Tax debt register

Tax debt register is a public service allowing anyone to make enquiries on outstanding tax liabilities and negligence in tax return filing of all types of companies and self-employed businesses.

Whose information is available for viewing in the tax debt register?

Tax debt register entries can only concern domestic businesses of which there is a record in the Business Information System, which are set up as corporate entities of some form, or operated by self-employed people or by estates of deceased individuals and are entered in Trade Register or the Register of VAT taxpayers. As for foreign corporate entities, the Register may only contain information on them if they have been registered as a 'branch of a foreign trader' (sivuliike; filial till en utländsk näringsidkare) in the Trade Register.

Companies’ tax debt information recorded in the tax debt register is public information and available to all. Tax debt information concerning self-employed individuals and estates of deceased persons that conduct business operations, however, can be viewed only by users who have identified themselves in the BIS (Business Information System) service. You can identify yourself to the tax debt register with your online banking codes, for example, in the Suomi.fi e-identification service. You may view information only for purposes laid down in the Act on the Contractor’s Obligations and Liability when Work is Contracted Out, and in the Act on Public Procurement and Concession Contracts. If you are a self-employed individual, you can also check your own details in the service.

If you search for information on behalf of a company, you must have a Suomi.fi authorisation for acting on behalf of the company. You can view self-employed individuals’ tax debt information in the tax debt register if you have the authorisation Managing tax matters or Filing tax returns. Searches for details on self-employed individuals and estates of deceased persons will be saved. On request, the Tax Administration will provide the taxpayer entered in the register with information on who has viewed their data.

The tax debt register has no entries that would concern the tax debts of individuals. The Tax Administration does not release any lists of the tax debt information on the register.

What information does the register make public?

The register shows the companies or self-employed that owe at least €10,000 euros or that have neglected to file tax returns for self-assessment during the past 6 months. It does not show the euro amounts of the debts, but only whether there is a tax debt amounting to at least 10,000 euros or whether there is no tax debt. In the same way, no display in the tax debt register is available for debts relating to car taxes and excise duties.

For purposes of the register, “to have neglected to file tax returns” refers to circumstances where a VAT taxpayer has not submitted their tax return for self-assessed taxes, or where an employer has not submitted their earnings payment report to the Incomes Register. Register entries due to non-filing are for the past 6 months only.

Even if a business has a record on the tax debt register that a tax is unpaid, or some returns are not submitted, it does not have a direct impact on the credit rating of that business. Nevertheless, credit institutions may include the tax debt register in their sources of information when they run various checks on their business customers.

Where can I read what is on the register?

Find the tax debt register on the Business Information System website: first go to Company Search to look up the business taxpayer you are interested in. You see the word 'Tax Debt Register' at the bottom of the results page. Click 'Show details' to view the current records.

Run a Company Search (Business Information System)

You can print out an excerpt from the register with your own printer.

Automatic updates

Register entries on debt or non-filing are not permanent. The IT system runs regular updates after payments have arrived to the Tax Administration's bank account or after returns have been submitted. This usually requires a clearance period that may take two or three banking days. However, if you paid a tax debt to the enforcement authority, it will take longer. Because the update process is fully automatic, you cannot make it any faster by showing a receipt or making a telephone call to the tax office.

Tax debts covered by a payment arrangement

If your business has a payment arrangement currently in force, no information is displayed. In addition, if there is an entry on your business in the tax debt register and you make a payment arrangement, the entry will be deleted. However, if the business has tax debts that are not covered by the arrangement, the register will contain the appropriate records for public display.

However, if you have an agreement with the local enforcement authority on a payment plan, it does not prevent the publishing of tax debts on the register.

Suspended collection and the displayed information

Simply having a taxpayer's appeal pending does not prevent the entries from being made in the tax debt register. If there is a stay of proceedings in force, as determined in an official decision in connection with your appeal case, then the amount of money concerned by the stay is deducted from the tax debt balance to be displayed in the register. However, if the remaining sum continues to exceed the 10,000-euro threshold, a record may be made for the register, or a current record may remain unchanged.

Corporate restructuring, adjustment of a private individual's debts

If a business enterprise has a payment plan currently in force within the meaning of the Restructuring of Enterprises Act, or if you are self-employed and have a payment plan currently in force, within the meaning of the Act governing the Adjustment of Debts of a Private Individual, no tax debt register information is displayed unless there are debts not covered by those plans.