How do I check a Finnish company (PRH / YTJ)?
Search the company name or Business ID (Y-tunnus, in the format 1234567-8) in the Business Information System YTJ, maintained by the Finnish Patent and Registration Office (PRH) and the Finnish Tax Administration. It is free and shows the company form, status, address, line of business, and whether the company is entered in the Trade Register, the VAT register, the prepayment register and the employer register. Trade Register extracts and filed financial statements are available from PRH, which also publishes open data.
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How to check it manually
- Search YTJ by Business ID or name.
- Check the company form (for example Oy), registration date, status, address and line of business.
- Check the register entries: Trade Register, VAT register, prepayment register (ennakkoperintärekisteri) and employer register.
- Order a Trade Register extract from PRH for the board, managing director and representation rights.
- Check the filed financial statements at PRH.
- For many companies, use PRH’s open data API.
What it tells you
- The official registration and status, and which tax and trade registers the company is in.
- From PRH: officers, representation rights and filed financial statements.
What it doesn’t tell you
- Beneficial owners, which are not shown in YTJ.
- Tax compliance beyond the register entries.
How SONAR automates it
When you screen a company registered in this country, SONAR looks it up in the Finnish Patent and Registration Office (PRH) open data and puts the company record (legal name, number, status, legal form and registered address) in the report with a link or ID for the source and the date it was retrieved. SONAR does not pull the directors from this register yet, so check them manually as described above.
The same run screens the company itself, and any people SONAR finds in its other sources, against 8 sanctions lists, the OpenSanctions PEP dataset, the ICIJ Offshore Leaks Database and adverse media, and returns PASS, REVIEW, FLAG or NOT RUN for each check. A source that could not be reached is shown as NOT RUN, never as clear.
SONAR is a due-diligence tool for checking vendors, partners, resellers and suppliers. It compiles public-record data. It is not a regulated AML / KYC provider, does not verify identity documents, and is not legal advice.
You can try it on 2 companies a month for free, no card needed; every report includes a receipt for each source it used.
Frequently asked questions
What is a Finnish Business ID (Y-tunnus)?
The identifier given to companies and other businesses in Finland, written as seven digits, a hyphen and a check digit, for example 1234567-8.
Why does the prepayment register matter?
Being entered in the prepayment register means the business handles its own tax prepayments. If a supplier is not in it, a Finnish payer may have to withhold tax from payments for work, so it is worth checking for service suppliers; the Finnish Tax Administration (vero.fi) explains when this applies.
Is there open data for Finnish companies?
Yes. PRH publishes company data as open data with an API.
Official sources
Run these checks on a company you’re about to sign
Registry record, owners, sanctions, PEP, ICIJ Offshore Leaks and adverse media in one report, with a receipt for every source. 2 free reports a month, no card.
Screen a company free