Construction, Employment, Estonia, EU – Baltic States, Legislation, Markets and Companies, Taxation

This means that all Estonian builders who moved to Finland for work, will need to formalize their wages.

"The wild west era in the Finnish construction industry is coming to an end," said Haakan Nõmm who represents Estonian builders in Finland, commenting the new Finnish regulation, as LETA/Aripaev writes.

"The tax number is meant to force Estonian builders to register with the Finnish tax authority and simplify compliance with tax regulations," explains Paul Künnap, lawyer of Sorainen law firm.

In reality, the new measure will mean that when working on Finnish construction sites, all builders would be required to have a badge with the Finnish ID code and the tax number. The compliance with this requirement will be checked by the Finnish tax authority through raids. If the employee has been working in Finland for more than six months and must pay income tax in Finland, but has not paid income tax, the Finnish tax authority may claim back taxes and impose a fine.

According to Künnap, the Finnish tax authority may check payment of taxes for five years which means that it may still rule on tax paid on 2006 income.

The need to establish better control over employment in the construction sector is understandable since most Estonian builders themselves do not know the enforceable regulations and legislation.