You can work as an employee or be self-employed while getting a pension. If you get an old-age pension, partial old-age pension, or a survivors’ pension, your income will not affect the amount of your pension. If you get a disability pension or a years-of-service pension, you can have an income up to a certain limit without it reducing your pension.
Your income may affect the tax you pay on your pension. It might also affect other benefits you get, for example from Kela. If you get other benefits, check directly with the institution that pays the benefit to see how working will affect it.
Earn more pension from working
If you work while getting a pension, you earn a new pension of 1.5% of your annual earnings. You earn this additional pension up to the end of the calendar month in which you reach the age when you no longer need to be insured. This is the age after which your employer is no longer required to provide you with pension insurance.
The age when you no longer need pension insurance is
- 68 years if you were born in 1957 or earlier,
- 69 years if you were born between 1958 and 1961, and
- 70 years if you were born in 1962 or later.
In the Employment Contracts Act, this age limit is called the ‘general retirement age’. Your employment contract will end automatically at that age unless you agree with your employer to continue working. You can continue working, but you and your employer will no longer pay pension insurance contributions, and you will not earn a new pension from your work.
The new pension you earn for working while getting a pension may affect the benefits you get from Kela and how much tax you pay on your pension.
Remember to claim your additional pension, as it will not start automatically. If you have been working while getting an old-age pension, you can claim the new pension you have earned at the age when you no longer need insurance. Claim this pension through the online service of your pension provider.
Separate tax cards for pension and work
Pensions are taxed in a different way to wages. If you are working while getting a pension, you need two tax cards: one for your pension and one for your wages.
How will my pension be paid and taxed?
Detailed information on combining work with different types of pension
Select the most appropriate option below for more detailed information on how you can combine working with different types of pension.
You can work while you are getting an old-age pension. Your wage will not reduce your pension.
To get your pension, you must end the employment relationship you had before taking out the pension. After retiring, you can sign a new employment contract with the same or a different employer.
If you work in the private sector and stay with the same employer after you retire, your job must be significantly different from what you did before. This change can be anything from your working hours, salary, or job tasks. In the public sector, you do not have to make this change.
If you work as a self-employed person while you are on an old-age pension, you can choose to have YEL insurance. You will get pension based on your confirmed YEL income.
If you have worked alongside your old-age pension and earned additional pension from that work, you must claim the pension when you reach the age when you no longer need insurance (see above). In that case, claim your new old-age pension through the online service of the pension provider that pays out your pension.
You can work while getting a partial old-age pension. The amount you earn will not affect the amount of your pension. You can work full-time, part-time, or not work at all.
If you are self-employed and get a partial old-age pension while running your own business, your YEL insurance must be valid, and your income must match to the value of your work.
After getting the partial old-age pension, your full old-age pension does not start automatically. You must claim it separately, at the earliest when you reach your retirement age. To be paid the full old-age pension, you must end your employment.
If you are thinking about working as an employee or a self-employed person alongside your disability pension or years-of-service pension, check with your pension provider to find out how much you can earn.
- If you get a full disability pension and a temporary disability pension (also called a cash rehabilitation benefit), you can earn up to 40% of your pre-pension salary.
- If you get a partial disability pension and a partial temporary disability pension, you can earn up to 60% of your pre-pension salary.
- If you get a years-of-service pension, you can earn up to €986.30 per month (in 2025).
You can earn up to €986.30 per month (in 2025), even if your personal earnings limit is lower.
If you earn more than the earnings limit, notify the pension provider that pays out your pension. If you earn more than the earnings limit for at least three months, your pension provider will stop paying out your pension.
Your pension payments can be stopped for up to two years. Your pension provider may also change a full disability pension to a partial disability pension. If you have been paid too much pension, your pension provider will take back the extra amount from you.
If you have worked alongside your disability pension or years-of-service pension since 2005, you must claim the pension you earned from this work separately with the form you use to claim your old-age pension. You can send in your claim when your work has ended and your disability pension is converted to an old-age pension.
Disability pension when your working ability has been reduced
Years-of-service pension after long work history that requires great effort