Working in Finland: basic information

A Finnish employer must report to the Incomes Register the wages paid and other payments made to an employee coming to Finland from abroad. The data must also be reported when the income is not taxed in Finland, or the employee is not insured in Finland.

A foreign employer must report to the Incomes Register the wages paid and other payments made when the employee coming to Finland from abroad is a resident taxpayer, or is insured in Finland. A foreign employer must also report payments made to a leased employee who is a non-resident taxpayer if Finland has the taxing right to the wages according to a tax treaty between the employee's country of residence and Finland.

Payments made to both resident and non-resident taxpayers are reported on an earnings payment report. An entry on the non-resident taxpayer status must be included in the income earner details on the earnings payment report.

If an employee coming to Finland from abroad is covered by Finnish social security and the social insurance contributions are paid to Finland, both Finnish and foreign employers must report the necessary data to the Incomes Register on an earnings payment report and an employer's separate report.

If the employee has a certificate from his/her country of origin according to which he/she is covered by the social security of his/her country of origin, the social insurance contributions are not paid to Finland. If the social security of another country is applied to the employee based on an agreement, the insurance contributions covered by the social security agreement do not need to be paid to Finland. However, insurance information (for example, in what ways is the employee not covered by Finnish social security) must be reported to the Incomes Register.

The employer obligations of a foreign employer are affected by whether or not the employer has a permanent establishment in Finland as regards income taxation. The employer obligations are also affected by whether the employer is registered in the Employer Register. As an example, the employer's health insurance contributions are paid to Finland and reported to the Incomes Register only if the foreign employer has a permanent establishment in Finland. If the employer does not have a permanent establishment in Finland, the employer's health insurance contribution does not need to be paid, even if the employee is insured in Finland.    

See more detailed instructions and examples of data to be submitted to the Incomes Register in different international situations:

• work in Finland and data to be submitted to the Incomes Register when the payer is Finnish 
• work in Finland and data to be submitted to the Incomes Register when the payer is foreign 
• guide Reporting data to the Incomes Register: international situations.

Leased employee

If a foreign employer leases an employee in its service to a company in Finland, the foreign employer must report the payments it makes to the leased employee coming to Finland on an earnings payment report submitted to the Incomes Register. The data must be submitted when the tax treaty between the employee's country of residence and Finland does not prevent Finland from taxing the employee's wage income, or when there is no tax treaty.

Additionally, the employer must submit the foreign employee leasing notice data to the Incomes Register, for example the estimated duration of the work assignment, the details of the Finnish service recipient and the foreign employer's representative, and an estimate of the amount of wages.

See more information in the guide Reporting data to the Incomes Register: international situations.