Incomes Register prepared in collaboration

In the future, employers can submit pay data in the national income register and avoid filing multiple reports. According to the Government’s recent proposal, the register will be launched in January 2019. The register was prepared by an extensive team of involved parties and thus produced excellent results.

Employers currently have to report wages separately to several authorities, including the Tax Administration, the Social Insurance Institution Kela, the Unemployment Insurance Fund and pension insurers. In 2019, these authorities can access information directly from the centralised register in real time. This will relieve the administrative burden of employers and reduce overlap.

In 2020, many other authorities, including municipal authorities, unemployment funds and non-life insurance providers, will also gain access to the register’s information. The register will initially only include wages and salaries, but later also paid benefits and pensions.

The Council of Regulatory Impact Analysis praised the Government’s national income register proposal for its extensive preparatory work. The proposal was drafted in a legislation working group which included several interest groups involved with the register.

Finance Finland has previously emphasized the importance of involving interest groups in drafting legislation and is pleased to see this practice used in the income register project.

Reaching the full benefits of the new register requires making several changes in legislation. Various income-related benefits, such as earnings-based unemployment benefit or health insurance, are now determined based on varying periods of time. This and other prospective changes in legislation will be revisited later this autumn.