Certificate of no arrears

What it means

A certificate of no arrears is an official document in which the tax office, customs, the Social Insurance Agency or a health insurer confirms that a company or sole trader has no outstanding debts with it as of a given date. Each institution issues a certificate only for itself.

It is required mainly in public procurement, applications for grants or state aid, loan applications, some changes in the Commercial Register and the deletion of a company. New business partners increasingly ask for it too when vetting a supplier.

In some procedures the authority checks for arrears itself in the registers and needs no certificate from the company. The financial administration, for example, publishes a list of tax debtors, and the company can see its tax arrears in its personal taxpayer account.

How it works in practice

Before a client submits a tender or grant application, we first check their account status with all institutions. Even a tiny arrear, such as a few euros of late-payment interest, means no certificate will be issued, and clearing it up takes days.

Certificates are now mostly requested electronically through each institution’s portal or electronic mailbox. Processing takes several days, so we recommend applying early and checking how old a document the recipient will accept.

If the company has agreed a payment schedule or deferral with the tax authority, a certificate is usually not issued even if it pays on time. Public procurement deals with this separately, and the conditions of the specific tender need checking.

What to watch out for

The certificate is valid as of its issue date. If a new arrear arises in the meantime, the old document no longer reflects reality. Signing a sworn statement of no arrears without checking the current position is risky.

Watch out for arrears the company does not know about: unpaid health insurance from the annual reconciliation, an additional payment to the Social Insurance Agency after an inspection, or a late-filing fine. Regular account checks prevent an unpleasant surprise at the wrong moment.