Amount and payment of daily allowance
The earnings-related daily allowance is a way to secure your livelihood when unemployed.
Amount of the daily allowance
Your daily allowance consists of.
- a basic component of €37.21 in 2025 and
- the earnings-related component, which is 45% of the difference between the daily wage* and the basic component. For monthly incomes above €3534.95, the earnings-related component is 20% for the excess.
We calculate your earnings-related contribution based on your insurance level in the 15 months before you became unemployed. The level of insurance you choose for the fund can be up to the same amount as your annual income from your pension insurance. If your insurance level has fluctuated, the level of insurance you have had for longer will have a greater impact on the amount of your daily allowance.
*The daily wage is obtained by dividing the insurance level on which your daily allowance is based by 12 and then by 21.5.
Duration of the daily allowance
As a rule, we pay an earnings-related allowance for five working days a week for up to 400 days. If you have been working for less than 3 years, we will pay daily allowance for up to 300 days. If you have fulfilled the condition of being in employment after the age of 58 and have worked for at least five years in the previous 20 years, we can pay 500 days of daily earnings allowance.
If your unemployment is prolonged, your daily allowance will be graduated:
- 80% of the initial level, after 40 days of benefit payments (~2 months) and then
- 75% of the initial level, after 170 days of benefit payments (~8 months).
Waiting period
We start paying daily allowance after a waiting period that corresponds to seven full working days. Please also fill in the application for daily allowance for the waiting period.
Impact of your insurance level on the daily allowance
- We calculate the amount of your daily allowance based on your insurance level during the last 15 months before you became unemployed. If your insurance level has varied, the level that has been effective the longest will have the largest impact on the amount of your daily allowance.
- If you have mistakenly chosen a higher level of insurance than the annual income of your pension insurance, your daily allowance will be based on the annual income of your pension insurance. The annual income used as the basis for your daily allowance must be at least €15 481 (in 2026) and must not exceed the annual income of your pension insurance.
- There is a 20% rule for increasing the insurance level you have chosen for the fund. According to this rule, you may increase your insurance level by no more than 20% within 15 months so that the increase immediately starts to affect the basis of your earnings-related daily allowance.
If you raise your insurance level by more than 20%, we cannot take into account the portion exceeding 20% when calculating your daily allowance until you have maintained the new insurance level for at least 15 months.
Therefore, if you increase your insurance level by more than 20%, you must maintain the higher level for at least 15 months for the portion exceeding 20% to be included in the basis of your earnings-related daily allowance.
Previous lower limits for accruing the work requirement
The lower limit for unemployment benefit has been:
15 128 € in 2025
14 803 € in 2024
14 088 € in 2023
13 573 € in 2022
13 247 € in 2021
13 076 € in 2020
12 816 € in 2019
12 576 € in 2018
12 564 € in 2017
12 420 € in 2016
12 325,55 € in 2015
Recovery of earnings-related daily allowance
Our members are required to report any circumstances that may affect the payment of the daily allowance (such as income from paid work or social benefits). If we pay daily allowance on false grounds or the amount of allowance is too high, we must recover the amount paid.
Failing to comply with the reporting obligation can, in addition to possible recovery of paid allowances, lead to administrative and criminal penalties.
Conditions for the daily allowance
We can pay you a daily allowance if you are unemployed and have fulfilled the work requirement. The work requirement is met if you
- have been an entrepreneur during membership of the Entrepreneur Fund for at least 15 months within the last 48 months , and
- have paid at least the lower limit of the unemployment benefit pension insurance. Pension contributions must have been paid for the period of insurance.
Breaks in the work requirement?
You do not have to be self-employed continuously to meet the employment condition. We will take into account any period of at least four months during which you have been a member of the Entrepreneur Fund and have been a sufficiently insured self-employed person during the last four years (48 months). We can extend the 48-month period by up to seven years if you have a valid reason for being out of the labour market.
Acceptable reasons for being off the labour market include illness, rehabilitation, the birth of a child, caring for a child up to three years old, full-time studies, conscription, civilian service or other comparable reasons.
Have you not fulfilled the work requirement for entrepreneur?
If you have transferred from the Employees’ Fund to the Entrepreneurs’ Fund, but have not yet met the condition for employment as an entrepreneur, you may be entitled to an employee’s post-employment benefit. The daily allowance is then based on your earnings before you became self-employed.
