Setting up a company in Finland is cheap and mostly online. The hard parts are elsewhere: the residence permit if you are not an EU citizen, the start-up grant if you want one (it has to be applied for before you start), and understanding how your income will be taxed. Take it slowly and in the right order, and be honest with yourself first about whether you want to run a business at all.
Fees and rates below are as checked on the date at the top of this page.
If you are not an EU citizen: the permit comes first
EU citizens register their right of residence and can trade like anyone else. Everyone else needs a residence permit for an entrepreneur, and the first one must be applied for before you arrive in Finland.
- It covers a private trader, a partner in a general partnership, a general partner in a limited partnership, and a shareholder or manager owning at least 30% of a limited company.
- Owning a company is not enough. Migri's rule is that you must also work in the company in Finland.
- Profitability is judged first by an Economic Development Centre (elinvoimakeskus), which makes a partial decision; Migri then decides the permit. The business has to support you, so expect to show bank statements and a two-year financial forecast.
- The fee is €750 online or €900 on paper for a first permit.
Founders of an innovative, growth-oriented company can use the startup permit instead. Business Finland first issues an eligibility statement for the team (normally at least two founders, who between them own at least 60% of the company and work on it full-time), and each founder then applies to Migri. The permit is granted for up to two years and can be renewed.
Separately, a person permanently resident outside the EEA needs a permit from PRH to operate as a private trader. The general permit routes are covered in residence permit conditions and moving to Finland.
Choosing a company form
| Form | Founders | Owners' liability |
|---|---|---|
| Private trader (toiminimi) | one person | personal, with all your assets |
| General partnership (avoin yhtiö) | at least two | personal, for every partner |
| Limited partnership (kommandiittiyhtiö) | at least two: one responsible, one silent | personal for responsible partners; silent partners risk only their investment |
| Limited company (osakeyhtiö) | one or more | limited to what you put in |
| Cooperative (osuuskunta) | one or more | limited to the membership investment |
A private trader is still the simplest start: you decide everything and you carry the risk personally. A limited company separates your money from the company's and needs more administration — a general meeting, a board (a single owner also needs a deputy board member) and proper company documents.
There is no minimum share capital for a private limited company; one can be registered with 0 euros. The €2,500 minimum older guides quote no longer applies. Only a public limited company needs €80,000.
Registering
One start-up notification at ytj.fi, the Business Information System run jointly by the Finnish Patent and Registration Office (PRH) and the Tax Administration, registers you with both and gives you a Business ID (Y-tunnus). The same notification is where you apply to join the VAT register.
PRH's handling fees:
| What | Fee |
|---|---|
| Private trader | €75 |
| General or limited partnership | €300 |
| Limited company, guided process at ytj.fi | €300 |
| Limited company, standard notification | €400 |
| Cooperative | €400 |
The €300 guided route is for a limited company with no share capital whose shareholders are all adults with a Finnish personal identity code. Since 1 January 2026 companies can no longer file on paper; private traders still can. A private trader does not always have to be in the Trade Register — it becomes compulsory, for example, when the Accounting Act requires you to file financial statements there.
If your line of work needs a licence or permit, get it before you start trading.
Tax in outline
- Limited companies and cooperatives pay 20% corporate income tax on profit.
- A private trader's or partner's business income is split: a share corresponding to a 20% return on the business's net assets is capital income, the rest is earned income. Capital income is taxed at 30% up to €30,000 a year and 34% above that; earned income is taxed progressively.
- VAT is 25.5% as standard (since 1 September 2024). From 1 January 2026 food, restaurant meals, books, medicines, passenger transport, accommodation, sports services and cultural admissions are 13.5%, and newspapers and magazines 10%.
- You must register for VAT from the day your turnover passes €20,000 in a calendar year. Below that you may register voluntarily.
Many small businesses hand the bookkeeping to an accounting firm from the start. It is worth getting a quote before your first VAT return, not after.
The start-up grant
The start-up grant (starttiraha) supports you while a new full-time business gets going. It is equal to the basic daily rate of unemployment benefit — €37.21 a day, about €800 a month, paid five days a week — and it is taxable. It can be paid for up to 12 months in total, usually in one or two periods.
Since 2025 it is handled by the municipal employment services of the area where you live (in Helsinki, Helsinki Employment Services), not by the old TE Offices. The conditions:
- apply and get a decision before you start full-time trading — a business already running full-time cannot get it;
- you will work in the business full-time and have the skills for it, from training or experience;
- you need the grant to live on, and the business can become profitable;
- you live in Finland and set up the business here.
A business plan and cash-flow forecast go with the application. Earlier figures of €500–650 a month for ten months are long out of date. How unemployment benefit itself works is in Kela benefits.
The organisations worth knowing
- PRH (prh.fi) — the Trade Register, trademarks and patents, and the fee lists.
- YTJ (ytj.fi) — start-up and change notifications, and a free search of every registered business by name or Business ID.
- Suomi.fi for companies (suomi.fi/company) — the state's guide to starting, running and growing a business, including the company-form comparison above.
- Tax Administration (vero.fi) — registration, VAT and income tax for each company form.
- Finnish Enterprise Agencies (Uusyrityskeskus, uusyrityskeskus.fi) — free, confidential advice from 46 local agencies, and a downloadable start-up guide. The best first appointment to book.
- Your municipality's employment services — the start-up grant, and courses for new entrepreneurs.
- Economic Development Centres (elinvoimakeskus.fi) — since 1 January 2026 these ten regional centres have taken over the business-development work of the fifteen former ELY Centres, including business development services and the profitability assessment for entrepreneur permits.
- Business Finland (businessfinland.fi) — the state agency that issues the startup permit's eligibility statement.
- Finnvera (finnvera.fi) — the state-owned financing company; loans and guarantees that sit alongside a bank loan, including for new businesses.
- ProAgria (proagria.fi) — advisers for farms and rural businesses.
- Yrityspörssi (yritysporssi.fi) — a marketplace, by its own account the largest in Finland, for buying an existing business instead of founding one.
Before you start
Talk to entrepreneurs in your own field, and read Finnish business culture before your first meeting with a Finnish customer. If you are still deciding between a job and your own company, finding a job in Finland covers the other road.
