explanation is presented based on which the applicant can be registered. The Tax Administration can accept an explanation where it is stated, for example, that the natural person who actually is in charge of company management is not the same person whom the Tax Administration’s records have indicated as a company director. Another example of acceptable supplementary information is that the applicant presents proof that a tax debt has become covered by a payment plan endorsed by arrangement with the Tax Administration. If you state the person’s name who is in charge of the company’s management, it is advisable to also enclose documentation or other proof to substantiate the view that company management really is in this person’s hands.

In case of neglect on the taxpayer’s part, it is within the Tax Administration’s jurisdiction to cancel the prepayment registration at any date, not only on one of the scheduled dates when registrations are checked. Taxpayers are not retroactively removed from the register due to reasons of neglect. When the Tax Administration finds that a prepayment-registered taxpayer has neglected the obligations relating to the taxpayer’s taxes or bookkeeping, a hearing letter is sent, indicating the time of the planned removal from the register and itemising the occurrences of neglect causing the removal. Prepayment-registered taxpayers are reserved an opportunity to rectify their negligence and give their explanation of the matter. The point in time when the hearing letter is sent to the taxpayer is well in advance of the planned date of removal. The letter tells the taxpayer the deadline for rectifying the negligent action so as to prevent removal from the prepayment register. However, if the taxpayer remedies the errors later, i.e. after de-registration, a new application must be submitted (on Form Y4, Y5 or Y6 as appropriate), via the ytj.fi website, or in MyTax. The earliest possible date for the taxpayer to be re-entered in the register is the date when the Tax Administration receives the new application.

It may become evident after the taxpayer has answered the hearing letter that there are no grounds for removal from the register or for denial of registration. In this case, no removal from the register is done or correspondingly, the taxpayer’s entry into the register is allowed.

7.2 Decision

After the Tax Administration has processed the applicant’s application and made a decision not to grant entry into the register, or after the Tax Administration removes a taxpayer from the register, a decision letter is sent. Appeal instructions are enclosed with the decision. The decision letter contains the following information: the name of the public authority that made the decision, its contact information, the taxpayer’s or applicant’s name and identifiers, the reasons for the decision and information on the way the matter was processed. The decision letter’s “reasoning” section contains a description of the important facts and circumstances and a list of the legal norms that were applied. If the outcome of the decision was affected by neglected obligations on the taxpayer’s part – or on the part of a third party – the decision letter will additionally contain further information about this, including type, extent, and an indication of whether the problem is still ongoing.

7.3 Confidential information

Because in general, concerned parties are entitled to be informed of the facts that have had an impact – or may have had an impact – on how the concerned party’s case was dealt with, it may be, when a hearing is being arranged, or after a decision is issued and its reasoning is communicated to the concerned party, that a taxpayer receives information on another private individual’s confidential tax details, for example. This may occur after the Tax Administration has denied the prepayment registration of a company due to a history of neglected tax obligations by its director(s). If the Tax Administration has sent the taxpayer a decision or a hearing letter that contains another taxpayer’s confidential details, these details still remain confidential. This means that the taxpayer who is the concerned party cannot divulge or pass them on to outsiders. Where confidential information is made available to someone, that information can only be used for handling the matter for which it was received. The rules also prevent the use of such information for the concerned parties' own benefit and for the detriment of any third parties (§ 1 and § 4, Act on the Public Disclosure and Confidentiality of Tax Information (1346/1999); § 22, § 23, § 25 and § 35 of the Act on the Openness of Government Activities (621/1999); Chapter 38, sections 1 and 2 of the Penal Code (578/1995).

7.4 Appeals

You can submit a claim for adjustment to the Assessment Adjustment Board to ask for changes to a decision on removal from the prepayment register or to a decision on non-registration. You must do so within 60 days of the date when you receive notice of the Tax Administration’s decision. Send your appeal letter to the Tax Administration’s address stated on the enclosed “instructions for appeal” sheet.  Insofar as the demand you make in your appeal is approved, the Tax Administration can make a decision on your appeal. If you are not satisfied with the Adjustment Board’s decision in the matter, you can make a further appeal to the Administrative Court. The appeal period is 60 days from the date when you receive notice of the Board’s decision.

Still further appeals should be submitted to the Supreme Administrative Court, and these appeals can only be made if the Supreme Administrative Court grants leave to appeal.