Becoming a taxi entrepreneur in 2026: entrepreneur training, entrepreneur exam and transport licence
To become a taxi entrepreneur you need a taxi transport licence. The applicant or the person responsible for transport must complete the taxi transport entrepreneur training, which lasts at least 21 hours, and pass the entrepreneur exam, which Traficom organises from 1 September 2026. A taxi transport licence application made electronically costs 290 euros, and a new licence is granted for 10 years. You do not need to complete the training or the exam if you were on 1 August 2007 the holder of a valid taxi licence or the person responsible for its transport.
Note: The taxi driver exam is held only in Finnish or Swedish (Traficom regulation, section 3), with no interpreter or dictionary allowed.
Four steps to become a taxi entrepreneur
- Set up a company and get a business ID (y-tunnus).
- Take the taxi transport entrepreneur training, at least 21 hours.
- Pass the entrepreneur exam.
- Apply for a taxi transport licence from Traficom.
If you drive yourself, you also need a taxi driver licence. Its steps: Taxi driver licence step by step. According to Traficom, practising taxi transport requires, in addition to the taxi transport licence, a taxi driver licence and a vehicle entered for licensed use.
1. Taxi transport licence
The taxi transport licence is company-specific. It is granted to a natural person (sole trader) or a legal person, such as a limited company, and it entitles to taxi transport everywhere in mainland Finland. New and renewed licences are granted for 10 years. The licence does not limit the number of vehicles, and a taxi transport licence is needed when the vehicle has at most 1+8 seats.
Traficom lists the following as conditions for granting the licence.
- Age and legal capacity: the applicant and the person responsible for transport must be of full age and have full legal capacity.
- Good repute: the requirement concerns the applicant, the person responsible for transport and the management of the company (managing director, chair of the board, the only full member of the board, partners with unlimited liability). The assessment looks at prison sentences in the last five years and fines in the last two years.
- Financial obligations: the applicant must not be bankrupt or under a business ban, there must be no neglect in taxes and other payments, and debts in enforcement that are significant compared to solvency are an obstacle.
- Establishment in Finland: a permanent place of residence or a registered office in the trade register in Finland, and an actual and permanent place of business in Finland (Act 612/2026, section 6).
- Business ID (y-tunnus).
- Professional competence: the applicant or the person responsible for transport must complete the taxi transport entrepreneur training and the entrepreneur exam, unless the competence can be shown under the repealed Taxi Transport Act.
According to Traficom, the person responsible for the company's transport must really and continuously manage the practice of transport, and the task cannot be held merely on the basis of a contract. Traficom does not assess in advance whether the conditions are met and does not give advance rulings. The vehicle must be entered in the register for licensed use and linked to the transport licence. For taxi transport licence holders the deadline is 1 January 2027 (Act 612/2026, transitional provision).
2. Entrepreneur training: content and length
The training lasts at least 21 hours (the law, section 6 a). The Traficom regulation Taksiliikenteen koulutukset (taxi transport training) lists in section 7 six topics and their more detailed content.
| Topic | According to the regulation, the training covers |
|---|---|
| 1. Commercial and financial management of a taxi company | Legislation on payment instruments. Types of credit and their costs. Interpreting the balance sheet and income statement. Assessing profitability and financial position with key figures. Cost factors and calculating costs per vehicle, kilometre or trip. Work plan. Rules on pricing, displaying price information and invoicing. Company forms. Public procurement practices. |
| 2. Vehicle and transport legislation | Obligations concerning taxi transport. Provisions concerning the taxi vehicle. |
| 3. Taxation | Value added tax on transport services. Vehicle tax and car tax. Income tax. Taxation of different forms of business. |
| 4. Accounting | The conditions and formalities of practising a trade, the general duties of a trader (registration, bookkeeping) and the consequences of bankruptcy. |
| 5. Employment | Rules on employment contracts: forms, duties, working and rest times, working time records, paid holidays and termination of the contract. Drawing up instructions for drivers to ensure safety. The employer's obligations in pay, social security and pension cover. |
| 6. Insurance | Types of road transport insurance (for example liability, accident and life insurance, damage, luggage and pension insurance) and the related guarantees and obligations. |
Only a training organisation operating with a Traficom licence may provide the training (more on the provider's requirements: Taxi driver training 2026). According to Traficom's page, the entrepreneur training or exam cannot be replaced by general entrepreneur training or a higher education degree. According to the Traficom regulation, the rules on remote training and online training (online training at most 7 hours) also apply to the entrepreneur training. For an exam taken after 1 September 2026, the training must comply with the Traficom regulation Taksiliikenteen koulutukset.
3. Entrepreneur exam
Traficom is responsible for organising the entrepreneur exam from 1 September 2026 (Act 612/2026, section 6 a). Taking the exam requires that you have taken part in the entrepreneur training. According to Traficom's page, the training organisation notifies Traficom of the completion of the training, the exam is taken at a service point of Traficom's service provider, and the passed exam is entered in the register of transport matters (liikenneasioiden rekisteri). The exam is a 50-question theory exam with at most 120 minutes, in which you need 38 correct answers and the minimum number from each of the six topics. Details of the exam: Taxi entrepreneur exam: 50 questions, 120 minutes.
