How Finland taxes a retirement plan
Every figure this model charges in Finland, what each one means, the tax office page it came from, and the date we last read it. Plus everything the model does not do here.
This page lists the figures for Finland. How the tax model works in every country, and what it leaves out, is on how tax is modelled.
Figures are for the 2026 tax year, read from the authorities on 2026-07-27. Every one of them links to the page it came from.
Checked against their published tables. That check reaches part of the calculation, not all of it; the rest is worked through by hand from the authority's own rules.
The scale your pension and other ordinary income are charged on. Each band's rate applies only to the part of your income inside it, not to all of it.
Pension income allowanceelaketulovahennys
A large allowance taken off pension income before tax is worked out. It shrinks as your pension grows and is gone entirely a little above 49,300 a year, and it rises with prices.
Basic allowanceperusvahennys
A smaller allowance applied last, against whatever income is still taxable once the pension allowance has been taken. Its amount is fixed and does not rise with prices, so it quietly loses value over a long plan.
- Shrinks by18%
- How much is withdrawn per unit of income above the starting point. This adds to your effective rate inside that range, often sharply.
- source
Extra tax on larger pensionselaketulon lisavero
An extra 5.85 percent on the part of a pension above 60,000 a year, charged on top of ordinary income tax. It falls on pension income only, not on anything you withdraw from savings.
- Charged onpension
- Which figure the charge is worked out from: your income, or the tax you already owe.
- source
Public broadcasting levyyleisradiovero
A levy that funds public broadcasting, charged at 2.5 percent of income above 15,150 and capped at 160 a year. The cap is reached at 21,550 of income, so most retirees simply pay a flat 160.
- Charged onpre allowance combined
- Which figure the charge is worked out from: your income, or the tax you already owe.
- source
How money held outside a retirement account is charged: on what it pays you each year, on the profit when you sell, or both.
- Charged howseparate
- Whether investment income joins your other income on the same scale or is charged separately. It decides whether taking more from your portfolio pushes your pension into a higher band.
- source
- Most of a sale that counts as profit0.6
- The taxed profit is your real profit or this share of the sale, whichever is smaller.
- source
- Charged as it pays outno
- Whether income the investment pays you is charged in the year it arises, rather than only when you sell.
- source
What a loss can be set against, and whether anything left over can be carried into future years.
- Carried forward for5
- How many years an unused loss survives to be set against future gains. Zero means it is lost at the end of the year.
- source
- Locked to one kind of assetno
- A loss on one kind of investment can only be set against gains of the same kind.
- source
- Against other income, up tonot applicable
- The most a loss can take off your ordinary income in one year.
- source
- Share usable against other income0
- How much of a leftover loss can be set against income that is not investment income.
- source
Whether a couple is assessed as one household or as two people, which can change the bill substantially at the same total income.
- How a couple is taxedindividual
- Individual means each partner pays on their own pension and their own savings, as two separate people. An account in one name is that person's; we ask how the accounts you hold together are split between you.
- source
equity
Where this country's answer changes depending on the kind of investment, this is what we assume unless you say otherwise.
A threshold frozen in law quietly costs more every year, because your income rises with prices and the threshold does not. Over a thirty-year retirement that is one of the larger effects on this page.
- the income tax bands · Keeps up with inflationyes
- If no, this figure is fixed in law. Your income rises with prices and it does not, so it costs you more every year without any rule changing.
- source
- an ordinary investment account · Keeps up with inflationno
- source
- elaketulovahennys · Keeps up with inflationyes
- source
- perusvahennys · Keeps up with inflationno
- source
- elaketulon lisavero · Keeps up with inflationno
- source
- yleisradiovero · Keeps up with inflationno
- source
- sairausvakuutuksen sairaanhoitomaksu · Keeps up with inflationyes
- source
Each kind of retirement account here has its own rule for what is taxed when money comes out of it, and those rules are listed account by account on the page for accounts in Finland.
Where you live inside the country
Tax here is not the same everywhere. The planner asks where you live and charges your own jurisdiction's figures. Skip the question and it charges a stand-in, and says on screen which one.
The planner carries all 292 councils.
