PRH to begin fining for late filings

Late filing of financial statements can now attract a fine.

The provisions of the new Trade Register Act, which entered into force in June 2023, will gradually be implemented in 2025 and 2026.

In the autumn of 2025, the Patent and Registration Office (PRH) will begin to charge a late-filing fine for financial statements. It will apply to financial years ending after December 2024. The fine will depend on how late the financial statements are filed. It will be issued if the company fails to submit its financial statement to the Trade Register within eight months of the end of the financial year. If a company fails to submit its financial statement, regardless of notices from the PRH, it can be removed from the Trade Register. We recently reported on changes related to the removal of companies from the Trade Register.

The fine will be between €150 and €600. For public limited companies and societates Europaeae (SE), the fine will double. It will also double if the company has failed to submit a financial statement for two or more consecutive financial years.

The PRH says that in any case, the fine is larger than the present processing fee charged for late submission.

Fine possible for negligence

From 2025 on, the PRH can fine companies that fail to correct deficient or erroneous information in their company records, despite having received notices to do so. This fine can be issued if the company does not list an address or information about its board, its registered information contains errors, or if it does not list its beneficial owners. The fine is €300. For public limited companies and SE, the fine is €600.

The Trade Register Act also changes the way information is filed. From 2026 on, all companies, apart from sole traders, housing companies, housing associations, housing cooperatives and mutual real estate companies, must file their financial statements, Trade Register filings and other information to the Trade Register electronically on the Business Information Service.

How to ensure you file your financial statement correctly

Attach financial statement to tax return as instructed

Most companies file their approved financial statements with their tax return. The financial statement must be filed on the tax return in strict accordance with the Tax Administration’s instructions to ensure it is transferred to the Trade Register maintained by the PRH. The Tax Administration sends the financial statement to the Trade Register in about a week.

Check that the financial statement is in the Trade Register

Check that your company’s financial statement for each financial year has been recorded in the Trade Register. The PRH sends the company a Trade Register extract when the financial statement has been recorded. A company can check its status using the PRH’s Virre service, which shows companies’ Trade Register information. On Virre, you can download a free Trade Register extract with up-to-date filed information, including financial statements.

Keep your company’s addresses and contact details up to date

If a company needs to correct something in a filing or if the Trade Register is missing required data, the PRH sends the company a notice. The notice is sent to the company’s address stored in the Business Information Service (BIS). Keep your contact details in the BIS up to date. Changing an address is free of charge and takes effect immediately.

PRH processes these filings automatically

New legislation on automatic decision making came into effect in May 2023. When the PRH uses automatic decision making, it uses automatic data processing to process filings or applications without a human agent specifically inspecting and approving the decision. If the requirements for automatic decision making are not met, the matter is sent to a human agent.

For example, automation is used when removing companies that have neglected to submit their beneficial owner information and file financial statements from the Trade Register.

Under the Administrative Procedure Act, automatic decision making can be used when the matter does not involve case-by-case consideration, or a human agent has inspected and approved the circumstances requiring case-by-case consideration in advance.

Updated 4 October at 09.52: Company forms that do not need to file electronically to BIS added.

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