Determining the TyEL contribution

The size of your earnings-related pension contribution depends on your size as an employer and the client bonuses you receive. Read more about how the TyEL contribution is determined and its size on this page.

What does the TyEL contribution consist of?

Your size as an employer affects the size of your TyEL contribution. As a large employer, your contribution is also impacted by your employees’ work ability. As a contract employer, you receive a client bonus; as a large employer you also receive other discounts.The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health annually confirms the principles for calculating the earnings-related pension contribution.

The basic TyEL contribution is a percentage of the wages and salaries you pay to your employees, i.e. the actual payroll. In 2022, the basic TyEL contribution is 25.85% (24.8% in 2021).

Various discounts reduce your TyEL contribution. As an employer, you do not pay the entire TyEL contribution; your employees pay a part of it. Below you can find a more detailed description of how your TyEL contribution is determined.

The corona discount of 2020 and repayment of the discount in 2022-2025

The basic TyEL contribution was reduced for the rest of the year 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic in spring 2020. The reduction reduced the employer’s share of the TyEL contribution by 2.6 percentage points of the wages and salaries paid between 1 May and 31 December 2020. For this period, client bonuses were not paid. Read more about the discount's impact on the client bonuses of 2021.

The corona discount will be compensated for in 2022-2025 by raising the employer’s share of the TyEL contribution. Year 2022 the repayment raises the employer’s share of the TyEL contribution by 0.45 percentage points.

The size of your TyEL contribution

Your TyEL contribution is reduced by the client bonus that you receive once a year. You may also receive other discounts if you are a large employer. If you’re a small employer, your TyEL contribution will be determined based on the basic contribution percentage and the client bonus you receive.

Read more about the impact of your company's size on the TyEL contribution

Average TyEL contribution

The average TyEL contribution is a contribution percentage that takes into account the average client bonus of the whole earnings-related pension sector and other contribution discounts. In 2022, the average TyEL contribution is 24.85% (24.4% in 2021).

In 2022, the employer’s share of the contribution is on average 17.4% of the gross payroll (16.95% in 2021). The rest is the employee’s share.

Basic TyEL contribution and average TyEL contribution in 2021 and 2022

TyEL contribution 2021, % of payroll 2022, % of payroll
Average TyEL contribution 24.4 24.85
Basic TyEL contribution 24.8 25.85

 

  1. The TyEL contribution you pay consists of six different components. The various components are used to finance different types of pension, such as old-age and disability pensions. They are also used to finance pension administration and cover contribution losses and other expenses.

    The largest of the six components of the TyEL contribution is the pooled component that is used to finance, for example, old-age pensions and the index increments of all pensions. The largest part of the TyEL contribution is used to pay current pensions. Around one fifth of the contribution is funded for future pensions.

    Components of the basic TyEL contribution 2021 and 2022

    Component What is financed with the component What affects the size of the component 2021, % of payroll 2022, % of payroll
    Old-age pension Old-age pensions (funded portion) Age and gender of employee 3.5 3.6
    Disability pension Disability pension and maintaining work ability Age of employee and own disability pensions
    (size of employer)    		 1.2 1.1
    Pooled component Old-age pensions (unfunded component), years-of-service pensions,
    partial old-age pensions, part-time pensions,survivors’ pensions,
    rehabilitation increments, index increments on pensions etc.    		 Age and gender of employee 19.1 20.35
    Other components Contribution losses, expense loading and statutory payments,
    and expenses of the Finnish Centre for Pensions, judicial administration
    charges,supervision charges of the Financial Supervisory Authority    		 Size of employer 1.0 0.8
    Total     24.8 24.85

  2. As an employer, you collect your employee’s share of the contribution from his or her pay and pay us the entire TyEL contribution.

    The employee’s share of the contribution is the same regardless of his or her age. An exception to this is the contribution share of employees aged 53–62 years, which is larger than for other employees. Employees between the ages of 53 and 62 also accrue more pension. The higher contribution share is applied to employees starting at the beginning of the month following their 53rd birthday until the end of the month in which they turn 63. This practice of a higher contribution share and larger pension accrual will continue during the transitional period which will end at the end of 2025.  

    Employee’s share of the TyEL contribution by age group in 2021 and 2022

    Employee's share of contribution 2021, % of pay 2022, % of pay
    Employee 17-52 years old 7.15 7.15
    Employee 53-62 years old 8.65 8.65
    Employee 63-67 years old 7.15 7.15

     

    Withhold the employee’s contribution from his or her pay also when

    • your employee receives pension in addition to the pay
    • you have taken out voluntary TyEL insurance for the employee for work abroad or a position of trust
    • you have taken out voluntary insurance for the employee even if his or her pay falls below the TyEL lower limit. Your obligation to insure starts when you pay an employee at least EUR 62.88 per month in 2022, or when you paid him or her EUR 61.37 per month in 2021

    Report all the salaries and wages you have paid to the Incomes Register. 

