YEL calculator

How much is a self-employed person’s pension contribution? What benefits do you get with a YEL contribution? Use the YEL calculator to see how your YEL income affects your social security and estimate your YEL contribution.

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YEL Calculator for the Self-Employed

How to use the YEL calculator

The YEL calculator allows you to estimate the amount of your YEL contribution and see how your YEL income accrues pension and affects your social security.

1. Enter your YEL income

YEL income is an estimate of the monetary value of your work in euros. It should correspond to the annual salary you would have to pay to another person with the same professional skills as yourself for the same work.

Using the YEL income calculator, you can calculate your recommended YEL income, which is based on the average salary in your sector and your company’s turnover.

Try the YEL income calculator

2. Add accrued pension

If you would like the calculator’s pension estimate to take into account the pension you have already accrued, enter the amount of your pension in the Your accrued pension field.

As Varma's customer, you can check your accrued pension on your pension record in Varma Online Service.
If you are not our customer yet, you can view your employer pension record on the Työeläke.fi service.

View your pension record on the Työeläke.fi service

3. Select the instalment months for your YEL contribution

The instalment months and the number of instalments affect the amount of your YEL contribution. Your YEL contribution is lowest if you pay it in a single instalment in January.

If you pay the contribution at the start of the year, you will be credited with interest, meaning the contribution will be lower. If you pay the contribution at the end of the year, you will be debited with interest, meaning it will be higher.

4. Find out what kind of pension and social security you will receive

Your YEL income affects not only your pension but also your social security benefits, such as

sickness allowance
unemployment benefit
parental allowances.

The last point: Remember to deduct YEL contributions in taxation

Remember that your YEL contributions are fully tax deductible.

What do I need to know about YEL insurance?

As a self-employed person, you take care of your own pension cover

You need statutory YEL insurance if you work as a self-employed person or a light entrepreneur for at least four months and your YEL income is at least EUR 9,423.09 per year in 2026.

How the YEL contribution is determined

The YEL insurance contribution is calculated as a percentage of your YEL income. The YEL contribution rate is 24.40% in 2026. If you are a newly self-employed person, we will automatically give you a 22 per cent discount on your YEL contribution for the first four years.

Your YEL income determines your social security

If you fall ill, Kela calculates your sickness allowance on the basis of your YEL income. The amount of parental allowance is also based on your YEL income. You can join the Entrepreneur Fund and receive earnings-related unemployment benefit if your YEL income is at least EUR 15,481 per year in 2026.

YEL insurance helps to secure your livelihood in different life situations. Your YEL income does not only affect your old-age pension. It also determines, for example, your sickness allowance or disability pension.

As a self-employed person, you accrue an earnings-related pension at a rate of 1.5 per cent of your annual YEL income. The level of your YEL income determines how much pension you will accrue from your self-employment.

You can track the accrual of your earnings-related pension via your personal pension record in Varma Online Service.

If you fall ill, your YEL income will affect the amount of sickness allowance paid by Kela.

As a self-employed person, after one day’s excess, you will first receive YEL allowance from Kela for nine working days, followed by sickness allowance.

YEL insurance secures your livelihood during a long-term illness. If your illness continues for a longer period and you need support to continue working, YEL insurance covers vocational rehabilitation.

If you are unable to return to work even with the help of vocational rehabilitation, you may be eligible for a fixed-term cash rehabilitation benefit or a permanent disability pension. The amount of the cash rehabilitation benefit and the disability pension is determined by the level of your YEL income.

If you are a self-employed person aged 63 or over and have worked for at least 38 years in full-time work that is mentally or physically strenuous, you may also be entitled to a years-of-service pension.

Take out YEL insurance easily online or over the phone

All you need for the insurance application is

your online banking codes or a Mobile Certificate
an estimate of your company's turnover and your working hours.

If you already have YEL insurance with another company, we’ll take care of the termination for you.

If you’re a newly self-employed person, you’ll automatically receive a 22 per cent discount on your insurance contribution for the first four years.

Take out YEL insurance

You can also take out YEL insurance over the phone. Call us on 010 244 1010, and we will go over your situation together. You can reach our sales from Monday to Friday from 8:00 to 16:00. You can also leave a contact request to our sales service.

Leave us a contact request

Help with using our services

Take care of your YEL matters online

In our online service, you can, for instance

apply for a change in your YEL income
view your past and future YEL contribution
request an extended term of payment for an invoice

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