The Trade Register of the Finnish Patent and Registration Office (PRH) has stepped up its activities this year to ensure that company information is as up to date as possible. According to the Trade Register’s own Finnish newsletter it is important that company information in the register is up to date, public, and easily accessible. In addition to businesses and authorities, citizens and the media also use the information in the Trade Register For entrepreneurs, the activation of the Trade Register poses a new risk of late or non-compliance fees imposed by the authorities.
A negligence fee of €300 may be imposed for any incomplete or incorrect information in the register concerning, for example, the address, board of directors, beneficiaries, or auditors. On a positive note, you can now download your company’s trade register extract from the Virre information service free of charge. You can contact our consulting service via DigibalanceApp or by email at konsulttipalvelu@digitase.fi if you need help updating your information.
Important: submitting financial statements to the Trade Register
The financial statements of limited companies have always been available in the Trade Register, but the authorities have not been very active in addressing any shortcomings. As a result, the register may have been missing several years of financial statements for dormant limited companies, for example, and in practice these have never even been prepared. The policy has now changed, and all limited companies are required to submit financial statement information, and the scope of the required information has also increased.
Under “Latest registered financial statements” in the trade register extracts of AutoAccount Oy/LLC customers, there is a list of financial statements which have been entered into the trade register as part of the company’s tax returns. This information has included the company’s annual income statement and balance sheet, but in the future, the information requirement will be more extensive, which will increase the administrative burden on entrepreneurs. The trade register must now be provided with financial statements signed and dated by the board of directors and, if applicable, the CEO, which include the income statement, balance sheet, and notes, as well as the auditor’s report and annual report for slightly larger companies. In addition, information is required on the date of the general meeting, i.e., the date on which the owners approved the financial statements, and on the distribution of any profits, i.e., in practice, information on the distribution of dividends. This financial statement information must be submitted to the Trade Register within eight months of the end of the financial year.
We have planned our response to these requirements very carefully, and going forward, AutoAccount customers will have two options for handling this matter: 1. Authorize us to submit comprehensive financial statement information to the Trade Register. 2. Report the financial statement information to the Trade Register yourself based on the documents you receive from us.
You will be asked about this in DigibalanceApp when you fill in the additional information for preparing the annual financial statements. If you select “AutoAccount” as the provider of trade register information, we will collect the electronic signatures and dividend distribution information required from entrepreneurs and submit this comprehensive information to the Trade Register within the required time frame. In this option, we will use standard dates according to which the financial statements are confirmed and any dividend distribution decisions are made within six months of the end of the financial year in accordance with the Limited Liability Companies Act. Our additional charge for this service is €45 (+ vat).
Late financial statement fees
The Finnish Patent and Registration Office (PRH) encourages timely submission of information by imposing high late fees ranging from €150 to €600, depending on the length of the delay. In the case of dormant companies, it is particularly important to note that the PRH will impose double late payment fee if the financial statements have not been submitted on time for two or more consecutive financial years. You can also ask AutoAccount to prepare any financial statements that a dormant company may have failed to submit.
The authorities’ policy on negligence and late fees, which increase the entrepreneur’s cost risk, is generally more tolerant at first. However it has been noted with the tax authorities that the fees quickly become fully automatic and usually irrevocable. Therefore, it is worth paying attention to this matter now and, for example, ensuring that additional information for the financial statements is submitted to us within the deadlines set by DigibalanceApp. This also makes it possible to meet the deadlines set by the authorities.