Entrepreneur Fund membership
You can join the Entrepreneur Fund if you are an entrepreneur as provided for in the Unemployment Act and your pension insurance (YEL, TyEL, MYEL) income is at least € 14,803 in 2024. This minimum pension insurance requirement is tied to the wage coefficient and is updated annually.
You must be between 18 and 68 years of age to join the Entrepreneur Fund, however, as a rule it is not possible to pay out daily allowance to a person who has turned 65. This means it is generally not beneficial for a person over 65 to join the fund.
If you are in salaried employment and your entrepreneurial activities are part-time, you should join a wage-earner’s fund.
You can join the Entrepreneur Fund by filling in the membership application form online. Your membership comes into effect from the date of filling in the membership form unless a later starting date is chosen. By paying the first membership fee, you confirm your membership in Entrepreneur Fund.
A new member must pay the membership fee from the beginning of the month during which they have joined the fund. The membership fee is deductible in personal taxation.
If you want to calculate your membership fee or the amount of any allowance, you can use our calculators.
It takes 15 months to gain the right to daily allowance
You must be a member in the Entrepreneur Fund for at least 15 months before becoming unemployed to gain the right to apply for earnings-related unemployment allowance. This 15-month period is called the entrepreneur’s work requirement.
If you transferred to the Entrepreneur Fund directly from an employee fund, you have the right to apply for daily allowance based on your salary prior to becoming self-employed, provided you have met the employees work requirement of 26 weeks prior to becoming self-employed.
If you transfer your membership from an employee fund to the Entrepreneur Fund within three months of starting your business, it is possible retain the right to unemployment security without interruption. Please make sure you join the Entrepreneur Fund within one month of leaving the previous one to retain the previously accrued work requirement.
Daily allowance cannot be paid out to full-time entrepreneurs, but to those who have either wound up their company or who are no longer employed as entrepreneurs.
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