According to Traficom's application page, a certificate of passing the entrepreneur exam does not need to be attached to the taxi transport licence application, because Traficom receives the information from the training organisation.
4. Fees
Below are the fees related to the steps of a taxi entrepreneur, which were found in Ministry of Transport and Communications decree 1337/2025 (valid from 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2027) and on Traficom's application page.
| Fee | Amount | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Taxi transport licence application, electronic | €290 | Paid in the service. Not refunded even if the licence cannot be granted or the application is cancelled. |
| Taxi transport licence application, other than electronic | €340 | On a paper form, invoiced after the decision is ready. |
| Annual fee of the transport licence holder | €115 | Charged per operator each calendar year on 1 January from operators in the register. |
| Registration of taxi transport entrepreneur training and exam | €21 | A row in the annex of the decree (2.7.3). The decree does not say who pays the fee and whether it is included in the price of the training, so ask the provider. |
| Notification of operating taxi transport under a passenger or goods transport licence | €65 electronic, €75 otherwise | The fee for the service provider's notification. In addition, the annual fee of a service provider entered in the register is €40, and it is not charged from a transport licence holder. |
| Taxi driver licence application and exam, if you drive yourself | €57 and €138 | Traficom's customer price list, updated 9 October 2026. More: How much does a taxi driver licence cost in 2026. |
We did not find the price of the entrepreneur training or a possible separate price of the entrepreneur exam in Traficom's price lists. The price of the training is set by the provider, so ask the price and what it includes before you sign up. We do not calculate a total, because some of the costs are not known.
Who does not need to
- Entrepreneur training and entrepreneur exam: according to Traficom, you do not need to complete them if you were the holder of a valid taxi licence, or the person responsible for its transport, when the Taxi Transport Act entered into force on 1 August 2007. For checking the information, Traficom gives the email address ammattiliikenne@traficom.fi on its page.
- A separate taxi transport licence: according to Traficom, taxi transport can also be practised by notification under a valid goods or passenger transport licence. The notification is company-specific. The page does not say whether entrepreneur training and the exam are then required, so ask Traficom.
- A driver working as an employee: you need a taxi driver licence. The entrepreneur training belongs to the licence applicant or the person responsible for transport.
How many taxi entrepreneurs and licences there are in Finland
According to Taksiliitto's (the Finnish taxi federation's) Taxi market situation picture 2026, at the end of 2025 there were 10,934 taxi transport licences and 37,303 taxi driver licences in Finland (source: Traficom). The figures are numbers of licences, not numbers of working drivers or companies. The entrepreneur exam was passed a total of 1,384 times in 2025 (Traficom 2025), and as a rule there have been about 1,200 to 1,300 passes a year.
Read more about taxi entrepreneur training
Frequently asked questions
What is the taxi transport entrepreneur training?
It is a training of at least 21 hours, which is part of the professional competence of the applicant for a taxi transport licence or the person responsible for transport. The content is six topics: commercial and financial management of the company, vehicle and transport legislation, taxation, accounting, employment and insurance.
Who may organise taxi entrepreneur training?
Only a training organisation operating with a Traficom licence. According to Traficom's page, the entrepreneur training cannot be replaced by general entrepreneur training or a higher education degree.
What does a taxi transport licence cost?
A taxi transport licence application made electronically costs 290 euros, and an application submitted in another way 340 euros. In addition, the transport licence holder pays an annual fee, which according to the decree is 115 euros. The application fee is not refunded even if the licence is not granted.
Who does not need to take the entrepreneur training and pass the entrepreneur exam?
According to Traficom, you do not need to complete the training and the exam if you were the holder of a valid taxi licence, or the person responsible for its transport, when the Taxi Transport Act entered into force on 1 August 2007. Competence can also be shown under the repealed Taxi Transport Act.
Does a taxi driver working as an employee need to take the entrepreneur training?
No. The driver must have a valid taxi driver licence. The entrepreneur training and the entrepreneur exam belong to the applicant for the taxi transport licence or the person responsible for transport.
Sources
- Traficom: I want to become a taxi transport entrepreneur (in Finnish)
- Traficom: Apply for a taxi transport licence (in Finnish)
- Traficom: Taxi transport entrepreneur training and exam (in Finnish)
- Traficom regulation Taksiliikenteen koulutukset (taxi transport training), sections 3 and 7, Finlex (in Finnish)
- Traficom regulation Taksiliikenteen kokeet (taxi transport exams), Finlex (in Finnish)
- Act 612/2026, section 6, section 6 a and section 17, Finlex (in Finnish)
- Ministry of Transport and Communications decree 1337/2025 on Traficom's chargeable services, annex, Finlex (in Finnish)
- Traficom: Customer prices of road transport examination and licence services (in Finnish)
- Taksiliitto: Taxi market situation picture 2026 (source: Traficom) (in Finnish)
Sources read on 31 October 2026. This article is general information, not legal advice.