According to the Upsala Nya Tidning, black market labour costs the state huge sums in lost value added tax and employer fees.
Through June of this year, 686 companies – most in the Stockholm-area – have been assessed for a total of 1.9 billion kronor ($313 million).
“This could be a frightful sum which isn’t being taxed, sometimes around 100 million kronor in a single case,” said prosecutor Stefan Lundberg from the National Bureau of Economic Crimes (Ekobrottsmyndigheten), to the newspaper.
The Tax Authority’s investigation of the hiring out of black labour started in 2006. Cleaning, building, and moving companies are among the types of firms being investigated.