Taxes in Sweden the Swedish Edition Have English Transla- (Skatter I Sverige 2012) in Swedish
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2Taxes0 in 1Sweden2 An English Summary of Tax Statistical Yearbook of Sweden Preface Preface The Swedish Tax Agency has just pub- tion of Skatter i Sverige 2012. All tables in lished the 15th edition of Taxes in Sweden the Swedish edition have English transla- (Skatter i Sverige 2012) in Swedish. The tions, and references to them are enclosed purpose of the publication is to present an in square brackets in this English summary. overview of the Swedish tax system as well The complete Swedish edition, together as up-to-date statistics on relevant aspects with this English edition, are available on of taxation. our website www.skatteverket.se. The publication can be used as a basis for researches and public debates, where Swedish Tax Agency, December 2012 tax policy is one of the most important and controversial issues. In addition, the book serves as a guide to the many data sources Ingemar Hansson that are available in this field. Director General This publication, Taxes in Sweden 2012, is an English summary of the Swedish edi- 3 4 Contents Introduction . 7 Part I: TAXES IN A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE . 7 1 Classification of taxes . 7 2 General government sector in the national accounts . 8 3 Taxes and income distribution . 9 3.1 Overview ..................................................... 9 3.2 Direct taxes paid by individuals .................................... 9 3.3 Redistribution of income ........................................ 10 3.4 Income distribution............................................. 10 3.5 Distribution of wealth........................................... 11 4 Swedish taxes in an international perspective . 12 4.1 Living standards ............................................... 12 4.2 The general level of taxation (the tax quota).......................... 12 4.3 The structure of the tax system .................................... 12 4.4 Taxes on labour ............................................... 13 4.5 Taxes on capital ............................................... 14 4.6 Taxes on goods and services ...................................... 14 4.6.1 Value Added Tax (VAT) ................................... 14 4.6.2 Excise duties ............................................ 14 4.6.3 Contributions to the EU budget.............................. 14 5 Opinions on the tax system, tax evasion and the . 14 Tax Agency’s compliance control . 14 5.1 Introduction .................................................. 14 5.2 The opinion of the tax system..................................... 15 5.3 The opinion of filing tax returns ................................... 15 5.4 Confidence in the Tax Agency and the opinion of the Tax Agency’s counteracting tax evasion .......................... 16 5.5 The citizens’ own behaviour and their knowledge of tax evasion .......... 16 Part II: TAX BASES AND TAX REVENUES . 17 6 Overview . 17 6.1 All tax bases and Tax revenue .................................... 17 6.2 Tax arrears and collection losses................................... 17 7 Taxes on labour . 19 7.1 Employment and income ........................................ 19 7.2 Income tax on earned income (employment and business income) ......... 19 7.3 Social security contributions ...................................... 21 7.4 Tax on life assurance for employed and self-employed persons............ 21 7.5 Tax reduction for household services and house repairs ................. 21 7.6 Assessment and collection........................................ 22 8 Taxes on capital . 22 8.1 Overview .................................................... 22 8.2 Real estate tax and real estate fee .................................. 23 8.3 Household financial wealth ...................................... 23 5 8.4 Individual capital income tax ..................................... 24 8.5 Tax on dividends to non-residents ................................. 25 8.6 Tax on pension fund earnings..................................... 25 8.7 Company income tax ........................................... 25 8.8 Stamp duty ................................................... 25 8.9 Wealth tax and inheritance and gift taxes ............................ 25 9 Taxes on consumption and input goods . 25 9.1 Overview .................................................... 25 9.2 Value Added Tax (VAT)......................................... 26 9.3 Excise and customs duties........................................ 26 10 Business taxation . 30 10.1 Introduction .................................................. 30 10.2 The business sector ............................................. 30 10.3 Some general principles of business taxation.......................... 