Alcohol supervision achieved tax debt payments of over EUR 4.1 million
The Finnish Supervisory Agency’s alcohol administration participates in combating the grey economy. Over EUR 4.1 million of tax debt was paid last year.
One of the tasks of the Finnish Supervisory Agency’s alcohol administration is to participate in combating the grey economy together with other authorities. Last year, investigations into the suitability of licence applicants and licence holders in the processing of alcohol licence applications and the supervision of existing licences often led to follow-up actions, such as requests for information, payment arrangements or the settlement of tax debt.
“The aim of supervision by the alcohol administration is to ensure that applicants and licence holders meet the requirements for reliability, financial capacity and suitability laid down in the Alcohol Act. Supervision can intervene in situations where these conditions are not met and can help prevent the grey economy”, says Senior Officer Janne Hulkkonen at the Department of Healthcare and Social Welfare of the Finnish Supervisory Agency.
Last year, a total of 548 licence and supervision cases related to combating the grey economy in the serving and retail of alcohol were opened, resulting in 419 requests for information. An opened case refers to the processing of a licence application or supervision targeting an existing licence or licence holder, for example. In connection with the processing of alcohol licence and supervision matters, applicants and licence holders paid a total of over EUR 4.1 million in outstanding taxes. The majority of the tax debt was related to licence and supervision issues concerning serving alcohol. The tax debt paid for licence matters in the serving of alcohol totalled EUR 1.33 million, and the amount paid for supervision matters in the serving of alcohol was approximately EUR 2.5 million.
Alcohol administration consolidated into one agency
At the beginning of 2026, all official duties under the Alcohol Act that had previously belonged to the Regional State Administrative Agencies and Valvira were consolidated into the Finnish Supervisory Agency. The basic task of alcohol administration is to prevent harm caused by alcohol consumption to users of alcohol, other people and society as a whole. One aspect of this task is combating the grey economy.
Read more
- Read more about the alcohol administration statistics on combating the grey economy on the Tax Administration’s website.
- Tax Administration’s press release on monitoring the grey economy.
Enquiries
Senior Officer Janne Hulkkonen, tel. 029 5254960