Instructions for grant recipients
All grant recipients should follow the guidelines regarding, for instance, reporting on the use of the grant, pension insurance and taxation. Instructions have been compiled on this page.
General guidelines
All grant recipients must submit a written report to the foundation on the use of the grant within one year of receiving payment. The grant recipient is required to submit an interim report on the progress of the research to the foundation upon request.
Use of a grant must begin no later than the year following the reception.
The grant recipient must mention the grant in their tax return. The foundation submits to the tax authorities a statutory notice of grants awarded.
The recipient of a grant must immediately notify the foundation of any change in its correspondence address.
Recipient's pension insurance
The pension insuring of grant recipients has been implemented since the beginning of 2009 in accordance with the farmer’s pension act.
By law, the insurance obligation applies to all grant recipients residing in Finland who have received a grant for work, awarded in Finland in 2009 or later. The grant must be for artistic or scientific work in Finland for at least four months and be at least 4 506 € annual income (2024). Under certain conditions, insurance also covers grant work abroad and grant work done by a foreigner in Finland.
The insurance obligation applies to both those who have received a personal grant and those who work in a group.
Persons under the age of 18, over 68 or retired cannot take out insurance. The insurance obligation does not apply to scholarships for undergraduate studies or to grants for expenses only, such as travel grants.
The beneficiary’s pension insurance is described in more detail in the Beneficiary’s MYEL insurance guide.
Taxation
The amount of the tax-free grant money each year is equivalent to the tax-free artist grant (26.355,60 € in 2024). Find out more at www.vero.fi.
We receive requests each year to defer payment of the grant awarded for the following year. This is usually because the beneficiary has received funding from several sources or the schedule has been shifted.
A one-year deferral for such reasons is granted.
As of 2019, grants and scholarships have been considered to be the income of the tax year in which they are paid.