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CALCULATOR: How much will you gain from the boost to Sweden’s employment tax credit

Sweden's government has announced plans to increase the employment tax credit, a rebate given to everyone who has a job. Here's how much you stand to gain.

CALCULATOR: How much will you gain from the boost to Sweden's employment tax credit
A pile of Swedish kronor notes and coins. Photo: Fredrik Sandberg/TT

If you have a job in Sweden and do not depend on benefits for your income, you qualify for the jobbskatteavdraget, or employment tax credit, a tax reduction brought in by the government led by the Moderate leader Fredrik Reinfeldt in 2007 to reward those in work. 

The tax was a key part of that government’s focus on the arbetslinje, or work line, the idea behind which is that people should always be better off if they have a job than if they live on benefits. 

As a percentage of income, those on the lowest salaries get the biggest tax reduction, with the maximum tax reduction next year set at 10,633 kronor. 

The government broke down how people in different income brackets will be affected by the increase in jobbskatteavdrag in a document posted alongside the press release.  

The column on the impact of “indexation” or indexeringen, includes the impact of three other tax reductions or thresholds which are adjusted each year in line with developments in salaries and inflation. These include a rise in the so-called skiktgräns, the point at which earnings qualify for state income tax, increases to the so-called grundavdrag, another tax reduction, and also the indexation of the employment tax reduction itself.

In 2024, the government paused the rise in the skiktgräns, but in 2025 it will once again rise with the consumer price index, with the government expecting the threshold to rise from 51,275 kronor a month to 53,590 kronor a month. 

So how much do you stand to get? 

  • Unemployed. If you have had no income from employment at all you are not eligible for the jobbskatteavdrag, and would have received no tax reduction in either 2024 or 2025.
  • Low income. People on incomes of 200,000 kronor a year will see the increase in the tax credit alone reduce their tax by 106 kronor a year compared to what they paid in 2024, and their tax reduced by 716 kronor once indexation is included. 
  • Median and average. People earning the median salary of 462,000 per year will see their tax bill decline by 3,671 kronor, 3,049 kronor of which will come as a result of the increase in the employment tax reduction alone. People earning the average salary of 517,200 kronor will see their tax bill fall by 4,464 kronor compared to what they paid in 2024, with 3,198 kronor coming from the increased employment tax reduction. 
  • High incomes. The biggest increase in the tax reduction will go to those earning between 1 million and 1.5 million kronor a year, with their taxes reducing by 10,633 kronor, the lion’s share of which is coming from the impact of indexation, with only 3,197 kronor coming from the increased employment tax reduction.  

Member comments

  1. What if I’m on parental leave and getting money from forsakringkassan and top up from my employer. Will it be traleated as a regular income or a benefit?

    1. The money from forsäkringskassan won’t qualify as job income for the purposes of jobbskatteavdrag, but I’m not sure about the top-up. I’ll check with the agency.

      1. Hi! I asked the Swedish Tax Agency, and they said that top-up payments to your parental leave from your employer do count as employment income for the purposes of Jobskatteavdrag. Hope that helps!

  2. Will we see this reduction reflected on the tax declaration next year or does this apply for 2025 and we will see it reflected in the tax declaration in April 2026?

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MONEY

How will Sweden’s new budget affect foreign residents?

The Swedish government will present its autumn budget on September 19th, but how will the proposals we know about so far, like measures to attract foreign talent and money for Swedish classes, affect foreigners?

How will Sweden's new budget affect foreign residents?

Measures to attract foreign talent

The budget will include a range of reforms with the aim of improving the Swedish economy and Swedish competitiveness, with special emphasis on attracting talent and promoting investment in the country.

This, among other things, includes 5 million kronor to Visit Sweden in order to promote Swedish tourism, 8 million kronor on attracting foreign talent in 2025, and 16 million kronor to Business Sweden in order to identify and contribute to solving obstacles to investment for Swedish companies and foreign companies in Sweden, as well as attracting strategic investment.

The government will also set aside 10 million kronor in 2025 for an international investment conference, in order to position Sweden as an attractive destination for foreign investment.

Money towards integration and Swedish classes

The government also plans to spend 196 million kronor on increased integration efforts, including three-year intensive courses for children who do not speak any Swedish at home and extra money for after-school fritids clubs to provide Swedish classes for children with foreign backgrounds.

Around 31 million kronor would go towards assisting integration for foreigners who are stay-at-home parents, especially women, in order to assist them in finding work. This would include language lessons, as well as study and career advice for refugees in particular, as well as other women born abroad.

Another 4 million kronor of the 196 million kronor total would go towards mapping foreigners’ Swedish skills – reading, writing and listening – in order to understand which integration measures would be useful.

Finally, 40 million kronor would go towards language courses for certain key workers, like staff in elderly care homes and preschools, a policy which was originally introduced by the former government in 2021. This would last until 2026.

Tax-free investment savings accounts

ISKs (Investment Savings Accounts) were introduced in 2012 as a way for people in Sweden to easily invest in shares and funds. An estimated 3.5 million people in Sweden have an ISK, with 75 percent of these accounts having a balance of 300,000 kronor or less.

Currently, they’re not subject to capital gains tax, but they are instead taxed at a fixed rate – known as schablonsskatt – an annual rate paid on the entire value of the sum held.

Under the new proposal, tax on ISKs, as well as KFs, another type of investment savings account taxed in the same way, would be scrapped for any accounts with a balance of less than 150,000 kronor from next year, rising to 300,000 in 2026. 

For foreigners living and working in Sweden, this will make saving in equities, bonds, and funds while resident in Sweden significantly more attractive.

As the new Pan-European Personal Pension Product (PEPP) is also included, anyone living in Sweden can even keep their tax-free savings accounts when moving to another EU country – even if they’re not an EU citizen.

Tax cuts

Sweden’s government has announced plans to increase jobbskatteavdraget or employment tax credit, a rebate given to everyone who has a job.

If you have a job in Sweden and do not depend on benefits for your income, you qualify for the tax credit, which was brought in in 2007 to ensure that people would always be better off in work than on benefits.

As a percentage of income, those on the lowest salaries get the biggest tax reduction, with the maximum tax reduction next year set at 10,633 kronor. 

You can see a breakdown of how people in different income brackets will be affected by the increase in this article.

People on the median salary of 462,000 kronor per year (38,500 kronor a month) will see their tax bill shrink by 3,671 kronor.

The reduction will be applied automatically and is available to everyone who works and does not receive benefits, whether you’re a Swedish citizen or not.

Pensioners won’t be left out either – they’ll see tax cuts equivalent to the employment tax credit, to ensure they’re not worse off than people in work.

Plans to curb migration

The government has also announced plans to allocate over 4.4 billion kronor to restricting migration over the next three years: 513 million in 2025, rising to 2.5 billion in 2026 and 1.35 billion in 2027.

A large share of this – 1.4 billion in 2026 – will go towards encouraging migrants to return home voluntarily, a scheme which is only available to refugees, quota refugees, people in need of subsidiary protection on the grounds of exceptionally distressing circumstances, or family of these groups.

The rest of the funds will go towards reducing fraud and misuse of the system and an increase in checks on foreigners in the country, the government has said.

Funds to combat unemployment

Sweden’s unemployment rate is currently at its highest level in ten years, not counting the pandemic. The government is therefore planning a package of budget measures to try and combat this, including 900 million kronor to regional vocational training for adults – around 11,000 more study places. 

The measures also include raising the grant for supervisors offering apprenticeship training, as well as 79 million kronor for the Public Employment Agency to support people who have been out of work for a long time.

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