Applying for and granting payment time

You can apply for payment time if you have a justified reason for not being able to pay the penalty on time. The reason can be illness, unemployment, military service, or another comparable justified reason.

Payment time can be granted for the total amount or a part thereof, and for a maximum of one year. A longer period of payment time can be granted for very weighty reasons.

At most 6 months of payment time can be granted for a conversion sentence.

Joint and several compensations

You can also apply for payment time for joint and several compensations, either alone or together with the other people liable for the damages. Please note that payment time can only be granted for the total amount and not to the share of an individual person. If you are applying for payment time for joint and several compensations on your own, you will be liable for the total amount of the compensations.

When you are about to apply for payment time, check whether you have received a reminder for payment from the LRC or whether the enforcement matter is displayed in the electronic service . If you have not received a reminder for payment or the matter is not displayed in the electronic service, you cannot apply for payment time. 

Depending on the matter, the information can take anything from a few days to a few months to be conveyed to our debt-collection system and electronic service. 

Apply for payment time electronically or with the application form

Apply for payment time conveniently through the LRC’s electronic service . Using the electronic service requires strong authentication.

If you are unable to use the electronic service, use the LRC’s application form to apply for payment time:

• Application for payment time (PDF)
• Application for payment time for a conversion sentence (PDF)

Complete the application carefully and send it to us by one of the following methods:

• Through the Suomi.fi/messages service (Legal Register Centre > Enforcement of fines and penalties)
• By email to maksuaikahakemukset.ork@om.fi. We recommend the Ministry of Justice’s secure messaging service. Enter your email address into the service and register it. You will then be sent an email link that will take your message securely to its recipient.
• By post to Legal Register Centre /Payment time applications, PO BOX 157, 13101 Hämeenlinna, Finland.

You can also send a free-form written application to the LRC. Such applications must contain all of the information requested on LRC’s above-mentioned application form.

If necessary, the LRC will ask the debtor or Enforcement Authority for further information.

We process each application for payment time in order of receipt. You cannot be granted payment time as a matter of course. Each application is considered individually. Some payment time applications are processed automatically, in which case the matter will be resolved the next day. If the application cannot be processed automatically, the matter will be resolved as soon as possible. In this case the processing time is about 2-4 weeks.

The applicant will be informed in writing of the payment time decision. The decision will be made in Finnish or Swedish. We will send the payment time decision and bank transfer forms to the Suomi.fi Messages service if you are using it. If not, we will mail the documents to you. You can also see the decision and any bank transfers in the electronic service immediately after the application has been processed.

Payment time is not granted automatically. Things like how diligently the debtor has managed their previous debt-collection matters are taken into account in the decision.

An application may also be rejected if it is incomplete.

The grounds for rejection will be indicated on the application. See “Application processing time and decision on payment time” above.

Payment time of at most one year can be granted without instalments. You can be granted more than a year’s payment time if you make monthly payments according to the payment schedule included in the payment time decision.

If you fail to follow the payment schedule, the agreement will lapse and the matter will be moved to Enforcement Authority.

In a case involving a conversion sentence, a single payment with a term of payment of 1–3 months can be proposed as the payment schedule. Longer payment schedules of 4–6 months require the payment of monthly instalments.

Do not pay instalments on a conversion sentence if you have not been given a payment schedule decision. Paid instalments will be returned to you if you do not follow the payment schedule.

If you fail to follow the payment schedule, the agreement will lapse and the matter will be moved to enforcement.

If a payment time decision lapses while the person is serving a sentence of imprisonment, the matter will be moved to the Criminal Sanctions Agency for enforcement without a separate notification. The LRC will return any instalments paid.