You must deduct preliminary tax from compensation you pay for work. If you do not pay any cash compensation, you cannot deduct preliminary tax. The same rules apply when an employee receives a taxable benefit such as free housing or car benefit.
You must deduct preliminary tax in one of the following ways, depending on whether the compensation is the payee’s main income or supplementary income:
The tax table that applies to your employee will be stated in decision notice from us regarding preliminary tax (A-tax). If your employee provides you with a decision notice from us about a tax adjustment, you must deduct preliminary tax at the rate specified in the decision notice. You can request information about the tax rate that applies to your employees’ compensation via our e-service “Fråga om skatteavdrag” (“Request information on deducted tax”).
You can deduct more preliminary tax from an employee’s salary than the amount stated in the tax table at the employee’s request.
It is important to calculate the deducted tax as accurately as possible. If you deduct less than the required amount, your employee might have to pay residual tax.
If the total annual compensation you pay to a payee amounts to less than SEK 1,000, you do not have to deduct preliminary tax or pay employer contributions.
If your employee has not received a decision notice regarding preliminary tax (A-tax) or special income tax for non-residents (“SINK”), you must deduct preliminary tax at a higher rate. The higher rate is the tax table rate corresponding to the municipal tax applicable in the area in which you carry out your business activities, plus an additional 10%. The preliminary tax deduction rate is thus equivalent to 110% of the rate stated in the table.
You are going to pay Ari his first monthly salary. He has submitted a preliminary income tax (A-tax) notification to the Swedish Tax Agency but has not yet received a decision notice from us. Ari’s gross salary is SEK 28,000 per month. Tax table 32 corresponds to the municipal tax applicable in the area in which you carry out your business activities. According to the tax table, a preliminary tax deduction of SEK 5,604 applies, and 110% of that amount is SEK 6,164. You therefore need to deduct SEK 6,164 from Ari’s gross salary of SEK 28,000, and pay him a net salary of SEK 21,836.
If you have deducted preliminary tax at a higher rate when paying an employee compensation for work before they have received a decision notice from us regarding A-tax or SINK, you should declare the deducted tax in your next PAYE tax return.
Once your employee has received an A-tax decision notice from us, use the tax table stated in the notice when making salary payments. Do not correct any details regarding deducted tax that you have provided in your previous PAYE tax returns.
Once you have been notified of a SINK decision, comply with it when making salary payments. Do not correct any details regarding deducted tax that you have provided in your previous PAYE tax returns. If you have paid an employee a salary before the Swedish Tax Agency has reached a decision regarding SINK, and you have deducted and declared more tax in your monthly PAYE tax return than the SINK amount due, your employee will be able to submit a request for a refund of the excess amount. If you have deducted less tax from compensation than the required amount, you may be liable to pay the arrears.
If a school or higher education student will earn less than SEK 24,238 during 2024, and will live in Sweden throughout the year, they can provide you with a certificate (form SKV 434) specifying that you do not need to deduct preliminary tax from compensation for work.
You must inform your employee of what you report about them to the Swedish Tax Agency. You can do this by specifying the relevant details on a payslip or in a pension statement. You must provide your employee with this information by your PAYE tax return filing deadline at the latest.
When an employee’s term of employment ends, the compensation you pay constitutes their main income up to and including the month in which you make their final regular salary payment. Final settlement payments also constitute an employee’s main income – provided that they are made by the month following the final regular salary payment at the latest. Use the regular table when deducting tax from final salary payments. Use the one-off payment table when deducting tax from one-off payments in the same month as final salary. You must also use the one-off payment table when deducting tax from final settlement payments made the following month.