YEL insurance and an entrepreneur's social security
As an entrepreneur you have no employee pension cover by default. YEL insurance sets not only your future pension but your entitlement to sickness allowance, parental allowance and unemployment security.
When YEL is compulsory
Three conditions, all of which must hold at the same time:
- you are 18 to 68 years old
- you work as an entrepreneur for at least four months in the year
- your estimated work income exceeds 9 423,09 euros a year (2026)
Below the lower limit there is no obligation to take the insurance. That does not mean it isn’t worth considering.
What it costs in 2026
| 2026 | |
|---|---|
| Contribution rate | 24,40 % of work income |
| Lower limit for work income | 9 423,09 €/year |
| Upper limit for work income | 214 000 €/year |
| Discount for a first-time entrepreneur | 22 % of the contribution |
The rate is now the same at every age. The former split: 24,1 % under 53 and 25,6 % between 53 and 62, ended at the close of 2025.
Why the work income matters more than the contribution
This is the part that gets skipped: YEL work income is not only the basis for your pension. It also sets your sickness allowance, your parental allowance and your unemployment security.
Setting the figure low reduces the contribution now and everything else later. If you go on sick leave, the allowance is calculated from the number you chose years earlier.
How to estimate work income
Work income is not turnover and it is not profit. It is an estimate of what the same work would be paid as a salary to an outside worker. Pension insurance companies publish sector-specific recommendations, and that is where to start.
Light entrepreneurs and YEL
Someone working through an invoicing service resembles a wage earner in many respects, so a YEL obligation does not arise the same way it does for a sole trader. The decision is nevertheless made case by case, and it is not worth assuming in either direction. Ask your pension insurance company about your own situation.
If YEL insurance is in force, a statutory health insurance contribution follows from it, and it appears as its own line on our price list. The cover we do offer, accident and liability, is described on insurance for light entrepreneurs.
Frequently asked
- When is YEL compulsory?
- When you are 18 to 68, work as an entrepreneur for at least four months, and your estimated work income exceeds the lower limit: 9 423,09 euros a year in 2026. All three conditions have to be met at once.
- What does YEL cost?
- In 2026 the contribution is 24,40 per cent of YEL work income, the same at every age: the old split of 24,1 and 25,6 per cent by age has ended. A first-time entrepreneur gets a 22 per cent discount on the contribution.
- Does YEL affect anything besides my pension?
- Yes, and this is the part most people skip. Your work income is also the basis for sickness allowance, parental allowance and unemployment security. Setting it too low reduces all of them, not just the pension.
- Do I need YEL as a light entrepreneur?
- It depends on whether you are treated as an entrepreneur or as comparable to a wage earner. Someone working through an invoicing service resembles a wage earner in many respects, but the decision is made case by case. Ask your pension insurance company about your own situation rather than assuming either way.
Tell us what you invoice, and we will work out which plan fits.
A free conversation, at our office or online. We go through whether light entrepreneurship makes sense in your situation, which plan works out cheapest for what you invoice, and whether you want the accident and liability cover. The conversation commits you to nothing.