Part-time self-employment

First four months of self-employment

If you start business activity while you are unemployed, the activity is automatically considered part-time for the first four months. This means that for the first four months your self-employment income affects your daily allowances, but the TE Office only checks up after four months whether the extent of the business activity prevents daily allowances being paid after that.If you end your existing business activity and start a new one during the same maximum period of earnings-related allowance, the extent of the activity is checked at once.

Short term self-employment

If your business activity lasts no more than two weeks, no checks are made whether the activity is full-time or part-time. There is no limit to the number of these periods of business activity lasting no more than two weeks within the maximum period. Remember to tell the TE Office if your business activity lasts over two weeks. For business activity not exceeding two weeks, it is enough to notify the unemployment fund, where your business income is taken into account in your earnings-related allowances.  

Reporting self-employment and impact of the income

Remember to report your business activity when you make your application and send the fund a monthly business income and expenditure report. Income from business activity is adjusted in the same way as wages from part-time work. Business activity does not, however, accumulate the work requirement, and working hours spent on business activity do not have to be reported in your earnings-related allowance application. Work invoiced through a co-operative or invoicing company is also considered self-employment income because it is not performed within an employment or public service relationship. Read more about unemployment security for entrepreneurs.