Light Entrepreneurship

#What does light entrepreneurship mean?

Light entrepreneurship means invoicing your own work without having your own company. You agree on the job and the price directly with your client and do the work like an entrepreneur — but a invoicing service handles the invoicing, taxes and statutory obligations. Through Truster you send an invoice without a Business ID (Y-tunnus), without bookkeeping and without advance taxes: we invoice your client, withhold tax according to your tax card, and pay you a salary.

In practice, light entrepreneurship combines two worlds. You get an entrepreneur's freedom — choosing your own clients, prices and schedule — but everyday life feels like being an employee: your account gets a deposit, you receive a payslip, and taxes are already taken care of. That's why it's Finland's most popular way to start selling your own skills, whether it's occasional side gigs or a full-time freelance career.

As a light entrepreneur, you're not tied down to anything: opening an account is free, and a monthly fee is never mandatory. With the commission model, you pay 3.99% only on the work you invoice — if you don't invoice, you don't pay anything.

The word 'light' describes the administration, not the work itself. As a light entrepreneur you can do exactly the same work as with a sole proprietorship or limited company — design, construction, driving, consulting, care work. What makes it light is that the invisible side of entrepreneurship has been outsourced to a system that handles it faster and more accurately than anyone could on their own.

#Here's how easy it really is

The whole idea of light entrepreneurship is that you don't need to learn anything in advance. When creating an invoice, the app only asks the essentials: who, what, and at what price. Business client details fill in automatically from the Business ID (Y-tunnus) via the Finnish Trade Register (YTJ), VAT is handled correctly and automatically, and before sending you see, down to the euro, how much you'll take home. Most people send their first invoice within fifteen minutes of installing the app.

Truster works wherever you are: on iPhone, Android and in the browser, always on the same account. You scan receipts with your phone right after a job and log mileage with a couple of taps — deductions are handled automatically. Learn more about the apps on our app page.

After sending the invoice, there's nothing left for you to do: Truster monitors for payment, notifies you when the money has arrived, and handles payroll including all associated costs. Payslips and receipts are archived in the app automatically.

You don't even need to submit your tax card — we fetch it automatically, and tax is withheld from every payment accordingly. Your income is reported to the Incomes Register without you filling out a single form. So ease isn't a marketing word here but a design principle: every step the system can do for you has already been automated.

#Expenses, mileage and per diems

Work generates expenses, and as a light entrepreneur they're deductible too. Truster makes logging expenses so easy that nothing gets missed: scan a receipt with your phone, and the app automatically picks up the merchant, amount and VAT. You log mileage reimbursements with a couple of taps right after a trip, and per diems according to your work trip.

Deductions are automatically factored into your pay and taxation, and if your client has agreed to cover expenses, you add them to the invoice as separate line items. Receipts stay safely stored in the app — no more folders, envelopes or lost documentation.

#Pay on your own schedule: HetiPalkka, Pikamaksu and Maksuvahti

In the basic model, you can withdraw your pay once the client has paid the invoice. But the rhythm of your money doesn't have to be at the mercy of your clients' payment terms — there are three tools for that.

HetiPalkka pays your salary even before the client has paid the invoice. You request HetiPalkka right after sending your invoice, we confirm the invoice with your client and run a credit check — and the payment lands in your account on a business day, often the same day. That way a 30-day payment term doesn't mean a 30-day wait.

Pikamaksu speeds up withdrawal once an invoice has already been paid: the money moves to your account immediately, without waiting for the next payment run. And Maksuvahti takes care of your invoices for you — it sends polite reminders to clients about upcoming and overdue invoices, so you never have to chase your own money.

All three are available directly in the app, invoice by invoice — you use them when you need them, and pay only for what you use. The app always shows the price in euros before you confirm, so you know exactly what you're choosing. That way your cash flow becomes your own decision, not a side effect of your clients' payment schedules.

#YEL and Truster Turva — your safety net sorted

A safety net for entrepreneurial-style work has traditionally required a lot of figuring out on your own: where does your pension accrue, what covers accidents, who compensates you if a client's property gets damaged? At Truster this is built right into the service.

YEL pension insurance — the foundation of an entrepreneur's pension — is set up directly in the app in minutes, in partnership with Ilmarinen. The app tells you when YEL becomes relevant as your earnings grow, and activates the insurance without any separate paperwork. Your pension accrues right alongside your pay.

