bank asks for expected annual turnover when opening an account what do I fill in

Expected turnover is an estimate, not an annual figure

Enter a realistic estimate for the current or coming financial year, based on the turnover you already know or expect. The bank does not ask this to hold you to a figure, but to make a risk assessment: does the transaction volume that will later flow through the account match the profile of your business? Turnover that turns out to be higher or lower than the estimate after the fact is normal and in itself not a problem.

If you do not yet have annual accounts — for example in a newly started business — then a substantiated estimate is sufficient: based on order portfolio, quotations or a comparable period. If you have those figures, then the answer is easier to substantiate with what is already recorded. Check in that case if the annual accounts of the company have been filed, because a filed annual account is a stronger substantiation for the bank than an estimate alone. The same question about turnover and source of income also appears in other topics in customer due diligence, such as the source of the company's assets — these are different questions, but they belong to the same file and often to the same substantiation.

Part of customer due diligence when opening an account

This question does not come from the bank's curiosity, but from the customer due diligence that the Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Prevention Act requires. The bank must establish the risk profile of each business customer before an account is opened, and expected turnover and expected transaction pattern are a standard part of this. It is not a tax or annual account obligation — that follows from other rules, such as the Trade Register Act 2007 — but a snapshot that the bank uses to assess later transactions.