You have been granted an old-age pension. We have sent you the pension decision and a pension calculation showing the amount of your pension, the start date, the payment method and the information on which your pension is based. Below you will find important information about your pension.
Contents
Review the pension decision and calculation
Provisional or final pension decision
Request for appeal
Pension taxation
Apply for a pension tax card as soon as you get your pension decision
Pensions beginning at the end of the year
Index adjustments and tax information at the turn of the year
Other changes in the pension amount – order a new tax card
Earnings-related pension card
Pension amount
Working during retirement
Changes to partial old-age pension
Old-age pension after partial early old-age pension
If your contact information or bank account number changes
Information for pension recipients living abroad
Taxation of pension recipients living abroad
Annual residence report
Additional information and contact information
Review the pension decision and calculation
The amount of your pension is based on your earnings. Check that the information is correctly documented in the pension decision and calculation. If you notice anything missing, please contact us.
Provisional or final pension decision
If you receive a provisional pension decision first, you will also be receiving a final decision later on. A provisional decision is issued to give us time to ensure that all the information affecting the calculation of your pension has been obtained before we calculate the final pension amount. The amount of payable pension stated in the provisional decision will be paid until the final decision has been made. Once the pertinent information has all been obtained, the amount of the pension is reviewed and may change. Any possible increase for deferred retirement will be calculated in connection with the final decision.
Request for appeal
If you think the pension decision is incorrect, you can request an appeal. The appeal procedure is attached to the decision. You can also find the appeal instructions and appeal application form on our online service at www.veritas.fi.
Pension taxation
Earnings-related pension is considered taxable income. Veritas withholds the tax payable on the pension in accordance with your pension tax card. If we do not have your pension tax card, we will withhold tax at a rate of 40%.
Apply for a pension tax card as soon as you get your pension decision
Order a tax card for earnings-related pension as soon as possible after receiving your pension decision. A pension tax card can be ordered in two ways:
- from the Tax Administration’s online service at https://www.vero.fi/en/e-file/mytax/
- by calling the Tax Administration’s service number +358 (0)29 497 000.
Ask the Tax Administration to send your tax card directly to Veritas.
If the tax card is valid from the same date on which your pension begins and we have already made pension payments to you at a 40% withholding rate, we will refund the excess portion of the tax. The refund will automatically be made after we have received your tax card.
Pension companies cannot obtain tax cards on behalf of their customers, rather the tax card must be ordered by each individual taxpayer at the start of their pension. We are not able to use the tax card issued for the payment of wages or other income for the purpose of withholding your pension tax.
Pensions beginning at the end of the year
If your pension begins 1 November or after that, order your pension tax card for both the current and following year. The tax amount can only be corrected during the year in which the pension has been paid.
Index adjustments and tax information at the turn of the year
Pensions in payment are adjusted annually, at the beginning of January, with the earnings-related pension index. You can find the index-adjusted amount of your pension in the online service from the end of November. We will notify the tax authorities of the indexed amount of your pension, and we receive directly from them the tax rate to be used for your pension payments the following year. You will also receive information about your updated pension tax rate from the tax authorities.
In the online service you can find information about the pension that has been paid to you and the tax that has been withheld from it each year. We report the paid pensions and the related withholding amounts also to the Incomes Register. You can check the information in the Incomes Register at any time at www.vero.fi/en/incomes-register.
Other changes in the pension amount – order a new tax card
If the amount of your pension is subject to changes other than an index adjustment, you will have to order a new pension tax card. Also order a new tax card if the amount of your pension based on the provisional decision changes significantly once the final pension decision is made.
Earnings-related pension card
Partial old-age pension recipients are not entitled to an earnings-related pension card.
Pension amount
The amount of the earnings-related pension is based on your employment earnings and the insured YEL income earned from entrepreneurial activities. You may have also accrued pension on the basis of the daily allowance you received from unpaid periods and, for example, from studies that led to a degree or a period of home care for a child under three years of age. The accrual of earnings-related pension is governed by law and the regulations have changed over the years. You can find more detailed information on pension accrual, for example, on our website at https://veritas.fi/en/pension-rehabilitation/pension-amount/.
Working during retirement
There are no demands or restrictions regarding work or entrepreneurial activities while receiving partial old-age pension. Therefore, you do not need to reduce your work or income. You are also not required to work in order to receive partial early old-age pension. If you work while receiving a partial old-age pension, additional pension will accrue at a rate of 1.5% of your annual income.
Changes to partial old-age pension
If you wish, you can increase the amount of partial old-age pension from 25% to 50%. No other changes can be made to the amount of your pension. Partial old-age pension cannot be discontinued. If you have second thoughts, you can cancel the pension within three months of receiving your pension decision. Please notify us of the cancellation in writing, for example, as a message through our online service. Any pensions that have already been paid will be recovered.
Old-age pension after partial early old-age pension
The payment of a partial early old-age pension will continue until you apply for a full old-age pension. You can apply for an old-age pension at any time after you have reached your lowest retirement age and your employment has ended. Old-age pension does not begin automatically.
If your contact information or bank account number changes
If your address changes, submit a move notification to the Digital and Population Data Services Agency. We will then automatically receive your new contact information. A pensioner living abroad must independently provide their new address to Veritas.
You can report a changed bank account number through the online service for private customers at www.veritas.fi. Log in to the service using your Finnish online banking codes, a mobile certificate or a certificate card.
For security reasons, we cannot receive bank account information by phone or e-mail.
Information for pension recipients living abroad
Taxation of pension recipients living abroad
If you live abroad permanently, we will, on your behalf, ask the tax authorities to issue a pension tax card applicable to your Finnish pension. At the end of the year, we will send you a certificate showing the amount of tax collected and the pensions paid for you to attach to the tax return in your country of residence.
Finnish citizens who have moved abroad are generally tax-liable in Finland during the year in which they moved and the following three years. A fully tax-liable pensioner pays tax to Finland on the same grounds as pensioners living in Finland. Pensioners living permanently outside Finland are considered to have limited tax liability in Finland. Even a person with limited tax liability primarily pays Finland taxes on the pension they receive from Finland.
More detailed information on the taxation of non-residents is provided by:
Helsinki Area Tax Office
P.O. Box 400
FI-00052 VERO
Tel. +358 (0)20 697 024
Annual residence report
We send our pension recipients living abroad an annual request to fill out a residence report as a means of providing us with their latest contact information. The residence report will be sent by post in December and must be returned to us by the end of April. You can also provide us with the information requested in the residence report through the online service at www.veritas.fi.
If you live abroad and move, please inform us of your new address.
Additional information and contact information
Information on your pension can be found in the online service for private customers at www.veritas.fi/log in. You can log in to the service using your Finnish online banking codes, a mobile certificate or a certificate card. If you have any questions, you can send us a message through our online service. You can also call us at the phone number stated in your pension decision. Our other contact information can be found on our website at www.veritas.fi/en/contact/.