To qualify for the after-service allowance, you must join the Entrepreneurs’ Fund within one month of leaving the previous fund. Your membership fees must be paid up to the date of transfer. In addition, one of these conditions must be met:
- you have accumulated 12 months of continuous employment as an employee in the last 28 months before becoming unemployed , or
- you received daily allowance from the Employees’ Fund before joining the Entrepreneurs’ Fund. In this case, we can pay you the same daily allowance as you were receiving before, up to the maximum daily allowance amount you can receive when you add up the daily allowances you received before.
Previous lower limits for accruing the work requirement
The lower limit for accruing work requirement benefit has been:
15 128 € in 2025
14 803 € in 2024
14 088 € in 2023
13 573 € in 2022
13 247 € in 2021
Sales profit
When you apply for daily allowance from the Entrepreneur Fund, you must fill in a sales profit report and submit it to the Fund as an attachment to your first application for daily allowance. The sales profit report is used to assess the financial situation of your business.
Possible sales profits will affect when you can start receiving daily allowance. This means that sales profits do not prevent the payment of daily allowance, but may postpone the start of the payment of the allowance for up to 24 months.
Download or print the sales profit report here. Submit the report on sales profits to us on Member Pages on the Attachments tab. If you have any difficulties with the form, fill it to the best of your ability and submit it to us along with the balance sheet of the last full financial year. We recommend that you include your accountant’s information on the form so that we can contact them for more information, which can often speed up the processing of your application.
How are sales profits generated ?
Sales profits may be generated if the balance sheet total of your company in the most recent full financial year, minus any liabilities, was more than 20,000 euros.
Sales profits from the company’s fixed assets or possible other long-term investments are also considered to be related to the closing down of the business if they were received during the six months before going out of business.
Any capital gains from fixed assets or other long-term investments of the enterprise are also considered to be related to the closure of the enterprise if they are received during the six months preceding the closure.
Please note that:
- sales profits may be generated even if you have not sold the business or a part of it or business assets.
- sales profits are calculated by deducting from the sale price (or fair value) of the business or business asset one of the following sums, whichever is higher: either the undepreciated acquisition cost plus selling costs, or the deemed acquisition cost, which for the purpose of unemployment benefits is always 50% of the sale price regardless of what is stated in tax legislation, for example. Finally, the company’s liabilities at the time of closing down the business are deducted from the amount.
How much can the daily allowance be delayed?
Any generated sales profits are periodised starting from the date the business closes down. Periodisation means that we compare the sales profits and your earned income and only begin paying the daily allowance after the sales profits have covered the corresponding period of earned income. The maximum period by which sales profits can postpone the payment of allowance is 24 months.
Example of periodisation:
- You have an insurance level of 24,000 per year (2,000 per month) and sales profits of 20,000 that are subject to periodisation.
- The sales profit of 20,000 euros is divided by your monthly earned income of 2,000 euros. The length of periodisation is therefore 10 months, meaning that the payment of your daily allowance starts after 10 months.
Please note that
- you need to remain an active jobseeker also during the periodisation of sales profits so that your work requirement and right to daily allowance continue during the periodisation.
- if the insurance level you have selected for the fund was mistakenly higher than the annual earned income used for your pension insurance, the annual earned income used in the periodisation of possible sales profits is the amount used in your pension insurance.
When is the sales profit not assessed?
Sales profits are not assessed in certain situations. In this case, you only need to fill in sections 1-4 of the report form on basic information about yourself, your business and the duration of your business. Remember to include your signature and date at the end of the form in section 7.
Sales profit is not assessed if
- you have been in business for less than 18 months.
- the balance sheet total of your company’s most recent financial year, minus the company’s liabilities, is 20,000 euros or less.
- your business has ended with bankruptcy.
- you have stopped working as an entrepreneur due to prolonged inability to work, the end of seasonal business activity or because you have worked for a small number of clients in a situation comparable to an employee when your contractual relationships with clients ended.
- you are a part-time entrepreneur according to a statement by the employment authority.
Filling in the sales profit report
Fill in the form carefully and follow the instructions on the form. If you have more than one company, fill in a separate sales profit report for each company.
Section 1 Applicant’s information
Fill in your personal identity code and full name in this section.
Section 2 Company name
Fill in the name of your company.
Section 3 Company type
Tick the box for the correct type of company and your position in the company.
Section 4 Duration of business activity
Select and tick only one of the options, either 4 A or 4 B.
Select 4 A if your business has closed down. Please also give the reason for closing down the business.
