Taxation of Benefits

• Earnings-related unemployment allowance and mobility allowance are subject to withholding tax.
• These benefits are taxed differently from wages.
• The tax rate for the unemployment allowance is often higher than that for salary income, as the same deductions applied to wages are not applied to benefits.
• However, wage-related deductions can be utilized if your annual income consists of both benefits and salary income.

Why it’s worth ordering a revised tax card for benefits

When you order and send a revised tax card specifically for benefits to the unemployment fund, the withholding tax can be applied without the minimum rate of 25%, which is often more favourable for those receiving earnings-related allowance.

• The quickest way to acquire a new taxt card is via OmaVero (the Finnish Tax Administration’s online service). When you request a tax card for benefits and direct it to Super Unemployment Fund in OmaVero, the fund receives it electronically on the next working day. Therefore, you do not need to send the tax card separately via Nettikassa or by post.
• You may submit a new tax card at any time. In that case, the new tax information replaces the previous one starting from the day it is received by the fund.
• At the beginning of each year, the fund automatically receives tax information for salary income from the Finnish Tax Administration for all benefit recipients. However, this automatically issued tax card applies to wages, and when used for paying unemployment allowance, the tax rate is raised to at least 25%.