Retiring in Finland: Residence, Taxation of the Pension, the S1 Form and Cost of Living

A citizen of the European Union stays in Finland for up to three months with a valid identity card or passport. Beyond that, Migri registers their right of residence. For a retiree, the ground used is sufficient resources: they must have sufficient funds for themselves and their family, social assistance not being their main means of support. Supporting documents are proof of regular income such as pensions or rents, documents on a property or bank statements (Migri).

• Procedure: the application is filed from Finland, once the permanent stay has begun, for €53 online or on paper; the certificate is valid until further notice and permanent residence is acquired after five years (Migri). InfoFinland specifies that the application is filed within three months of arrival.
• Health insurance: Your Europe (the European Union’s citizens’ information portal) indicates that a person without an occupation shows sufficient resources and comprehensive health insurance; the S1 form meets this requirement for a retiree of a French scheme.
• Reference amount: the official pages consulted set no precise sum of resources. The threshold should be confirmed with Migri before settling in.

The personal identity code and the municipality of residence are then obtained from the DVV (the Digital and Population Data Services Agency) for a planned stay of at least one year; the page on living in Finland details these formalities.

A resident of Finland is taxable on income from all sources, including a pension of foreign source, subject to the tax treaties that allocate the right to tax (Vero).

• Treaty of 11 September 1970 (in force since 1 March 1972): pensions and similar remuneration paid to a resident in respect of past employment are taxable only in the State of residence (article 18). A general scheme pension or supplementary pension of a retiree settled in Finland is therefore taxed in Finland. Remuneration and pensions paid by a State, a local authority or a public body in respect of public functions are taxable in that State, France for a former French civil servant (article 19). Double taxation is avoided by exempting income taxable in the other State, while taking overall income into account to set the rate (article 23).
• New treaty of 4 April 2023: it provides that pensions paid to a resident are taxable only in the State of residence, unless they are paid under the social security legislation of the other State, if the corresponding contributions were deductible there or if the employer contributions did not constitute taxable income there: these pensions then remain taxable also in the State of source, which grants a deduction for the tax borne in the State of residence, within the limit of its own tax (articles 17 and 21). A French general scheme pension could therefore be taxed in both countries, with elimination of double taxation.
• Application over time: the new treaty applies only to income of the years following the one in which it enters into force, and its article 29 protects a retiree who was resident on the date of signature and already received a pension taxable only in their State of residence, as long as they remain resident there without interruption. The progress of the procedure can be checked on impots.gouv.fr.
• Finnish scale: in 2026, Vero gives as an example, for a Helsinki resident aged 17 to 64 who is a member of the Lutheran Church, a tax rate of 24.5% on a €40,000 pension, and adds a tax of 5.85% on the part of pension above €60,000. The health insurance contribution on pensions is 1.49%. The individual rate should be confirmed with Vero.
• French levies: for a retiree whose tax residence is outside France, the CSG and CRDS (French social levies) do not apply; a health contribution of 3.2% on the basic pension and 4.2% on the supplementary pension is levied on general scheme pensions, and 7.1% on those of the self-employed (CLEISS).

The guide to receiving your pension abroad details payment of pensions outside France. Individual advice makes it possible to check the returns to be filed in each country.

A retiree who receives only a French pension, lives in Finland permanently or more than six months a year and carries out no activity there asks their pension fund for the S1 before departure (CLEISS). They submit it to Kela and report their move to the French authorities. Once the S1 is registered, Kela issues a decision on entitlement to care and issues the certificate of entitlement to care in Finland: by presenting it, the patient pays only the client fee in the public system, and is reimbursed for part of private care, medicines and medical transport costs (Kela).

• Co-payment: at most €30.20 per consultation at a health centre and at most €815 per calendar year for all covered public care in 2026; the details are in the page on healthcare reimbursement in Finland.
• National pensions: a retiree who arrived from abroad can access Kela’s national pensions and disability allowances only after three years of residence, periods of work in the EU or the EEA being taken into account (Kela).
• Temporary stay: a person who stays only a few weeks uses the EHIC (European Health Insurance Card, CEAM in French), which is enough for a temporary stay (Kela).

To complement this arrangement with first-euro cover or access to private providers, Expavy helps you compare the options; see also the guide to retirees’ health insurance abroad and the page on retirement insurance abroad.

InfoFinland (March 2025) indicates rents of €10 to €30 per m² and an average price of an owner-occupied home of €2,300 per m², higher in the big cities; the price level of private consumption exceeds the European Union average by about 26%. In the second quarter of 2026, rents of non-subsidised housing fell by 0.3% over a year in Greater Helsinki and rose by 0.4% elsewhere in the country (Statistics Finland).

• Currency: Finland uses the euro, which removes the exchange-rate risk for a French pension paid in euros.
• Health budget: co-payments are capped, but private care, private dental care and optical care remain largely at the patient’s expense; the guide to budgeting for health abroad helps you put a figure on this item.

The choice of place depends on the climate, proximity to health services and the housing budget. Greater Helsinki offers the widest access to services, with a tighter rental market; regional cities such as Tampere, Turku or Oulu offer extensive services at a different pace. The largest rent increases of the second quarter of 2026 were recorded in Rovaniemi (+2.0%), Vaasa (+1.3%) and Joensuu (+1.1%) (Statistics Finland).

The temperature gaps between south and north, very marked in winter, are presented in the page on living in Finland. Spending at least one winter on site before committing to a long lease and checking the distance to health centres help you decide, especially in the north.

Periods worked in Finland give entitlement to an earnings-related pension, funded by contributions whose rates are presented in the page on working in Finland. The Finnish Centre for Pensions (ETK) provides information on the application. Periods completed in France and in Finland add up to open rights: the guide to quarters worked abroad explains the principle of totalisation.

• Ask your pension fund for the S1 before departure, and check the situation of each family member.
• Inform your pension funds of the change of address and of the bank account for payment of the pension.
• Register your right of residence with Migri, within three months of arrival.
• Declare your move to the DVV to obtain the identity code and the municipality of residence.
• Submit the S1 to Kela and obtain the certificate of entitlement to care.
• Register on the register of French nationals living abroad of the French embassy in Helsinki.
• Prepare the income tax return in Finland, where the French pension is taxable under the 1970 treaty.

In the event of a return to France, the insured person files form S1106 requesting the opening of rights with their health insurance fund: the page on returning to France details the procedures.