Select 4 B if the company is still in business, but your employment with the company has ended for one of the following reasons:
- you are incapacitated and unable to work (you have received 300 days of sickness allowance from Kela)
- the company’s period of activity has ended due to the seasonal nature of the business (seasonality is assessed by the employment authorities)
- your contractual relationship with a client has ended, if you are self-employed in a position comparable to a wage earner (assessed by the employment authorities).
- closing down of the production line or lay-off
Section 5 Balance sheet review
In this section, fill in the balance sheet total of your business for the last full financial year or the value of the company’s assets as stated in the inventory, as well as all of the company’s liabilities as of the end of the last full financial year. As an attachment to the report, include the balance sheet for the last full financial year or, if you are not required to keep double-entry books, the inventory listing the company’s assets and liabilities.
If the balance sheet total, minus liabilities, is 20,000 euros or less, sales profit is not calculated and you do not need to fill in the remaining sections of the form.
If the balance sheet total is more than 20,000 euros, proceed to fill in the remaining sections.
Section 6 Sales profit calculation
In section 6 A, please report:
- The sale price of the sold business, shares or units.
- A deemed acquisition cost of 50% is automatically deducted from the sale price. Alternatively, you can use the undepreciated part of recorded actual acquisition costs, plus the costs of obtaining profit (sales costs), if their total exceeds 50% of the sale price.
In section 6 B, please report:
- The sale price, if any, received from the company’s fixed assets, inventories and other long-term investments. This number should include proceeds from the sales of fixed assets or other long-term investments received during the last 6 months before the closing down of the business.
- The company’s goodwill, if any, meaning the intangible value acquired in the sale. The acquisition cost is determined in the same way as in section 6 A.
In section 6 C, please report:
- The fair value of any unsold business assets not retained for personal use. Business assets include inventories, fixed assets and other long-term investments.
- An acquisition cost of 50% is automatically deducted from the sale price. Alternatively, you can use the undepreciated part of recorded actual acquisition costs, plus the costs of obtaining profit (sales costs), if their total exceeds 50% of the sale price.
- Include a reliable account of the fair value of the business assets, such as a purchase offer from a car dealership as proof of the fair value of a car, or a substantiated estimate from an auditor or accountant or a reliable purchase offer as proof of the fair value of machinery, equipment, inventory or other fixed and current assets.
The final sum of the sales profit calculation shown at the bottom of the page is the amount used for determining the length of periodisation, in other words when the payment of your allowance will begin.
Section 7 Date and signature
Please fill in the date and your signature. If you are submitting the form electronically, a signature is not needed.
Section Accountant’s contact details
Fill in your accountant’s contact details here if you give permission for the Entrepreneur Fund to contact the accountant directly with specific questions. Asking for additional details from your accountant often speeds up the processing of the application.
Attachments to the sales profit calculation
Attach the following to the sales profit calculation:
- Balance sheet for the last full financial year. If you were not obligated to keep a balance sheet, attach an inventory of your company’s assets and liabilities.
- Deeds of sale of shares or units in the company, if you have sold any.
- Deeds of sale of any sold business assets, or alternatively, accounts of the fair value of any unsold business assets.
Examples of periodisation of sales profits
Example 1
Sales profit is equal to half of your insurance level
- Your insurance level: €20,000
- Monthly income used as the basis for daily allowance: €20,000 divided by 12 = €1,666
- Sales profit: €10,000
- Periodisation: €10,000 divided by €1,666 = 6 months
Example 2
Sales profit is equal to your insurance level
- Your insurance level: €20,000
- Monthly income used as the basis for daily allowance: €20,000 divided by 12 = €1,666
- Sales profit: €20,000
- Periodisation: €20,000 divided by €1,666 = 12 months
Example 3
Sales profit is higher than your insurance level
- Your insurance level: €20,000
- Monthly income used as the basis for daily allowance: €20,000 divided by 12 = €1,666
- Sales profit: €35,000
- Periodisation: €35,000 divided by €1,666 = 21 months
Post-protection allowance
If you have transferred from an employees’ fund to the Entrepreneur Fund, but have not yet fulfilled the condition for employment as an entrepreneur, you may be entitled to an employee’s post-employment benefit. The daily allowance is then based on your earnings for the period before you became self-employed.
To qualify for the after-service allowance, you must join the Entrepreneur Fund within one month of leaving the previous fund. Your membership fees must be paid up to the date of transfer. In addition, one of these conditions must be met:
- you have accumulated 12 months of continuous employment as an employee in the last 28 months before becoming unemployed , or
- you received daily allowance from an employee fund before joining the Entrepreneur Fund.
