Company Registration in Finland - Trade Register Procedure

In the article below, our lawyers explain the company registration procedure through the Trade Registry in Finland. We offer tailored assistance with various actions that need to be performed through this institution.

Quick Facts
Representation in the relationship with the Trade Register (YES/NO)	Yes, through our Finnish law firm.
Main function of the Registrar	Business registration by local and foreign investors.
Business registration steps through the Commercial Register	– trading name reservation, – documents drafting and filing, – papers verification, – Registration Certificate issuance.
Documents required for registration	– application forms, – details of the shareholders and directors, – incorporation papers, – proof of local address, – share capital proof.
Possibility to verify business name before registration (YES/NO)	Yes.
Company due diligence checks	Yes, it is possible to complete due diligence checks.
Information about companies available with the Register	– business number, – city of registration, – legal form, – company status, representative.
Documents issuance	The Register issues Extracts, financial statement copies, and Certificates for Authorized Representatives.
Requirements to file annual financial statements with the Finnish Trade Registry (YES/NO)	Yes, companies are required to file financial statements and annual accounts with the Register.
Requirement to update alterations with the Registrar (YES/NO)	Yes.
Updated information to be recorded	– legal address changes, – share capital modifications, – shareholding and management structure changes.
Requirement to register company dissolutions with the Register (YES/NO)	Yes, a company’s new status must be notified to the Register.
Other legal entities that must be registered with the Commercial Register	– sole proprietorships, – partnerships, – branches, – cooperatives.
Other functions of the Trade Registry in Finland	– UBO (Ultimate Beneficial Owner) Register, – company de-registration.
Applicable law	The Trade Register Act.

How to register a business with the Finnish Companies Registrar

Both corporate and non-corporate entities must be registered with the Trade Register in Finland. The procedure implies:

selecting, verifying, and reserving a trading name;
drafting a set of documents and filing it with the Registrar;
paying the registration fees;
having the paperwork verified and obtaining the Registration Certificate.

Please note that for certain types of entities, special procedures apply. This is the case of sole traders who must only submit a start-up notification with the Register.

Our Finnish law firm is at the service of future business owners who want to register any legal entity.

Company registration document requirements in Finland

In order to register a company in Finland, both local and foreign investors must comply with specific document requirements. The Trade Registry also requires them to be filed in specific forms. This is the case of foreign companies and investors who must translate and notarize foreign-issued papers, for example.

Here are the documents to draft for company registration in Finland:

standard application forms in the case of limited liability companies;
the Articles of Association or partnership deed, depending on the legal form chosen;
the details (names, addresses) of the shareholders or partners in the respective business;
similar information must be provided for directors;
proof of a Finnish registered address;
details about the representative (if one is appointed);
the power of attorney for the said representative;
the bank statement indicating the deposit of the share capital in the case of public limited companies (Oyj, minimum EUR 80,000); a private limited company (Oy) has had no minimum share capital since 1 July 2019.

Our Finnish lawyers can assist with the preparation of the documents presented above.

Other actions one can perform through the Finnish Trade Register

The Finnish Trade Register is the largest database of company information, as it is also the institution in charge of business registration in the country. Alongside company registration in Finland, there are also other operations that can be completed through it.

It is useful to note that some of the operations that can be carried out through the Registrar are optional, while others are mandatory.

On the list of optional actions, we mention:

performing due diligence checks on existing enterprises;
drawing up statistics based on the same information on companies.

When it comes to mandatory operations, they apply to companies in the following cases:

they must record changes that affect their activities or structure;
they plan to expand their activities and need to obtain Certificates of Good Standing or extracts from the Register to prove their lawful registration.

Apart from these, the Companies Register also receives the same documents from foreign businesses expanding their operations in Finland.

Company amendments in Finland

The following changes must be reported to the Registrar by local enterprises:

business name and legal address changes;
new shareholders and directors that have been appointed into office;
share capital increases and decreases;
the beginning of insolvency and/or dissolution proceedings.

You can rely on our Finnish lawyers’ support in complying with the rules when making such amendments.

How many companies operate in Finland?

The Finnish Statistics Office has the latest data on the number of companies in Finland obtained from the Companies Registrar. According to it:

between April and June 2025, 16,955 new companies were registered in Finland, a 20% increase compared to the same period of 2024;
11,580 of them were sole proprietorships, while 5,267 were limited companies;
currently, the Register has information on more than 660,000 entities in Finland.

For support in company registration in Finland, please contact us.