The most significant element in the CAP reform is the decoupling of most of the EU payments to arable crops and livestock from the production, combining these into a Single Farm Payment scheme. The means by which these payments are to be paid out - whether based on individual farm-based historic payment entitlements, a regional flat-rate average or a combination of the two - is decided by the Member State. The decision of the model is concerned with income distribution, and thus it is politically a sensitive issue. This paper presents the results of an analysis to quantify the agricultural income distribution - resulting from three alternative models - on farms in different production lines in different parts of Finland. The analysis is based on the bookkeeping data of farms participating in the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) of the EU. In the farm-based model, the payments would be made according to the reference years 2000-2002 so that the earlier payments to the farm would be divided by its hectares. This would lead to very different payment entitlements per hectare, even for neighbouring farms, and the model would not react to changes in the production. In the regional model, the support per hectare of arable land would be the same in a certain region. As a scheme, this would be very clear and unambiguous, but it would lead to considerably changes for individual farms compared to the reference years. The main losers would be farms with high payments in the farm-based model. Rapid shift to regional payments per hectare would be unjust especially for intensive cattle farms, and this model might lead to financial difficulties on many farms. Differentiating the area payment (paying a higher rate for grassland than crops) would be a compromise which could alleviate the problems of the cattle farmers inherent in the regional model.