Grant payment, social security and taxation

GENERAL GRANT PAYMENT GUIDELINES

Kone Foundation grants are paid out monthly by the third working day of the month. Payments may also be made to bank accounts outside Finland and the SEPA region. Payments made to foreign bank accounts might take some time. The personal monthly grants are paid directly to the project member’s personal account. The grants are paid when the work that the grant has been intended for takes place. A full monthly grant is paid out only when the grantee works in the project full-time, not up front or after the work has ended. When having a 100% personal monthly grant, it is allowed to have maximum of 25% of other work.

Find the payment schedule for the year 2024 here.

Details regarding awarded grants and instructions for how to submit a payment request are available on the online service. To access the payment request page, log in to the online service and enter the identification code for payment requests included in your letter of approval.

FILLING IN A PAYMENT REQUEST

The project leader is responsible for making the payment requests for all personal working grants and other project expenses. The grant is paid on the basis of a payment request submitted by the tenth day of the month preceding the month of payment. The required information in the payment request includes the grant recipient’s name, bank account number, Finnish personal ID or date of birth, current address and payment schedule.

If the project has been awarded support for other expenses, a separate payment request is made for the funding. Support for other expenses is primarily paid in one instalment per year; in such a case, it can be used throughout the year. If the support for other expenses is to be paid to a university account, it can be issued in one instalment (for instance, in a multi-year project). Other support is preferably paid to the bank account of a legally recognised organisation with a business ID.

The project leader submits the request along with the required details for the account to which the funding for other expenses will be paid. This is often a project account, an account belonging to an organisation (e.g., a university or research facility) or a private individual’s account. If a payment is to be paid to a legal entity for other expenses, the request must include a business ID, reference number and contact information. 

If any salary or remuneration is issued from other expenses, the grantee must remember that it is their own responsibility to comply with all employer obligations, statutory payments and tax requirements. Kone Foundation only covers the other expenses and cannot assist with practical administrative matters. For more information about the payment of salaries and related matters, please visit palkka.fi (in Finnish and Swedish).

Should any changes regarding your payment schedule occur, you can edit a request that has already been confirmed.

Do you need help filling in the payment request? Please see an instructional video here.

Please note: changes to personal grant payments may affect the grantee’s MYEL insurance coverage. Grantees are obligated to immediately inform MELA about any changes regarding grant payments. We recommend the grantee inquire from MELA beforehand about how these changes will affect their insurance coverage and, in particular, the length of the insurance period.

Please be aware that each year, Kone Foundation office is closed in July and new payment requests will not be processed. All instalments confirmed to be paid will be issued as agreed.

CHANGES TO THE PROJECT

The grant should primarily be used for the purpose for which it was awarded. If the concept of the project, composition of the working group, working percentage or any other key element changes, the project leader must submit a change request via the online service.

Please explain your reasoning on the change request form: What has changed after the grant decision and why? The request for change will be processed within approximately one month of receiving it.

If the project proposal included an anonymous grantee/grantees, the project leader must also submit a change request to confirm the identity of these grantees. Please attach the CV for any new grantee on the “Change request” page. A payment request for this grantee can only be submitted after the change request has been confirmed.

Smaller grants are available (25%, 50% or 75% of full grant) for part-time work. For changes to the work amount, the project leader must send the change request.

For changes to your project’s timetable, it is usually enough to submit a new payment request.

Do you need help filling in the change request? Please see an instructional video.

It is important to note that grantees themselves must contact MELA regarding possible changes to their grants. Before making changes to payment schedules, we recommend that grant recipients inquire from MELA how these changes will affect their insurance coverage and, in particular, the insurance period.

SUSPENSION OF PAYMENTS, BREAKS IN THE PAYMENT SCHEDULE AND GRANT CANCELLATION

If you are granted support from another funding body or accept work in a salaried position, that will affect your Kone Foundation grant; please inform us immediately. You must also inform us of any military service, parental leave to look after children under 3 years of age, or sick leave. For the majority of such cases, the grant will be suspended and paid later.

If a grantee with MYEL insurance goes on sick leave, they may be eligible for a MELA sickness allowance. Payment of the grant must be suspended during sick leave. Further details can be obtained from MELA.

If you have a full-time grant, you can work elsewhere for a maximum of 25% of your total work time without your grant being suspended. Recipients of annual grants can take around one month of holiday per year without their grant being suspended.

If the grant is not used according to Foundation guidelines, any grants not yet received may be cancelled and grants already received may be claimed for recovery. A grant that has not been used within the time periods specified above is considered cancelled. The recipient will not be notified of the cancellation.

SOCIAL SECURITY AND INSURANCE PAYMENTS

The Farmers’ Social Insurance Institution (Maatalousyrittäjien eläkelaitos, MELA) provides pension, accident, and group life insurance coverage for grant recipients in Finland. Statutory insurance payments are approximately 15–20% of the monthly grant.

Kone Foundation will inform MELA of individuals or groups who have received funding for periods of four months or more and whose grants exceed the minimum level for pension payments (€4,506 in earnings per year in 2024).

It is the grantees’ responsibility to contact MELA to arrange pension coverage.

Kone Foundation has not limited the amount of expenses of the personal monthly grant. You may deduct expenses of your personal monthly grant according to MELA’s guidelines.

MELA notifies the tax authorities directly of grant recipients’ pension payments.

It is important to note that grant recipients themselves must contact MELA regarding possible changes to their grants. Before making changes to payment schedules, we recommend that grant recipients inquire from MELA how these changes will affect their insurance coverage and, in particular, the length of the insurance period.

If a grantee with MYEL insurance goes on sick leave, they may be eligible for a MELA sickness allowance. Payment of the grant must be suspended during sick leave. 

Further information on social security for grant recipients can be obtained from MELA at www.mela.fi. The material from the MELA info session held on 9 February 2024 is available here.

TAXATION

Grants are tax-exempt in Finland up to the amount equivalent to the Finnish state grants for artists ( €26 269,46 in 2024). Please note that all full annual grants awarded by Kone Foundation exceed this limit.

Kone Foundation grantees do not send a tax deduction card to the Foundation. The Foundation does not deduct any taxes from the grants, even when the amount of funding already paid to the recipient within the same calendar year exceeds the maximum tax-exempt amount. Kone Foundation notifies the Finnish tax authorities in January of the grants paid out during the previous year. The grant recipient must report it in their tax declaration.

Please consult the tax administration on the deductibility of expenses such as pension payments, books and materials and travel expenses. Kone Foundation is not liable for Value Added Tax, and the Foundation does not have a VAT number.

TAXATION OF OTHER EXPENSES FOR INDIVIDUAL OR WORKING GROUP WITHOUT FINNISH BUSINESS ID

Kone Foundation annually reports the payments of other expenses in grant projects when the applicant is an individual or a working group represented by a project leader. In these cases, the other expenses will all be listed under the project leader and will be visible in the project leader’s pre-completed tax return.

The leader must then explain the other expenses online in MyTax (OmaVero).

FURTHER INFORMATION ABOUT TAXATION MATTERS REGARDING GRANTS

Finnish Tax Administration

GRANT CERTIFICATES

In most cases, the grant approval letter serves as a valid certificate that proves you have been awarded a Kone Foundation grant.

If the grantee requires proof of payment of the grant, the project leader can download a certificate in PDF format from the online grant service on the “Payment request” page for each grantee (Account info > small PDF icon below “Monthly grant recipient”).