Social assistance will be affected by the part of the tax refund that exceeds EUR 50 per month for persons living alone and EUR 100 per month for a family, said the national social insurance institution-Kela in a press release on Monday.
If a person living alone receives a tax refund of EUR 200 in August, EUR 150 of the refund will affect his or her social assistance for August.
A large tax refund can affect social assistance over several months.
Social assistance is a last-resort form of financial aid, which is affected by all the income and assets available to the applicants and their families, including tax refunds.
Most of the people will receive their tax refund in August or September.
The Finnish Tax Administration will confirm the August tax refunds during June. The tax refund may have been taken into account on the basis of preliminary tax information if a decision on social assistance has been made before June.
If the tax refund received by a person is higher than in the preliminary tax information, Kela will review the decision on social assistance. In such a case, the amount of social assistance will be reduced.
If the tax refund is lower than in the preliminary tax information, the tax refund used in calculations for the decision on social assistance is too high, the person must apply for a review of the benefit decision from Kela. The support receivers must also apply for a review of the decision if the payment date of the tax refund changes.
If the tax refund or part of it is collected as payment towards a debt being recovered by the Enforcement Authority, only the remaining part of the tax refund will affect social assistance.
If the entire tax refund is collected by the Enforcement Authority, the tax refund does not affect social assistance.
- Tax refund
- Social support
- Low income people
Source: www.dailyfinland.fi
