Tax partnerships can now grant themselves a mandate in Suomi.fi e-Authorizations - the transition from Katso will be easier

Online tax partnership transactions and the transition from the Katso service to Suomi.fi e-Authorizations have been streamlined. In the future, Suomi.fi e-Authorizations will make up-to-date use of the information in the Tax Partnership Register. This allows partners in the tax partnerships to validate mandates on behalf of the partnership as a self-service.

Until now, tax partnerships (i.e. forest, agricultural and real estate partnerships) were required to submit an authorisation application in order to have the mandates validated in Suomi.fi e-Authorizations. Previously, the authorisation application required the signatures of all partners, and, for example, photocopies of their identity cards or passports were to be attached to the application. 

Now, tax partnerships can manage their own mandates independently in Suomi.fi e-Authorizations. The prerequisite is that all partners have Finnish social security number and use electronic forms of identification. 

The application for an authorisation is still required by tax partnerships, whose partners are other partnerships or estates, or in which some partners do not have access to electronic forms of identification. 

"This new feature will speed up and make the transition of tax partnerships from Katso to Suomi.fi e-Authorizations considerably easier. We are continuously developing Suomi.fi e-Authorizations while listening to customers. This has been one of the most desirable features,” explains service owner Mika King from the Digital and Population Data Services Agency.

If a tax partnership is able to manage its mandates independently, previous authorisation applications should be cancelled in the Mandate service provided by officials. 

In a nutshell 

Self-authorisation in Suomi.fi e-Authorizations can only be granted to tax partnerships whose partners have Finnish social security number and use electronic forms of identification.  and all have electronic forms of identification (online banking IDs or mobile certificates). Other tax partnerships are to submit their authorisation application in the Mandate service provided by officials. 

A forest, agricultural or real estate partnership may authorise: 

• all partners together, provided that all partners are persons 
• a person who has been granted a mandate or a representative's mandate in Suomi.fi e-Authorizations by a forest, agricultural or real estate partnership.

How a tax partnership grants a mandate in Suomi.fi e-Authorizations

1.    One of the partners in the tax partnership initiates granting a mandate by logging into their Suomi.fi e-Authorizations. https://www.suomi.fi/e-authorizations

• Select Company mandates as the service role and then select a tax partnership from the list.
• Select Grant mandate.
• Select the mandate type first. The most common types of mandates are the mandate for transactions and the right to grant mandates. 
• With a mandate for transactions, a person or organisation may act on behalf of a tax partnership. 
• The right to grant a mandate allows an authorised person to grant and invalidate mandates in mandate matters selected on behalf of a tax partnership. However, the right to grant a mandate cannot be used to act on behalf of a tax partnership, but a mandate for transactions is always required when doing so. A person with the right to grant a mandate may also grant themselves a mandate for transactions.
• Select the mandate theme to be granted (e.g. Managing of tax affairs or Filing of tax returns and other reports). 
• When the mandate is validated, all partners are automatically selected as assignors (principals).  
• The partner who initiates the granting of a mandate first validates the mandate itself. 
• The other assignors do not receive information about the mandate pending validation, but the initiating partner must inform them about it.

2.    Other partners sign in to Suomi.fi e-Authorizations with their own IDs. Each assignor must validate their own mandate.

• After selecting Company's mandates as the service role, the assignors will see the mandates under Mandates to be validated together. 
• The mandate will not be valid until it has been validated by all the partners. Mandates to be validated will be listed in Suomi.fi e-Authorizations for a period of six months after which they will be removed.
• The Pending validation by others page displays the mandates that you have already validated, but are still pending validation by others.
• The mandates to be validated together are only visible in Suomi.fi e-Authorizations if the partnership has mandates pending validation by the partners. 

3.    More detailed instructions for Suomi.fi e-Authorizations can be found at https://www.suomi.fi/instructions-and-support/information-on-eauthorizations/grant-a-mandate-as-a-company-or-an-organisation.

Suomi.fi e-Authorizations in a nutshell

• In the e-Authorizations service, you can digitally grant another person a mandate to act on behalf of a company or association. It provides users with a smooth and secure self-service regardless of time and place. 
• The Authorizations service is safe and up-to-date. It checks the mandate against the authorisation register, the Finnish Patent and Registration Office, the Tax Partnership Register, or the Digital and Population Data Services Agency. 
• The service can be implemented free of charge in both public and private e-services. The organisation providing the transaction service will only bear the costs of service integration. 
• The use of the service produces significant cost savings through the digitalisation of service and service processes.
• More than 20 million mandates have already been created in the service launched in 2016.
• On a monthly basis, more than 5 million authorisation checks are carried out in the e-Authorizations service, and the number is increasing.
• The authorisations have already been integrated into 135 e-services, which are utilised by 235 private and public sector service providers. In addition to these, the service is available in, for example, all pharmacies in Finland.