Earnings-related pension field wants access to benefit data in Incomes Register
The earnings-related pension field wants access not only to data on earnings but also to data on benefits in the Incomes Register when calculating pensions. That is why the Tax Administration Incomes Register Unit has been given the assignment to examine within the next few years whether an earnings basis can be added to the data content of the Incomes Register.
Earnings-related pensions accrue based on earnings but also on unsalaried periods, such as periods on earnings-related social benefits and child home care allowance. The earnings basis is needed in the Incomes Register specifically because of periods on earnings-related social benefits. Earnings basis refers to the earnings that a benefit is based on. It is determined based on the legislation of each benefit.
The suggested proposition would also make it possible to include up-to-date information on pension that has accrued for benefits in pension assessments and pension records.
“In practice, this would mean that, for example, a person who receives a parental allowance or an earnings-related unemployment allowance would receive real-time information on how the benefit affects their pension,” says Development Manager Reetta-Kaisa Lehtinen (Finnish Centre for Pensions).
In pension decisions, the earnings-related pension that has accrued based on benefits would be directly available also for the ongoing year. Separate requests for this information would then no longer be needed. This would speed up the pension claim process.
As a rule, earnings-related pension accrues for unsalaried periods during which the person is paid some form of social benefit. The payers of benefits notify the Finnish Centre for Pensions of unsalaried periods once a year. That is why the pension record, for example, shows the accrued pension only for unsalaried periods up to the end of the previous year. When data on benefits are needed to calculate pensions in the middle of the year, the data must be separately requested.
In pension decisions, the earnings-related pension that has accrued based on benefits would be directly available also for the ongoing year. Separate requests for this information would then no longer be needed. This would speed up the pension claim process.
The aim is to provide the earnings-related pension field with up-to-date information on benefits from a single source and to abolish the need for benefit payers to separately report the data to the Finnish Centre for Pensions and the Incomes Register.
More information
Reetta-Kaisa Lehtinen, Development Manager, reetta-kaisa.lehtinen(at)etk.fi, phone +358 29 411 2100
Camilla Juntunen, Head of Unit, camilla.juntunen(at)etk.fi, phone +358 29 411 2186
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Incomes Register developed together (Vero.fi)