Tax return 6B for a dormant Finnish limited company

A Finnish limited company (osakeyhtiö) files a corporate tax return 6B (veroilmoitus 6B) with the Finnish Tax Administration (Verohallinto) for every financial year (tilikausi). This guide covers whether a dormant company has to file, when the return is due and how you can use the same return to file the financial statements (tilinpäätös) with the trade register (kaupparekisteri).

Does a dormant limited company have to file a tax return?

Yes. A limited company must file the tax return 6B for every financial year. According to the Tax Administration, this applies even if the company did not conduct business or any other activity during the year.

A zero result does not remove the filing obligation. The tax return is separate from filing the financial statements with the trade register: a dormant company has to do both.

When is the tax return 6B due?

The tax return is due within 4 months of the end of the last calendar month of the financial year. For example:

• financial year 1 January to 31 December: by 30 April
• financial year 1 July to 30 June: by 31 October
• financial year 1 October to 30 September: by 31 January

Because the deadline is counted from the end of a calendar month, it always falls on the last day of a month. The deadline for preparing the financial statements, by contrast, is counted from the last day of the financial year (KPL 3:6), so the two can differ by a day. All deadlines with examples are in our deadlines guide.

What do you need before you start?

Before filing the tax return, it helps to have ready:

• the signed financial statements, with the balance sheet, income statement and notes
• the annual general meeting minutes or written shareholders' decision (osakaspäätös), if the financial statements have already been adopted
• the adoption date and the decision on the result

If the financial statements have been adopted before you file the tax return, you can handle the tax return and the trade register filing at the same time.

How do you file the tax return in OmaVero?

You can file the tax return 6B in OmaVero, the Tax Administration's online service. At the same time you can file the financial statements with the trade register:

1. Fill in the tax return 6B with the information from the financial statements.
2. Attach the adopted financial statements to the tax return.
3. Choose "PRH ja Verohallinto" (PRH and Tax Administration) as the attachment type.
4. Submit the tax return by the deadline.

The Tax Administration forwards the financial statements to the Finnish Patent and Registration Office (PRH) 7 days after receiving them. Only attachments to the tax return 6B are forwarded this way. Only attach the financial statements with this attachment type once the annual general meeting or a shareholders' decision has adopted them.

What if the annual general meeting is held later?

The deadline for the annual general meeting (varsinainen yhtiökokous) is 6 months from the end of the financial year (OYL 5:3), which is later than the tax return deadline. So the financial statements may not yet be adopted when the tax return is due.

If the meeting is held after the tax return deadline, file the tax return on time and file the adopted financial statements directly in the YTJ service (ytj.fi). The trade register deadline is 2 months from adoption (OYL 8:10). The YTJ filing is explained in more detail in our PRH filing guide.

For example, a calendar-year company holds its meeting on 20 May. It files the tax return by 30 April without an attachment for PRH. It then files the adopted financial statements in YTJ by 20 July, within 2 months of adoption.

Does the same apply to the first financial year?

Yes. A tax return is filed for every financial year, including the first, and the deadline is counted the same way from the end of the last calendar month of the financial year. The first year's financial statements have no comparison figures, because there is no previous year.

What figures does a dormant company report?

The tax return 6B asks for, among other things, information from the income statement and the balance sheet, so the figures come from the financial statements. When the company had no entries during the financial year:

• the income statement items are zero, including revenue and the result for the year
• the balance sheet total is the same as at the end of the previous year
• within equity, the previous year's result has moved to the retained earnings line

Before submitting, check that the figures in the tax return match the signed financial statements. For guidance on individual fields of the form, see the Tax Administration's current instructions.

Checklist

• The tax return 6B is filed for every financial year, even with no activity.
• The deadline is 4 months from the end of the last calendar month of the financial year.
• The financial statements are only forwarded to PRH if the attachment type is "PRH ja Verohallinto".
• Only attach the financial statements once they have been adopted. Otherwise file them later in YTJ.

What does Ei Liiketoimintaa do for you?

Ei Liiketoimintaa prepares the financial statements, the balance sheet book (tasekirja) and the annual general meeting minutes, together with personal filing instructions that include your company's deadlines. You file the tax return yourself in OmaVero. A service that files on your behalf is coming soon.

Note that the service and the documents it produces are in Finnish.

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