Finnish Oy (Osakeyhtiö) — Accounting, Tax and Annual Report
A Finnish Oy (Osakeyhtiö) is the standard private limited company registered at PRH (Patentti- ja rekisterihallitus / Finnish Patent and Registration Office). Since July 2019 no minimum share capital is required, which lowered the setup barrier but did not change the compliance load: every Oy must keep double-entry books under the Finnish Accounting Act (Kirjanpitolaki 1336/1997), file a tilinpäätös (annual financial statements) with PRH within two months of board approval, and pay corporate income tax at 20%. This page sets out what an Oy actually owes the authorities month-to-month and year-to-year, and how our Tallinn team supports Finnish entities in EN/ET/RU.
What the Finnish Accounting Act requires
Every Oy — regardless of turnover — keeps double-entry books, stores source documents for six years, and produces a tilinpäätös (balance sheet, income statement, notes, and for larger entities a management report) within four months of the financial year end. The tilinpäätös is filed with PRH for public registration within two months of board approval. Late filing triggers late fees and, persistently, forced dissolution.
A VAT-registered Oy files monthly or quarterly ALV returns via OmaVero (Vero.fi), and a payroll-paying Oy files the Incomes Register (Tulorekisteri) reports within five days of each payment event. The Finnish Tax Administration (Verohallinto) assesses penalties automatically.
Tax cycle — CIT 20%, VAT and payroll
Finnish corporate income tax is a flat 20% on profits. Dividends to private shareholders are taxed separately under the shareholder-level dividend regime, and we document retained-earnings computations so a Verohallinto audit trail is defensible. VAT is 25.5% standard (since September 2024), with reduced rates of 14% and 10% for specific categories.
For Oy companies importing goods, running Amazon FBA, or selling SaaS across the EU we map the VAT position before onboarding — OSS, IOSS and standalone registrations each carry different cash-flow and compliance consequences.
Annual report (tilinpäätös) filing
The tilinpäätös package filed with PRH includes the balance sheet, income statement, cash-flow statement (for non-small entities), notes, and — for larger Oy companies — a management report and auditor's report. Audit is mandatory once the Oy exceeds two of the three thresholds (balance sheet €100k, turnover €200k, three employees) in two consecutive years.
We prepare the statutory package in Finnish and deliver an English management pack in parallel for foreign directors. Filing happens via YTJ / PRH e-services within two months of board approval.
Working with us
Onboarding takes two to three weeks: scoping call, document transfer through our client portal, chart-of-accounts alignment with Finnish KILA recommendations, and handover of prior working papers. We operate in English, Estonian and Russian on the same ticket; Finnish-statutory filings are reviewed by a Finnish-qualified accountant before submission.
If a question is outside our core coverage — for example a complex Finnish labour-law matter — we say so and introduce the right specialist rather than stretching a retainer into unpriced territory.