Updates on health benefits and tax change in Sweden
Lately, there have been some updates to health benefits and tax changes in Sweden, which is worth noting now so close to the end of the year.
Health benefit
According to the Swedish Tax Agency, health care allowance is counted as a personal care benefit, which is tax-free for the employees. In order for the benefit to be counted as a tax-free personal care benefit, it must be of minor value and offered to all employees, which in practice means that the health care allowance must not exceed SEK 5,000. Excess amounts are taxed. The wellness allowance includes most of the usual exercise and wellness activities, and the company can choose whether the wellness allowance should be lower than SEK 5,000.
If you do not use your health care during the year January-December, you will not be credited the amount you did not use until the following year.
Tax change
In Sweden, we read in all tax tables from the Swedish Tax Agency through a monthly FOS update. The values of the tax tables are updated once a year at the Swedish Tax Agency, which occurs during the month of November. If you move after the month of November, you will continue to be taxed according to the accounting address you had at the last update with the Tax Agency. If you wish to pay taxes correctly after a new address, you can request an "equalization decision" from the Swedish Tax Agency
New rules for taxable benefits in Finland
Finnish tax authorities will adjust the amounts of taxable benefits in kind, such as company car, company mobile phone and lunch benefit, that will take effect in 2023.
The advance information of the average social cost percentages for the year 2023 are as following:
Social security 1,54%
Pension
- employer 17,40%
- employee 7,15%
- total 24,55 %
Unemployment
- employer 0,52 % until 2,2 million euros and after that 2,06%
- employee 1,5%
- total 2,02%/3,56%
Accident 0,7% (varies between different business)
Group life 0,06%
The social security and unemployment percentages are the same for all companies in Finland. The pension insurance percent and accident insurance percentages vary between companies. Please provide the percentages to your payroll consultant in Azets FI.
New tax cards are automatically provided by Finnish tax authorities for the year 2023. Employees do not need to provide new tax cards; Azets FI will order this from the tax authorities. And if an employee is applying for a new tax card, Azets gets the information directly from the tax authorities. Further Information can be found at the Finnish tax authorities’ web-pages: www.vero.fi.
