Finnish Entrepreneurial News 12.2016 – Notifications from Verohallinto and Changes in Pensions in 2017

Dear reader,

• Verotili portal will be unavailable from the evening of 22.12.2016. Make sure that your VAT declarations, employer taxes’ declarations and EU-VAT declarations due in December 2016 are submitted before 22.12.2016.
• No tax liability certificates (verovelkatodistus) are issued during the period 29.12.2016-05.01.2017. If you need one, please order it before 27.12.2016.
• No delayed tax payment plans (maksujärjestely) are done in December 2016.
• Unpaid taxes on the tax account are not marked in the Tax Debt Register (Verovelkarekisteri) in December 2016 due to the transfer of information from Verotili portal to the new OmaVero portal. Make sure that you still pay all the due taxes by year-end to avoid having problems in January 2017.
• Finnish Tax Administration informs that all businesses’ tax returns are primarily paid to the company’s bank account. It is also a much quicker way of receiving the returrned taxes. If you haven’t yet provided your company’s bank account number to the Tax Administration, you can do it on the website www.vero.fi/tilinumero (in Finnish) or using the form 7209 (find the Finnish form on website http://www.vero.fi/fi-FI/Syventavat_veroohjeet/Lomakkeet/Yritys_ja_yhteisoasiakkaiden_lomakkeet/Yritysasiakkaan_ilmoitus_tilinumerosta_7(10821)).
• Many of the Finnish Tax Administration’s services including the customer service are unavaliable on the last days of 2016 and first days of 2017. Detailed info on the services affected and the specific unavaliability periods can be seen from a news bulletin http://www.vero.fi/en-US/Tax_Administration/News/Customer_service_closed_29_Dec__2_Jan(41304)

• Employee pension contributions are mandatory for all employees from the age of 17 (previously from 18 years old);
• Employee pension contributions are obligatory up to the age of:
  • 68 – for those born in 1957 or earlier
  • 69 – for those born between 1958-1961
  • 70 – for those born in 1962 and after;
• Pension age is rising in 3 month steps from 63 to 65 starting from 2018. A new table with information on when, persons born in a certain year, can start their pension age, is applied;
• For employees aged 53-62, the employee part of the pension contribution withheld from the employee salary is 1,5% higher than the general employee part of the contribution during the years 2017-2025. From 2026 the withheld part of the contribution for the mentioned age group will be the same as for the other employees;
• 2 new types of pensions are introduced:
  • Partial early retirement pension of 25% or 50% from the age of 61 (from the age of 62 after 2025)
  • Career pension for those doing hard work for at least 38 years and having a diminished working capacity – can retire when 63 years old
• Pension is accumulating as follows:
  • 1,5% of annual income or
  • 1,7% of annual income for those aged 53-62 during the years 2017-2025
• For those who want to work past the start of their retirement age can earn a 4,8% increase in their pension per year of deferral of retiring;
• Who/what is not affected:
  • Those people already retired and getting pension payments
  • Pensions earned before 2017.