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Business cost support (4th application round)

4th application round of business cost support 17 August-30 September 2021.

Average processing time
14 days for sectors directly eligible for support
14 days for companies outside the list of sectors

  • The application period for the fourth round of cost support ended on September 30 at 4:15 pm. The support period was March 1 – May 31, 2021.

    The third application round for cost support ended on 23 June.

    The processing time for claims for a revised decision is currently about 5-6 months. If we need more information to process your claim, our customer service representatives will contact you. We process all claims for a revised decision on a first come, first served basis, and unfortunately it is not possible to expedite the processing by contacting the State Treasury.

    Information about the third application round:

    3rd application round of business cost support >

  • What is business cost support?

    The application period for the fourth round of cost support begins on 17 August and support can be applied for from March to May. The support period is 1 March 2021-31 May 2021. The reference period depends on the company’s VAT declaration period and the date of establishment of the company.

     

  • Who is the support intended for?

    The support is intended for companies whose turnover has fallen significantly as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and whose wages and other costs for the support period (1 March 2021 to 31 May 2021) are difficult to adjust. The aim of the cost support is to support businesses in the difficult situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and to reduce the number of companies going bankrupt by giving companies more time to adjust their activities and costs once the COVID-19 crisis persists.

    The support  is granted on the basis of the decline in companies’ turnover and actual costs. A company can receive 2000 euros of support, even if the company’s support is calculated to be less than that amount if it has at least 2000 euros of eligible expenses during the support period.

    A company can apply for cost support if it has a business ID. It is also required that the company has eligible costs of at least EUR 2000 during the aid period and that its turnover has decreased by more than 30%.

  • When can support applications be made?

    The fourth application round for cost support starts on 17 August at 9:00 and ends on 23 June at 16:15.

  • How do I apply for the support?

    The support can be applied for via the State Treasury’s e-services. The e-service guides you in filling in the application. You can also save the application as a draft and continue filling it out later.

    You can use the application form to provide all the information needed. In addition, the State Treasury automatically receives information from other authorities, such as the Tax Administration and the Income Register, in order to grant support.

    You will receive a case number and a notification in your email upon successful registration. You do not need to contact the State Treasury before or after sending in the application. The State Treasury will request additional information if necessary.

    Inquiries do not speed up the processing of the application. The estimated processing time will be updated on the State Treasury’s website.

  • What are the conditions of eligibility for the support?

    Apply for cost support if

    • the company’s own turnover has decreased by more than 30% compared to the reference period
    • the company has at least €2000 of eligible costs for the support period
    • the company has a business ID
    • the company is registered in the prepayment register

    In addition to the company’s own turnover, the decline in the turnover of the company’s sector is estimated. If the sector’s turnover has fallen by at least 10% during the support period, the company can apply for cost support without further justification, provided that the other conditions of the support are met.

    Even if the company’s main sector is not eligible under the Government Decree, cost support may be granted to it on discretionary grounds.

    In addition to companies, associations and foundations can apply for cost support. Cost support can only be granted for the financial activities of associations and foundations.

    The support is granted under the EU Temporary COVID-19 Framework Program for Support (Commission Decision SA.56995). All aid granted under this framework is subject to a company specific cap of EUR 1,800 000, which may not be exceeded when the support is granted. When calculating the maximum amount of EUR 1,800 000, all support received by an individual company and of companies belonging to the same group as the one receiving grant under this frame shall be taken into account.

  • Can a new company apply for support?

    In the fourth application round for business cost support, companies that fall within the specific sectors defined by the Government Decree, and that were established on or after 1 January 2019, are eligible for support on the basis of changes in the average turnover of the sector. However, such companies are not eligible for discretionary support because they cannot demonstrate a change in their turnover.

  • How much support can I get?

    The minimum amount of support is EUR 2,000. The maximum amount of aid is EUR 1 million.

    The aid already granted will be taken into account in the amount of the business cost support so that the total aid granted under the same temporary State aid rules of the European Commission will not exceed EUR 1,8 million.

  • Inflexible operating expenses and losses

    The amount of the cost support and closure compensation depends on the other costs during the support period as reported by the company on the application. According to the Act on Cost Support, other costs during the support period refer to the inflexible operating costs during the support period (1 March 2021 to 31 May 2021) justified by the company that are final and for which no cost support has previously been granted. The company must be able to distinguish the costs during the support period from other expenses it has declared on the application.

