Warehouse employee

Liina is about to start in her first job. Soon after her job interview, she heard that she got a job working at the warehouse of a grocery store. Liina is excited about her new job and decides to find out everything she needs to know well beforehand.

Liina’s future supervisor asked her to send her tax card to the payroll department during her first working week. She has kept safe the tax card that was sent to her by post at the beginning of the year. The tax card remains valid until the end of the year and for next January. However, Liina is not sure about the income limit indicated in the tax card.

Liina is paid hourly wages. To estimate the income limit for her tax card, Liina calculates her total income for the whole year. Her calculation is based on the number of working hours estimated in her employment contract and her hourly wages. As a result, she can estimate her monthly gross income. This means income from which nothing has yet been deducted. Based on her monthly wages, Liina estimates her income for the rest of the year. Liina finds that the income limit defined in her tax card is too low and decides to increase it early.

She creates a new tax card in the MyTax service. Liina saves the tax card on her computer in PDF format and sends it to the payroll department by secure email as instructed by her supervisor. Her employer would also have accepted an image or screenshot of the tax card.

Liina receives general housing allowance from the Social Insurance Institution of Finland (Kela). Because her new job increases Liina’s income, she submits her income data to Kela for adjusting the housing allowance. She enters the same estimate that she calculated for her tax card in the adjustment application.

When the first payday is approaching, Liina checks her payslip. Liina’s employer uses online banking services to send payslips, and Liina finds her payslip in her online banking service. This is where payslips can usually be found. The payslip indicates gross wages and the amount that has been deducted from the wages in taxes and earnings-related pension and unemployment insurance contributions. The payslip also shows the total wages paid by the employer during the year.

Liina’s checklist:

• Check your tax card’s income limit. If you consider your income limit to be too low for the rest of the year, create a new tax card in the MyTax service (vero.fi/en/e-file/mytax).
• Send the tax card to your employer early. If required, ask how the tax card needs to be sent.
• If you receive any benefits, including housing allowance, notify Kela of your changed income.
• Check your payslip to verify that your wages have been paid correctly.
• Ask for help if you need it. Your supervisor is there to help you!