COVID-19-related information for private individuals

In order to compensate for increased labour costs during the covid-19 pandemic, a temporary tax reduction has been introduced for the income years 2021 and 2022. You do not have to apply for the reduction - if you are entitled to it, you will receive it automatically.

• Tax reductions (in Swedish)

Many people are working from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and do not need to travel for work to the same extent. Here are a few things to consider if you a receive company car benefit and your travel needs have changed.

Driving long distances for work

If you drive at least 30,000 km a year for work, normally only 75% of the total value of your benefit is taxed. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many people are driving less frequently. If you drive less than 30,000 km a year for work, your employer must declare the full value of your benefit on a monthly basis.

• Further information on driving over 30,000 km for work (Legal guidance, in Swedish) External link.

How to end your company car benefit if you are employed

The usual rules apply with regard to company car benefit – even if you are working from home. If you no longer need a company car, you must take action to end the benefit. There are several ways to do this:

• Apply to the Swedish Transport Agency (“Transportstyrelsen”) for an off-road notification. If your car is taken off the road for just one day or a number of days in a single month, you will still be taxed on the full value of your company car benefit for the month. Company car benefit can only be ended if a car is subject to an off-road notification for a whole calendar month.
  
  
• Return your company car and car keys to your employer, and sign an agreement ending the company car benefit. You must be without the company car for a full calendar month to avoid being taxed on the benefit for that month.
  
  
• If you want to cease the benefit but still need to drive the car for work, you must be able to prove that you have not made any private journeys. The simplest way to do that is to keep an accurate vehicle logbook.

How to end your company car benefit if you are part-owner of a closely held limited company (“fåmansaktiebolag”)

The usual rules apply with regard to company car benefit – even if you are working from home. If you no longer need a company car, you must take action to end the benefit. There are several ways to do this:

• Apply to the Swedish Transport Agency (“Transportstyrelsen”) for an off-road notification. If your car is taken off the road for just one day or a number of days in a single month, you will still be taxed on the full value of your company car benefit for the month. Company car benefit can only be ended if a car is subject to an off-road notification for a whole calendar month.
• If you want to cease the benefit but still need to drive the car for work, you must be able to prove that you have not made any private journeys. The simplest way is to keep an accurate vehicle logbook.

• Further information on ending your company car benefit (Legal guidance, in Swedish) External link.

If you are an employee and have access to free or subsidised parking at work, you will not be taxed on this benefit between 1 January 2022 and 30 June 2022. The rule will come into force on 1 March 2022.

Your employer may offer you testing to check whether you currently have COVID-19 or have previously been infected, with exemption from tax on this benefit. In order for such tests to be exempt from tax on benefits, the disease in question must be classified as a danger to the general public under the Swedish Communicable Diseases Act, which COVID-19 is. Testing is therefore considered to be a form of preventive care.

However, tax relief is not normally available on testing that you pay for yourself, since this counts as a private living expense. In certain circumstances, the expense may be deemed necessary for your job, in which case tax relief will be granted. For example, you might need to travel abroad for work, and be required to present the results of a negative COVID-19 test to enter the country in question.

• Find out more about the Swedish Tax Agency’s position (Legal guidance, in Swedish) External link.

Borrowing fitness equipment from the workplace for home use

Fitness equipment is not a tax-free wellness benefit. This means your employer needs to deduct tax on it from your salary and pay employer contributions – even if you are borrowing the equipment temporarily.

Basic fitness equipment, such as hiking poles, may be stored at home temporarily if used for exercise on your way to or from work.

When your employer provides you with fitness equipment

Fitness equipment is not a tax-free benefit. This means your employer needs to deduct the tax from your salary and pay employer contributions when purchasing fitness equipment for you.

I would like to use a fitness app at home instead of going to a gym. Does this count as a wellness benefit?

Yes. Online services and apps for activities such as yoga, workouts and stopping smoking are tax-free wellness benefits, regardless of whether you use them at home or elsewhere.

• Tax-free wellness activities A-Ö (in Swedish)

If your employer pays for journeys between your home and workplace, this is a benefit that is normally taxable at the full market value. However, if you receive compensation for taxi fares, or other travel benefits to limit the risk of infection during a pandemic (such as COVID-19), these benefits should be valued at a rate comparable to the cost of public transport.

This change applies from March 2020, for as long as the Public Health Agency of Sweden’s recommendations on measures to reduce the spread of infection on public transport are in effect.

If your employer pays for a meal for those working for the company to eat together in a designated room, this is considered as business entertainment, and you are not liable to pay tax on it as an employee. If, on the other hand, your employer pays for a meal or other food for you in some other way, such as by sending the food to your home, it is a benefit on which you are obliged to pay tax.

Your employer can provide you with tax-exempt protective masks for use at work, on business trips, or while commuting to and from work. However, you cannot get tax relief on masks that you purchase yourself for use during work-related journeys. Face masks count as a private living expense – even if their use is recommended on public transport.