    Inflexible costs cannot be adjusted in a way that corresponds with the volume of activities. In other words, even if the company does not have any sales, these expenses must be paid and it is not possible to adjust them according to decreased business activities unlike, for example, material and supplies costs or new investments.

    The content of the inflexible costs that the amount of cost support is based on may be different for each company. Such costs include, but are not limited to, rental costs and other expenses concerning property used for business, equipment and item rentals, compensation for the right of access, licence fees, and necessary hired labour costs. Costs may include, for example, prepayments made by the company that have proved to be final.

    The company must notify the State Treasury if the inflexible costs indicated in the application later change, for example due to discounts received by the company or reductions in expenditures.
    Below, you can find examples of expense types that can be considered inflexible costs during the support period as referred to in the Act. Please note that the list is not exhaustive but only includes some examples. The eligibility of declared costs is always decided on a company-specific basis when granting cost support.

    Rental and other expenses on property used for business:
    • Rental expenses related to the company’s property/premises (such as facility and property rent)
    • Maintenance charge
    • Electricity, water, gas, steam
    • Security, facility surveillance or security systems
    • Inflexible cleaning costs, waste management
    • Property insurance premiums and property tax
    • Statutory vehicle insurance premiums and taxes
    • Road maintenance fees
    • Interest expenses on a loan related to real estate
    • Inflexible financial, accounting and audit costs
    • Inflexible communications technology and phone plan expenses
    • Maintenance costs for animals used in business
    • Rental and bank guarantee costs

    Equipment and item rentals

    • Cost of leased vehicles
    • Leased electronics (computers, monitors, phones, etc.)

    License and access right fees
    • Inflexible franchising fees
    • Inflexible taxi hire company fees
    • Royalty payments
    • Computer software license fees
    • Inflexible server costs (purchased from an external service provider)

    Necessary labour costs

    Necessary labour costs are considered to be e.g. costs from hired labour that correspond to activities by the company’s own staff that are necessary for maintaining business. Only necessary  labour cost  are eligible. Upon request, the company must present a report on the necessity of using hired labour to maintain the company’s business.

    Inflexible costs

    Inflexible costs may include, for example, prepayments made by the company that have proved to be final. This may include advance payments made by a tour company to hotels or service providers for which the company has not received any refunds despite the cancellation of the trip. Upon request, the company must be able to verify that the losses indicated in the application are final and cannot be reasonably refunded by the receivers of the prepayments or other parties.

  • For what kind of payroll costs can a company apply to receive business cost support?

    Payroll costs include the direct wages the company has paid. The State Treasury will collect this information from the income register. In addition, the employer’s non-wage labor costs would be accepted as payroll costs, calculated as a percentage of the payroll costs. Non-wage labor costs include sick pay, holiday pay and holiday bonus, as well as social security contributions and occupational health expenses.

    For private traders and general partners of a partnership, the earned income reported to self-employed persons’ pension insurance would be accepted as payroll costs. The contributions to the self-employed persons’ pension insurance and to health insurance would also be accepted as payroll costs based on the company’s declaration.

  • Obstacles to granting the support

    According to the bill, support will not be granted in the following situations

    1. The company has less than 2000 euros of costs for the support period
    2. The turnover of the company during the support period has not decreased by more than 30% compared to the turnover of the comparison period
    3. The company is a credit or financial institution or its main activity is primary production, fisheries or aquaculture. The Act on Fixed-term Cost Support does not apply to these industries.
    4. The company is not registered in the prepayment register
    5. The company has failed to file a tax return
    6. The company has tax debt information in the tax debt register
    7. Recovery proceedings has collected unpaid taxes from the company
    8. The company has been declared bankrupt or is the subject of bankruptcy proceedings.
    9. The company was in difficulty before the coronavirus pandemic (31 December 2019). See the definition of a company in difficulty. Exception: This does not apply to small and micro enterprises that have been in difficulty before 1.1.2020. They may be granted support if the company is not in bankruptcy or reorganization proceedings at the time the support is granted and has not received rescue or restructuring aid.

