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Waiver of recovery and reduction of amount to be recovered

Kela can in certain situations waive a recovery or reduce the amount being recovered.

Kela takes the following into account:

  • your social situation, e.g. whether you are somebody’s custodian
  • your economic situation
  • whether receiving the overpaid benefit caused you to lose some other social benefit
  • whether the overpayment was caused by Kela or some other authority
  • the time elapsed since the overpayment.

The overpayment is recovered for the whole time period, but at the most for five years from the payment date. If the overpayment amounts to less than €150, the sum is not always recovered.

The recovery is not waived and the amount to be recovered is not reduced if the overpayment is due to dishonest behaviour. If the beneficiary is dead, the recovery is only affected by the wealth of the estate.

Before a decision on recovery is made you will usually be heard in the matter. This means that you have the opportunity to state your own view.

Contacting Kela on recovery-related issues:

Neglecting to reply does not prevent a decision from being issued on your case. Kela makes the decision on the basis of available information.

Waiver of recovery after a decision on recovery has been made

Kela may waive a recovery completely even after a decision on recovery has already been made.

A prerequisite for a waiver of the recovery is that

  • steps have been taken to recover the debt through payment reminders and set-off,
  • measures have been taken for a long time to recover the debt through enforcement action and the customer's financial situation has weakened permanently so that it will not be possible to recover the debt in the future either
  • carrying out the recovery would be unreasonably costly relative to the amount being recovered.

Waiving a recovery is possible on Kela's or the customer's initiative. The customer is informed about the waiver. Waiver of a recovery is always decided on by Kela's Overpayment Recovery Centre.

Once the decision to recover has been made, Kela can no longer reduce the amount being recovered. The only alternative is that Kela waives the recovery completely.