31 10.4 Taxation of limited companies and other legal entities .................. 31 10.5 Taxation of private firms and partnerships (business income of individuals) ..33 Part III: OTHER TAX- RELATED TOPICS . 34 11 Tax errors and tax evasion . 34 11.1 Introduction .................................................. 34 11.2 Undeclared income from work .................................... 34 11.3 The Swedish Tax Agency assessment of the tax gap .................... 37 12 Tax control and tax fraud . 38 12.1 Introduction .................................................. 38 12.2 Administrative sanctions......................................... 38 12.3 Justice system sanctions on tax offences ............................. 40 13 The Swedish tax administration . 41 13.1 The political system ............................................ 41 13.2 The tax collecting system ........................................ 41 13.3 The Swedish Tax Administration and the Enforcement Authority ......... 41 13.4 Customs ..................................................... 42 13.5 Other authorities .............................................. 42 13.6 Taxes and the judicial system ..................................... 42 13.7 Appeals against tax decisions ..................................... 42 13.8 Tax fraud .................................................... 43 13.9 The cost of tax administration .................................... 43 14 A century of taxes . 43 14.1 Development of the tax system 1900-1950 ........................... 43 14.2 The tax system, 1950-1970....................................... 43 14.3 Some tax policy trends since 1970 ................................. 43 Appendix . 46 6 Taxes in Sweden 2012 Introduction finally the historical development of taxa- This publication is a summary of the Swed- tion in Sweden. ish edition of Taxes in Sweden 2012, which This summary also contains an appendix is produced by the Analysis Unit (An- that gives a broad picture of the Swedish alysenheten) of the Swedish Tax Agency tax system and how it is run. (Skatteverket). The yearbook contains an The yearbook contains relevant annual overview of the Swedish tax system, as data available up to September 2012. Since well as up-to-date statistics on tax bases, income tax statistics depend on the out- tax revenue and other relevant aspects of come of the annual assessment, a complete taxation. picture of taxes on labour and capital can Unlike most outlines of the Swedish tax only be obtained for the income year 2010, system, which are written from a legal which was assessed in 2011, and earlier. viewpoint, this yearbook has been put to- Therefore, 2010 will serve as the normal gether from a tax policy perspective. This reference year throughout the book. All means that the description of the tax sys- monetary values are expressed as Swedish tem is structured by tax bases rather than kronor (SEK). along the lines of the legal framework. The In order to make the Swedish edition main focus is on the development of these of the yearbook accessible to an English- bases and of tax revenue. Other issues cov- speaking audience, this English summary ered are the impact of taxes on income dis- will provide a gateway to the bilingual tribution, compliance and public attitudes tables contained in the Swedish edition of to taxes and tax authorities. the yearbook. References to the tables are This summary consists of 3 parts and is placed within square brackets. For exam- essentially structured in the same way as ple: a reference to table 7.19 in chapter 3 the Swedish edition of Taxes in Sweden of the Swedish edition is written as [7.19]. 2012. Chapters in Part III have been re- The yearbook is also available on the moved from the Swedish edition this year Swedish Tax Agency’s website www.skat- and are available only in this summary. teverket.se. Copies of the printed version Part I contains some general definitions, can be ordered from Skatteverket, An- an overview of the tax system from a mac- alysenheten, SE-171 94 Solna, Sweden; or ro-economic perspective, a comparison of via editorship: [email protected] the Swedish taxes to taxes in other EU and OECD- countries and finally some results from the latest opinion surveys. Part II Part I: TAXES IN A GLOBAL which is the core part of this publication PERSPECTIVE is about all tax bases and tax revenues: An overview of all tax bases and tax revenues including tax arrears and collection losses, 1 Classification of taxes taxes on labour, taxes on capital, taxes Taxes may be classified in several ways. on consumption and input goods and the A common distinction is the one made be- business taxation. Part III finally deals with tween direct and indirect taxes. Another specific topics and issues concerning taxa- basis for classification is represented by the tion and tax policy, i.e. the impact