    Definition of a company in difficulty in the EU Regulation:

    A company in difficulty refers to a company in accordance with Article 2(18) of the General Block Exemption Regulation of the EU. According to the definition, a company is in difficulty,

    a. if more than half of its share capital has disappeared as a result of accumulated losses (limited liability companies),

    b. more than half of its capital as shown in the company accounts has disappeared as a result of accumulated losses (companies where at least some members have unlimited liability for the debt of the company),

    c. the company is subject to collective insolvency proceedings,

    d. the company has received rescue aid and has not yet reimbursed the loan or terminated the guarantee, or has received restructuring aid and is still subject to a restructuring plan,

    e. the company is not an SME, and for the past two years, its book debt to equity ratio has been greater than 7.5 and its EBITDA interest coverage ratio has been below 1.0.

    Only section c applies to SMEs that were under 3 years of age on 31 December 2019.

  • Do the following before applying
    • The application can be made by a person with the right to sign that the company entered in the trade register/register of associations, or another person who has received a Suomi.fi authorization. Check that your authorization to represent your company appears in the Suomi.fi authorization register. If not, check that the signatories are correct in the Patent and Registration Office’s register. Cost support is applied for with the authorization “Yritysrahoituksen hakeminen”. Suomi.fi authorizations >
    • To apply for support, the applicant must have a business ID. For more information, see: Business Information System >
    • The cost support can only be paid to the bank account that the company has reported to the Tax Administration. Check the account number you have entered and, if necessary, enter a new number on your My Tax page >

  • The authority to sign and Suomi.fi e-Authorizations

    Filling in the application as an authorised signatory

    Applications for cost support may be submitted by a person who has the right to sign on behalf of the company. In addition, the application can be filled in by a person who has a role entered in the Trade Register, the Business Information System or the Register of Associations that entitles the person to represent the company. The roles entered in the Trade Register that entitle a person to represent a company are:
    • Managing Director
    • Substitute Managing Director
    • Self-employed person
    • Property Manager
    • Head Property Manager
    The roles marked in the Register of Associations that entitle a person to represent an association are:
    • Other authorised signatory who is marked on the register as having the right to represent the association alone

    Granting a mandate for a company representative

    A company may also authorise another individual to represent the company via the Suomi.fi e-Authorizations service. Select the mandate ‘Application for corporate financing’.

    You can authorise the following people to represent a company:
    • a private entrepreneur, on behalf for their own business
    • the company’s managing director or substitute managing director
    • an authorised signatory who is marked in the Trade Register as having the right to represent the company alone
    • all the members of the company board marked in the Trade Register, acting together
    • either the chairperson and a board member or two board members who have been entered into the Trade Register in accordance with the rules of representation
    • an individual who the company has given either the right to grant a mandate or the representative’s right to grant a mandate.
    The following persons may authorise on behalf of a registered association:
    • the association’s chairman, board member or other authorised signatory who is marked in the Register of Associations as having the right to represent the association alone
    • an individual which the association has given either the right to grant a mandate or the representative’s right to grant a mandate.

    The customer service of the Digital and Population Data Services Agency is available to assist companies in the use of Suomi.fi mandates.
    You can contact us on: +358 295 53 5115

    Note. Representative of the association or foundation: if you have any problems with Suomi.fi authorization, please contact the cost support customer service kustannustuki@valtiokonttori.fi

  • Associations & foundations

    The chairman of the association, who is entered as a chairman in the Finnish Register of Associations, may fill in the application for Cost Support on behalf of the association in e-service. In addition to the application, an association must send evidence via a supplementary information notice that the chairman has the right to sign for association alone or is authorized by the signatories to send the application (association register / rules / minutes / power of attorney).

    In the case of foundations, the application should be sent as a paper application if the authorization rights are not already defined.

  • What information must be provided to apply for support?

    In the application, you must fill in the company’s basic data, pandemic and normal period turnover data, if they are not available directly from the Tax Administration on the basis of the company’s VAT returns; information on costs (type and amount of cost, eg rent); and information on closure compensation and insurance claims related to COVID-19 pandemic, if they compensate for damage during the support period, and information on support under the EU Framework. Sole trader also needs to provide information on YEL income, YEL pension contribution and health insurance.

