Five tips for submitting bills to Kela
- The simplest way to send your bills to Kela is to use the OmaKela e-service. Take a picture of the bills or scan them. Please remember to take a picture of all the pages of the bill. Attach the images to your application. If you send in the bills by post or hand them in at a Kela office, keep the originals because Kela will not return them to you.
- Don’t delay! When the amount of social assistance available to you is calculated, any bills are applied to the month in which their original due date was. Social assistance does not cover collection fees or late charges.
- Kela will usually pay the amount charged on a bill to you up front, so that you can pay the bill yourself.
- If you want Kela to pay for example your rent or an electric bill, write Maksetaan laskuttajalle on each bill you want Kela to pay.
- Please note that if Kela pays a bill on your behalf, the amount of basic social assistance paid into your account will be smaller.
- If you have been granted basic social assistance, you can hand in certain bills that become due after you were granted the assistance provided that the due date falls within the period for which you receive social assistance.
- Submitting bills online. Send the bills using the message function ‘Viestit’ (in Finnish) or ‘Meddelanden’ (in Swedish). Select Toimeentulotuki as subject and after that Perustoimeentulotuen lasku.
- Submitting bills by mail or leaving them in the dropbox at the Kela office. Enclose the Kela form titled Form to accompany supporting documents and invoices related to social assistance when sent separately (TO3e), or write your personal identity code on each bill. If you want a bill to be paid directly, write Maksetaan laskuttajalle on it.
- The bills you turn in with your application are taken into account when Kela makes a decision on your social assistance. If you submit bills afterwards and they are accepted, you will get a notice of payment from Kela. Kela will pay the bill only if the amount of social assistance granted to you is enough to cover the bill. Check the decision or notice of payment you get to make sure that all of the bills you asked to be paid directly have been paid.