Monitor and update your pension information online
Varma’s customer service is available as usual through phone and chat, and pension and rehabilitation applications are processed and pensions paid in the normal manner despite coronavirus.
You can contact us in insurance, pension and rehabilitation matters by phone on weekdays from 8 am to 5 pm by calling 010 192 102 (when calling from outside Finland +358 10 192 102). You can also contact us through our chat service or log into our eServices at varma.fi. Our customer service point in Salmisaari, Helsinki is closed until further notice.
Our electronic employee pension card was renewed in August 2019 and is now easier to use than before. The new electronic card can be used without an internet connection. The electronic card functions as proof of being retired in just the same way as a traditional card sent by post. Therefore, in order to get pensioner discounts, you no longer need to carry with you a separate plastic card once the card is saved on your phone or tablet.
We recommend visiting our eServices to save the new version of the electronic employee pension card as soon as possible, especially if you are already using an electronic card saved before the end of August 2019. The employee pension card can no longer be opened with the old icon.
How to obtain an electronic employee pension card
Varma sends pension information to banks several days before the pension payment date. The exact time when the pension is visible in your account on the payment date depends on the bank’s payment processes. For more information, contact your bank.
In accordance with Finnish pension legislation, earnings-related pensions can only be paid once during each calendar month. The payment day cannot be moved to the preceding month, because the right to receive a pension exists on a monthly basis.
You can change the bank account into which your pension is paid on our eServices, if you have Finnish banking codes or a mobile certificate required for logging in. If you do not have Finnish banking codes, please print out the form below and mail it, completed and signed, to the following address:
Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Company
Pension Payments
P.O. BOX 3
FI-00098 VARMA, Finland
You can also inform us of your new bank account number in a free-form letter sent to us either by post or by fax. We cannot change your bank account number over the phone or via e-mail, because the notification of a changed bank account must contain the pensioner’s signature.
Print out the notification of a changed bank account form (pdf)
If you move, we usually receive information about your new address in Finland directly from the Finnish Population Register Authority. If you live outside of Finland, however, we do not automatically receive information about changed addresses. For that reason, it is important that you notify our pension payments department if you live outside of Finland and your address changes. If you have Finnish banking codes or a mobile certificate, you can change your address yourself by logging in to our eServices. You can also notify Varma of a changed address by email, post or fax, or by using the secure electronic form below.
Obtain a tax card for your pension income as soon as possible after receiving your pension decision from
The Tax Administration recommends that its customers primarily use the online service.
Earnings-related pension is subject to withholding tax. The taxation of pension income is based on the Tax Administration’s instructions and tax legislation.
If the tax rate for pension income is not known by us at the time when the payment of pension begins, we are required, under the tax legislation, to withhold 40% tax for both future and retroactive pension.
We will refund any overpaid tax as soon as we receive your tax card for pension income from the tax authority.
When dealing with the tax office, the social insurance institution (Kela) or social service offices, you may be required to provide proof of your pension. Through our eServices, you can print out a certificate stating the amount of your monthly pension, as well as the pension payments that have been made in the current or previous year.
If you do not have Finnish banking codes or a mobile certificate required for logging in, you can use the electronic form below to request the certificate you require. If you require a certificate in English, please indicate this in the field ‘Additional information’. We will send you the certificate by post to your home address.
If you require a pension certificate in a language other than English or Finnish, please contact:
Varma
Pension Payments
P.O. BOX 3
FI-00098 VARMA, Finland or
send an email to: pensionpayments@varma.fi.
If you log in to our eServices, you can print out a certificate
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The trilingual employee pension card serves as proof of retirement also outside of Finland. We will send the employee pension card, which entitles the holder to pensioner discounts, by post to your home address roughly two weeks after the pension decision has been granted. You can obtain the pension card from Varma if we have granted you:
The card can only be granted to persons who receive a permanent full pension, so partial early old-age pension, part-time pension, partial disability pension, cash rehabilitation benefit or survivors’ pension do not entitle you to the employee pension card.
If you wish, you can also save your electronic employee pension card on your smart phone or tablet when you log in to our eServices using your personal Finnish banking codes or a mobile certificate. Once you save the employee pension card you no longer have to carry around the plastic card. You can, of course, also order a new card from our customer service if your old card has been lost or damaged.
How to obtain an electronic employee pension card
Order an electronic employee pension card
Earnings-related pension that has accrued in Finland can be paid to a pensioner living in any foreign country. The nationality of the pensioner has no bearing on their entitlement to pension. There is one exception: part-time pension. If you wish, your pension can be paid to your foreign bank account through a Finnish bank.
If you are living abroad permanently, you must annually confirm to us your information using the residence report, in order for you to continue receiving pension payments from us. We will send you a residence report only if we do not automatically receive your information from authorities.
If you are spending your retirement days abroad, be sure to inform Varma of your foreign address. If you are moving abroad permanently and you have filed a notification of a change of address with the Finnish authorities, be sure to also inform Varma of the date on which you are moving. The move could affect the taxation of your pension.
If you are a Finnish citizen and move abroad permanently, you remain subject to Finnish taxation for the year that you move and the three subsequent years. During this time you are taxed as though you were living in Finland, i.e. you have unlimited tax liability. You must apply for a tax card for pension income from the Finnish tax authority when your pension begins.
