Entrepreneurship and grants

Paid work that has not been performed as an employee in an employment or a public service function is considered as business activity in unemployment security. Business activities include, for example, activities as a private firm, in agriculture or forestry, via an invoicing cooperative or invoicing fees on an assignment.

In unemployment security, you are considered an entrepreneur if you have an entrepreneur´s pension insurance (YEL) or Farmers´ Pension Insurance (MYEL), and  

• you are engaged in gainful employment as a self-employed person, a partner in a general partnership, a general partner in a limited partnership, or
• you own more than 30% alone or, together with your family members (or family), more than 50% of a limited liability company in which you work in a leading position

You are also considered self-employed if you are covered by the Employees' Pensions Act (TyEL) if 

• you hold a leading position in a limited liability company in which you own at least 15% alone or, together with your family members (or family), at least 30% of the company
• you work in a limited liability company in which you own, alone or together with your family, at least 50% of the company

The family members of the entrepreneur are married and cohabiting partners living in the same household, children and grandchildren, and the entrepreneur´s own parents and grandparents. A leading position means the CEO and a member of the Board of Directors.

If you have started a full-time business, you are not entitled to an earnings-related daily allowance for the duration of your business activity. The TE Office decides whether your situation involves full-time or part-time entrepreneurship and makes a binding decision for the unemployment fund.

As a full-time entrepreneur, you should consider joining the Entrepreneur Fund in case of unemployment. A full-time entrepreneur cannot become a member of an employee's fund, such as the Unemployment Fund A-kassa.

When you start a full-time business, you can keep your membership in the employee's fund for the so-called period of post-protection, which lasts for 18 months. You can also join the entrepreneur fund while retaining the right to a daily allowance in accordance with the employment condition you have accrued as an employee, for the duration of the post-protection period. The post-protection period ceases when the entrepreneur's employment condition is met or you have been an entrepreneur for more than 18 months. However, a self-employed person's employment condition does not accrue in the employee's fund.

If you have become a salary earner having been self-employed, you can receive a self-employed person's daily allowance during unemployment. The entrepreneur's post-protection ends when you meet the employee's 26-week employment condition. You can belong to an entrepreneur’s or employee's fund during the post-protection period, but the employee's employment condition does not accrue in the entrepreneur fund.

If your business activity is part-time or lasts less than two weeks, the earned income from business activities is taken into account in the daily allowance paid to you as adjusted income. Information on how to apply for an adjusted daily allowance can be found here.

During part-time business activities, you can belong to an employee's fund, such as the Unemployment Fund A-kassa, and also accrue the employee's employment condition in other work performed as an employee.

Light entrepreneur refers to a person who works independently through a company or similar entity that provides invoicing services. Many cooperatives are such entities.

If you work through an invoicing company, the key to your unemployment security is whether you work as an employee or an entrepreneur.

If you are an employee

As an employee, you can work, for example, when 

• the invoicing company is your employer, i.e. you are employed by that company, for example, for invoicing or payroll activities, or
• the company procures assignments for you and operates in a well-defined field with several employees in the same field.

If you are an entrepreneur or self-employed

You are an entrepreneur or self-employed, for example, when

• the entity (e.g. an invoicing company) is not your employer and the entity itself does not actually carry out the very business that you do for a living, and
• the entity does not supervise or manage your work, but only offers work, markets your work performance and/or takes care of your accounting for the work, invoicing and payment of wages.

From an unemployment security viewpoint, you can also be considered an entrepreneur in the following cases:

• jos yritys ei toimi työnantaja-asemassa sinuun nähden, työsopimus yritykseen ei välttämättä tee sinusta palkansaajaa
• vaikka sinulla ei ole Y-tunnusta tai et ole perustanut yritystä.

When calculating an earnings-related daily allowance, the remuneration received by a light entrepreneur is adjusted in the same way as the income from part-time employment. The invoicing fee and other expenses of the invoicing service are deducted from the fee, as for other entrepreneurs. For this reason, a fee statement must be submitted to the fund, indicating, among other things, the invoicing fees.

If you are a family member of an entrepreneur and you do not own anything in the business, you can insure yourself with the employee's fund against unemployment.

