Start-up grant (starttiraha) in Finland 2026: rules, amount and tax
The start-up grant (starttiraha) is a discretionary grant that secures your personal income while a new full-time business gets going. In 2026 it is 37.21 euros a day for five days a week, about 800 euros a month before tax, granted first for six months and for at most 12 months in total. The rule that matters most is timing: your application must reach your municipality's employment services before you start full-time.
The 2026 figures
| What | In 2026 |
|---|---|
| Amount | 37.21 € a day before tax |
| Paid for | 5 days a calendar week |
| A month on average | about 800 € before tax |
| First decision | 6 months |
| Maximum in total | 12 months |
| Tax withheld | your wage tax rate, at least 25 % |
The grant equals the basic component of the earnings-related unemployment allowance (ansiopäivärahan perusosa). Until 30 April 2026 the law tied it to the basic unemployment allowance, which Kela's general support (yleistuki) replaced on 1 May 2026; the amount did not change. Income not from the business, such as wages from a job or student financial aid, is deducted from the grant. Child benefit, housing allowance and social assistance are not.
Who can get it
You can come from unemployment, a job, studies or household work, or expand a part-time business to full-time. Helsinki's employment services say you need not register as a jobseeker. The conditions are:
- you live in Finland and set up the business in Finland
- the business will be full-time (päätoiminen) and continuous
- you have, or will acquire, sufficient skills for the trade and for running a business
- the business can be continuously profitable.
Any company form works, from a sole trader (toiminimi) to a limited company (Oy) or a partnership (how they differ), and several owners of one company can each receive it. A foreign national living in Finland legally, with the permits the business needs, can also get it: see starting a business as a foreigner.
The grant is refused if:
- you started full-time before your application reached the employment authority
- the business already gives you a reasonable income, or your living is otherwise secured
- it would distort competition more than slightly
- you or the company have materially neglected taxes or statutory payments, or have significant payment defaults, unless there is a special reason.
The authority can attach conditions, such as arranging financing, permits or training. Nobody has a right to the grant. Since 1 January 2025 municipalities and their employment areas (työllisyysalue) decide on it and fund it from their own budgets, and some have rationed it: one area granted only the first six months in 2025, and another will stop extensions in 2026 if its budget runs short. Ask your own area early.
Apply before you start
The application has to reach the employment authority before you work full-time in the business. You may start right after submitting it, but if the answer is no, you started without the grant. Helsinki recommends applying about four weeks before the planned start.
Watch what counts as starting. The KEHA Centre's guidance for employment authorities treats a business as started, unless there is reason to assess otherwise, when it begins trading or is entered in the VAT, prepayment or employer register. Marketing usually counts too; a Trade Register entry alone does not. So: grant application first, registrations after. The fees are in our article on company registration costs.
How to apply and get paid
- Prepare a business plan and sales, financing and profitability calculations. The application form lists the YEL pension contribution as a fixed cost.
- Attach a tax debt certificate no more than three months old and proof of financing; Helsinki also asks for a CV.
- Apply in the Job Market Finland (Työmarkkinatori) e-service with your bank ID or mobile certificate.
- After a positive decision, apply for payment monthly in arrears, within two months of each period's end: May is due by 31 July. The first application needs a copy of the Trade Register notification (for an Oy, also the founding documents) or a prepayment register certificate.
- For more than the first period, send the extension application while the current period is still running.
Starttiraha or unemployment benefit
If you are unemployed when you start, you can choose starttiraha or unemployment benefit for the first four months, because whether the business is full-time is assessed only after that. Unemployment benefit still requires you to look for and accept full-time work. If the business is judged full-time after four months, your right to unemployment benefit ends. Choose at the start: the grant must be applied for before you work full-time in the business, so once you are already working in it full-time on unemployment benefit, starttiraha is no longer available.
YEL is a separate obligation
YEL is not a condition of the grant, but its own rules apply: once you have been self-employed for four months without a break and your YEL income is at least 9 423.09 euros a year, you must have YEL, taken out within six months of starting. Budget for it from the first month; our YEL article has the 2026 costs.
How it is taxed
Starttiraha is your personal taxable earned income, not business income. The payer withholds tax and reports the payment to the Incomes Register. A toiminimi does not book it as sales, and in an Oy it is paid to you, not to the company.
Under the Tax Administration's withholding decision for 2026, tax is withheld at the rate on your tax card for wages, but at least 25 %. Request a tax card for the grant in MyTax and give it to the payer with your first payment application; Helsinki asks for it there.
A sole trader's tax prepayments depend on the business profit and all other income, the grant included, so count it in. Our article on tax prepayments shows how to change them.
What we do
We help you choose between a toiminimi and an Oy, file the start-up notification with you once your grant application is in, and keep the books from the first month. Our company formation page explains how we work, and bookkeeping for a sole trader is 69 € a month plus VAT 25.5 %.
Sources
- Job Market Finland: start-up grant
- Job Market Finland: help for starting a business
- Job Market Finland: unemployment security for entrepreneurs
- City of Helsinki: startup grant
- Finlex: Act on Organising Employment Services 380/2023, sections 99–101 (in Finnish)
- Finlex: amending act 50/2026 (in Finnish)
- KEHA Centre: application guidance on the start-up grant (PDF, in Finnish)
- KEHA Centre: start-up grant application form keha20j1 (PDF, in Finnish)
- Finnish Government: questions and answers on the general support (PDF, in Finnish)
- Kela: how Kela benefits change in 2026 (in Finnish)
- Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment: employment services reform on 1 January 2025
- Job Market Finland: Etelä-Häme employment area on second grant periods (in Finnish)
- Job Market Finland: Salo employment area on grants in 2026 (in Finnish)
- Tax Administration: decision on withholding methods and amounts, 2026 (in Finnish)
- Tax Administration: taxation of family carers, section 3.6 on the start-up grant (in Finnish)
- Tax Administration: payment of taxes, tax card and prepayment
- Tax Administration: daily allowances and other benefits on your tax card
- Finlex: Income Tax Act 1535/1992, section 61 (in Finnish)
- Työeläke.fi: when do I need YEL insurance
Please note: this is general information about Finnish rules, not advice for your own situation, and the rules change. Ask us before you act on it.
Starting a business?
We compare a toiminimi and an Oy with your numbers, go through the start-up notification with you before you file it, and keep the books from the first month. See company formation.
Email usPlease don’t send bank credentials, personal identity codes or other sensitive data by email.