Minister Haavisto: Companies with the State's majority shareholding to report on their taxes

Pekka Haavisto, Minister responsible for state ownership steering, is hosting today a seminar which brings together influential business life representatives, politicians and representatives of NGOs to discuss key issues in corporate responsibility. The seminar takes place at the House of Nobility in Helsinki.

Familiar with the concept of corporate responsibility reporting, Finnish companies find corporate responsibility an increasingly important part of their operations. However, with their international business growing companies come across new types of challenges.

- Finnish companies operate more and more often globally and in countries where for example corruption, bribery, use of child labour and environmental problems exist. When companies operate in conditions where risks related to human rights, social conditions or the environment systematically occur they must for their part aim systematically at preventing and rectifying breaches and reporting on their activities openly and actively.

It is not just authorities or law-makers who are interested in responsibility issues; also investors and consumers are becoming increasingly keen on these issues. As a rule, companies are in charge of corporate responsibility matters all along the value chain, says Pekka Haavisto, Minister for International Development and Minister responsible for ownership steering issues.

All the 27 companies in respect of which ownership steering is exercised reported on corporate responsibility as well as Solidium’s affiliated companies. The action plan adopted by the Government this spring to fight against tax evasion on the international level includes a new obligation: companies with the State's majority shareholding will be obliged to report on their taxes country by country.

- Taxation practices vary from country to country and create mismatch in the global economy. As a rule, taxes should be paid in the country where the company actually operates. The companies which are under the state ownership steering have reported on their taxes during the past two years. As of 2014, the companies with majority shareholding will start to report on the tax data as part of their final accounts. I sincerely hope that state-owned companies would be pioneers in tax reporting and that the Government's policy-setting would promote this goal, says Minister Haavisto.

Inquiries: Ville Hulkkonen, Ministerial Adviser, tel. +358 44 077 7226, Prime Minister’s Office