Self-employed persons from abroad – dealing with taxes when arriving here
When you start operating your trade you need a Finnish personal identity code.
Read more about requesting a Finnish personal identity code.
If you already have the identity code, you need to submit a written account to the Finnish Tax Administration to describe your activity in Finland.
If your line of work involves assignments or jobs at a construction site, installation site or shipyard, you will also need to get an individual tax number.
Read more about the tax number.
For receiving income from a Finnish source, you can choose between submitting an application for a Finnish tax card and submitting an application for registration with the prepayment register.
Submit an application for a tax-at-source card or for a tax card
Select the tax-at-source card if you stay max. 6 months, and select the domestic tax card if you stay longer.
- Maximally 6 months: complete the application form designed for nonresidents (Form 5057e)
- Longer than 6 months: complete the residents’ application (Form 5042e)
You can use the above application forms for requesting a tax number for yourself, which you’ll need to have if you work at a construction site or a shipyard.
Yet another document to enclose is the completed form where you provide information concerning your activity:
Explanation of business conducted by a foreign self-employed individual (Form 6205e).
The following documents or photocopies are required:
- If you are a Finnish resident individual (your presence here will exceed 6 months), while your permanent home is located in another country, please enclose a Certificate of fiscal residence issued by that country’s tax authority.
- Please also enclose photocopies of the contracts you signed with your customers, i.e. the contracts concerning your work, assignments, or jobs.
- If the text of the photocopied contracts does not contain the relevant information, please answer the following questions in writing:
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- What is the name of the company that has ordered the work you do here?
- Who will pay you for it?
- What kind of trade or business do you operate here?
- For how long time will your assignments or jobs be ongoing, and what is the period when you will be present in Finland?
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- If you work in the construction or installation sector, please give details on how long the work will last, by the Finnish districts where the construction sites are located.
- If you work at a shipyard or several shipyards, please give details on the work you do by dates worked at each shipyard.
- If you continue to be covered by the social security system of the country where you come from, please enclose a photocopy of your A1 certificate.
Take the completed forms and the above documentation with you when you come the tax office. However, if you already have the Finnish personal identity code, you do not need to visit the tax office in person. Instead, you can send the documents by post. You can find the addresses to use on the first page of each tax form.
An alternative option is to apply for prepayment registration
If you operate trade or business in Finland, you are entitled to get a prepayment registration. If you have the registration, your customers will no longer need to withhold tax on the amounts they pay you. If you have the registration, no tax card or tax-at-source card will be asked of you. Instead, you will only need to request a prepayment calculation from the Tax Administration and make the appropriate prepayments yourself.
See conditions for registration
Submit an application for VAT registration if your activity gives rise to a permanent establishment for VAT purposes.
Read more about VAT for foreign businesses in Finland
If you have a permanent establishment and you also have workers on your payroll in Finland, see the tax guidance to find out whether you should become a registered employer.