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 heirs, unless they separately terminate the membership agreement.

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

If you inherit copyrights, act accordingly

• 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 personal user ID for Teosto’s web service. The representative needs a user ID so that they can view any royalties to be paid to the heirs. The user ID is also needed for submitting work notifications if the heirs grant new arrangement or translation licenses or if works are found posthumously and the heirs want to register them.

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 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. The representative needs a user ID so that they can view any royalties to be paid to the heirs. The user ID is also needed for submitting work notifications if the heirs grant new arrangement or translation licenses or if works are found posthumously and the heirs want to register them.

Delivery of documents

Submit the documents (signed, if required) as PDF documents or good-quality photos by using secure Turvaposti e-mail in turvaposti.fi/viesti/omateosto@teosto.fi. 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 “Vahvista turvapostin toimitus“. 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 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 of the distributed estate 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 distribution of the estate, the royalties cannot be paid and will be retained in Teosto. Possible royalties will be paid to the 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.

If the estate is undistributed, tax can be withheld according to a separate earned income tax rate obtained for the estate from Tax Administration.

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.

If there is only one heir to the estate, the withholding will be done according to the capital income tax rate immediately after the deed of estate inventory has been submitted.

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.