Client bonus

The client bonus reduces your pension contribution. It is based on Ilmarinen’s solvency and the efficiency of our operations. Our solvency is affected by our investment income and our efficiency by the way we operate.

You receive the client bonus when your TyEL insurance is in force with Ilmarinen and you are a so-called contract employer. Insurance that has ended on the last day of the year also receives a bonus. You start receiving bonuses in the second year after your insurance with Ilmarinen has begun.

You receive the bonus early each year. If you transfer your insurance from Ilmarinen to another pension company, you may receive an additional bonus if the conditions are met. You will receive it for a maximum of three years after your insurance has ended. The additional bonus is smaller than the client bonus.

The client bonus reduces the TyEL contribution for 2022 by an average of 0.8 per cent (0.2 per cent in 2021). If you have been insured with Ilmarinen for a long time, your bonus may be substantially larger.

The client bonuses paid in 2021 were less than normal in all pension insurance companies, since client bonuses were not paid from the period of 1 May – 31 Dec 2020. However, other components of the TyEL contribution were reduced so that the TyEL contribution remained on average on the same level as before the coronavirus pandemic.

Read more about the corona discount of 2020 and about the repayment of the discount

The amounts of client bonuses have been determined in the earnings-related pension companies’ joint calculation principles. Each earnings-related pension company has its own calculation principles, which specify how the client bonuses are allocated across the different policies. The bonus model specified in Ilmarinen’s calculation principles is based on the insurance payroll. The Ministry of Social Affairs and Health annually confirms the earnings-related pension companies’ joint calculation principles and each pension company’s own principles.

  1. The more you have paid wages, the larger your client bonus. In Ilmarinen’s bonus model your client bonus is affected by two payroll amounts: your company’s payroll for the previous year and total payroll for a maximum of 20 preceding years. If your company belongs to a group, your bonus also depends on the group’s payroll. The payroll only includes the employment relationships insured with Ilmarinen.

    In our bonus model, the duration of your insurance, the total payroll for a maximum of 20 years, affects the part of the bonus granted based on solvency. We distribute the surplus resulting from efficient operations based on the previous year’s payroll.

    The client bonus you receive in 2022 is based on Ilmarinen’s solvency and operational efficiency in 2021. Where applicable, your bonus is also affected by your group’s payroll in 2021. It is additionally affected by your insurance’s total payroll in 2001–2020 or some of the years in that period, if the insurance has been in force with Ilmarinen during that period, and the insurance's payroll in 2021.

Your company’s size affects your TyEL contribution

As a contract employer, your company’s size affects the amount of your TyEL contribution. If you are a temporary employer, your company size has no impact on the contribution because, as a temporary employer, you only pay the basic TyEL contribution.

Whether you are considered to be a small or large contract employer depends on the payroll, which is reviewed annually. In 2022, you are a small contract employer if your payroll in 2020 was less than EUR 2,169,000, and a large one if your payroll exceeded that sum.

As a small contract employer you always only pay the TyEL basic contribution. Your contribution is reduced by the client bonus that you receive once a year, just like other contract employers.

If you are a large contract employer, the amount of your TyEL contribution is mostly affected by the work ability of your employees. Based on their work ability, you are classified into a specific contribution category. As a large employer you receive other discounts in addition to the client bonus.

Are you a large employer? Take a look at large employers' TyEL contribution

Number of instalments and payment dates

You pay your TyEL insurance contribution once a month. The contribution is based on the earnings payment reports that you submit to the Incomes Register after each payment of wages and salaries. One payment covers all of your previous month’s earnings payment reports.

You receive the client bonus once a year. It reduces the next month’s TyEL contribution.

As a rule, your TyEL contribution falls due on the last day of the month following the payment of the wages or salaries. This last day of the month following the payment of the wages or salaries is called the theoretical due date of the TyEL contribution.

If you need to move the due date, do so in our online service. You can move the due date backby a maximum of one month. You pay the normal insurance contribution interest for the period.

In our online service, you can change the TyEL contribution to fall due in the second month following the payment of the salaries or wages. In this case, insurance contribution interest is added to the insurance contribution from the theoretical due date until the payment date.

Take a closer look at the payment and invoicing of TyEL contributions
Read more about changing the due date