You can work as a wage earner or a self-employed person while you draw a pension.
There are no limits to how much you can earn while working and drawing an old-age pension, a partial old-age pension or a survivors’ pension. That means that the earnings you get from work do not affect the amount of the pension you are paid. Note that your earnings may affect your tax rate. If you work while drawing a disability pension or a years-of-service pension, there is a limit to how much you can earn.
If you get other benefits (for example, from Kela) while you receive a pension, please contact the payer of the benefit to find out how your earnings from work affect your benefit amount.
New pension from work
When you work in retirement, you accrue new pension for your earnings from work up to the age when your insurance obligation ends. Your insurance obligation ends at age
- 68 (if you were born in 1957 or earlier),
- 69 (if you were born between 1958 and 1961), or
- 70 years if you were born in 1962 or later.
The pension you accrue from work while drawing a pension may affect both the amount of benefits you get from Kela and your taxation.
The age at which the obligation to take out pension insurance ends is also the retirement age under the Employment Contracts Act. Your employment will then end automatically unless you make a separate agreement with your employer to continue working.
You can continue working after you have reached the age at which your insurance obligation ends. In that case, your work is no longer insured for a pension which means that you no longer pay pension contributions or earn pension.
Read more about earnings-related pension contributions
Separate tax cards for pension and work
Pensions and earnings are taxed differently. That is why you need two tax cards if you work in retirement: one for your pension and one for your wage.
Read more about how your pension will be paid and taxed
More detailed information about working alongside different forms of pension
Choose the option that suits you best below to get more detailed information about how working while receiving different forms of pension affects:
You can work while you draw an old-age pension without it affecting the payment of your pension. Your per-retirement employment relationship must end before you can start drawing your old-age pension. After that, you can sign a new employment contract with the same or a different employer.
If you work in the private sector and continue working for your previous employer immediately after you have retired, your work tasks much change in an essential way compared to your pre-retirement work tasks. The change can relate to, for example, your working hours, your wage or your work tasks.
If you work in the public sector, you can agree with your employer about your new work immediately after retiring on an old-age pension without any essential changes in you work tasks. If you work as a self-employed person, taking out insurance under the Self-employed Persons’ Pensions Act is voluntary.
You earn new pension for work done in retirement at a rate of 1.5 per cent of your annual earnings up to the age when your insurance obligation ends. If you are self-employed, you earn pension based on your confirmed income under the Self-employed Persons’ Pensions Act.
You must claim the pension you have earned while working in retirement. You can claim it at the earliest when you reach the age at which your insurance obligation ends:
- 68 years (if you were born in 1957 or earlier)
- 69 years (if you were born between 1958 and 1961)
- 70 years (if you were born in 1962 or later).
Send in your new pension claim via the webservice of the pension provider that pays out your old-age pension.
Your employer’s obligation to take out pension insurance for you ends at the end of the month in which you reach the age when your insurance obligation ends.
You can work as much as you like while drawing a partial old-age pension. Your earnings do not affect the amount of the pension you are paid. There are no limits as to how much you can work, but you are also not required to work.
If you are self-employed and your self-employment continues while you draw a partial old-age pension, your insurance under the Self-employed Persons’ Pensions Act must be valid and your confirmed income must correspond to the value of your work input.
When you draw a partial old-age pension, your full old-age pension does not begin automatically when you reach your retirement age. Instead, you have to claim your full old-age pension at the earliest when you reach your retirement age. In that case, you must end your employment relationship.
Application Instructions: Old-age Pension
If you consider working in an employment relationship or as a self-employed person while drawing a disability pension or a years-of-service pension, check with your pension provider how much your earnings can be.
- If you draw a full disability pension, you can earn up to 40 per cent of the income level you had before you began drawing your disability pension.
- If you draw a partial disability pension or a partial cash rehabilitation allowance, you can earn up to 60 per cent of the income level you had before you began drawing your disability pension.
- If you draw a years-of-service pension, you can earn no more than 976.59 euros per month (in 2024).
However, you can always earn 976.59 euros a month (in 2024) even if your individual earnings limit was smaller.
Keep track of your earnings and inform your earnings-related pension provider if your earnings exceed the earnings limit. Your pension provider suspends your pension if you exceed the earnings limit for at least three months in a row. If you are paid too much in pension, your pension provider will recover the overpayment from you. Your pension may be suspended for 3–24 months. A full disability pension can be converted into a partial disability pension if your earnings exceed the earnings limit.
If you have worked while drawing a disability pension or a years-of-service pension in 2005 or later, you must claim the pension that you have earned for that work separately with the old-age pension claim form. You can submit your application at the earliest when your disability pension is converted into an old-age pension, providing that your employment has terminated. If you continue working, you can claim the pension when you stop working.
Disability pension if your working ability has been reduced
Years-of-service pension after long work history that requires great effort