For grant recipients

All grant recipients must follow the rules regarding reporting, use of the grant, as well as regulation regarding taxation and pension insurance for grant recipients.

General instructions

The Foundation can be named in all publications and presentations done with the support of the awarded grant.

The grant recipient must within one year after the end of the grant period give a written report on the use of the grant to the Foundation. The grant recipient is further obliged to give a report upon request to the Foundation regarding the progress of the research.

The use of the grant must begin no later than the year following the reception.

When a grant is used to hire support staff, the recipient is responsible for withholding taxes, social security, and insurance contributions.

The grant recipient must mention the grant in their tax declaration. 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 Foundation declares all grants to The Farmers’ Social Insurance Institution Mela.

The grant recipients must themselves declare all new grants to MELA and pay the mandatory insurance fees. From the grant, approximately 15 % should be reserved for the insurance costs.

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.

See more on MELA’s website:

Taxation

Grants awarded for scientific research are tax-exempt up to the amount equivalent to the tax-free artist grant (26.355,60 € in 2024). Grants exceeding the tax-free amount are considered taxable income for that year.

As of 2019, grants and scholarships have been considered to be the income of the tax year in which they are paid.

Report on the use of the grant

All grant receivers must send a written report on the use of the grant to the Foundation. The report is submitted through the online application system.

The report should be sent within a year after the end of a grant period.

Recipient’s do not need to send the Foundation copies of scientific articles or doctoral dissertations written with the support of the Foundation. Personal expenses for working grants do not need to be reported to the Foundation nor do you need to send in copies of invoices or receipts to the Foundation.