Mehiläinen's tax footprint report increases the transparency of the company’s operations

Mehiläinen Oy will publish the ‘tax footprint’ of the Mehiläinen Group, for transparent description of the taxes and tax-like charges it pays in Finland. Tax footprint is a reporting method that lets anyone analyse Mehiläinen’s operations as part of Finnish society.

Mehiläinen’s tax footprint is one element of the company’s corporate-responsibility project. Mehiläinen is active in all areas of corporate responsibility and develops its operations on a principle of continuous development. Responsibility is a cornerstone in Mehiläinen' operations, and one of the company's three key values.

- Tax footprint is a voluntary and transparent way for companies to present the taxes and tax-like charges through which the company contributes to our society’s tax revenue. Corporation tax, which has been subject to a lot of public discussion lately, is part of this but not the only part, says Matti Bergendahl, the CEO of Mehiläinen.

- In Finland, tax footprint reporting is not yet very common, and there are no binding recommendations, regulations, or instructions as to the report’s contents. At Mehiläinen, we think it is important for consistent instructions to be provided for tax footprint reporting as soon as possible. It would make reporting easier for companies and also make this data more understandable, Bergendahl adds.

The tax footprint now being released covers the 1 January – 31 December 2012 financial year of the Mehiläinen Group. In the future, the footprint will be published yearly. Mehiläinen’s tax footprint indicates the corporation tax paid by the Mehiläinen Group, the value added tax included in procurements and to be paid by Mehiläinen, withholding tax, and the employer's contributions. In 2012, Mehiläinen did not pay any significant real-estate tax or capital-transfer tax, so these are not included in the 2012 tax footprint. All companies in the Mehiläinen Group operate in Finland, so the group’s taxes are paid in their entirety in Finland.

The most significant item of expenditure for Mehiläinen is the personnel expenses. Mehiläinen employs approximately 6,000 professionals, of whom roughly 3,600 work under an employment contract and 2,400 are self-employed. The largest proportion of Mehiläinen’s taxes consists of withholding tax on the books and payable employer’s contributions. These come to 27.8 million euros. Mehiläinen’s services cover much of Finland, as the company operates both in cities and in smaller towns, so the withholding tax (25.6 million euros in 2012) is spread across several municipalities.

For the most part, the social and health care services provided by Mehiläinen are exempt from value added tax. Mehiläinen cannot deduct the VAT included in the procurement and investments related to provision of services. It must be paid by Mehiläinen. In 2012, the company paid 9.9 million euros in value added tax as part of procurement and investments. Mehiläinen has also some operations subject ot VAT and for those operations 0.6 milloin euros of VAT was paid in 2012.

In 2012, Mehiläinen paid 1.7 million euros of corporation tax. Mehiläinen did not pay group contributions abroad or transfer profits to ‘tax havens’ in 2012 any more than in previous years. Nor has Mehiläinen paid dividends to its owners or applied for or received public business subsidies.

Social and health care services are founded on a high level of trust, responsibility, and good quality. As a member of the Finnish health care service union, Mehiläinen is committed to meeting the requirements for responsible business operations and the high ethical requirements for the health care business, together with Finland’s other private health care service providers. Mehiläinen is also a member of Finnish corporate-responsibility network FIBS.

For more information, please contact:
Matti Bergendahl, CEO of Mehiläinen Oy, at tel. +358 40 833

Mehiläinen Group is the best-known and most highly regarded private provider of social and health care services in Finland. Mehiläinen’s nationwide service network offers versatile social and health care services for private, corporate, and municipal customers. Established in 1909, Mehiläinen employs approximately 6,000 professionals. In 2012, the turnover of the Mehiläinen Group was 256.4 million euros. Mehiläinen belongs to the Nordic Ambea Group, which is one of Europe’s largest providers of health and nursing services. www.mehiläinen.fi