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 contribution of €37.21 in 2025 and
- the earnings-related sum (amount,part), which is 45% of the difference between the daily wage* and the basic component. For monthly incomes above €3534.95, the earnings-related sum (amount,part) 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 in the 15 months before you became unemployed. If your insurance level has fluctuated, the longer you have been insured will have a greater impact on 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 €15 128 (in 2025) and must not exceed the annual income of your pension insurance.
- If you have increased your sickness insurance by more than 20% in the 15 months before you became unemployed, we will not take into account the part of the increase exceeding 20% for your daily allowance.
Previous unemployment benefit thresholds
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 obliged to report any circumstances that may affect the payment of the earnings-related daily allowance (e.g. wage income, social benefits). If we pay an incorrect or excessive amount of daily allowance, we must recover the amount paid.
Failure to comply with the obligation to notify can lead to administrative and criminal penalties, in addition to possible recovery.
Conditions for the daily subsistence allowance
We can pay you a daily allowance if you are unemployed and have fulfilled the conditions for work. The condition for self-employment is met if you are
- have been an entrepreneur during the period of 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 employment condition?
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 employment 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 unemployment benefit thresholds
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
Sales profit
When you apply for a daily allowance from the Entrepreneur Fund, we will find out whether you have any sales profit left over from your closed business. To find out whether you have a capital gain , we use a sales profit report form.
Any sales prodit will affect when you can start receiving earnings-related daily allowance. Sales profit does not completely stop you from receiving the earnings-related daily allowance, but it can delay the start of the payment for up to 24 months.
Download or print the sales profit report here. Please submit the sales profit report to us from the Attachments tab on the Member Pages. However, if you have difficulty completing the form, please fill it in as well as possible and send it to us with the balance sheet for the last full financial year.
We recommend that you fill in your accountant’s details on the form so that we can ask him/her for more information, which often speeds up the processing of your application.
When can a sales profit arise?
A capital gain may be generated if the balance sheet total of your business in the last full financial year, less any debts, was more than €20 000.
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:
- A capital gain can arise even if you have not sold the business, part of the business or assets.
- Capital gains are calculated by deducting from the selling price (or fair value) of the business or business asset the higher of the unamortised cost plus selling expenses, or the presumption of cost, which, for example, is always 50% of the selling price in the case of unemployment security, contrary to the Unemployment Allowances Act. Finally, the amount is reduced by the liabilities at the time of the closure of the business.
How much can the daily allowance be delayed?
If there is a sales profit, it is periodized from the date of cessation of trading. Periodization means that we compare the length of time the sales profit corresponds to the income from work and only start paying the daily allowance after this period. However, the maximum period for the periodization of sales profit is 24 months.
The earned income to which we compare the sales profit is the level of insurance you choose for your pension insurance up to the annual earned income. If there is an accrued periodisation of sales profit, you will receive a written decision from the Fund.
Example:
- You have an insurance level of €24 000 per year (€2 000 per month) and €20 000 in periodised sales profit.
- The capital gain of €20,000 is divided by the monthly income from work of €2,000 to give a period of 10 months. The daily allowance starts to be paid after 10 months.
Please note that
- if the level of insurance you have chosen for your fund has been higher than the annual earnings base of your pension insurance by mistake, your annual earnings used for the periodisation of sales profit will be equal to the annual earnings base of the pension insurance.
- you should keep your job application valid even during the period of the sales profit, so that your employment requirements and entitlement to daily allowance are maintained beyond the period of the period.
When is the sales profit not accounted for?
In certain situations, the sales profit is not accounted for. In this case, you only need to fill in sections 1-4 of the calculation, i.e. basic information about you, your business and the duration of your business. However, please add your signature and date at the end of the form in box 7.
We do not examine the sales profit if:
- you are self-employed on a part-time basis, according to the Labour Market Authority.
- you have been in business for 18 months or less.
- your company’s balance sheet total for the last financial year less business debts does not exceed EUR 20 000.
- your business has gone bankrupt.
- you have ceased to be self-employed either because of prolonged incapacity for work, the end of a seasonal business activity or if you have been a self-employed person treated as an employee at the end of your few contracting relationships.
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 employee
Paid work does not give you an employment requirement for the Entrepreneur Fund. If you take on full-time employment or a job of long duration, it would be a good idea to join the Employees’ Fund in order to accumulate the employment requirement through paid employment.
- If you have accumulated an entrepreneur’s employment condition during your membership of the Entrepreneur Fund and you have received daily allowance from the Entrepreneur Fund, the employment requirement remains with the Employee’s Fund until you meet the employment requirement of an employee.
- If you have accrued an entrepreneur’s employment condition during your membership of the Entrepreneur Fund, but you have not received daily allowance from the Entrepreneur Fund, the employment requirement will remain with the Employees’ Fund as long as it fits within the last 48 months of unemployment.
In order to maintain your accumulated income security when you move from one fund to another, there must be no more than one month of uninsured periods between leaving the Entrepreneur Fund and joining the Employees’ Fund, and your membership fee must be paid until the end of your membership.
Accumulation of days of earnings-related daily allowance 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 services organised by the employment services. With the exception of self-study, you will generally be reimbursed for the days of participation in these services.
The allowance is €9 per day, or around €194 per month. The higher allowance is €18 per day, or around €387 per month. The allowance is paid at a higher rate when the employment service is provided outside the area of employment or when the service is provided outside the municipality of residence and the participation entails accommodation costs. The allowance is tax-free income.
Unemployment benefit is paid for the period of *employment services, regardless of the qualifying period or the deductible period.
*Employment services
Services to promote employment include
- job search coaching
- career coaching
- experiment
- rehabilitative work activities
- labour market training
- independent study
- independent study in accordance with the Act on the Promotion of Integration
For more information on the different services and how to apply for them, contact the Labour Market Centre.
Claiming daily allowance for the period of employment services
The employment authority will provide the Fund with a statement telling them which service you are participating in and how long the service will last. We will pay you an income-related daily allowance and any reimbursement of expenses on the basis of the statement from the employment authority.
In your daily allowance application, enter the name of the employment promotion 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 not receiving employment services include personal illness, illness of a child under 10 (up to four days), a job interview, public office or a similar reason. In such cases, the absence is paid as a daily allowance without reimbursement 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, self-study, recruitment experiment and self-study under the Act on the Promotion of Integration do not affect the daily allowance.