In To, the joint Kela and Finnish Tax Administration service point, will continue operations at least until the end of 2010. Established one year ago in November 2008, the service point offers initial assistance and advice to foreign workers coming to work in Finland.
The In To service point has to date advised more than 3,000 foreign workers, self-employed persons and students moving to the Helsinki metropolitan area, as well as employers hiring foreign workers. The largest customer groups are persons from such countries as Estonia, Russia, India and Great Britain. With its multi-lingual staff, In To can help customers in English, Estonian, Russian and Hindi, among other languages. Staff typically help customers get started with matters related to social security or taxation.
The basic idea behind In To has been received well, says Anna Öhman, deputy senior tax clerk at the Finnish Tax Administration. Customers have appreciated the possibility to take care of several things in one visit and - what is more - in their native language. It is important to make the immigration process as easy as possible for work-based immigrants, since many of them have little in the way of personal support networks to fall back on in Finland.
For example, customers may not be aware that they are expected to apply for social security themselves, coming from a country with a different type of social security system. Many do not contact Kela until they are unemployed, at which point they may no longer be eligible for social security coverage in Finland, says Sari Katajamäki, customer service manager at Kela’s local office in Kamppi, Helsinki.
The In To website http://www.infopankki.fi/en-GB/into/ contains key facts about social security and taxation. Just as with personal visits to the In To service point, Estonians and Russians are the two largest groups of visitors.
Customers can contact In To also through the e-mail address provided on the website. With nearly 500 e-mail inquiries to date, customer assistance by e-mail has become a routine part of the service point’s daily operations. Located in Autotalo near the Kamppi metro station, the In To service point is open Mondays to Fridays at 9-12am and 1-4pm.
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