YEL income reviews begin – what to do when you receive a proposal from your pension provider

Pension insurers are starting the 2026 round of YEL income reviews. For example, earnings-related pension provider Ilmarinen says it began its reviews in March. The reviews will affect around one fifth of the provider’s business owner customers.

This comes following new legislation in force since 1 Jan. 2023 which requires pension providers to reassess business owners’ YEL income every three years.

In 2026, the reviews will be of business owners whose YEL insurance has been in force for at least three years. However, if the current YEL income is within a 30% margin of the new YEL income recommendation, no new recommendation will be issued. No review will be carried out if the change would be no more than 5%.

Ilmarinen notes that a review does not automatically mean higher YEL contributions. YEL income is increased if it differs significantly from the value of the work input. A pension insurer may adjust YEL income by up to €4,000 per adjustment if the business owner does not increase it further. This means an increase of around €85 in monthly YEL contributions. The maximum increase applies to business owners whose YEL insurance has been in force since 1 Jan. 2023.

We recently explained how to deduct YEL contributions in taxation.

How the review process works

The pension insurer will notify the business owner of the review by text message or letter. The business owner can then accept or reject the proposal on the insurer’s website. The insurer is required to hear the business owner’s views. The recommended YEL income may be adjusted up or down on justified grounds.

If the business owner does not respond within two weeks, the insurer will confirm the new YEL income based on the information available.

The business owner will receive a written decision on their new YEL income and may appeal within one month.

YEL calculator updated

The calculator used in connection with YEL income reviews attracted criticism from business owners. Some business owners received what they considered arbitrary YEL income proposals in which turnover had been used as a benchmark when assessing the scale of their business activity.

The Finnish Centre for Pensions (ETK) says that business owners who gave feedback criticized the fact that YEL income was assessed on the basis of turnover. Feedback also highlighted that turnover does not take account of a company’s costs.

From the start of 2026, it caps the recommended YEL income at no more than 60% of a business owner’s turnover. The Centre said the change is based on experience gained and “supports a more accurate assessment of YEL income, particularly in small-scale business activity”.

Read more YEL-related articles here.

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