Financial Administration

What it means

The Financial Administration runs both tax and customs: tax offices, customs offices and the financial crime office all sit under it. For a company it is one counterpart for VAT, income tax and imports.

Communication is electronic, through the portal and the official e-mailbox. Delivery to the mailbox is valid whether or not anyone opened it, and deadlines run from it.

The Financial Administration is not the Ministry of Finance, nor the body that collects social contributions. The ministry drafts laws and guidance; the Financial Administration applies them to taxpayers. Social and health insurance contributions are administered by the Social Insurance Agency and the health insurers, each with its own portal, deadlines and inspections.

How it works in practice

Companies set up authorised access for the director and the accountant. When the accountant changes, the access must be rewritten, or requests keep reaching someone no longer handling the agenda.

The portal takes returns, control statements, applications and replies to requests. It also shows the tax account, meaning the real state of overpayments and arrears.

The Financial Administration publishes lists, such as VAT payers or entities with grounds for deregistration, and we use them to check new suppliers before the first large payment. If a supplier appears on the list of those with grounds for deregistration, the customer risks liability for the tax the supplier fails to pay.

What to watch out for

The mailbox needs checking regularly. An unopened request does not stop the clock, and a missed date turns into a sanction even for a company that did nothing wrong on the substance.

Advice from the telephone helpline or an informal e-mail from an official does not bind the tax authority. It cannot be relied on in an inspection. Anyone who needs certainty on an unclear point can apply for a binding ruling, but it carries a fee and is issued only under the conditions the law sets.