We will continue to grant performing and reproduction licenses and collect royalties in accordance with the membership agreement even after the death of the music author. We will distribute the royalties we collect to the music author’s estate or heirs, unless they terminate the membership agreement. The estate or heirs cannot make a deceased music author to join Teosto, as the membership agreement has to be made when the music author is alive.

Read more about administering an estate from the official Suomi.fi website.

If you inherit copyrights, please do as follows:

• First, do the estate inventory. Copyright can only be transferred after the estate inventory has been completed.
  • Royalties paid before the music author’s death do not need to be recorded in the estate inventory.
  • In addition, the value of any future royalties cannot be determined in advance, as it depends on whether or not the author’s works are used. It is enough to include the following statement in the estate inventory: “Possible royalties based on the Teosto membership agreement, the value of which cannot be determined.”
• Complete the forms on this page that are needed in your situation and submit them to our customer service with your signature and the required appendices.

What forms should be submitted to Teosto in each situation?

1. IF THE ESTATE IS TO BE DISTRIBUTED, PLEASE SUBMIT

• The Agreement on a partial estate distribution -form, signed. The copyrights of the deceased music author’s works, which are administered by Teosto, are distributed in the agreement.
• The estate inventory (if there is a will or a prenuptial agreement, these should be included as appendices)
  • PLEASE NOTE! It is not necessary to submit a report on the deceased’s family relationships.
• The deed of division of property if the widow(er) has received a share of the copyright on the basis of marital right
• Power of attorney to represent copyrights, signed
  • If there are two or more heirs who will be rightholders, they must grant a power of attorney to one person for dealing with all copyright-related matters as a Teosto contact person on behalf of all the heirs. The person with the power of attorney can be one of the heirs or an outsider.
  • If there is only one heir, the power of attorney will not be needed, unless the heir wants to authorise another person to deal with copyright-related matters on the heir’s behalf. In this case, the heir can authorise any person with legal capacity to represent them.
  • The authorisation will not affect the distribution and payment of royalties.

The person appointed as the heirs’ representative must also apply for a user ID for Teosto’s web service. On Teosto’s web service the representative can:

• view any possible distributions and royalties that are accumulated to the heirs
• submit work notifications, if
  • the heirs grant new arrangement or translation licenses or
  • or if works are found posthumously and the heirs want to register them.

After the estate is distributed, all heirs may acquire themselves user ID’s for Teosto’s web service, so that each heir can see their own distributions and royalties, as well as change their bank account number. However, only the aforementioned representative of the deceased music author can submit work notifications.

Order form for web service credentials.

2. IF THE ESTATE IS NOT TO BE DISTRIBUTED, PLEASE SUBMIT

• The Agreement on the joint ownership of the estate -form, signed. The agreement only applies to the copyrights of the deceased music author’s works that are administered by Teosto. The agreement does not apply to other property of the deceased.
• The estate inventory (if there is a will or a prenuptial agreement, these should be included as appendices)
  • PLEASE NOTE! It is not necessary to submit a report on the deceased’s family relationships.
• The deed of division of property if the widow(er) has received a share of the copyright on the basis of marital right
• Power of attorney to represent copyrights, signed
  • If there are two or more shareholders of the estate, they must grant a power of attorney to one person for dealing with all copyright-related matters as a Teosto contact person on behalf of all the shareholders. The person with the power of attorney can be one of the shareholders or an outsider.
  • If there is only one shareholder, the power of attorney will not be needed, unless they want to authorise another person to deal with copyright-related matters on their behalf. In this case, the shareholder can authorise any person with legal capacity to represent them.
• The authorisation will not affect the distribution and payment of royalties.

The person appointed as the estate’s representative must also apply for a user ID for Teosto’s web service. On Teosto’s web service the representative can:

• view any possible distributions and royalties that are accumulated to the estate
• submit work notifications, if
  • the shareholders of the estate grant new arrangement or translation licenses, or
  • if works are found posthumously and the shareholders want to register them.

Other shareholders may acquire themselves user ID’s only after the estate is distributed.

Order form for web service credentials.

