Foreign employer’s obligation to report data on paid salaries and wages in Finland

The employer has no permanent establishment in Finland

If a foreign employer has no permanent establishment in Finland, it is not obligated to withhold tax from an employee’s salary or wage related work performed in Finland. A foreign employer must, however, submit so-called earnings payment reports to the Incomes Register regarding employees whose uninterrupted stay in Finland lasts longer than six months (and who therefore become tax residents in Finland). If an employee works both in Finland and abroad during the same pay period, the foreign employer must submit data on all income, i.e. also on income related to the work performed abroad.

The employer has a permanent establishment in Finland

A foreign employer that has a permanent establishment in Finland is comparable to a Finnish employer. Such a foreign employer has an obligation to register in the Register of Employers with the same conditions as a Finnish employer. It must also withhold tax from salaries and wages.

When a foreign employer has a permanent establishment in Finland it also has the same reporting obligations to the Incomes Register as the Finnish employer. Therefore, a foreign employer must also file earnings payment reports related to non-resident employees on such months they have worked in Finland. In this connection, it is important to note that the whole pay must be reported even if the work has been partially performed abroad.