Kenelle

Teachers and trainers can invoice their work as light entrepreneurs without setting up a company. You agree on lessons, courses and prices yourself, and Truster takes care of invoices, withholding tax according to your tax card, and statutory reporting. The account is free and you only pay when you invoice, so you can start teaching alongside a full-time job with just a few students or training gigs.

#What kind of teaching and training is done as a light entrepreneur?

Private individuals buy tutoring and homework help for schoolchildren, entrance exam and matriculation exam coaching, language lessons, instrument and singing lessons, and things like IT guidance for older adults. Lessons take place at the student's home, your own premises, or remotely, and many teachers build a weekly schedule from regular students that brings in steady income.

Companies and organizations buy training days, workshops and lectures on topics such as software, communication, workplace wellbeing, or subjects from your own field of expertise. Adult education centers, associations and events also buy courses and lectures, paid either as hourly fees or as fixed amounts per session. As a light entrepreneur, you invoice all of this through the same account.

#Pricing and expenses in the education sector

Private tutoring is usually priced by the hour, and many sell multi-lesson packages that commit the student for a term. Corporate training is typically priced as half-day or full-day packages that include preparation and materials. Lecture fees are agreed per session. Remember to price in preparation work too, not just teaching time.

Typical expenses include learning materials and books, software licenses and remote-teaching equipment, training to develop your own expertise, and travel between students and training venues. Expenses and mileage are logged in the Truster app and factored automatically into your pay.

You can find students through tutoring platforms, notice boards at schools, and parents' Facebook groups, and recommendations from satisfied families fill up your calendar fast. For corporate training, the best channels are LinkedIn, your own network, and former employers. A clear description of your expertise helps you stand out, as does the option of remote lessons, which extends your customer base across the whole country.

#Invoicing and pay with Truster

Regular students are most conveniently invoiced monthly with a combined invoice, while corporate training and lectures are invoiced after the session. A recurring monthly invoice is created quickly in the app based on the previous one. Maksuvahti tracks your receivables and reminds the payer on your behalf for 1.99 € per invoice.

Large organizations can have long payment terms, but you don't have to wait: HetiPalkka pays your wages even before the invoice due date, for 5% of the invoice amount. For users on the monthly plan, Truster Turva is included in the price.

Light entrepreneurship suits the education sector well, since the work often involves many small payers: students' parents, companies and organizations. Everything is invoiced through the same app, and income is paid out as wages, so taxation stays simple with no bookkeeping required.

Light entrepreneurship suits the education sector well, where gigs vary by term: entrance-exam coaching in spring, tutoring in autumn, and training days throughout the year. There's no bookkeeping, and quiet summer months cost nothing. Someone teaching alongside a full-time job gets their fee correctly taxed with no extra paperwork, and every payer is invoiced through the same account.

Remote teaching extends your market across the whole country: you can hold lessons over video and invoice them the same way as in-person lessons. Save each student's rate in the app, and monthly combined invoices are generated in a few minutes, even for a calendar of dozens of students. That way your time goes into teaching, not into typing up invoices.

#How much do you actually take home?

Truster's service fee is 3.99% of invoicing or a flat 55 €/month, which suits those who invoice a lot. The service fee and statutory contributions are deducted from the invoice amount, and withholding tax is applied to your pay according to your own tax card. VAT is generally added to teaching and training services at the standard rate of 25.5%, but some training may be VAT-exempt — you can check this at vero.fi (the Finnish Tax Administration).

Of the service fee options, the percentage-based 3.99% suits a teacher with a few hours a week, while the flat 55 €/month suits a full-time trainer. Price your lessons so the fee covers preparation and materials, not just the length of the lesson itself.

The amount you take home depends on how much you invoice and your tax rate. On our Calculators page, you can try out different hourly rates and training fees and see immediately how much lands in your account.