Delivery of documents

Submit the documents (signed, if required) as PDF documents or good-quality photos by using secure Turvaposti e-mail at https://www.securedmail.eu/message/omateosto@teosto.fi?lang=en. Title your form as Estate and attach the required documents. NOTE! After sending the form, you will receive an e-mail from turvaposti@turvaposti.fi with the subject “Confirm secure message delivery“. Confirm the delivery of the form by clicking the link in the e-mail.

If you cannot use Turvaposti, you can send the documents by post to our postal address: Teosto/Asiakaspalvelu, Musiikin Satama, Keilasatama 2A, 02150 Espoo.

Please note that processing the estate documents takes time. We aim to process the documents by the end of the year in which the author has died.

Payment of royalties to shareholders of an estate and heirs

If their bank account is still active, the royalties of the deceased author can be paid to the bank account of the deceased until the end of the year in which they have died.

After the author’s year of death, performing and reproduction royalties can be paid either

• personally to each rightholder heir in accordance with the division of property and the distribution of the estate or
• to the undistributed estate.

You submit the contact details and bank account number of the undistributed estate when you complete the Agreement on the joint ownership of the estate form.

You submit the names, contact details and bank account numbers of the heirs when you complete the Agreement on a partial estate distribution form.

If we have been informed of the author’s death from the heirs of the Digital and Population Data Services Agency but have not received the required documents for the agreement on the joint ownership of the estate or the distribution of the estate, the royalties cannot be paid and will be retained in Teosto. Possible royalties will be paid to the estate or heirs retrospectively after all of the required documents have been delivered to us.

Taxation of royalties

Tax is withheld on the royalties paid to the estate in the year of the author’s death in accordance with the author’s personal earned income tax rate if we have up-to-date tax info. If we don’t have current tax information and have not received the documents of the estate, we have to withhold 60 % of tax.

Undistributed estates

Undistributed estates do not in fact inherit royalties from the deceased music author, but instead the copyright royalties are estate’s earned income. Because the copyright royalties accumulate from the work that has been made by the music author and therefore would have been author’s personal income, royalties are regarded as estate’s income.

In accordance with the Act on Income Tax, estate is taxed as a separate taxpayer. Therefore, as income that is subject to withholding is paid to the estate, the estate must acquire itself a valid tax card. While copyright royalties are paid as personal earned income, this payment is not a salary but a compensation for use, for which there is a separate tax card. 

When you have acquired a tax card for royalties, please deliver it to us via Secure message at https://www.securedmail.eu/message/omateosto@teosto.fi?lang=en. Give your message a subject “Tax Card of an Estate” and attach the tax card to the message.

After submitting the Secure message form, you will receive an email from turvaposti@turvaposti.fi with a subject “Confirm secure message delivery”. Confirm the submission by clicking the link in the email. If you do not deliver us the valid tax card for royalties, your copyright royalties are subject to 60 % tax.

Distributed estates

If the estate is distributed in terms of copyright, the royalties received by the heirs after distribution will be considered capital income, on which tax is withheld according to the current capital income tax rate.

Distributing a previously undistributed estate later

When the heirs decide to distribute an estate that has previously been in joint ownership in terms of copyrights and for which an Agreement on the joint ownership of the estate with attachments has been delivered to Teosto, the estate can be distributed in two ways

• If the heirs are the same as during joint ownership, you only need to deliver us the Agreement on a partial estate distribution -form, signed. Other documents are not required.
• If there have been changes regarding the heirs (for example an original heir or a shareholder of the estate has died), all the documents mentioned in 1. If the estate is to be distributed must be delivered to Teosto, i.e.
  • The Agreement on a partial estate distribution -form, signed
  • The estate inventory (possible wills or a prenuptial agreements should be included as appendices, report on the deceased’s family relationships is not needed)
  • The deed of division of property if the widow(er) has received a share of the copyright on the basis of marital right
  • Power of attorney to represent copyrights, signed

Heirs cannot be voting members of Teosto

Persons who have become rightholders and Teosto members through marital right, inheritance or a will cannot apply to become voting members of Teosto. The difference between members and voting members is that voting members have decision-making power in Teosto. This does not affect royalty distribution.

Our customer service can assist you and give you more information. You can find our customer service’s contact details on the Contact us -page.

Official templates

Please note that the agreements mentioned in the documents are alternatives to each other, so please choose one or the other.