Applying for unemployment allowance

You can obtain unemployment allowance when you have been a member in the fund while working as an entrepreneur for at least 15 months. It is also required that you have had a statutory pension insurance (YEL, MYEL, TyEL) amounting to at least € 14, 803 in force during the 15-month period.

Instructions on how to apply for daily allowance are on this page. However, we recommend that you contact the fund for further instruction for clarification should you be unsure of how to proceed.

How to apply for unemployment allowance

You can send the first earnings-related allowance application, at the earliest, 2 weeks from the date of registering as a jobseeker with the TE office. Your allowance application will not be processed before all requisite information is available to the fund, however.

To speed up the processing of your allowance application, it is best to submit all of the required documents at once with the application. You can use our eService available on our website to send your allowance application online.

Required documents

Please attach to your first allowance application:

• a certificate from your pension insurance provider of the annual income that your pension insurance (YEL,TyEL,or MYEL) has been based on for the last 3 years including this ongoing year
• a certificate from your pension insurance provider of payment of the insurance fees
• a sales profit report (Myyntivoittolaskelma) along with a balance sheet and a profit and loss statement for the latest full accounting period. Attach to the form, when applicable:
• balance sheet for the latest full accounting period
• contract of sale

In addition, a revised tax card for benefits is recommended. You can request a revised tax card on Vero’s website . Without a valid revised tax card for benefits, the automatic withholding rate is at least 25 %.

Good to know when applying for unemployment allowance

• You must apply for daily allowance within three months of becoming unemployed
• You must fill in and submit to the fund a sales profit report regardless of personal ownership or whether the company or part of it has been sold. If you have multiple companies, a sales profit report is required for each of them.
• Send the fits allowance application after two weeks form registering as an unemployed jobseeker. You cannot mail the application at an earlier date than the last date you have applied allowance for.
• Always report on the allowance application if you have been employed, sick, or have applied for any other benefit.
• Fill the application in periods of at least four weeks.
• Use our eService to apply for unemployment allowance

Reduced membership fee during unemployment

You are entitled to a reduced membership fee during unemployment. The reduced fee is automatically granted when we process your first allowance application starting. The reduced fee is € 4 per month and is issued from the beginning of the next full calendar month following initial unemployment.

If there are any unpaid membership fees at the time of applying for allowance, the fees may be deducted from your unemployment allowance.

Decisions are appealable

After your allowance application has been processed, the Entrepreneur Fund will send you a decision in writing on your right to daily allowance along with a payment notification and a follow-up application. Decisions issued by the fund can be appealed if you are not satisfied with a decision. If you wish to appeal a decision issued by the fund, you must submit an appeal in writing within 30 days of receiving notice of the decision.

If you have received a negative decision made based on a labour policy statement given by the labour authority, you can contact them to provide any additional information required for a positive statement. However, the statements of the TE office cannot be appealed directly. Appeals must concern decisions made by the fund based on the TE office’s statement.