They charge between 4.7% in Kauniainen and 10.9% in Pomarkku. Say nothing and you are charged 7.57%.
What this model does not do here
Every one of them, not a selection. 14 are described below.
We model these and we know we do not get them exactly right. Where the size could be measured, it is stated.
Finland's municipal tax is set by the municipality you live in, and the rate runs from 4.7 to 10.9 percent. Tell us your municipality and we charge its own rate. If you do not, we charge the national average of 7.57 percent, and between the cheapest municipality and the dearest that is worth about 2,370 a year on the largest pension we tested. The average is weighted by population and the big cities are the cheap ones, so 265 of the 292 mainland municipalities charge more than it.
Could go either way/up to €2,367 a year/anyone retiring in Finland who does not name their municipality; the rate depends on which of the 292 mainland municipalities you live in
When you sell investments in Finland, the law lets you deduct either what you paid or a presumed cost, whichever is larger. The presumed cost is 40 percent of the sale for holdings kept ten years or more and 20 percent for newer ones. We cannot see when each unit was bought, so we apply the ten year rule to every sale. Units are sold oldest first, so this is right for most retirees. If most of your money was invested in the last ten years, we understate the tax on sales with a large gain by up to 6.8 percent of the amount sold.
Your real tax is higher/up to €1,360 a year/people selling Finnish-taxed investments bought less than ten years earlier, where the gain is more than 60 percent of the sale
The Åland Islands set their own municipal rates, 17.0 to 19.7 percent, against a state scale cut by 12.64 points to compensate. Count both halves and an Åland resident ends up below the mainland average that we charge everybody. Åland is not one of the municipalities you can pick, and we charge the mainland figure, so if you retire in one of Åland's 16 municipalities the tax we show is too high.
Your real tax is lower/anyone retiring in the Åland Islands
Interest from a Finnish bank deposit or a Finnish public bond is taxed once at a flat 30 percent and then set aside: it never joins the rest of your capital income, so it never reaches the 34 percent step, and a loss elsewhere cannot reduce it. We treat all interest as ordinary capital income instead. We ask nothing about bonds or cash on purpose, because we cannot yet route one income stream out of the capital scale, and a menu we could not tax correctly is worse than no menu.
Could go either way/anyone holding Finnish bank deposits or Finnish public bonds, above all with capital income past 30,000 a year
An equity savings account (osakesäästötili) is its own account here. Nothing is taxed while the money stays in; each withdrawal is part deposits, untaxed, and part growth, taxed as capital income with no presumed cost. What we simplify: we do not hold you to the 100,000 cap on deposits, and a loss when you close the account, which the law lets you deduct, is not counted.
Could go either way/anyone weighing a Finnish equity savings account against an ordinary fund
Savings life insurance and capitalisation contracts are taxed only on the growth in what you take out. What we simplify: a surrender fee lowers the taxed growth in law, and we charge no fee at all, so we count it as growth; a loss when a policy matures is not counted; and a contract whose investments you steer yourself, which the law taxes every year, is taxed only when you take money out.
Could go either way/someone drawing on Finnish savings life insurance or a capitalisation contract
A voluntary pension or a PS account is taxed in full as capital income. It pays from an age set by when the contract was made, and each year at most what is left divided by the years remaining, or 2,000. Taken earlier, or faster, the taxed amount is raised by half. What we simplify: payments start when you retire or at the earliest age, whichever is later; when a year pays more than the limit, only the part above it is raised; we do not ask about the grounds that let you take it early without the rise, such as long unemployment; and a contract from before September 2009 can be emptied in under two years here without the rise.
Could go either way/someone holding a Finnish voluntary pension insurance or a PS account
Most Finnish savings insurance is invested in funds, which is how we model it: it grows at your portfolio's return. A policy with a guaranteed interest rate grows more steadily than that, and possibly by less.
Could go either way/anyone holding a guaranteed-rate Finnish savings insurance policy
These exist in law and we leave them out, usually because applying them would need a question we do not ask.