If you received daily allowance from an employee fund immediately before joining the Entrepreneur Fund, we can continue to pay the same daily allowance up to the maximum period of unemployment benefit (300, 400 or 500 days).
How do you estimate your daily allowance?
If your daily allowance is based on your previous earnings, you can estimate the amount using the calculator provided by the Joint Association of Unemployment Funds. The Entrepreneur Fund’s calculator is not suitable for this purpose.
What attachments do you need to provide us with?
Please deliver to us at least:
- an application for income support for at least two weeks, but preferably four weeks
- a certificate of your pension insurance annual earnings for the current and the three previous years or for the duration of your insurance, if you have had it for a shorter period. You can get the certificate from your pension company.
- capital gains statement (complete boxes 1-4, date and signature)
- an employment contract, a certificate of employment and a notice of termination of your previous employment. However, if you received daily allowance from the Employees’ Fund before joining the Entrepreneurs’ Fund, we do not need any attachments relating to the termination of your employment. We will ask you directly for the information from your previous fund.
- a change tax card for the benefit. If you do not provide us with an amendment tax card, your tax rate will be at least 25%.
We get your salary data from the Incomes Register. If your income does not appear in the register, we will ask you to provide a salary statement.
Submit attachments from the Attachments tab on your Member Pages.
Extra days for someone approaching retirement age
If you are in receipt of an employee’s daily allowance and are close to retirement age, you may be entitled to additional days of earnings-related daily allowance. This right does not apply in situations where the daily allowance is based on the entrepreneur’s employment condition.
We can pay earnings-related daily allowance beyond the maximum payment period up to age 65 in so-called additional days if.
- you were born in 1964 and will be 64 years old before the end of the maximum period
- you were born in 1961 or 1962 and turned 62 before the end of the maximum period
- you were born in 1963 and will be 63 years old before the end of the maximum period
Working while unemployed?
You can receive adjusted daily allowance if you have part-time or short-term employment or start a new business. Notify the employment authority when you begin work.
For paid work, we can pay an adjusted earnings-related daily allowance if your working hours do not exceed 80 percent of the maximum working hours in the sector. For business activities, we can pay an adjusted daily allowance if your activity is either determined to be part-time or you have been granted a four-month entrepreneurship trial by the employment authority.
This is how you declare your work in your application:
Paid work?
In the daily statement of your daily allowance application, enter ‘at work’ under ‘working days’ and include the hours and minutes worked.
Entrepreneurship?
In the Additional information field of the daily allowance application, please indicate that you were self-employed. Do not fill in your working hours in the daily application form.
How your income affects your daily allowance
If you work while unemployed, your earnings-related daily allowance will be adjusted. We can pay you an adjusted allowance if your working time in paid employment does not exceed 80% of the maximum working time in your sector. As a general rule, half of your earnings will be deducted from the unemployment benefit payable. However, the total of your daily allowance and your income from work cannot exceed the amount of your earnings-related daily allowance. This is obtained by dividing the insurance level on which your earnings-related daily allowance is based by 12 and then by 21.5.
What documents do we need from you?
Paid work
Send us a copy of your employment contract. If you have not signed a written employment contract, the employer must complete a statement of the main terms and conditions of your employment. We will obtain your salary information from the Incomes Register.
New or secondary business activity
Provide a monthly profit and loss account for your business or a statement of your business’s income and expenditure. If you have not been required to prepare a balance sheet, provide a statement of income and expenditure for your business. If you are a co-owner of a TYEL-insured company, we will obtain your monthly salary data from the register of income. We also obtain the income data of light self-employed persons from the Incomes Register.
Allowance during the first four months of entrepreneurship
Four-month entrepreneurship trial
If you start a new business while unemployed, you can generally receive an adjusted earnings-related daily allowance for at least the first four months of entrepreneurship. The employment authority will provide a statement about the trial period. Whether your business activity is primary or secondary will not be assessed during the trial period.
After four months, the employment authority will issue a statement on whether your business activity is full-time or part-time or secondary. If your activity is considered part-time, payment of the adjusted the earnings-related daily allowance will continue. If your activity is considered full-time, payment of the daily allowance will end.
From entrepreneur to wage-earner
Being employed in paid work does not accrue towards your work requirement in the Entrepreneur Fund. If you accept full-time or long-term paid work, we recommend that you join a wage-earners’ unemployment fund to accrue your work requirement from paid work.
