Accountability during guardianship

An authority will supervise your activities, while you as guardian manage your adult client's financial affairs on their behalf. You will draw up an annual statement and submit it to the authority each year.

As a guardian, you will provide the guardianship authority a statement of accounts every year for review. An accounting period is usually equivalent to one calendar year. Annual statements will be submitted to the guardianship authority within three months of the end of the accounting year. If the accounting period is the period between 1 January and 31 December, the annual statements are returned by 31 March the following year. The annual statement form for adult clients (in Finnish) and its attached instructions (in Finnish) make it easier to draw up a statement.

For a justified reason, the guardianship authority can extend an accounting period or exempt a guardian from their obligation to submit an annual statement.

As a guardian, you must maintain records so you can draw up an annual statement on their basis. You will need to attach receipts/documents from which the accounting period’s financial activities can be verified. The annual statement and its attachments will be returned to you after the audit for safekeeping. It is your responsibility to see to the retainment of documents that have accumulated over your period as guardian. The obligation to retain receipts and documents will continue for three years after your time as guardian has come to an end. Even after this, you may not destroy the documents. Instead, you must hand them over to the party who has the right to them. The client themselves, the client’s estate should the client have died or the client’s new guardian have the right to receive these handed over documents.

As guardian, you may not disclose information on the client to others without the client’s consent. A guardian’s obligation to secrecy also applies to audit materials.

Guardian's fee

As guardian, you are entitled to a guardian’s fee. You can determine the sum of a guardian’s fee with the fee calculator. You must present a calculation of any possible compensations for expenses. The expenses must be necessary and based on the performance of guardian’s duties. As guardian, you will report your guardian’s fee and possible compensation for expenses to the Finnish Tax Administration’s Incomes Register.

Do the following

  • First read the instructions.

Instructions on how to fill in the form, adult client (in Finnish)

  • Fill in the annual/final statement and send it and its relevant receipts to the Digital and Population Data Services Agency no later than on 31 March.

Annual and final statement form – adult client (in Finnish)

  • The audited annual statement and its attachment will be returned to you. The audited statement may include notes from the guardianship authority, which you must take into consideration when managing your client’s affairs

Check list

Retain all attachments that are necessary for the annual statement, such as account statements, in a form that you can attach to the annual statement. Before submitting the annual statement:

  • check whether the property values you have previously reported are consistent with fair value (apartments, properties, shares in estates, savings, safe deposit boxes, funds, listed or other stocks, investment insurance, valuables, vehicles)
  • ask creditors for information on the balance of debts on 31 December (bank, enforcement, guarantees, debt instruments, debt arrangements)
  • collect all the account statements for the entire accounting period for all the savings in the client’s name (back accounts, investments, securities, etc.)
  • if you open a new bank account during the accounting period, look for the agreements related to this (account access right changes, opening of an account for running costs, arrangement of accounts)
  • if any changes have been made to the pensions or benefits you are reported previously, look for the notifications and decisions concerning these. direct the income to the client’s account to which the guardian has access)
  • find the most recent tax decision
  • if any changes have been made to agreements you have previously reported, look for the new agreements concerning these (lease, sheltered housing, treatment cost, insurance)
  • if you notice that there has been income to or payments from the account that deviate from the norm, look for the receipts concerning these
  • if you intend to charge a guardian’s fee or compensation for expenses, draw up calculations on these and attach them

Price

The audit fee will be determined according to your client’s assets at the end of the accounting period, if your client's net income for the year exceeds 8,147 euros. The audit fee will be halved if the accounting period is less than half a year in length.

Gross assets:

0 – 34,000 €, audit fee 52 €

34,001 – 67,000 €, audit fee 97 €

67,001 – 135,000 €, audit fee 146 €

135,001 – 336,000 €, audit fee 240 €

336,001– 840,000 €, audit fee 354 €

840,001 € – , audit fee 454 €

Processing period

The average processing time is around 4 months

As a rule, cases are processed in their order of arrival. In individual cases, the processing time may be less or more than this depending on the size and complexity of the matter. Processing times are longer when not all necessary reports have been included as attachments.

Key terms

Client

Person on whose behalf you are acting

Guardian

Person charged with the management of a client’s financial and wealth-related affairs

Property inventory

A list where the guardian reports the client’s property including debts according to the start date of guardianship.

Annual statement

An account on the management of your client’s property that is submitted once each calendar year

Final statement

An account on the management of your client’s property from the beginning of the calendar year to the date on which guardianship comes to an end.

Audit of statements

The guardianship authority will review the annual and final statements you have drawn up.

Links to laws related to the matter

Guardianship Services Act (442/1999)

Government Decree on the fee of a guardian (696/2012)

Decree of the Ministry of Finance on the Fees Charged for Digital and Population Data Services Agency in 2022 (1136/2021), in Finnish

Frequently asked questions

Guardianship Services contact information

Email

When sending an email, please use the Digital and Population Data Services Agency’s secure email to ensure that your information is sent securely. Select [email protected] as the recipient in the secure mail

Send the email as a secure email

Postal address

Property inventories, annual statements and final statements must be sent to the postal address of the service location.

All other post to the Guardianship Service must be sent to the address:
Digital and Population Data Services Agency / Guardianship, PO Box 1004, FI-00531 Helsinki

Telephone number

The telephone service is open 9.00-12.00 on weekdays

Service number +358 295 536 256

Service locations

Addresses of the Digital and Population Data Services Agency’s service location