YEL Income Reviews

You will receive a decision on the income review if your income changes because of the review. You can appeal the decision if you believe it was made on incorrect grounds. Instructions for appealing can be found in the attachment to the income decision. If you use a paperless service, you can view the decision in Elo's online service. Otherwise, we will send the decision by letter.

No, it does not affect the review, as the obligation to review incomes and the related principles are the same across all pension companies. The review process proceeds year by year in the same order in all companies, and pension companies use a common calculation service to determine the size of incomes. If you transfer your insurance to another company, your new pension company will handle the review.

When you receive information from us about your income review, log in to Elo's online service to view the income proposal. You have two weeks to respond to the proposal. After that, we will decide on your new income based on the information available to us.
If your business activity continues similarly to the past few years, it is advisable to accept the proposal so that your income reflects the value of your work input.
If your business activity does not continue as in previous years, you can propose a different income. If necessary, we will request justification for the change or for maintaining the current income.

You are not required to respond to our income proposal if you believe the proposed income is correct. If you do not respond to the proposal, we will decide on your new income based on the information available to us.

You know your business activity best: If you disagree with the proposal, provide us with your own income proposal and a brief justification, so we can consider your perspective when determining the new income. Responding is easy and secure in Elo's online service.

You can influence the review by ensuring that your income reflects the value of your work input. If your income is not up to date, it is advisable to change it. You can get assistance in determining the correct income from Elo's customer service. When your income is at the correct level, the review will not result in changes.
In the future, your income will be reviewed if it has not changed or reviewed in three years.

Elo's proposed income is based on
• The median salary of the industry
• The median turnover of the industry
• Information obtained from the Tax Administration, including the entrepreneur's turnover from the previous three years

The calculation also considers any part-time entrepreneurial activity. Based on these factors, a new income is calculated for the entrepreneur. This is the so-called income proposal. The information used as the basis for the income proposal is consistent across all pension companies.

There are legal restrictions on increases that apply to the first two reviews. The first review can increase the income by a maximum of 4 000 euros, and over two reviews, by a total of 8 000 euros. This is the amount by which the pension company can increase the income even without the entrepreneur's consent, if there are no grounds for not increasing it. The 4 000 euro increase means approximately an 80 euro increase in the monthly YEL insurance payment. Of course, the income can be increased by more at the entrepreneur's own initiative.

According to the law, the new income takes effect from the beginning of the second month following the start of the review process.
In practice, this means that if you receive information from us about your income review in June, your updated income will take effect in August. This adjustment will also impact your YEL insurance contributions starting from August.
The review is not done retroactively.

At the beginning of 2023, a reform of the entrepreneur's pension law came into effect, which included provisions for income reviews. The reform is driven by the need to review incomes that do not reflect the entrepreneur's work input. The income, which forms the basis of entrepreneurs' social security, must remain up to date in relation to changes in business activity. Regular income reviews are therefore a statutory duty of pension companies, and all pension companies in Finland conduct them according to the same principles.

The income of YEL-insured individuals will be regularly reviewed every three years. Elo will make a proposal for a new income to the entrepreneur in Elo's online service and ask the entrepreneur to respond to the proposal. If the review shows that the entrepreneur’s income is already at the recommended level, no proposal will be issued.

The entrepreneur has two weeks to respond to the proposal, after which Elo will decide on the new income based on the available information. The review of incomes for 2026 will begin at Elo in the spring of 2026.

We will contact you if your income is being reviewed and ask you to respond to the income proposal. If you use paperless service, you will receive a message via email. Otherwise, you will receive a letter from us.

In 2026, all incomes that have not been changed in the last three years and were not reviewed last year will be reviewed. You will receive a decision on the income review, which will show the amount of your new income and the effective date.