1) The grant may be used only for the costs mentioned in the application and confirmed in the award letter. The amount awarded may be different from the amount applied and some cost items may be rejected. A travel grant will not be awarded and its use will not be allowed for daily allowances (per diem), meal compensation, travel insurance, mileage, or similar costs.

2) The grantee must commit to execute the project as described in the grant application; keep record on all the costs; and report on the execution, costs, and results as instructed.

The grantee must sign a commitment to follow the instructions for grantees. Recipients of a personal scholarship must also present a letter of commitment from the organisation, in which the research will be conducted. In this commitment letter, the place of research must commit to provide the basic research infrastructure for the grantee (workspace; needed equipment; computer, telephone, mail, and library services; and other basic infrastructure). The commitment form must be printed from the electronic grant management system (link at the bottom of this page) when the grantee submits his/her first request of payments. The form signed by a competent officer of the place of research will be mailed to the secretary of the SMS (PO Box 18, 01303 Vantaa). The grant may be paid after the office of SMS has received the signed form.

3) The payment request will be submitted using the electronic grant management system. If the grantee does not submit the payment request by the end of the awarding year, the grant will be considered rejected and it cannot be used later. The grantee must inform the secretary SMS immediately if he/she will not use an awarded grant.

4) Payment of a personal scholarship may be postponed to a later occasion because of the grantee’s maternity or parent leave, military or civil service, or long and serious illness. The transfer will be accepted only if the grantee informs SMS about an acceptable reason for postponing the scholarship immediately when the reason appears and the scholarship will be used no later than the year following the year, for which the grant is awarded. A personal scholarship cannot be used for part-time work or secondary employment.

Change of use or postponement of a research grant must be applied from the board of the SMS. The application must be written. The board will consider each case individually.

All other grant types (e.g. travel grants) must be used for the exact purpose mentioned in the application (e.g. change of meeting is not permitted).

5) The grantee must report to the board of the SMS on the execution, costs, and results of the project no later than by the end of the year, for which the grant is awarded. The report must be prepared using the electronic management system. Copies of all receipts and other justification documents must be attached to report as pdf file(s). Unused grant or unused part of it must be returned to the bank account indicated by the SMS by the end of the granting period.

6) Recipient of a personal scholarship must take a statutory grantee’s pension insurance if the scholarship is awarded for a minimum of 4-month-work in Finland and the scholarship is equal to or higher than 1149.45 euros per month. This requirement does not apply to travel grants or research grants that cover only research expenses. The statutory insurance payment, which the grantee pays him/herself, is about 12% of the awarded scholarship. The insurance is tax-deductible. The SMS will inform the Mela about the grant, but the grantee must him/herself apply for the insurance within three months after the beginning of the scholarship period. Use this link for more information on the statutory pension insurance.

7) The SMS informs tax authorities about all grants and scholarships equal to or higher than 1000 euros per year and grantee. The grants and scholarships from SMS are tax-free if the total amount of all scholarships, grants, and awards from private foundations, the state, and Nordic Council do not exceed, after deduction of costs, the amount annually confirmed by the Finnish tax authorities. In 2012, the maximum tax-free total of grants and scholarships was 19 444.88 euros per year and grantee (monthly 1620.40 €). More information can be found in the web site of the Finnish Tax Authority (when writing this, the maximum for 2013 is not confirmed).

Typically, the grants and scholarships of the SMS are tax-free but they must be announced to tax authorities. The grantee must him/herself inform the tax authorities about use of a grant that is not a personal scholarship but is used for hiring auxiliary workers, purchase of equipment etc.

8) Hiring of auxiliary workers must accomplish with the current regulations and practices of the place of research. All costs, including the applicable side costs, must be budgeted and paid.

Link to the Electronic grant management system.

Contact: Pekka Nygren, pekka.nygren (at) metla.fi, tel. 040 801 5596