A lifetime pension insurance you bought yourself is taxed in Finland as capital income, and only on the part of each year's pension above a fixed yearly amount: what you paid in, divided by your life expectancy when the pension starts. We do not offer this pension as a choice yet. If you enter it as a pension before tax, we tax all of it as earned income, which is too much for most people who also have an earnings related pension.
Your real tax is lower/up to €2,400 a year/people receiving a lifetime pension insurance they bought themselves, from a contract made in 2020 or later
A fixed term pension insurance whose premiums you did not deduct is taxed in Finland only on the growth part of each payment, as capital income. Enter it as savings life insurance with the premiums you paid, and take it out on its schedule: the tax is the same. Entered as a pension before tax it would be taxed in full as earned income, which is too much.
Your real tax is lower/up to €1,900 a year/people receiving a fixed term pension insurance, from a contract made in 2020 or later, whose premiums they never deducted
If your voluntary pension premiums or deductible loan interest come to more than your capital income, Finland gives you a credit against your income tax worth up to 1,400 a year. We never give it. Anyone drawing down a portfolio has capital income, so it rarely fires at all, but where it would have fired the tax we show is too high.
Your real tax is lower/up to €1,400 a year/a Finnish retiree whose loan interest or voluntary pension premiums outrun their capital income
Members of a Finnish church pay church tax on top of their income tax, averaging 1.38 percent. Membership is voluntary and we never ask, so we leave it out entirely. If you are a member, every tax figure we show for Finland is too low by roughly that much.
Your real tax is higher/members of the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran or Orthodox church
A dividend from a company in a country Finland has no tax treaty with is charged on the earned income scale rather than as capital income. We always treat dividends as capital income. This reaches neither regulated European funds nor anything from a treaty country, which is very nearly everything a retiree holds, and where it does reach you it can land either side of what we show.
Could go either way/anyone holding shares directly in a company outside Finland's treaty network
Finland leaves two gains untaxed that we tax anyway. If everything you sell in a year adds up to 1,000 or less, the gain on it is free of tax. So is the gain on selling your own home. We apply neither exemption, so in a year where one of them would have covered you, the tax we show is too high.
Your real tax is lower/anyone selling almost nothing in a year, and anyone selling the home they live in
Every other figure we use for this country (435)
The sections above cover what shapes a retirement plan. These are the rest of what the model reads, listed so nothing it uses is hidden from you.
account_types.capitalisation.basis.defaultbalancesourceaccount_types.capitalisation.basis.kindpooled_pro_ratasourceaccount_types.capitalisation.clusterC6sourceaccount_types.capitalisation.death.joint_share0.5sourceaccount_types.capitalisation.death.kindstep_upsourceaccount_types.capitalisation.exit.orderingpro_ratasourceaccount_types.capitalisation.exit.tranches.basis.exempt1sourceaccount_types.capitalisation.exit.tranches.gain.capital_gain1sourceaccount_types.capitalisation.order_classtaxablesourceaccount_types.capitalisation.report_groupinsurance_wrappersourceaccount_types.ost.basis