Recovery of benefit payments
Kela recovers all overpaid benefits and benefits that have been paid without grounds from recipients.
Visit the following links for more information if your recovery matter concerns social assistance, child support debt, debt arising from the government student loan guarantee or the healthcare fee for students in higher education:
- Recovery of social assistance
- Recovery of child support debt
- Recovery of debt arising from the government student loan guarantee
- Collection of the healthcare fee for students in higher education
Notice of a decision concerning the recovery of benefits
If Kela has paid you too much of a certain benefit or benefits, you will get a notice of Kela’s decision to recover the overpaid amount from you. You will also get a decision if we waive the recovery.
If we recover benefits from you, the decision you will get will state the amount to be recovered, the due date for payment and the payment details. The decision will also include instructions on how you can propose a payment plan or appeal the decision.
You will receive the decision in OmaKela (available in Finnish and Swedish).
The decision you get will give you a time limit with a due date until which you can repay the overpaid taxable benefit at its net amount. This means that the amount you have to pay back to Kela does not include tax up until the due date. The time limit may vary in accordance with the decision that the Tax Administration makes annually.
If you repay the benefit after the due date, you have to pay it back at its gross amount. This means that the amount you have to pay back to Kela also includes tax. If you pay the benefit back to Kela after the due date, we cannot adjust the preliminary tax withholding.
We will report all taxable benefits that you have repaid to Kela to the Tax Administration. You do not need to report them yourself.
If you cannot pay the entire amount at once, you can propose a payment plan
If you cannot pay the entire amount we are recovering from you at once, you can propose a payment plan. You can ask to pay the amount back in instalments or to have it deducted from other benefits Kela pays to you.
Each instalment you pay must be at least EUR 30 per month. The payment period can be 3 years at most.
How to propose a payment plan:
Log in to the OmaKela e-service (available in Finnish and Swedish) and select Perinnät (Recovery matters) and then Ehdota maksusuunnitelmaa (Propose a payment plan) on the front page. You can also then see the size of the instalments that you can propose for your payment plan.
If you cannot use OmaKela to propose a payment plan, you can call Kela’s Overpayment Recovery Centre at 020 634 4940.
You can also send your proposed payment plan to us by post. Send it to Kela’s Overpayment Recovery Centre, PL 31, 00056 KELA.
If we accept the payment plan you have proposed, we will send you the finalised payment plan. We will not send invoices every month. You can view the details of the payment plan in OmaKela.
Deducting an overpaid benefit from another benefit
In certain situations, Kela can set off the overpaid benefit against (deduct it from) some other benefit Kela pays to you. You can also take the initiative to propose this to Kela. The minimum amount for set-off is EUR 30 per month.
The set-off cannot be done if Kela pays you social assistance. A certain share of unemployment benefits is defined as an exempt amount which places limits on the amount that Kela can use to offset overpaid benefits. This means that Kela typically cannot set off your debt against your unemployment benefit because your unemployment benefit will most likely be less than the exempt amount.
If you do not repay your debt, it will go to collections
If you do not pay back your debt or agree on how to repay it, we will refer the debt to collection through an enforcement order. We usually send two requests for payment before we refer the debt to collection through an enforcement order.
Your debt can be collected from you even if you live abroad. A collection agency, the enforcement authorities or a social security institution will carry out the collection abroad on Kela’s behalf.
Do you need advice?
If you have any questions about a request for more information we have sent you in an overpayment matter or a recovery decision we have issued to you with regard to a certain benefit, please call the customer service number for the benefit in question.
If you have a question about the repayment of debt, please contact Kela’s Overpayment Recovery Centre at 020 634 4940. The Overpayment Recovery Centre answers calls from 10.00 to 15.00 on weekdays (Monday to Friday).
You can also send a message in the OmaKela e-service. Select Liikamaksu- ja takaisinperintäasiat (Overpayment and recovery) as the subject (aihe) of your message and Etuuden takaisinperintä (Recovery of benefits) as the specification (tarkenne).
If you need general debt counselling, you can contact the Guarantee Foundation (takuusaatio.fi) or a legal aid office (oikeus.fi).
Frequently asked questions about the repayment of debt
You can repay your debt at a faster rate than agreed in the payment plan. You do not need to tell Kela about it separately. When you make extra payments, you should use the same payment details as when making the agreed instalment payments. You can look up the payment details in the OmaKela e-service.
If you have not yet agreed on a payment plan with us, we can agree on how you can repay the debt also after you have received a request for payment.
If you have already agreed on a payment plan with us and you get a request for payment, you must first pay the amounts that have fallen due. After that, you can continue to pay the debt according to the previously agreed payment plan.
If you cannot pay the amounts that have fallen due, you can propose a new payment plan. Kela decides whether the payment plan you have proposed can be accepted.
If we have already referred the debt to collection through an enforcement order, we cannot agree on a payment plan with you.
Debt recovery can be postponed only for the duration of compulsory military service. Contact Kela’s Overpayment Recovery Centre by phone or by sending a message in the OmaKela e-service. Select Liikamaksu- ja takaisinperintäasiat (Overpayment and recovery) as the subject (aihe) of your message and Etuuden takaisinperintä (Recovery of benefits) as the specification (tarkenne).
If you cannot pay the whole amount by the due date, you can propose a payment plan to Kela.
Once you have paid off your debt, you can request a certificate stating that you have paid off your debt from Kela’s Overpayment Recovery Centre by sending a message in the OmaKela e-service. Select Liikamaksut ja perintäasiat (Overpayment and recovery) as the subject of your message and then Muu perintäasia (Other recovery matter) as the specification (tarkenne).
Please give the following information in your message:
- which debt or debts your request relates to
- the date and entry type (UMV or UMS) of the payment default entry added to your credit record as a result of the debt.
There are 2 operators that maintain credit registers in Finland: Suomen Asiakastieto Oy and Dun & Bradstreet Finland Oy. You have the right to check the credit record they maintain on you in their services. Both credit register companies must be told that you have paid off your debt.
You can ask us to send the certificate directly to the credit register companies.
If you do not pay back a debt that has gone to collections, your Kela benefits may be garnished. This means that the National Enforcement Authority decides that a certain amount will be deducted from your Kela benefits to go towards paying off your debt. Kela must comply with the National Enforcement Authority’s decision.
Kela will deduct the amount decided by the National Enforcement Authority from your benefits before paying them to you. However, some Kela benefits cannot be garnished. Please contact the National Enforcement Authority if you have any questions about garnishment.
Waiving the recovery of overpayments
After Kela has issued a decision on recovery to you, Kela’s Overpayment Recovery Centre can no longer reduce the amount to be recovered. However, Kela can waive the recovery completely. Kela will consider waiving recovery if the following criteria are met:
- the debt has been in collection for a long time without success
- all methods of recovery, including collection through an enforcement order, have been tried several times
- your financial situation has permanently worsened to the degree that the debt cannot be collected later either.
Kela can also waive recovery completely if the costs of the recovery would be unreasonably high for Kela compared to the amount to be recovered.
Kela can waive recovery either at its own initiative or at your initiative. Waiver of a recovery is always decided on by Kela's Overpayment Recovery Centre.