In 2026, the minimum daily allowance is
31,99 euros per weekday (Mon-Sat)
Annual income
The amount of certain Kela benefits is based on your annual income. The following daily allowances are paid on the basis of annual income:
- sickness allowance
- daily allowances for parents (pregnancy allowance, special pregnancy allowance and parental allowance)
- rehabilitation allowance
- special care allowance.
Daily allowances paid on the basis of annual income are paid for 6 days a week, i.e. Monday to Saturday, with the exception of midweek holidays. A midweek holiday is a holiday that falls on some other day than a Sunday.
For what period is annual income calculated?
Annual income is calculated for a reference period consisting of the previous 12 calendar months. However, the calendar month directly preceding the start of the allowance is not included in the reference period, and the income during this month is not included in the annual income..
In certain situations, the daily allowance can be calculated on the basis of the last 3 months of the reference period. This is possible for example when you have been on child care leave or have graduated from your studies. You must separately request in your application that your allowance should be calculated based on your income for 3 months.
What income is included in annual income?
The following forms of income are included in annual income:
- wages and salaries
- salary for insurance purposes
- YEL income and MYEL income
- certain Kela benefits, such as the general social security benefit
- certain compensations for loss of income.
Annual income may consist of one or more types of income you have received during the reference period.
As a rule, Kela receives the information needed to calculate annual income from the national Incomes Register, the pension and insurance providers and the unemployment funds. You need not report your income separately to Kela.
Employers can also report to the Incomes Register various bonuses, compensations and other forms of income which are not included in annual income. If necessary, Kela may request further information from you or from the payer of the income.
A deduction will be made from the wages and salaries or salary for insurance purposes included in the annual earned income. This is called an insurance contribution deduction and it amounts to 9.07 per cent in 2026. There is no corresponding deduction from earnings under the YEL and MYEL schemes.
The insurance contribution deduction means that a sum is deducted from the annual income. The sum is the equivalent of the combined total of the health insurance contributions towards daily allowances, the contributions levied from employees towards earnings-related pensions and the unemployment insurance contributions payable by employees.
Income earned abroad can be included in annual income even if you have not been covered by health insurance in Finland. Income earned abroad is included if all the following conditions are met:
- You have moved back to Finland.
- During the 12 month reference period (linkki), you have been paid a wage or salary for work in another EU Member State or in a country that applies the EU legislation (e.g. Norway).
- After your return to Finland, you are again covered under the Finnish national health insurance system.
- You have no annual income from Finland.
If the salary you earned abroad is significantly lower or higher than the salary you would have received for a similar job in Finland, your daily allowance will be based on an estimate made by Kela. It is an estimate of the income that you would have received for similar work in Finland, considering your education and qualifications.
Minimum daily allowance
You can receive daily allowance even if you have no income at all or if your income is low. If the daily allowance calculated on the basis of your annual income is less than the minimum daily allowance, you will receive the minimum daily allowance.
Daily allowances calculated on the basis of annual income, with examples
Use the sickness allowance calculator (available in Finnish or Swedish) to estimate the amount of sickness allowance you can get. If you want to calculate the amount of daily allowance yourself, use the calculation formula.
Use the rehabilitation allowance calculator (available in Finnish or Swedish) to estimate the amount of rehabilitation allowance you can get. If you want to calculate the amount of daily allowance yourself, use the calculation formula.
Use the calculator to estimate the amount of daily allowances for parents that you could get. If you want to calculate the amount of daily allowance yourself, use the calculation formula.
Kela cannot issue a decision on daily allowances for parents until the reference period for the annual income has ended.
Daily allowances for parents that are paid for the care of the same child are based on the same reference period for annual income. For example, if Kela has paid you pregnancy allowance first, the amount of parental allowance is calculated on the basis of the same reference period as the pregnancy allowance. If you apply for parental allowance for different periods, the reference period will remain the same even if your income changes.
Use the calculator to estimate the amount of special care allowance that you can get. If you want to calculate the amount of daily allowance yourself, use the calculation formula.
Income taken into account in the calculation of annual income
Earnings from private- or public-sector employment paid during the reference period are included in the annual income. However, the entire earnings are not included in the annual income, but an insurance contribution deduction is made first.
