where to find tax specialist?

[one]

I want to consult with a tax specialist about my situation. I work full time and have some additional irregular income from abroad from the freelance work. I feel that paying over half of the income as tax is bit too much for me especially when I have to wait for months to avail any basic public service, so I'd like to check what are the possibilities, if any.

A friend of mine advised me to get an accountant, does such service exist in Finland?

[betelgeuse]

I want to consult with a tax specialist about my situation. I work full time and have some additional irregular income from abroad from the freelance work. I feel that paying over half of the income as tax is bit too much for me especially when I have to wait for months to avail any basic public service, so I'd like to check what are the possibilities, if any.

Seems like you should consider incorporating your irregular income as a limited liability company (osakeyhtiö).

A friend of mine advised me to get an accountant, does such service exist in Finland?

Yes. The Finnish term is kirjanpitäjä (literally bookkeeper).

[Rosamunda]

I don't think many bookkeepers will give advice on personal taxation. It's a risky business, they can get in trouble if they promote tax avoidance. Sometimes the best place to get information is straight from the horse's mouth: have you tried talking to the tax office?

[tjawatts]

If you earn a lot from your main job then yes your side income will be taxed a lot.

You wont get away from that easily. If you are resident in Finland your worldwdie income is generally taxable here.

As someone suggested one way of delaying it would be via limited company (then you would pay corporation tax until you take the money out of the company when you would pay tax on the dividends). You could also of course put expenses related to that side income through the company to reduce the profit.

T

[betelgeuse]

I don't think many bookkeepers will give advice on personal taxation. It's a risky business, they can get in trouble if they promote tax avoidance. Sometimes the best place to get information is straight from the horse's mouth: have you tried talking to the tax office?

Invoicing through a LLC is not tax avoidance. I don't see why an accountant couldn't provide a comparison between two legal options.

[Pursuivant]

If you are rich or a politician, its "tax planning", if you work for a living, its tax dodging...

[foca]

Are u prepared to pay 200 eur /hour plus vat? Then check the net - there are dozens of tax lawyers in finland

[Rosamunda]

I don't think many bookkeepers will give advice on personal taxation. It's a risky business, they can get in trouble if they promote tax avoidance. Sometimes the best place to get information is straight from the horse's mouth: have you tried talking to the tax office?

Invoicing through a LLC is not tax avoidance. I don't see why an accountant couldn't provide a comparison between two legal options.

I agree. But it's a fact that bookkeepers in Finland (who are generally not certified public accountants as per USA or UK criteria) do not give tax advice. Their rates are for bookkeeping, ie posting transactions and that's what they do.

Invoicing through a limited company is frowned upon by the tax office if the sole owner of the company is invoicing just one customer so the relationship is essentially that of an employee/employer. But I don't know how they deal with that.

[betelgeuse]

I don't think many bookkeepers will give advice on personal taxation. It's a risky business, they can get in trouble if they promote tax avoidance. Sometimes the best place to get information is straight from the horse's mouth: have you tried talking to the tax office?

Invoicing through a LLC is not tax avoidance. I don't see why an accountant couldn't provide a comparison between two legal options.

I agree. But it's a fact that bookkeepers in Finland (who are generally not certified public accountants as per USA or UK criteria) do not give tax advice. Their rates are for bookkeeping, ie posting transactions and that's what they do.

I haven't dealt much with bookkeepers directly. However, the second hand information people have given me is that their bookkeepers have also been generally useful in giving business tips.

Invoicing through a limited company is frowned upon by the tax office if the sole owner of the company is invoicing just one customer so the relationship is essentially that of an employee/employer. But I don't know how they deal with that.

This is true. However, the OP is talking about irregular freelance income from abroad. It's likely that there's more than one client. Even if there was one client, it's much harder for the tax office to argue employment due to the distance.