The Tax Administration’s intensified oversight uncovered €11 million in unpaid taxes from pizzerias and kebab restaurants. Photo: Timo Jaakonaho / Lehtikuva
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Finland’s Tax Administration has uncovered €11 million in unpaid taxes after a nationwide audit of pizza, kebab, and Chinese restaurants, with over half of the inspected businesses referred for possible criminal investigation.
The intensified oversight, carried out between early 2023 and autumn 2025, targeted 373 food service businesses. The majority were small or medium-sized restaurants offering fast food, primarily pizza and kebab, as well as Chinese cuisine.
Officials found that 198 of the businesses, 53 percent, had such serious irregularities that their cases were handed over for criminal consideration.
These decisions are made when there is reason to suspect offences that warrant police involvement.
Tarja Valsi, director of grey economy control at the Tax Administration, said the selection of businesses was based on risk analysis.
“Our findings confirm that the most common tax-dodging restaurants are small or medium-sized bars, pizzerias, and kebab outlets,” Valsi said. “The risk-based targeting has clearly been effective.”
Auditors found a total of €18.3 million in unreported income, leading to the imposition of €4.8 million in unpaid value-added tax. Around €2 million in missing wages were also uncovered. A further €1 million was levied in unpaid withholding taxes, and €2.5 million in income tax was applied to disguised dividends.
An additional 450 reports were sent to other authorities, flagging suspected benefit fraud, missing pension contributions, and possible money laundering.
Valsi noted that similar audits conducted a decade earlier, in 2015–2016, had produced almost identical results. At that time, enforcement focused mainly on licensed restaurants, with €14.5 million in taxes imposed.
“Little seems to have improved over the past ten years,” Valsi said. “Most businesses do operate properly, but misconduct remains widespread.”
She added that misconduct was significantly more common among foreign-owned establishments than those with Finnish ownership.
According to the findings, non-compliant restaurants often failed to register sales in the official cash register, paid workers off the books, and neglected employer obligations. In some cases, sales data was entirely missing or manipulated through disconnected payment terminals.
Restaurants also misused online food delivery platforms by underreporting orders or omitting them from financial records altogether.
Auditors found that some owners had used company accounts for personal expenses or transferred undeclared revenue to private bank accounts. In certain instances, all reported sales were listed as cash payments, yet the businesses lacked corresponding amounts in their cash holdings.
“Neglecting obligations creates a cost advantage, allowing prices to be set far below those of compliant businesses,” Valsi said. “Our aim is to ensure fair taxation for all.”
HT
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Source: www.helsinkitimes.fi
