14.4.2021 | 12:04

Return overpaid financial aid by the end of April

Kansaneläkelaitos - the Social Insurance Institution of Finland
If you want to voluntarily repay student financial aid for 2020, you must do this before the end of April 2021. If overpaid financial aid is not returned in time, it is collected back at 7.5% interest.

Students whose income for 2020 exceeds a specified annual limit can voluntarily return overpaid study grant and student housing supplement payments. The annual income limit and the voluntary repayment provision do not apply to the general housing allowance. Overpaid financial aid must be paid back by Friday, 30 April 2021.

Recipients of student financial aid can access Kela’s e-service, OmaKela (kela.fi/web/en/e-services), to check preliminary information about their annual income and how it affects financial aid. To log in to the service, the students can use their online banking credentials or a mobile ID. The annual income details can be looked up by going to Omat etuudet (My benefits) > Opintotuki (Financial aid) > Tukikuukaudet (Months of financial aid) > Tulovalvonta (Income monitoring) > Vuositulot (Annual income).

Financial aid payments can be returned online. Students can access OmaKela to see for which months they can return financial aid and how much their annual income limit will go up if they voluntarily return aid for those months. The voluntary repayment can be made right away as an online payment through the student’s bank. Alternatively, students can print out the information needed for the payment and return the overpaid financial aid before the end of April.

Income limits can be checked online

Students who have received financial aid for nine months can have up to 12,498 euros in other income. For students with 10 months of financial aid the annual limit is 11,116 euros. They can check their personal income limit in OmaKela or call 020 634 2550 between 9:00 and 16:00, Monday to Friday.

With the exception of study grant payments, all taxable earnings and investment income count as income at their gross value (before any deductions). Income from abroad is also taken into account as income. It is up the students themselves to find out how much other income they have that affects their financial aid. Students can check their annual income by logging into OmaKela or the national incomes register, www.tulorekisteri.fi, or by looking it up on their pre-completed tax return.

Students who have received less financial aid for a particular month may choose to return that month’s financial aid payment. For higher education students, eligibility for financial aid is restored for each month for which they return financial aid.

Students whose income exceeds the annual limit and who do not return excess aid will be required to pay back the aid to Kela. In that case, the amount that must be paid back is 7.5% higher than if the aid had been returned voluntarily.

Last year, 27,500 students returned a total of 19.7 million euros voluntarily. Most of the voluntary repayments are made online.

Kela notifies the tax office of the amounts of financial aid repaid

The tax office will send taxpayers a pre-completed tax return form. Repayments of financial aid received by the end of February are taken into account in the tax return. Kela will notify the tax office of the amounts of financial aid returned voluntarily between March and April. This means that students need not revise their tax return on that account. The tax office will take into account all repayments when calculating students' final tax liability.

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