.defaultbalancesourceaccount_types.ost.basis.kindpooled_pro_ratasourceaccount_types.ost.clusterC6sourceaccount_types.ost.death.kindclose_to_plainsourceaccount_types.ost.exit.orderingpro_ratasourceaccount_types.ost.exit.tranches.basis.exempt1sourceaccount_types.ost.exit.tranches.gain.capital_gain1sourceaccount_types.ost.order_classtaxablesourceaccount_types.ost.owner_kinds[0]asourceaccount_types.ost.owner_kinds[1]bsourceaccount_types.ost.report_groupequity_wrappersourceaccount_types.ps.access.before.channeluplift:capital_gainsourceaccount_types.ps.access.before.componentearly_access_chargesourceaccount_types.ps.access.before.modechargesourceaccount_types.ps.access.before.on_toptruesourceaccount_types.ps.access.before.rate0.5sourceaccount_types.ps.access.earliest_age.params.contract_bucketchoice:contract_bucketsourceaccount_types.ps.access.earliest_age.ruleFI.payout_agesourceaccount_types.ps.basis.defaultzerosourceaccount_types.ps.basis.kindpooled_pro_ratasourceaccount_types.ps.choices[0].idcontract_bucketsourceaccount_types.ps.choices[0].kindenumsourceaccount_types.ps.choices[0].values[0]2009sourceaccount_types.ps.choices[0].values[1]2013sourceaccount_types.ps.choices[1].default10sourceaccount_types.ps.choices[1].idpayout_term_years_2009sourceaccount_types.ps.choices[1].kindyearssourceaccount_types.ps.choices[1].range[0]6sourceaccount_types.ps.choices[1].range[1]60sourceaccount_types.ps.choices[1].whencontract_bucket == 2009sourceaccount_types.ps.choices[2].default10sourceaccount_types.ps.choices[2].idpayout_term_yearssourceaccount_types.ps.choices[2].kindyearssourceaccount_types.ps.choices[2].range[0]10sourceaccount_types.ps.choices[2].range[1]60sourceaccount_types.ps.choices[2].whencontract_bucket == 2013sourceaccount_types.ps.clusterC2sourceaccount_types.ps.exit.orderingpro_ratasourceaccount_types.ps.exit.tranches.basis.exempt1sourceaccount_types.ps.exit.tranches.gain.capital_gain1sourceaccount_types.ps.order_classdeferredsourceaccount_types.ps.owner_kinds[0]asourceaccount_types.ps.owner_kinds[1]bsourceaccount_types.ps.payout[0].kindrulesourceaccount_types.ps.payout[0].rule.params.floor_amount2000sourceaccount_types.ps.payout[0].rule.params.no_ceiling_before2009sourceaccount_types.ps.payout[0].rule.ruleFI.voluntary_pension_maxsourceaccount_types.ps.report_grouppension_potsourceaccount_types.savings_insurance.basis.defaultbalancesourceaccount_types.savings_insurance.basis.kindpooled_pro_ratasourceaccount_types.savings_insurance.clusterC6sourceaccount_types.savings_insurance.death.kindclose_to_plainsourceaccount_types.savings_insurance.exit.orderingpro_ratasourceaccount_types.savings_insurance.exit.tranches.basis.exempt1sourceaccount_types.savings_insurance.exit.tranches.gain.capital_gain1sourceaccount_types.savings_insurance.order_classtaxablesourceaccount_types.savings_insurance.report_groupinsurance_wrappersourceaccount_types.voluntary_pension.access.before.channeluplift:capital_gainsourceaccount_types.voluntary_pension.access.before.componentearly_access_chargesourceaccount_types.voluntary_pension.access.before.modechargesourceaccount_types.voluntary_pension.access.before.on_toptruesourceaccount_types.voluntary_pension.access.before.rate0.5sourceaccount_types.voluntary_pension.access.earliest_age.params.contract_bucketchoice:contract_bucketsourceaccount_types.voluntary_pension.access.earliest_age.ruleFI.payout_agesourceaccount_types.voluntary_pension.basis.defaultzerosourceaccount_types.voluntary_pension.basis.kindpooled_pro_ratasourceaccount_types.voluntary_pension.choices[0].idcontract_bucketsourceaccount_types.voluntary_pension.choices[0].kindenumsourceaccount_types.voluntary_pension.choices[0].values[0]2004sourceaccount_types.voluntary_pension.choices[0].values[1]2009sourceaccount_types.voluntary_pension.choices[0].values[2]2013sourceaccount_types.voluntary_pension.choices[1].default10sourceaccount_types.voluntary_pension.choices[1].idpayout_term_years_2009sourceaccount_types.voluntary_pension.choices[1].kindyearssourceaccount_types.voluntary_pension.choices[1].range[0]6sourceaccount_types.voluntary_pension.choices[1].range[1]60sourceaccount_types.voluntary_pension.choices[1].whencontract_bucket == 2009sourceaccount_types.voluntary_pension.choices[2].default10sourceaccount_types.voluntary_pension.choices[2].idpayout_term_yearssourceaccount_types.voluntary_pension.choices[2].kindyearssourceaccount_types.voluntary_pension.choices[2].range[0]10sourceaccount_types.voluntary_pension.choices[2].range[1]60sourceaccount_types.voluntary_pension.choices[2].whencontract_bucket == 2013sourceaccount_types.voluntary_pension.clusterC2sourceaccount_types.voluntary_pension.exit.orderingpro_ratasourceaccount_types.voluntary_pension.exit.tranches.basis.exempt1sourceaccount_types.voluntary_pension.exit.tranches.gain.capital_gain1sourceaccount_types.voluntary_pension.order_classdeferredsourceaccount_types.voluntary_pension.owner_kinds[0]asourceaccount_types.voluntary_pension.owner_kinds[1]bsourceaccount_types.voluntary_pension.payout[0].kindrulesourceaccount_types.voluntary_pension.payout[0].rule.params.floor_amount2000sourceaccount_types.voluntary_pension.payout[0].rule.params.no_ceiling_before2009sourceaccount_types.voluntary_pension.payout[0].rule.ruleFI.voluntary_pension_maxsourceaccount_types.voluntary_pension.report_grouppension_potsourceannuity_types.employer_supplementary_pension.roleoccupationalsourceannuity_types.employer_supplementary_pension.taxable_classpension_incomesourceannuity_types.employer_supplementary_pension.taxable_fraction.kindfullsourceannuity_types.employer_supplementary_pension.termeithersourceannuity_types.fixed_term_pension_deducted.roleannuitysourceannuity_types.fixed_term_pension_deducted.taxable_classpension_incomesourceannuity_types.fixed_term_pension_deducted.taxable_fraction.kindfullsourceannuity_types.fixed_term_pension_deducted.termfixedsourcecapital.brackets[0][0]30000sourcecapital.brackets[0][1]0.3sourcecapital.brackets[1][0]nullsourcecapital.brackets[1][1]0.34sourcecapital.scale_joint_parts2sourcecapital_incomeseparate_flatsourceholdings.equity.items[1].delta.distributions_taxedtruesourceholdings.equity.items[1].delta.dividend_taxable_share1sourceholdings.equity.items[2].delta.distributions_taxedtruesourceordinary.deductions[elaketulovahennys].nameelaketulovahennyssourceordinary.deductions[elaketulovahennys].taper2_cumulativefalsesourceordinary.deductions[perusvahennys].nameperusvahennyssourceordinary.deductions[perusvahennys].taper_on_runningtruesourceordinary.flat_rate0.0757sourceordinary.rental_basecapitalsourceordinary.social[sairausvakuutuksen sairaanhoitomaksu].namesairausvakuutuksen sairaanhoitomaksusourceordinary.surcharges[elaketulon lisavero].nameelaketulon lisaverosourceordinary.surcharges[yleisradiovero].groupyleisradioverosourceordinary.surcharges[yleisradiovero].nameyleisradioverosourceplain_death.joint_share0.5sourceplain_death.kindstep_upsource
Each council's figures (292 councils) source