    The State Treasury receives some of the necessary information from the Tax Administration, the Income Register, Statistics Finland and other authorities that have granted state aid.

    The State Treasury strives to make applying as effortless as possible. The application has been tested with a client jury and has received good feedback.

  • Submitting a claim for rectification

    If you are dissatisfied with the decision you have received, you can request a rectification from the State Treasury. Processing a claim for rectification at the State Treasury is free of charge.

    Before submitting a claim for rectification

    • Read the cost support decision carefully before submitting a claim for rectification. Check all the information used to justify the decision and any reasons for rejecting the decision.
    • Please note that in order to be granted cost support, the company must fulfill all the general conditions
    • In the claim for rectification, it is advisable to comment on all possible rejections, in order for the claim for rectification to be successful.
    • If you have general feedback or questions about the decision you have received, you can contact customer service by calling 0295 50 3050.
    • Contact for example an accounting firm to obtain all the necessary documents.

    How is the claim for rectification made?

    • The claim for rectification is made in the e-service.
    • After logging in to the e-service, you can automatically see all the cost support applications you have submitted earlier. Select the cost support issue for which you are applying a rectification.
    • The claim for rectification can also be submitted to the State Treasury in person, using an agent, by post, or by e-mail.
    • The sender is responsible for the submission of the claim for rectification.

    What information should be contained in the claim for rectification?

    • The claim for rectification should indicate the adjustment required for the decision.
    • Also tell us on what grounds the rectification is required.
    • The claim for rectification must also include the documents mentioned in the claim.
    • If the claim for rectification is made otherwise than by using the State Treasury’s e-service, enter the application number in the claim, for which you are applying for rectification. The application number can be found in the upper corner of the cost support
    • If the lawyer or public legal counsel does not act as an assistant, and the application is not made in the State Treasury’s e-service, the proxy of the agent must also be attached to the claim for rectification

    When do I have to make a claim for rectification?

    • The claim for rectification and its attachments must be submitted to the State Treasury by 4:15 p.m. within 30 days of the date on which you received the decision.
    • If the decision has been submitted electronically, service is deemed to have taken place on the third (3rd) day following the sending of the message, unless otherwise shown.
    • If the decision was sent by letter, the service is deemed to have taken place on the seventh (7th) day from the date of mailing, unless otherwise shown.
    • Only claims received within the time limit are examined.

    Processing of the claim for rectification

    • The State Treasury processes the rectification claims in the order in which they are received, and the estimated processing time is approximately 5-6 months.
    • Claims for rectification are processed individually, which is why the duration of the processing varies.
    • You can supplement the claim for rectification by submitting additional information in the e-service. Submitting relevant attachments/supporting documents without delay will help the processing of your case.
    • If necessary, the rectification claim handler will ask you for additional information, either by email or by phone. Please monitor your email regularly. From time to time, check the junk e-mail folder.
    • Please note that providing all necessary additional information without delay will contribute to the processing of your case.

    Appeal to the Administrative Court

    • If you consider the decision issued by the State Treasury to appeal against the claim for rectification to be unlawful, you can appeal the decision to the Administrative Court.
    • The decision can only be appealed to the Administrative Court after the claim for rectification has been processed by the State Treasury.

     

  • Cost support calculator

    Before using the calculator, please read carefully the terms and conditions for granting cost support on our website.

    Please note that the calculator is only indicative, as the calculator does not include all the conditions mentioned in the act. The amount indicated by the calculator is not an official decision on cost support, but cost support must be applied for separately in the e-service channel.

    Help table to find out your reference period

    Reference periods refer to the periods for which the comparison defines the decrease in the company’s turnover between the normal period and the pandemic period. (The granting of cost support is subject to a drop in turnover of more than 30%).

    The normal period and the pandemic period are determined by the company’s VAT reporting period and the date of establishment. When you select your company’s reference period and the date of establishment in the help table, they are shown in the calculator next to respective fields.

    Note. The support period, for which cost support is applied for, is the same for all applicants (1.3.2021-31.5.2021).

    According to law, minimum amount of cost support is EUR 2,000. The maximum amount of cost support that can be granted is EUR 1,000,000 per company.