Advice on salary

[gpranoto]

Hi All,

I'm new to this forum and notice that it's got some useful information regarding Finland. I'm being recruited by a large corporation in Espoo, Finland. They're offering me 75k Euro in annual salary, Since I'm not at all familiar with the country and living cost, what can I get for this kind of money? Can someone advice me on rental prices, food, utility bills and such? Will this amount allow me to live comfortably in Espoo/Helsinki area? I'm moving there with my wife and 2 year-old child. Thanks for your help.

Regards,
Gerd

[Pursuivant]

So 6 grand a month? Puts you in a high tax bracket, but shouldn't be bad at all. You must understand though its all then got to do with location where you live, travelling etc. you can spend a lot or a little. But still I'd say not bad unless your "comfortable" is a mansion where domestic servants feed you honey-glazed-dormice...

OK, just off the top a ballpark figure, your tax% with 75K gross salary will be something like 32,5%. Now then depending how you've fiddled the contract if the company provides housing and car those are then either calculated into the salary or on top. OK, say you are making 6000 per month. if you get housing 1500 and car 500 on top, you pay tax for 8000 salary. If the housing and care are included in the salary of 6000, then onto your bank account appears 4000 minus the taxes of the 6000.

Living costs - what would you be expecting to get... we can tell then what you can have.

[finlandforumuser]

Hi All,
They're offering me 75k Euro in annual salary

Pretty alright salary. In IT world this is industry standard for Lead/Architect roles.

[Pursuivant]

Darn, my company is cheap.

[Mook]

He meant in Europe, not Finland....

75k a year is a fairly reasonable salary. Does that include the holiday pay? (and make sure that you negotiate paid holidays in your 1st year)

[gpranoto]

Hi All,

Thanks for all your replies. I'm looking to live in Espoo where the company location is. I was told this is slightly cheaper than Helsinki. I won't be getting any house or car or anything, so 75k is the taxable amount. And yes, it includes holiday pay. What I call comfortable is maybe a 2 bedroom apartment and eating out on the weekends. Nothing too fancy.

Regards,
Gerd

[Pursuivant]

It depends *where* in Espoo, as its got its posh neighbourhoods. Also how to get to work as crosstown traffic generally sucks, so if you are close by but "wrong direction" you're shafted.

[sinikala]

Hi All,

Thanks for all your replies. I'm looking to live in Espoo where the company location is. I was told this is slightly cheaper than Helsinki. I won't be getting any house or car or anything, so 75k is the taxable amount. And yes, it includes holiday pay. What I call comfortable is maybe a 2 bedroom apartment and eating out on the weekends. Nothing too fancy.

Regards,
Gerd

Finland works on the basis of both partners working. If your wife doesn´t work and your total family income is €75k p.a., you will be able to live ok, but it will be equivalent to a couple on €3k / month each (but you´ll be paying more tax than if both of you were earning €38k each). Which doesn´t sound so great.

Here are some stats about salary in Finland

http://www.stat.fi/tup/suoluk/suoluk_palkat_en.html

It depends where you come from, with a name like yours, presumably Germany?- in which case, you may find the cost of living here to be expensive, typically people living in Finland have had low purchasing power (disposable income) compared to other mainland Europe countries - from the old EU 15.

[Rip]

It's only one child, only two bedroom apartment and if does not need be the fanciest restaurant in the city, I do not see why it would not work.

[Rip]

OK, just off the top a ballpark figure, your tax% with 75K gross salary will be something like 32,5%.

Deduct further 5% for the mandatory pension and other insurance costs.

[Rip]

One living cost related recent thread: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=44560
If you make comparison of the nominal and PPP adjusted GDPs between Germany and Finland, you''l probably find that the difference in price levels (in percentages) between the two countries has been estimated to be somewhere in the higher teens.

[georgepeen]

Thanks for the info, my partner is considering in settling in Finland after our tour there a few years ago.I would definitely lead her to this forum.

[victorg]

I was asking more or less the same question here a month ago or something. My case is that I'm going to move to Finland (as well) and my proposed salary is 75K (as well)
I found this resource quite useful, don't 100% sure that it shows real picture on finnish job market, but if I look on other countries number, like Denmark or Russia, which I know, the numbers seems to be true:
http://www.payscale.com/index/FI/Job

So seems like 75K is quite fair wage for middle-level management position or IT-professionals like project managers and architects.
From taxes point of view you (and hopefully me) should be able to apply for 24 month flat rate for foreign citizens working in Finalnd: http://www.vero.fi/?path=488,494,497&do ... nguage=ENG

"A foreigner working in Finland may qualify for a special income tax at the flat rate of 35 percent during a 24-month period if he receives any Finnish-source income for duties requiring special expertise. The key employee must earn a regular cash salary of at least €5,800 per month. According to the temporary Act, it is further required that the key employee has not been a resident in Finland at any time during the five years preceding the year when he accepts employment in Finland. "

[sinikala]

So seems like 75K is quite fair wage for middle-level management position or IT-professionals like project managers and architects.
From taxes point of view you (and hopefully me) should be able to apply for 24 month flat rate for foreign citizens working in Finalnd: http://www.vero.fi/?path=488,494,497&do ... nguage=ENG

"A foreigner working in Finland may qualify for a special income tax at the flat rate of 35 percent during a 24-month period if he receives any Finnish-source income for duties requiring special expertise. The key employee must earn a regular cash salary of at least €5,800 per month. According to the temporary Act, it is further required that the key employee has not been a resident in Finland at any time during the five years preceding the year when he accepts employment in Finland. "

Is that the current situation? The page you link to is dated 2005.

There is a newer page which mentions 48 months.

http://www.vero.fi/?article=4851&domain ... nguage=ENG

Foreign key employees resident in Finland
A foreigner working in Finland for over 6 months may qualify for a special tax at the flat rate of 35 percent during a 48-month period if he receives any Finnish-source income for duties requiring special expertise. The key employee must earn a regular cash salary of at least € 5 800 per month. According to the temporary Act, it is further required that the key employee has not been a resident in Finland at any time during the five years preceding the year when he accepts employment in Finland. The specialist’s tax-at-source card has to be applied for within 90 days from the beginning of the working in Finland.

The insured’s sickness insurance fee is not collected. The employer’s social security fee and old-age pension insurance premium are collected in a normal way unless the employee has the certificate of a posted employee (E 101 / A1).

This temporary tax rule concerns employment contracts that have started on January 1, 2007 and after that.

[finlandforumuser]

I found this resource quite useful

Indeed this resource is useful. However it doesn't take into account very many specifics,such as, experience in the industry, mainstream or niche skills, entry salary or several years in company, draft the employer to a competitor, work permit status, etc. This data is very heavily affects the end result. On practice it can vary from 3k to 6k before tax.