Finland approved legislation for the implementation of the EU Public Country-by-Country (CbC) Reporting Directive on 4 May, 2024.
Finland’s version of its public country-by-country reporting largely aligns with the EU Directive. However, it did not adopt the website publication exemption provision.
According to the Directive, EU Member States should make public country-by-country reporting accessible to the public, free of charge, in an electronic reporting format that is machine-readable, and in at least one of the European Union’s official languages. This should be done no later than 12 months after the balance sheet date of the financial year for which the report is drawn up.
Finland implemented a clause that permits eligible groups to withhold information for up to five years. Any omission shall be clearly indicated in the report together with a duly reasoned explanation regarding the reasons therefor. As per the Directive, Member States shall ensure that all information omitted is made public in a later report on income tax information within no more than five years of the date of its original omission.
Finland also adopted the enforcement of penalties and took all the measures necessary to ensure that those penalties are enforced pursuant to the EU Directive apply to infringements of the national provisions as regards the disclosure of income tax information by certain undertakings and branches adopted pursuant to this Directive.
The rules have been incorporated into Finland’s law and apply to the financial years beginning on or after 22 June, 2024.
