Swedish Tax Agency proposes monthly employer’s contributions statements per employee

The Tax Agency has presented a proposal to the government that employers present, from the income year 2018, employer returns on a per person basis.

Currently, employers file employer returns each month including the total amount of paid out salaries and benefits and deducted tax, and employer’s contributions.

The proposal means that the monthly employer returns are to contain details regarding salaries and deducted tax on a per person basis. The annual statement of earnings and tax deductions will no longer be required. On the basis of an e-service tool, the employee will be able to see what the employer has reported to the Tax Agency each month, instead of, as today, waiting until the statement of earnings and tax deductions arrives in January following the end of the income year.

Försäkringskassan (the Swedish Social Insurance Administration), Arbetsförmedlingen (the Public Employment Service), Migrationsverket (Migration Agency) and Åklagarmyndigheten (the Swedish Prosecution Authority) are to have access to the reported details, as well as the offices of the Unemployment funds.

According to the Tax Agency, the proposal will lead to improved efficiency for the employers and the authorities, in addition to improving the control possibilities of the authorities.

Comments

A proposal for monthly statements of earnings and tax deductions was presented by the Monthly Statements Investigation Committee during 2011 (Swedish Government Official Reports 2011:40). The purpose of the proposal, which did not result in any legislation, was, primarily, the same as the purpose of the Tax Agency’s current proposal.

On the basis of informal contacts with the Tax Agency, we have understood that the new proposal takes particular consideration of the fact that it should be possible to build, in technical terms, systems for this reporting which will function, in practice, for both the employers and for the authorities. As the rules are proposed to first come into effect in 2018, there should be sufficient time to adapt the salary reporting systems and other routines to monthly reporting. There is positive experience of monthly reporting systems in, amongst other places, Denmark and Norway.

Author: Kristian Gustavson, former employee at PwC.