SELF-EMPLOYMENT ABROAD

Non-agreement countries

Entrepreneurs cannot remain covered by the Finnish YEL insurance during a temporary employment in a non-agreement country, if the stay abroad continues for more than a year. The self-employed person is not considered to be resident in Finland under YEL if his or her absence from Finland  exceeds one year.

EU/ETA countries

The Regulation883/2004 includes special stipulations regarding insurance of self-employed persons. The same basic principle is applied to entrepreneurs as to employees. As a rule, the self-employed person is insured in the country of employment.

Posted entrepreneurs

If the self-employed person moves to work in another EU country and the employment is intended to last for a maximum of 24 months, he or she will remain covered by the residence-based benefits from Finland.

The self-employed person or the business must have its domicile in Finland. The organizational form of the company is insignificant. Hence, this rule is also applied to business names and individual private entrepreneurs. However, a posted entrepreneur shall have had a valid YEL pension insurance policy before the departure abroad and he or she must have pursued business activities in Finland for at least four months.

Exemption

Under mutual agreement, the authorities of two or several agreement countries or the bodies appointed for the purpose may grant exemptions to the rules of Regulation 883/2004. An exemption can be granted to both employees and self-employed persons.

Certificates

A self-employed person may apply for a posted entrepreneur’s certificate and an exemption on ETK form 2142.