Pension insurance for the self-employed (YEL)

YEL insurance is a self-employed person's own, personal pension insurance. You need YEL insurance if you work as a self-employed person in your own company or as a light entrepreneur. With YEL insurance, you accrue a pension for yourself and ensure your other social security cover.

TyEL insurance refers to employees’ pension insurance, which the employer takes out for their employees. If you have an employee to whom you pay a salary, you must take out TyEL insurance. TyEL insurance helps your employee to accrue a pension.

Read more about TyEL insurance

The company form determines whether a self-employed person or a member of their family needs YEL or TyEL insurance. Sometimes, for example, a family member working in the company needs their own YEL insurance. This depends on the company form and the family member’s role and position within the company.

Learn about how the company form affects pension insurance

YEL insurance is statutory and mandatory when the conditions for insurance are met.

You need YEL insurance if

• you are aged between 18 and 69,
  you work in your own company or as a light entrepreneur,
• your self-employed activity lasts for at least four months, and
• your YEL income, i.e. the value of your work input, is at least EUR 9,423.09 (EUR 785 per month) in 2026.

If your self-employed activity lasts for less than four months or the value of your work input is small (less than approximately EUR 785 per month in 2026), you do not need YEL insurance.

Read more about the YEL obligation

Take out YEL insurance from the date on which your work actually begins (for example, on your first day of work, when your first invoiced work begins, or when you start your self-employed activity).

Your self-employed activity must also be extensive enough to ensure that your YEL income is at least EUR 785 per month, or EUR 9,423.09 per year (2026).

The start date of your insurance is not necessarily the same as the date your company is registered if you have not yet started working by then.

You have six months to take out insurance. However, the start date of YEL insurance is always the date on which your self-employed activity begins to the extent that the YEL insurance obligation is met.

Read more about the YEL obligation

Take out YEL insurance easily online

Yes, you can. You have six months to take out the insurance. Please note, however:

• The insurance begins on the day on which you fulfil your obligation to take out insurance.
• You will pay the insurance contributions for this period retroactively.

If you take out the insurance only after six months,

• you may have to pay a late payment penalty in addition to the normal contributions,
• the penalty is at least 10 per cent of the YEL contributions for the period of negligence,
• the longer the period for which you take out insurance retroactively, the higher the amount you will have to pay in one instalment.

Read more about taking YEL insurance retroactively

The Finnish Centre for Pensions monitors YEL insurance. If you do not take out YEL insurance, the Finnish Centre for Pensions may ultimately take it out on your behalf.

In that case, in addition to the standard YEL contribution, you will have to pay a late payment penalty of at least 30 per cent and at most 100 per cent of the YEL contribution for the period of negligence. The amount of the late payment penalty is confirmed by the State Treasury.

You cannot freeze YEL insurance. If you are taking a longer break from work, you can terminate your YEL insurance and take out a new YEL insurance policy later.

You can easily apply for termination of your YEL insurance in Varma Online Service.

Read more about terminating YEL insurance

Log in to Varma Online Service and apply for termination

Yes, they do. Light entrepreneurs who work in an entrepreneurial manner without their own company or a business ID are also regarded as entrepreneurs in terms of pension insurance.

Read more about YEL insurance for light entrepreneurs

The cost of YEL insurance depends on your YEL income. The YEL insurance contribution is a percentage of your YEL income. In 2026, the YEL insurance contribution rate is 24.40 per cent of your YEL income.

As a newly self-employed person, you will automatically get a 22 per cent discount on your YEL insurance contributions for the first four years. You can use this discount for a maximum of two periods.

Read more about YEL insurance contributions

YEL insurance contributions are fully tax-deductible. You can deduct YEL insurance contributions either in your personal or your company’s taxation.

YEL insurance contributions fall due on the 20th of each month. You can pay it all at once or in 2, 3, 4, 6 or 12 instalments, whichever suits you best.

The YEL contribution is cheapest if you pay it in a single instalment in January. If you pay the contribution early in the year, the contribution will be credited with interest. If you pay the contribution at the end of the year, the contribution will be debited with interest. You must pay at least half of the annual YEL insurance contribution before August.

Use the YEL calculator to see how the payment instalments affect the insurance contribution

You can choose whether to pay your YEL contributions through your company or personally. We can send invoices in the self-employed person's or the company's name.

• If you pay your YEL contributions yourself, you can deduct them in your personal taxation.
• If your company pays the YEL contributions, you can deduct them in your company’s taxation.

YEL insurance is the self-employed person's personal pension insurance, so as a self-employed person, you are ultimately responsible for ensuring that the YEL insurance contributions are paid.

Read more in our article: How do I deduct YEL contributions in taxation – eight tips for the entrepreneur

Your YEL insurance contributions can be adjusted to suit your financial situation. When times are good, you can improve your pension cover by paying an additional contribution of 10–100 per cent.

You can also temporarily reduce your YEL contributions by 10–20 per cent.

Read more about flexibility in YEL insurance

The YEL insurance flexibility option allows you to temporarily increase or decrease your YEL contributions as needed.

However, the flexibility option does not replace a normal change to your YEL income. The YEL contribution flexibility option only affects your pension. It does not, for example, affect the amount of your sickness allowance. Therefore, if there are long-term changes to your work input, apply for a change in your YEL income.