As of July 1, 2022, the requirement for a Finnish tax number and registration of the tax number in the public tax number register, known from the construction industry, was extended to the shipbuilding industry. With this reform, the employer exercising main controlling power in the shipyard area has now new, significant obligations to fulfill. All employers also have obligations.
Every employee working in the shipyard area must now have a Finnish tax number, regardless of the nationality or country of origin of the employee or the employer company, or the duration of work at the shipyard. The tax number must also be registered in the public tax number register. The Finnish Tax Administration maintains one public tax number register, where it is possible to register a tax number either for the shipbuilding sector or for the construction sector. If you work in both fields, the tax number must be registered separately for both sectors!
The employer exercising main controlling power in the shipyard area must keep an up-to-date list of all employees and self-employed persons working in the shipyard area. This information must be kept for six years, counting from the beginning of the year following the end of the current calendar year. The up-to-date list must include the employee’s name, date of birth, tax number, start and end date of working in the shipyard area, name of the employee’s employer and business ID or equivalent foreign
identifier, as well as the name and contact information in Finland of the representative of the company posting employees to Finland. It is the responsibility of each employer to provide this information about their own employees to the employer exercising main control.
The employer exercising main controlling power must ensure that every person working in the shipyard area has a visible ID when working in the shipyard area. The ID must contain the person’s name, tax number, photo, information on whether it is an employee or self-employed person, and information on the employer. It is the responsibility of each employer to take care of the use of the identifier for their own employees and also for their contracting partners.
This operating model aimed at combating the gray economy has been in use on shared construction sites for almost ten years. A section has now been added to the Occupational Safety and Health Act, in which the shipyard area is also considered a shared construction site when the new construction or repair of merchant shipping vessels or official vessels of 24 meters or longer is carried out. The Occupational Safety and Health Authority has said that they will start implementing inspections at the shipyards towards the end of the year.