Truster Turva comes along on every job: it covers accident, liability and legal expenses insurance. If you slip on a job, accidentally damage a client's property, or end up in a dispute, you're not alone and not on your own. The cover is included in the service — there's nothing separate to remember to buy.

Many client companies also require that the person doing the work be insured — working through Truster lets you answer yes without any separate insurance documents. So the safety net isn't just for your own peace of mind: it also makes you a more credible partner for your clients.

#Help is always available — from people and from AI

Questions come up with anything new, which is why help is always within reach at Truster. The app's AI assistant answers your questions instantly, around the clock, with sources: what to do with your tax card, how to log a per diem, whether you can invoice a private individual. The answers are based on Truster's own guidance — not guesswork.

And when a matter calls for a human, our customer service is among the best in the industry: real people who know the everyday life of a light entrepreneur and respond quickly. You can also book a call directly in the app, and we'll help with your specific situation — no hold music.

#Light entrepreneur or sole proprietorship?

Anyone whose work grows will eventually face this question: is it worth staying a light entrepreneur or setting up a sole proprietorship? The rule of thumb is clear. Light entrepreneurship wins when invoicing is occasional or just getting started — you start without any setup process, stop without any winding-up process, and nothing ties you down.

A sole proprietorship starts to make sense when invoicing is regular and expenses are significant: with your own Business ID (Y-tunnus) you get VAT deductions on your purchases, and some business clients prefer working with a partner who has a Business ID. At Truster, a sole proprietorship is light too — bookkeeping, VAT filings and tax matters are handled through the service, so the amount of admin barely increases with the switch.

The best part is that you don't have to decide right away or for good: start as a light entrepreneur and switch to a sole proprietorship once the numbers show it's worthwhile. Our comparison calculator and customer service can help assess your specific situation — and when you switch, your clients, invoices and history come along with you.

#What does light entrepreneurship cost?

Pricing is deliberately simple. With the commission model, you pay 3.99% on your invoicing — only when you invoice, with no monthly fees or hidden costs. For regular invoicing, a fixed €55/month plan suits better, with no commission charged at all. You can switch between the plans at any time, so the price flexes with what you do. Note: the monthly plan must be paid and active before you start the invoiced work and must remain valid until the pay is disbursed — otherwise the invoice isn't covered by the monthly plan, and a 3.99% commission is charged instead.

Additional services are charged only when used: HetiPalkka is 5% per invoice, Pikamaksu is €25 per payment, and Maksuvahti is €1.99 per invoice. None of these are mandatory — they're available whenever they're useful to you.

#Who is light entrepreneurship for?

Light entrepreneurship suits anyone who wants to sell their skills without setting up a company: freelancers, gig and platform workers, students and side-hustlers, and anyone who wants to try entrepreneurial-style work with a low threshold. We've put together dedicated pages for different situations — check out, for example, the freelancers page or the guide for side-hustlers.

Typical Truster light entrepreneurs include food couriers and delivery drivers, construction professionals, cleaners, photographers and videographers, software developers, graphic designers, translators, trainers, massage therapists, musicians and event staff. What they have in common isn't the industry but the way they work: on their own terms, without wanting to run a company around it.

And if your work grows, Truster grows with you: switching to a fixed monthly price, YEL insurance, and eventually maybe even your own sole proprietorship — all on the same account, with nothing starting from scratch. Light entrepreneurship isn't a dead end, it's a starting line.

#How to get started — even today

Becoming a light entrepreneur doesn't require a plan, a startup grant, or notifying anyone. Download the Truster app to your phone or open it in your browser, verify with your online banking credentials, and your account is ready — we fetch your tax card automatically in the background. The whole process takes a few minutes and doesn't require a single form.

For your first invoice, all you need is what you already know: who you did the work for, what you did, and what you agreed to be paid. The rest — VAT, tax withholding, filings, payment monitoring — is handled by Truster. And if anything is unclear, the AI assistant is right there to advise, and our customer service is just a phone call away.

The account doesn't commit you to anything either: if no gigs come in, nothing is charged, and the account will wait for next time, even a year later. So it's worth trying light entrepreneurship as soon as your first invoiceable job is on the horizon — the barrier won't get any lower than this.