It appears that Santa Claus has fallen on hard times.
Santa’s Office – yes, the real one – located in Finnish Lapland is filing for bankruptcy over massive debts, including a 200,000 euro ($223,980) tax bill. The Finnish Tax Administration notified the company in May of 2015 that a substantial payment was due. Once the due date passed and Santa didn’t pay up, Finnish taxing authorities moved to take action against Santa’s Office, including potentially shutting it down.
President and CEO of Santa’s Office, Jorma Kariniemen, was working last week to come up with the funds, saying, “We have one more week to come up with the money. I’m confident that we can handle this.” This week, Kariniemen says that he believes he was successful. By law, the bankruptcy can now be reversed, though the process takes about eight days.
The Santa Claus Village, which includes Santa’s Office, is located on the Arctic Circle and attracts about 300,000 visitors from 100 countries each year. Last year, Santa’s Office reported revenues of about 2 million euros. It’s not clear from Kariniemen’s statements how Santa accrued the tax liability. What is clear is that tourism to Santa’s Office has been affected by political and economic turmoil in Russia. According to Bloomberg, in the second quarter of 2015, Russia’s economy shrank more than at any time since 2009; however, other a looming oil crisis will likely make things worse.
Russian tourists were a primary source of revenue for Santa’s Office for the past several years. Those tourists are slowly being replaced by the Japanese but concerns over potentially sluggish sales have some worried that Santa’s Office may struggle during the upcoming Christmas season.
The Santa Claus Village considers itself “the most spectacular Santa Claus destination in Scandinavia.” Famous visitors to the Polar Circle and the Lapland landmark include Eleanor Roosevelt, former President Lyndon B. Johnson, Crown Prince Carl Gustav of Sweden, the Shah of Iran and former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meier.
Is there anyone who might benefit from Santa’s tough times? Maybe. No, not the Grinch – but Norway. Norwegians have expressed an interest in bringing Santa back home to Norway if things don’t work out with the Finnish tax authorities, noting in particular, that “Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer is originally from here.”
(H/T: David Ellis of Ellis & Ellis)
