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Online payment service, Suomi.fi Payments
The State Treasury has procured an online payment service, art of the Suomi.fi service package, for the public administration operators. The Suomi.fi Payments service offers public administration organisations a uniform service package and a system solution in support of electronic services.
A service agreement will be signed of the deployment of the Suomi.fi Payments service with the State Treasury. In addition, the date of the deployment of the service and the necessary measures will be agreed upon with the State Treasury. The State Treasury will also provide the organisation with all other necessary instructions.
The Payments service enables the customers of public administration organisations, such as municipalities and state authorities, to make payments online to organisations using the service. The Payments service provides online banking service fees, Visa, MasterCard and Amex card fees and MobilePay fees.
The unified service is cost-effective and can be provided with centralised development, support and service management. The introduction of the Payments service began in 2017, when a total of 41 organisations adopted it.
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Obligation to use the service
A Finnish act, “laki hallinnon yhteisistä sähköisen asioinnin tukipalveluista” (“act on joint administrative services for electronic services”), or the act known as the support services act, obliges an organisation to use the Suomi.fi Payments service if the organisation uses an online payment service related to electronic interaction services. The Act is also known as the Kapa Act, this abbreviation standing for its Finnish name (“kansallinen palveluohjelma”.
This Act specifies what organisations performing public administrative tasks are obliged or entitled to deploy the Payments service and for what services. For example, municipalities and other municipal organisations as well as central government accounting units are obliged to use the Payments service in their statutory services if the organisation’s electronic services are accompanied by an online payment option. Municipal administration organisations are also entitled to use the service in other services than their statutory services.
The above-mentioned organisations must contact the State Treasury when they plan to adopt an electronic interaction service that involves online payments.
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Contact information
Anja Alanko
Responsible for Suomi.fi-payments
Financial Administration Specialist
verkkomaksaminen(at)valtiokonttori.fi
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Pricing criteria
The pricing of the service for user organisations is based on the Ministry of Finance decree on chargeable performances by the State Treasury (1303/2019) and the valid rates related to the Decree. The fees charged are performances subject to public law and based on the cost value, in which case the service fees charged to user organisations cover the costs incurred in the administration, development and use of the service.
The fees charged to the user organisations for the use of the Suomi.fi Payment service consists of:
- a monthly fee per electronic service that covers both the monthly fees payable to the service provider and the costs incurred by the State Treasury for the administration of the service
- electronic interaction service fees per payment transaction and commissions related to card payments and MobilePath, which are invoiced to the user organisation based on the execution of payments
- separate services for electronic interaction services, such as the refunds of payments and individual settlements based on their execution
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Price information
- Monthly fee of EUR 50/month for every merchant ID
User organisations will be charged a fee per payment transaction and per any commissions arising from a transaction carried out in the electronic service, based on the execution of payments and commissions. Charges per payment transaction are based on the average prices calculated on the basis of the service operator’s and the card service operator’s price lists. The prices charged to user organisations include:
- Online bank payment buttons, PSD2, EUR 0.13/pc
- Online bank payment buttons, traditional, EUR 0.47/pc
- Card payments, EUR 0.07/pc (Visa, Mastercard and American Express)
- Mobile payments EUR 0.20/pc
- Commissions arising from card payments and mobile payments, according to the execution of payments
- Refunds of payments, EUR 0.35/pc
- Individual settlements, EUR 0.15/pc
- Shop-in-Shop cost, EUR 0.15/pc
- Any other costs according to the supplier’s pricing
Commission for card payments varies according to the issuer of the card. The commission for a payment card issued within the EU is approximately 1.16%, and for a card issued outside the EU about 2.35%. The commission for mobile payments is around 1.0 %.
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Invoicing and the terms of payment
The State Treasury invoices to user organisations on a monthly basis. A service-specific invoice will be sent to the user organisations, and the invoice will be used to charge the current month’s fee for the electronic interaction services and for the previous month’s transaction-specific payments and commissions.
Possible balancing billing will take place in December.
The State Treasury uses the terms of payment of net within 21 days for invoices. Comments to the invoice must be made in writing within seven (7) days of the receipt of the invoice by the user organisation.
The invoicing address given on the deployment form is used as the invoicing address. User organisations can also give a more detailed invoicing address by providing additional information specific to the electronic interaction service (your reference, contract number, order number or posting reference).
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Deployment of the Suomi.fi Payment service
For detailed instructions on the introduction of the Suomi.fi Payments, see the Suomi.fi service management.
Suomi.fi palveluhallintaan > (in Finnish)
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Service presentation of the Suomi.fi Payments service
The webinars during the autumn will take a look at the process of the deployment of the Suomi.fi Payments service and enable the participants to familiarise themselves with the service itself and the experiences gained by its users. The purpose of the “Sujuvaa verkkomaksamista Suomi.fi-maksuilla” webinars (“smooth payments via the Suomi.fi Payment services webinars”) is to provide information about the Suomi.fi Payments service and its deployment. In addition to the deployment process, the webinars will discuss how different specifications affect the processing of payments. At the same time, good practices for organising the financial management process will be shared in the webinar.
The webinars are intended for operators who, under the Kapa Act, have the right to use Suomi.fi payments.
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Workspace of the Suomi.fi Paymentg services maintained by the State Treasury
The State Treasury maintains the Timeri workspace intended for use by the service’s customer organisations. The workspace contains up-to-date instructions and forms related to the use of the service. The workspace is mainly in Finnish, but the forms and instructions in Swedish can be found in their own folders.
Among other things, the workspace contains:
- Form for the deployment of the service
- Instructions for resolving unclear payments and payment errors
- Instructions for user management
The deployment of the Tiimeri workspace requires that you register your eduuni ID.
You can request access rights for the new Tiimeri workspace in the Suomi.fi Payment service of the State Treasury by sending a message to verkkomaksaminen@valtiokonttori.fi.
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Service availability report
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The City of Turku uses the Suomi.fi Payment service in a number of its services
The City of Turku joined the Suomi.fi Payment pilot project in spring 2017.
– We had been thinking for a long time about how we could get the city to decrease
its invoicing, now in exorbitant figures. We included the online downloading and payment of exercise bracelets in the pilot project, as we wanted it to be easy for municipal residents to load their bracelets at home. Online payments have become considerably more common over the past few years, and now they are available for many services in Turku, says Project Director Päivi Saalasto, who is responsible for the development of digital services in the City of Turku.The deployment of the service in itself was quite simple and easy.
– Deployment was very simple and easy. Paytrail is a means of payment service; consequently, the supplier had already carefully tested the online payment procedure. There was no problem with the deployment, and this is a very safe and secure solution, “says Saalasto.
On the video, Päivi Saalasto describes the deployment of the City of Turku’s Suomi.fi Payment services: