Taxation of Kela benefits in 2026 – request a new tax card if necessary

Kela gets the tax withholding information for 2026 directly from the Tax Administration in most cases, which means that you do not need to send your new tax card to Kela. Tax cards for 2026 will be valid from 1 January 2026. Some Kela benefits are taxable income while others are not.

If you want to change your tax percentage, you can request a new tax card in the MyTax e-service. When you request a new tax card, remember to say that you need a tax card for social security benefits. If the new tax card applies to future payments, you can ask the Tax Administration to send the new tax card directly to Kela. In that case, you do not need to notify Kela of the new tax card.

If Kela has already paid a benefit to you and you want to change the amount of withheld tax afterwards, you have to request a new tax card first. Then notify Kela of the new tax card and ask for a correction of the withheld amount. You can send this information in a message in OmaKela. The tax card must be valid for social security benefits from the first day of payment of the benefit for which you wish to correct the withholding. The taxation can be corrected only during the year in which the benefit has been paid.

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Taxation of Kela benefits
Tax card at the turn of the year (vero.fi)Daily allowances and other benefits on your tax card (vero.fi)