- If you have accrued entrepreneur’s work requirement while you have been a member of the Entrepreneur Fund and have received daily allowance from the Entrepreneur Fund, the work requirement remains valid with the wage-earners’ fund until you meet the work requirement for wage earners.
- If you have accrued entrepreneur’s work requirement while you have been a member of the Entrepreneur Fund but have not received daily allowance from the Entrepreneur Fund, the work requirement will remain valid in the wage-earners’ fund for as long as it falls within 48 months of the start of unemployment.
To maintain your level of unemployment security when transferring between funds, the length of time which you are uninsured between resigning from the Entrepreneur Fund and joining a wage-earners’ fund cannot be more than one month, and your membership fees need to be paid until the date you resign from the fund.
How your daily allowance days are counted during work
We will pay up to 300, 400 or 500 days of earnings-related daily allowance, depending on your situation.
When we pay adjusted earnings-related daily allowance, the maximum payment period for earnings-related daily allowance will run in proportion to the number of days of earnings-related daily allowance we pay you.
Example:
Your full daily allowance is €70 per day. If you work part-time work, you will receive an adjusted allowance of €35 per day. In this case, 10 days of the 20-day pay period will be added to the maximum period calculator.
What if I get sick while unemployed?
You cannot be ill and receive unemployment benefit at the same time
You cannot receive unemployment benefit during your sick leave. Instead, apply to Kela for sickness allowance for the period of your incapacity for work. In your daily allowance application, indicate if you have applied for sickness allowance from Kela or for reimbursement from your insurance company, for example.
However, we can pay unemployment benefit for the days on which Kela pays sickness benefit. If you continue to be ill after that, Kela will pay you sickness allowance.
Send us your application for daily allowance for the days for which Kela pays sickness allowance. We will receive your sickness allowance data directly from Kela. If your insurance company pays you compensation due to disability or accident, we need a copy of your insurance company’s decisions.
Reduced capacity to work?
If you have a reduced capacity to work but are not totally disabled, you may be entitled to partial sickness benefit or vocational rehabilitation*. Partial sickness allowance and vocational rehabilitation are paid by Kela and pension insurance companies. If you are not entitled to either, you can apply for an invalidity pension.
*Individual rehabilitation can be, for example, work coaching, work experience or training. Read more about rehabilitation and disability pension on Kela’s website and Tyoeläke.fi.
Appeal against a decision of the Fund
Appealing the decision
You can appeal against the decision on the daily allowance issued by the Entrepreneurs’ Fund. Your appeal must state which decision you are appealing (decision number), what you want to change and on what grounds.
You will receive the appeal instructions with your decision. Submit a written complaint to the Fund on your Member Pages. The Fund will forward your appeal to the Social Security Appeals Board (SAMU). If you wish, you can appeal against the decision of the SAMU to the Insurance Court.
Courses or studies during unemployment?
During your unemployment, you can take part in employment promoting measures organised by the employment official. With the exception of independent studies you will generally receive compensation for expenses for the days of participation in these services.
The compensation is €9 per day, or around €194 per month. An increased compensation is paid when if your place of study is outside your commuting area or outside your home municipality, causing you to incur accommodation expenses. The increased compensation is €18 per day, or around €387 per month. The allowance is tax-free income.
Unemployment benefit is paid for the period of *employment promoting services, regardless of the qualifying period or the deductible period.
*Employment promoting services
Services to promote employment include
- job search coaching
- career coaching
- work internship
- rehabilitative work activities
- labour market training
- independent study
For more information on the different services and how to apply for them, contact the employment authority.
Daily allowance during services promoting employment
The employment authority will provide the Fund with a statement on which service you are participating in and how long the service will last. We will pay you an income-related daily allowance and a compensation of expenses on the basis of the statement from the employment authority.
In your daily allowance application, enter the name of the employment promoting service under each day of participation. In addition, indicate in your daily allowance application if you are absent from an employment support service. Please also indicate the *reason* for your absence in your application.
*Acceptable reason
Acceptable reasons for absence from services promoting employment include illness, illness of a child under 10 (up to four days), a job interview or a similar reason. In such cases, the absence is paid as a daily allowance without compensation of expenses. If you are absent for more than three days because of your own illness, please attach a medical certificate. Absences during periods of labour market training, independent study, work internship do not affect the daily allowance.