YEL insurance for self-employed person

Your age is between 18 and 68. The need to have YEL insurance ends based on your year of birth. More specifically, the need to have YEL insurance ends in the calendar month in which:

• An entrepreneur born in or before 1957 turns 68
• An entrepreneur born in 1958–1961 turns 69
• An entrepreneur born in or after 1962 turns 70.

If your self-employed business lasts at least 4 months in a row, get YEL insurance. For shorter periods, you do not need YEL insurance.

A business that lasts less than 4 months must also be insured if the other four conditions are true. That means that even if your business stops for many months at a time, your business is still seen to continue from one year to the next. An entrepreneur who runs a kiosk every summer, for example, could be in this situation.

The YEL income is the estimate of the value of your work input during one year.

A year means a rolling period of 12 months, not the calendar year. If you are a full-time entrepreneur, you almost always need to get YEL insurance. A low salary, for example, is not a reason for not getting YEL insurance.

You need YEL insurance also when you are a part-time entrepreneur, if the five conditions are true. It is possible to be an employee and a part-time entrepreneur at the same time. In that case, your employer gets you the employees’ pension insurance (TyEL) for your work as an employee, and you get self-employed person’s pension insurance (YEL) for your work as an entrepreneur.

The fact that you own your company does not mean you have to get YEL insurance. You only need YEL insurance if you work in your company.

Usually, you must live and work in Finland. You might need YEL insurance also if you work in Finland and live in another EU country.

Read more about self-employment abroad >

YEL stands for entrepreneur's pensions act. YEL insurance is the basis of your pension and social security. Therefore, taking it is statutory, i.e. mandatory. You cannot replace YEL insurance with voluntary pension insurance. The second statutory contribution is the health insurance contribution paid in connection with taxation.

YEL is mandatory for entrepreneurs who meet the conditions for YEL insurance. This also applies to part-time entrepreneurs and freelancers. Read more about when to take out YEL insurance.

YEL insurance secures a livelihood in the event of old age, disability or the death of a family member. In addition to your future pension, daily allowances paid by Kela, such as sickness and parental allowance, are calculated on the basis of YEL income. The insurance premium for an entrepreneur's accident insurance and the compensation for loss of earnings paid for the insurance are also based on your YEL income.

YEL also determines the level of your unemployment security. As a member of an entrepreneurial fund, you can receive daily allowance tied to your YEL income when your income exceeds the minimum annual income limit. In 2026, it will be EUR 15,481. The limit changes annually and therefore it is a good idea to set the YEL income somewhat higher than the annual minimum limit.

You cannot replace YEL insurance with voluntary pension insurance. Entrepreneurs working in Finland must have YEL insurance.

YEL insurance is always personal, not company-specific. You can have several companies, but you only need one YEL insurance which covers all your businesses.

You can acquire YEL insurance quickly and effortlesslyonline. The application is easy to fill in and includes a YEL calculator to help determine the correct YEL income.

Login with online banking credentials or a mobile certificate, fill in and check the application and send it.

Get YEL insurance

If you get the insurance retroactively later, it should take effect from the date when the insured work began. You pay YEL payments for the period when the insurance is in effect. For example, if your entrepreneurship under YEL begins in January, you have six months to get insurance retroactively, taking effect from January.

It is possible to get YEL insurance retroactively for the current and the 3 preceding calendar years. For periods prior to that, you cannot generate pension. If you get YEL insurance retroactively, you should remember that you will have to pay the previous YEL payments all at once. That is why we recommend that you get YEL insurance with immediate effect when the need to have YEL insurance begins.

If you live outside Finland when you retire, you may need to claim your pension from Finland through the pension authority of the country in which you live. The pension authority will forward your claim to Finland. In Finland, your claim will be forwarded to your earnings-related pension provider and/or Kela, depending on which pension benefit you are claiming. 

You can terminate your YEL insurance if your self-employment ends completely or becomes so small that your YEL income is lower than the lower limit for YEL insurance. You can submit the termination notification in our self-employed person’s online service. Read more about the termination.