Ilmarinen
/
Self-employed
/
YEL insurance
/
Who is YEL insurance for and when?
/
Part-time entrepreneur
Part-time entrepreneur and YEL insurance
You can work as an entrepreneur while gainfully employed or studying at the same time. A self-employed person’s pension insurance, or YEL, is mandatory also for a part-time entrepreneur when certain conditions are met.
Benefits of YEL insurance for a part-time entrepreneur
YEL accrues your pension
YEL insurance will accrue your pension, even if you also accrue your pension from paid work through TyEL contributions at the same time. The pension then accrues on the basis of both the YEL income and the salary you receive from work.
Improve your social security level
YEL insurance increases your social security even if you have TyEL insurance through your employer. YEL income affects, among other things, the amount of daily allowance you receive from Kela (for example, sickness allowance, unemployment benefit and parental allowance) together with your wage and salary income.
Protect yourself against unemployment
When you are YEL insured and a member of an entrepreneurial fund, you can receive earnings-related daily allowance.
When does a part-time entrepreneur need to take out YEL insurance?
Take out YEL insurance when the following 5 conditions are met:
Your age is between 18 and 67. 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.
Impact of company form
The legal form of your company and your ownership share in the company have an effect on if you need to have YEL insurance or not. You need to get YEL insurance when you are one of these:
- a private self-employed person: trader alone, or a family member
- working for a trader without being paid a wage
- a partner in a general partnership company
- a responsible partner in a limited partnership company
- a partner in an executive position in a limited liability company, who holds alone more than 30 per cent or, together with family members, holds more than 50 per cent of the company’s shares or votes, or
- in an executive position in a co-operative or another organization and have a controlling interest of more than 30 per cent in the corporation alone or more than 50 per cent together with a family member.
- controlling interest can also be indirect through an intermediate company, in which case different controlling interest requirements apply.
Do I need YEL insurance if I’m a freelancer?
In YEL insurance, you are an entrepreneur if you work as a freelancer without a private or public sector employment contract. In that case, you must take care of your pension coverage just like other entrepreneurs. However, if your work as a freelancer has the characteristics of an employment relationship, that is, you have signed an employment contract, you are paid for your work and your employer supervises and manages your work, you are an employee. As a freelancer, you can also work as a self-employed person and employee at the same time.
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.
You can be both YEL and TyEL insured at the same time
It is possible for you to work simultaneously as an employee and a part-time entrepreneur. In that situation, your employer provides you with employees’ pension insurance (TyEL) for your salaried work and in addition, you insure yourself as an entrepreneur by taking out self-employed person’s pension insurance (YEL).
When business is part-time along with paid jobs
If you are employed, your employer will insure you with an employee's pension insurance (TyEL) for paid employment. If you also work part-time as an entrepreneur, you will insure yourself with an entrepreneur's pension insurance (YEL) if the conditions for YEL insurance are met.
Example: Salla is an enthusiastic photographer. She shoots family portraits at weekends and works full-time in a grocery store. Salla’s photography customer base is expanding and she dedicates more and more time to her hobby. Salla sets up as a sole trader. She estimates that the value of her work input will exceed the YEL lower limit (€9 208,43/year) and takes out YEL insurance. Salla continues to work full-time at the store and shoots family portraits as a part-time entrepreneur subject to YEL insurance.
When the business is seasonal
Even though your business is seasonal and lasts less than 4 months, you may need YEL insurance if your business repeats annually.
In this case, YEL insurance must be maintained throughout the year. However, you can schedule your insurance payments so that the payment dates fit your business schedule as well as possible.
Example: Tuomas is in paid employment and keeps a kiosk open from June to August. He operates the kiosk for several years. Tuomas calculates that the YEL income is just over €10,000 per year, so he must take out YEL insurance. Tuomas chooses to pay the YEL fee once a year, in July, because then the kiosk will produce the most income and he will be able to pay the fee the easiest.
How do you get YEL insurance?
1. Check if you need YEL insurance
If your business meets the above 5 YEL conditions, you will need YEL insurance.
2. Buy YEL insurance online
From Ilmarinen's webshop, you can get YEL insurance easily and effortlessly.
3. Enjoy the security provided by YEL insurance
YEL insurance improves the level of your social security and you can receive, for example, Kela's daily allowance if you fall ill. In our online service, you can easily take care of your YEL matters 24/7. We are also happy to help you by phone or e-mail.
22 % discount for new entrepreneur
As a new entrepreneur you get a 22 % discount on YEL contributions during the first 4 years, however, for a maximum of two entrepreneur periods. You will get a discount automatically when you buy insurance online.
What does YEL insurance cost?
The YEL insurance payment is a percentage of your YEL income. You pay YEL payments for the period when the YEL insurance is in effect. YEL payment percentages in 2025 are:
- 24,10% for under 53-year-olds
- 25,60% for 53- to 62-year-olds
- 24,10% for minimum 63-year-olds
As a new entrepreneur you get a 22 % discount on YEL payments during the first 4 years, for a maximum of two entrepreneurial periods. You will get a discount automatically when you buy insurance online.
You can deduct the YEL payments in your personal or your spouse’s taxation or in your company’s taxation. When you deduct the YEL payments in taxation, there is actually less to pay.
Do you need more information?
-
You can deduct the YEL contributions in your personal or your spouse’s taxation or in your company’s taxation. When you deduct the YEL contributions in taxation, there is actually less to pay.
-
Both YEL income and the salary you earn affect the benefits you receive from Kela, such as parental allowance and sickness allowance. You can find more information on Kela's website.
-
If your employer's TyEL insurance is from a different pension insurance company than where your own YEL insurance is, you are able to check the pension accrual from the pension company that has accumulated higher earnings.
Example: Mari has been in paid employment for a long time and for the past 10 years she has also worked as a part-time entrepreneur. Mari herself has taken out YEL insurance from Ilmarinen and Mari's employer has taken out TyEL insurance from another pension insurance company. Mari is able to check the pension accrual from the pension insurance company that has accumulated higher earnings. As Mari is a part-time entrepreneur, she sees a pension accrual from another pension insurance company's online service and is able to manage her pension affairs there.
-
You can take out voluntary YEL insurance in two situations:
- your entrepreneurial activities are so small-scale that your YEL income does not exceed the YEL lower limit
- you are on an old-age pension in accordance with the earnings-related pension laws