If you work in a family business
However, as a family member of an entrepreneur, you can only be granted an earnings-related daily allowance if you have worked in the family business for 52 weeks meeting the employment condition, and you have been a member of an employee's fund during that period. In addition, you must not have had an ownership interest in the business for 12 months.

Work done for another employer
On the other hand, the work you perform with another employer entitles you to earnings-related security on the basis of 26 weeks of employment. However, you cannot combine work in a family business with another employer in order to fulfil the employment condition.

When you start a full-time business, you can insure yourself in an employee fund, i.e. our fund for a maximum of 18 months of post-protection.

The post-protection period starts from the date you become a full-time entrepreneur. If your business activity ends during the 18-month period of post-protection, you are entitled to receive a daily allowance, based on the wage income that preceded your entrepreneurship.

You will not be paid a daily allowance if your business activities end after the 18-month the post-protection period.

When you become a full-time entrepreneur, you should become a member of the entrepreneurs´ unemployment fund no later than three months after the start of your business activity, in order to secure your right to an earnings-related daily allowance in the event of unemployment.

The entrepreneur's employment condition (15 months) is accrued only as a member of the entrepreneur fund.

If you become unemployed before you have fulfilled a self-employed person's 15-month employment condition, you are entitled to the unemployment allowance that would be paid to you if you were still our member in the employee's fund. A prerequisite for this is that you joined the entrepreneur fund within one month of leaving the employee's fund. The daily allowance is granted and paid by the entrepreneur fund.

Make sure that you have insured yourself in the right fund suitable for your situation, so that there will be no interruption to your earnings protection. As an entrepreneur, you should insure yourself in an entrepreneur fund and as a salaried worker in an employee's fund, such as our Unemployment Fund A-kassa.

Even though there are certain transition periods in the law for changing funds, it is always a good idea to change funds as soon as your situation changes, so that you can keep your own earnings security uninterrupted. If you go over into paid work, you should immediately go over to an employee's fund and back to an entrepreneur fund as soon as you go back into paid work when re-starting your business later.

When changing from self-employment to a wage and salary earner, you may be paid an earnings-related daily allowance during unemployment on the basis of the employment condition fulfilled as an entrepreneur, if the employee's employment condition has not yet been met. At the beginning of the employment, you can become a member of an entrepreneur fund or transfer to an employee's fund. Please note, however, that the employee's employment condition does not accrue in the entrepreneur fund.

If you are working on a grant, notify the TE Office immediately. However, a grant of up to two weeks does not need to be declared.

When working on a grant, your entitlement to an earnings-related daily allowance depends on whether the TE Office considers the grant work to be full-time or part-time. The TE Office issues a statement on the matter to the unemployment fund.

If, after the TE Office's investigation, the grant work is considered to be full-time, you cannot be paid an earnings-related allowance. If the grant work has been found to be part-time, you can receive an earnings-related daily allowance despite the grant.

When you start working on grants while unemployed, the TE Office does not assess its nature as full-time or part-time employment during the first four months. During this period, you can receive a daily allowance.

The TE Office examines the main and part-time nature of your grant work after four months of grant work. Your entitlement to an earnings-related daily allowance is determined on the basis of a statement by the TE Office. You can be granted a four-month period (the "unexamined period") again if you also meet your employment condition again.

How does the grant affect an earnings-related daily allowance?

The effect of the grant on the amount of your earnings-related allowance depends on whether the grant you receive is taxable or tax-free. A taxable grant is adjustable income, in which case the grant reduces the amount of your earnings-related daily allowance, while a tax-free grant does not affect the amount of your earnings-related daily allowance.

Always notify the TE Office of the start and end of grant work and any changes related to it as soon as possible. In this case, you will also speed up the processing of your application in the fund.

Inform us of the start of the grant work and its total duration, for example, in the additional information in the daily allowance application. This does not need to be reported in the application as employment or as working days; a free text description in the additional information is sufficient. In addition, please provide us with a copy of the grant decision.

Grant work does not accrue your employment condition. If you work in paid employment in addition to the grant, it will normally accrue the employment condition.