Pension is accrued from earnings and from specific benefits during unpaid periods
Pension is accrued from wages earned at work and from specific benefits during unpaid periods, such as earnings-based daily allowance and parental allowance. The employer takes out an earnings-related pension insurance and provides information to the Incomes Register on payments of earned income for all 17–67-year-olds for which the employer pays at least EUR 60.57 on a monthly basis. Entrepreneurs aged 18–67 take out their own insurance when their confirmed income, that is, the estimated value of their work, is at least EUR 7,958.99 and they have been entrepreneurs for at least four months.
Check the development of your own pension coverage from the pension record and consider the effects of any exceptional situations
On the electronic pension record, you can view your accrued pension and an estimate of your future pension at a glance, with estimates provided for your minimum, maximum and target retirement age. This information is based on the earned income and benefit data on your pension record, so you should check the information on an annual basis. Up-to-date information ensures that the accrued pension and pension estimates are correct.
This year, the coronavirus pandemic has had a major effect on the lives of everyone in Finland. Many have been affected by temporary layoffs and even termination of employment, and this has naturally also had an effect on the pension record data. Pension estimates for persons who had no earned income in the month preceding the review date of the information are now lower than they previously were. The accruing of pension until retirement age could not be taken into account in pension estimates as there is no earnings data. For this reason, only the amount of pension accrued is included in the pension estimate. When wages are no longer paid, the accrual of pension based on earned income also stops. However, pension is accrued based on the earnings-based daily allowance paid by unemployment funds until the minimum pensionable age for old-age pension.
Who receives a pension record?
An earnings-related pension record is provided to 18–68-year-old employees and entrepreneurs who live in Finland and who have employment that has been insured pursuant to earnings-related pension legislation.
All employees and entrepreneurs insured by Varma can view their comprehensive and real-time information on an electronic record at their convenience. We mail earnings-related pension records every three years to those who have not checked their data in the electronic pension record. This year, we will mail earnings-related pension records to people under 59 years, who were born in May–August and to people born in 1951–1961. View the mailing schedule details.
Which data is included in the pension record?
Varma’s electronic earnings-related pension record includes earned income and benefit data for the current year and the previous six calendar years. In addition, the record includes a calculated estimate that summarises the corresponding data for the entire working career. The pension record sent by mail does not include the data for the current year.
The electronic earnings-related pension record provides real-time information, as the earnings information submitted by the employer to the Incomes Register is included in the record on the 8th day of the month following the payment month. Benefit data has often been missing from the record early in the year, but starting from 2021, real-time benefit data will also be included in the record as the parties submitting the information, such as Kela and unemployment funds, start using the Incomes Register.
Check your data and submit a request for rectification if necessary
You should check your own pension record on an annual basis. If all information is correct, no actions are required from you. If corrections are needed regarding your data for 2020 or 2019, please notify your employer. Your employer will then correct the data in the Incomes Register, from where they are updated to your earnings-related pension record. If you notice that information regarding years preceding 2019 is incorrect or missing, please submit an enquiry through Varma’s eServices.