Reception allowance

If necessary, you can apply for and be granted reception allowance. The possible funds and income you have at your disposal will affect whether you will be granted reception allowance and the amount of the allowance.

You can make an application for reception allowance at your reception centre. You must report in the application all the funds and income that you have at your disposal. You will get more information and advice on how to fill in the application at your reception centre.

The reception allowance is usually paid to a prepaid card. In exceptional cases, it can also be paid in cash. If you have a personal Finnish bank account, the reception allowance can be paid to your bank account.

Information on the provision of social support in Ukrainian and Russian from the government (subsidies from the state for those who have lived for a year).

The reception allowance consists of the basic component and the supplementary reception allowance.

The basic component of the reception allowance is intended for clothing, minor health care costs, expenses on the use of local transport, and telephone costs, for example. The basic component is also intended for food costs if the reception centre does not offer daily meals.

In addition to the basic component, you can apply for supplementary reception allowance for the special needs of you and your family.

Under law, a maximum of 150 euros of your wage income may be excluded from the calculation, meaning that this sum does not reduce the amount of your reception allowance. The rest of your wage income will still affect the amount of the reception allowance.

Under law, a maximum of 50 euros of other income than wage income may also be excluded from the calculation, meaning that this sum does not reduce the amount of your reception allowance. For a family, the corresponding sum is 100 euros. The calculation will regard as expenses the basic component of the reception allowance and your work-related expenses if you have a job.

Children who are in Finland without a guardian are paid spending allowance

Reception centres that are intended for children, so called units for minors, secure the living of unaccompanied minors by arranging full board and lodging for children who are in Finland without their guardian. Units for minors take care of the children’s necessary expenses and additional costs related to their special needs such as hobbies and studies. Children who live in a unit for minors receive spending allowance instead of reception allowance. The spending allowance is intended for the child’s personal expenses. It is not used to secure the child’s living.

Unaccompanied minors who live in private accommodation or in a supported housing unit for persons over 16 years of age are paid reception allowance. The amount of this reception allowance is the same as it is for adults living alone.

Monthly reception allowance and spending allowance in 2024

Reception allowance:

• Persons living alone and single parents 348.50 euros (no meals offered/month), 102.15 euros (meals offered by the reception centre/month);
• Other persons over 18 years of age 294.42 euros (no meals offered/month), 84.12 euros (meals offered by the reception centre/month);
• Children living with their family 222.32 euros (no meals offered/month), 66.10 euros (meals offered by the reception centre/month).

Spending allowance for unaccompanied minors:

• Persons under the age of 16 years 30.04 euros
• Persons 16 to 17 years of age 54.08 euros

More information here.

To set up a bank account you will need either an international passport or a valid Ukrainian ID (passport of the citizen of Ukraine) as proof of identity and a residence permit. Here you can find the instructions in Ukrainian and English on how to set up banking services in the largest bank in Finland Nordea Bank. You can also open an account in other banks, such as Osuuspankki (OP), Aktia, Säästöpankki, Ålandsbanken, S-pankki.

You can withdraw cash at a bank or at an ATM. You can exchange currencies at banks, exchange bureaus or at an ATM.

A natural person is a resident taxpayer in Finland if the natural person resides in Finland. Pursuant to section 11 of the Income Tax Act, an individual is considered to reside in Finland if they have their main abode and home in Finland. Furthermore, an individual who stays in Finland for more than six months is considered an individual residing in Finland. In the case of a resident taxpayer, taxes are levied in Finland for both income received in Finland and income received abroad.

As soon as you got the job, you will need a tax card. You may start work without a tax card, while it should be obtained before getting payed by the employer. In general, those who receive temporary protection do not have social insurance in Finland. If an individual under temporary protection works as an employee receiving monthly wages of €767,98 (1 August - 31 December 2022) or higher, he or she becomes covered by Finnish social insurance. In this case, the health care contribution of health insurance and the employer's health insurance contribution will be collected from each wage payment. Additionally, the health insurance payment called “daily-allowance contribution” must be paid if your wages are higher than €15,128 a year.

The tax authorities will instruct you on how to get the Finnish tax card pay taxes. Call The Tax Administration’s Telephone Service At 029 497 050. You can then find out from the Tax Administration’s employee what you need to do to get a tax card, a tax number that may sometimes be necessary, and the Finnish personal identity code. If you need to come to the tax office yourself, you will get an appointment.

Please check the website of the Finnish Tax Administration for further instructions.

In this case, individual consultation with a professional lawyer is necessary.

There is an ingenious, but not perfect, solution — to prove to the tax authority of the state in which the citizen does not plan to pay taxes that he is a resident of another country where he fulfills this duty.

A natural person has such a right, as Ukraine has valid conventions and treaties on the avoidance of double taxation with 73 countries of the world. Among them are almost all European countries, as well as the USA and Canada. According to these conventions, Ukrainians who pay taxes in Ukraine have the right to avoid taxation in the country of residence.

If such a situation arises in which a citizen falls under the criteria of a tax resident of Ukraine and at the same time another state defines him as its resident, he has the right to contact the tax authorities of the country of residence and make a request to the Ukrainian tax authorities to confirm that he pays taxes.

That is, in order to prevent double taxation, it is necessary to determine the resident status of an individual and, if necessary, obtain a document that will confirm it. But this may require the help of specialists - tax consultants or lawyers. Specialists advise in advance to collect evidence of the presence of a center of economic interests in Ukraine (if you plan to pay taxes only in Ukraine).

Among them may be:

• certificate of payment of taxes in Ukraine;
• certificate of tax resident of Ukraine (soon to be available in electronic form);
• actual place of registration in Ukraine;
• evidence of the presence of an individual entrepreneur registered in Ukraine (registration documents and tax declarations);
• certificates of current accounts in Ukrainian banks;
• certificates about the child's attendance at educational institutions in Ukraine;
• receipts for the payment of utility bills.

If a citizen of Ukraine is recognized as a resident of Ukraine, but paid taxes in another country, the taxes paid can be credited in Ukraine. But if a person does not meet the criteria of a resident of Ukraine, it allows to change the tax resident status and consider another country as the place of tax payment.

It is important to check the registration of a natural person as a subject of entrepreneurial activity in the Unified State Register. Even if the activity has not been carried out for a long time, but the registration has not been terminated, this is a criterion for recognizing a person as a resident of Ukraine, which is accompanied by the obligation to pay taxes on income received abroad in Ukraine.

Being a citizen of Ukraine, but a tax NON-resident, you will still have to pay taxes in Ukraine for some types of income:

• when receiving inheritance and gifts from persons who are not relatives of the 1st and 2nd degrees of kinship;
• when receiving an investment profit;
• when selling/leasing immovable and movable property to a natural person.

Source.

You can transfer money from Finland to Ukraine via an international transfer or money transfer at a corresponding provider or a bank.

For an international transfer at the bank you have to fill out a special form and usually pay fees. Other special money transfer providers (e.g. Western Union, Moneygram, Wise, Revolut, Paypal) are often a cheaper and faster alternative.