Instructions when you are liable to tax outside Finland

Music creators living abroad 

Music creators who permanently reside abroad are generally taxed in Finland as non-resident taxpayers, i.e. liable to tax but with restrictions. When copyright royalties are paid to a non-resident taxpayer, tax at source will be withheld on the royalties. Read more about non-residency on Finnish Tax Administration’s website. 

When you inform us about your non-residency for the first time or if you have resided abroad for less than three years, please request a tax-at-source card for compensation for use from the Finnish Tax Administration and deliver it to us. 

If you have lived abroad for over three years and already informed us about this, to address your non-residency you may send us either a tax-at-source card or a certificate of fiscal residence from your local authority in your country of residence

If you do not have a Finnish personal identity code, please send us either a tax-at-source card for compensation for use issued by the Finnish Tax Administration, or a certificate of fiscal residence from your local authority in your country of residence.

Valid tax-at-source card or a certificate of fiscal residence must be sent annually. In case your tax-at-source card is valid for less than the whole year, please send us a new tax-at-source card immediately after the previous one has expired. See instructions for ordering a tax-at-source card on the Tax Administration’s website. The certificate of fiscal residence has to be issued during the current year or at most three months ago. 

In addition to the tax-at-source card or certificate of fiscal residence, we require the following identifier information to confirm your non-residency: 

• Your tax identification number (TIN) in the country of residence 
• Your address in the country of residence 
  • Street address/post office box 
  • Postal code 
  • Post office 
  • Country 

Please send us the information via Secure message at https://www.securedmail.eu/message/omateosto@teosto.fi?lang=en. 

• Give your message a subject Nonresidency. 
• Attach the necessary documents to the message. 
• After submitting the Secure message form, you will receive an email from turvaposti@turvaposti.fi with a subject “Confirm secure message delivery”. 
• Confirm the submission by clicking the link in the email. 

If we do not receive up-to-date information on your tax status or we do not have the mandatory identifier information, we will abstain from paying distributions until we receive the information listed above. 

Publishers registered abroad

Companies and other corporate entities registered abroad are generally taxed in Finland as non-resident taxpayers, i.e. liable to tax but with restrictions. When copyright royalties are paid to a non-resident taxpayer, tax at source will be withheld on the royalties. Read more about non-residency on Finnish Tax Administration’s website. 

In order to make sure that we have up-to-date information on your publishing company, your company’s certificate of fiscal residence or certificate of registration must be sent annually. The certificate must be dated for the current year.  

In addition to the certificate of fiscal residence or certificate of registration, we require the following identifier information to confirm your company’s tax status: 

• Tax identification number (TIN) of the company 
• VAT number of the company, in case the company is registered in EU country 
• Business registration number of the company and information on which country’s business registration number it is, in case the company is registered outside EU 
• Official name of the company 
• Company form 
• Address of the company 
  • Street address/post office box 
  • Postal code 
  • Post office 
  • Country 

Please send us the information via Secure message at https://www.securedmail.eu/message/omateosto@teosto.fi?lang=en. 

• Give your message a subject Nonresidency. 
• Attach the necessary documents to the message. 
• After submitting the Secure message form, you will receive an email from turvaposti@turvaposti.fi with a subject “Confirm secure message delivery”. 
• Confirm the submission by clicking the link in the email. 

If we do not receive up-to-date information on your tax status or we do not have the mandatory identifier information, we will abstain from paying distributions until we receive the information listed above. 

Heirs and other rightsholders of a deceased music author

The conditions described above also apply to the heirs and other rightsholders of a deceased music author, when the rightsholder is residing abroad: for individuals the taxation is the same as for music authors living abroad, and for companies and other corporate entities the taxation is the same as for publishers registered abroad. For more information about rightsholders of a deceased author, see our Heirs page.