If you are working in Sweden during the COVID-19 pandemic, you are only liable to pay tax in Sweden on the income you earn from work in Sweden. You will therefore not be liable to double taxation. You must enter the income on which you are due to pay tax in Sweden in the income tax return that you file for 2022. You should address any remaining income with the other country in question.

If you have a private employer based in Denmark, the special agreement between Sweden and Denmark known as the Öresund tax agreement (“Öresundsavtalet”) might apply to you. According to this agreement, you are taxed on all of your income in Denmark – your normal place of work – on the condition that you usually spend enough time working there. If you live in Sweden and normally work in Denmark for a private employer, the agreement applies if you spend at least 50% of every three-month period working in Denmark during your working hours. Many people are currently working from home involuntarily due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

If the Öresund tax agreement does not apply to you for one or several particular periods, your income from work in Sweden is liable to taxation in Sweden instead of Denmark. You will therefore not be liable to double taxation. You must enter the income on which you are due to pay tax in Sweden in the income tax return that you file in 2022. You should address any remaining income with the Danish Tax Agency.

If you are working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, you are not liable to pay tax in Sweden on income earned for work in your home country. You will therefore not be liable to double taxation.

If you have a private employer based in Sweden, the special agreement between Sweden and Denmark known as the Öresund tax agreement (“Öresundsavtalet”) might apply to you. According to this agreement, you are taxed on all of your income in Sweden – your normal place of work – on the condition that you usually spend enough time working there. If you live in Sweden and normally work in Denmark for a private employer, the agreement applies if you spend at least 50% of every three-month period working in Denmark during your working hours. Many people are currently working from home involuntarily due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

If the Öresund tax agreement (“Öresundsavtalet”) does not apply to you for one or several particular periods, your income from work in your home country is not liable to taxation in Sweden. You will therefore not be liable to double taxation.

When you are working in your home country instead of your ordinary country of work, your employer is still likely to be making tax deductions in the normal way. This can lead to a tax refund in one country, and additional tax needing to be paid in the other.

An agreement exists between the Nordic countries allowing tax to be transferred between different countries when you pay tax in a country other than the one in which you are liable to pay tax. This agreement is called the Nordic Agreement Concerning the Collection and Transfer of Tax, or the TREKK Treaty. Tax paid in the wrong country during the COVID-19 pandemic can therefore be transferred between the various Nordic countries. The process needs to be initiated by a tax agency in one of the countries concerned so that tax can be credited to the country in which income should have been taxed. The TREKK Treaty allows tax to be collected in the country in which income tax is payable. If a transfer of tax between different countries is due, the transfer is normally made the year after the income year in question.

If you live in Sweden and are liable to pay tax here because you are working from home, but the tax has been deducted in another Nordic country, you can mention the TREKK Treaty in your income tax return for 2021 when you declare your income in Sweden.

• Tax transfer – the TREKK Treaty (Legal guidance, in Swedish) External link.
• The double taxation agreement between Nordic countries and the TREKK Treaty (Legal guidance, in Swedish) External link.
• Regulations (1997:1157) on administrative assistance in tax matters among the Nordic countries (Legal guidance, in Swedish) External link.

Short-time work allowance (“permittering”) from Norway

If you live in Sweden and receive short-time work allowance (compensation for COVID-19-related temporary leave, also known as furlough) from the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV), this money should be taxed in Sweden. That means you should declare it as income in your Swedish income tax return.

Short-time work allowance counts as income from employment, since you remain employed and are obliged to return to work when the period of temporary leave ends. This means the tax reduction for income from employment (Earned Income Tax Credit) applies to the allowance.

If you have paid tax on short-time work allowance in Norway, you can request for the equivalent amount to be deducted from your Swedish income tax. You should make this request in the income tax return that you file in 2022, when you declare your short-time work allowance. If you have paid Norwegian social security contributions on this allowance, you can also use your tax return to request a tax reduction equivalent to the amount already paid.

• Deductions for foreign tax

Short-time work allowance from a Nordic country other than Norway

If you live in Sweden and are paid short-time work allowance by the social security agency in a Nordic country other than Norway, the same principles apply as stated in the section above. However, if the allowance is paid by your employer, the Swedish Government will treat it in the same way as normal salary. That means you pay tax on this payment in the country where you earn your salary for as long as you are employed there.

If your income is tax exempt in Sweden according the six-month or one-year rule, and you need to interrupt your stay in another country due to the COVID-19 pandemic, you may still be entitled to tax exemption.

Find out more (in Swedish) on our webpage about tax exemption according to the six-month or one-year rule. The page includes more details of these rules, and examples of how they can be applied in various circumstances.

• Continued tax exemption according to the six-month or one-year rule (in Swedish)

You may be affected by the COVID-19 pandemic if you have income from working on a foreign vessel in international traffic. Continued tax exemption may be allowed in some cases.

Visit efterlevandeguiden.se to find out more about funerals during the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Efterlevandeguiden External link.

At the moment, the Swedish Tax Agency has longer processing times than normal. The typical processing time for an estate inventory is currently six to eight weeks, but it can take longer than this if further investigation or additional information is required.

• Estate inventory (in Swedish)