Kela usually receives information on wages and salaries from the national Incomes Register, so you need not report this information to Kela separately. Please note that employers also report income that is not included in the annual income, e.g. reimbursements of costs, to the Incomes Register. Kela does not include these in the annual income.
If you think that your earnings data in the Incomes Register contain inaccuracies or incorrect information, you should ask your employer to correct the information. You cannot correct the data in the Incomes Register yourself.
If you have been working abroad as a posted worker during the reference period and a salary for insurance purposes has been determined for this period of employment, this will be taken into account in your annual income instead of the salary actually paid. However, the salary for insurance purposes is not included in the annual income in its entirety, as an insurance contribution deduction is made first.
If you are an entrepreneur insured under the self-employed persons' (YEL) or farmers' (MYEL) pension insurance schemes, your annual income will include your reported income under either of those schemes but only for the time your pension insurance has been in force during the reference period. If your reported income under the YEL or MYEL insurance is changed during the validity period, your average earned income during the reference period will be taken into account as your reported income under YEL/MYEL.
If the YEL or MYEL insurance has not been in force during the reference period, no income from self-employment is included in the annual income. This also applies to so-called light entrepreneurs.
Other types of income from self-employment is not taken into account in the annual income, for instance wage income from your own business or earnings from self-employment.
You are a part-time entrepreneur if you have worked as an entrepreneur during the reference period at the same time as you have been employed by another employer.
In this situation, your annual income includes your wage or salary income and your income under the YEL and MYEL schemes from the period when the insurance has been in force. However, your wage or salary income is not included in the annual income in its entirety, as an insurance contribution deduction is made first.
If you have a research or arts grant or scholarship and you have a MYEL insurance with the Farmers' Social Insurance Institution (Mela) based on the grant or scholarship, your reported income under the MYEL insurance is taken into account in the annual income. If your reported income under the YEL or MYEL insurance is changed during the validity period, your average earned income during the reference period will be taken into account as your reported income under YEL/MYEL.
If you are not required to take out MYEL insurance on the basis of the grant or scholarship, the grant or scholarship is not taken into account in the annual income.
The amount of your annual income can also be based on certain benefits that you have received during the 12-month reference period.
This is called benefit-based income, and it is always calculated on the basis of an average (so-called calculated income). It is thus not the same as the total amount of the benefits that you have been granted during the reference period. Instead, it is calculated on the basis of the daily average of the benefits you have received during the reference period.
There is always a difference between the benefit-based income and the total amount of the benefits you receive. In some cases, the difference can be considerable. We use benefit-based income to ensure that your income does not decrease even if the benefit you receive changes.
Only the following benefits are taken into account if they have been granted for the reference period for annual income:
- unemployment benefits
- sickness allowance
- daily allowance under the YEL Act or sickness allowance paid by the Farmers’ Social Insurance Institution (Mela)
- partial sickness allowance
- daily allowances for parents
- special care allowance
- sickness allowance on account of human cell, tissue or organ donation
- rehabilitation allowance from Kela
- rehabilitation allowance or rehabilitation increment under the Earnings-related Pensions Acts
- disability pension paid under the Earnings-related Pensions Acts
- disability pension paid under the National Pensions Act
- guarantee pension as a supplement to disability pension
- adjustment pension or adjustment allowance for Members of Parliament
- study grant.
Benefits paid to the employer are not included in the annual income because you have received wages for the same period. Your wages are included in your annual income, so the same amount cannot be included in your annual income a second time as benefits.
If you have had any other income in addition to the benefits paid to you, this other income may also be taken into account in the annual income. Read more of what income is included in annual income.
Benefits may also be received retroactively, in which case they will be included retroactively in the annual income for the reference period. In this case, contact Kela so that the amount of your daily allowance can be recalculated.
Compensation paid for loss of income during the reference period is included in your annual income if the compensation is for
- an accident at work
- an occupational disease
- a traffic accident
- a patient injury
- a military injury
- a communicable disease under the Act on Communicable Diseases (sickness allowance on account of an infectious disease)
Compensation for partial loss of income is not included in the annual income if it is paid to you at the same time as a daily allowance.
Compensation paid to the employer is not included in your annual income because you have received wages for the same period Your wages are included in your annual income, so the same amount cannot be included in your annual income a second time as compensation for loss of income.