ordinary.flat_rate 005 0.091 009 0.093 010 0.096 016 0.081 018 0.092 019 0.089 020 0.099 046 0.084 047 0.087 049 0.053 050 0.094 051 0.064 052 0.098 061 0.085 069 0.102 071 0.094 072 0.089 074 0.105 075 0.094 077 0.094 078 0.091 079 0.089 081 0.092 082 0.084 086 0.093 090 0.095 091 0.053 092 0.064 097 0.074 098 0.083 102 0.094 103 0.098 105 0.09 106 0.077 108 0.102 109 0.084 111 0.082 139 0.089 140 0.079 142 0.086 143 0.099 145 0.092 146 0.086 148 0.064 149 0.089 151 0.098 152 0.095 153 0.086 165 0.089 167 0.081 169 0.09 171 0.086 172 0.09 176 0.085 177 0.084 178 0.091 179 0.081 181 0.1 182 0.094 186 0.078 202 0.076 204 0.099 205 0.084 208 0.083 211 0.094 213 0.094 214 0.091 216 0.092 217 0.097 218 0.098 224 0.091 226 0.09 230 0.089 231 0.103 232 0.096 233 0.091 235 0.047 236 0.099 239 0.089 240 0.096 241 0.086 244 0.089 245 0.073 249 0.091 250 0.094 256 0.095 257 0.071 260 0.081 261 0.073 263 0.095 265 0.091 271 0.092 272 0.092 273 0.084 275 0.098 276 0.088 280 0.092 284 0.074 285 0.094 286 0.089 287 0.089 288 0.089 290 0.094 291 0.091 297 0.081 300 0.084 301 0.084 304 0.053 305 0.086 309 0.089 312 0.099 316 0.094 317 0.095 320 0.089 322 0.071 398 0.086 399 0.096 400 0.084 402 0.094 403 0.094 405 0.083 407 0.089 408 0.089 410 0.099 416 0.099 418 0.084 420 0.084 421 0.094 422 0.084 423 0.071 425 0.094 426 0.095 430 0.084 433 0.089 434 0.081 435 0.059 436 0.089 440 0.083 441 0.093 444 0.079 445 0.079 475 0.089 480 0.088 481 0.085 483 0.101 484 0.089 489 0.101 491 0.094 494 0.094 495 0.098 498 0.089 499 0.089 500 0.069 503 0.091 504 0.099 505 0.083 507 0.085 508 0.099 529 0.064 531 0.091 535 0.099 536 0.084 538 0.091 541 0.089 543 0.079 545 0.084 560 0.087 561 0.084 562 0.094 563 0.1 564 0.081 576 0.084 577 0.082 578 0.094 580 0.095 581 0.094 583 0.091 584 0.093 592 0.099 593 0.094 595 0.091 598 0.09 599 0.093 601 0.089 604 0.079 607 0.09 608 0.109 609 0.087 611 0.083 614 0.091 615 0.095 616 0.104 619 0.094 620 0.089 623 0.066 624 0.081 625 0.079 626 0.091 630 0.08 631 0.091 635 0.089 636 0.086 638 0.071 678 0.091 680 0.076 681 0.094 683 0.081 684 0.079 686 0.099 687 0.094 689 0.085 691 0.102 694 0.079 697 0.093 698 0.089 700 0.086 702 0.094 704 0.073 707 0.099 710 0.093 729 0.093 732 0.089 734 0.081 738 0.088 739 0.089 740 0.093 742 0.091 743 0.092 746 0.096 747 0.094 748 0.094 749 0.094 751 0.094 753 0.068 755 0.086 758 0.075 759 0.091 761 0.085 762 0.086 765 0.085 768 0.084 777 0.089 778 0.091 781 0.064 783 0.089 785 0.083 790 0.089 791 0.093 831 0.084 832 0.085 833 0.069 834 0.089 837 0.076 844 0.099 845 0.069 846 0.096 848 0.091 849 0.099 850 0.094 851 0.087 853 0.071 854 0.095 857 0.099 858 0.073 859 0.099 886 0.094 887 0.103 889 0.084 890 0.089 892 0.092 893 0.086 895 0.089 905 0.084 908 0.091 915 0.093 918 0.091 921 0.095 922 0.093 924 0.098 925 0.084 927 0.078 931 0.084 934 0.098 935 0.101 936 0.086 946 0.092 976 0.084 977 0.103 980 0.092 981 0.093 989 0.106 992 0.094
Held but not used here (9)
These would scale a figure for a couple taxed together. This country taxes each partner separately, so the model never applies them, and they are not counted among the figures we could not source.
ordinary.deductions[elaketulovahennys].joint_multiple 2 ordinary.deductions[elaketulovahennys].taper_start_joint_multiple 2 ordinary.deductions[perusvahennys].joint_multiple 2 ordinary.deductions[perusvahennys].taper_start_joint_multiple 2 ordinary.joint_mode splitting ordinary.quotient_parts_couple 2 ordinary.surcharges[elaketulon lisavero].threshold_joint_multiple 2 ordinary.surcharges[yleisradiovero].cap_joint_multiple 2 ordinary.surcharges[yleisradiovero].threshold_joint_multiple 2
Health insurance contributionsairausvakuutuksen sairaanhoitomaksu
A health charge of 1.49 percent, taken on what is left of your pension after both allowances rather than on the gross amount. It funds public healthcare and is collected with your income tax.