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Sweden closes in on tax havens

In cooperation with its Nordic neighbours, Sweden is putting more pressure on tax havens to loosen their secrecy laws in the hopes of complicating matters for people trying to avoid paying Swedish taxes.

Sweden closes in on tax havens

Within the year, Sweden’s Tax Authority (Skatteverket) will likely ink an agreement with at least one tax haven that will allow the agency to access information on companies, accounts, and banking transactions.

“I believe there is a very good possibility that we’ll get at least one, or perhaps more, information exchange agreements before the end of the year,” said Torsten Fensby, project leader for Nordic the tax haven project, to Sveriges Radio.

The Copenhagen-based Nordic Council has been negotiating with several tax havens which have rules making it easier for people to avoid paying Swedish taxes.

While a full list of countries with which the group is negotiating hasn’t been made public, the Nordic Council has announced that discussions were underway with Guernsey, Jersey, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, and the British Virgin Islands.

Last autumn the group also reached a deal with the Isle of Man which included agreements on an air and sea access, taxes on physical people, and the treatment of internal pricing questions in exchange for an information sharing agreement.

The Swedish Tax Authority reckons that Sweden loses out on 46 billion kronor ($7.65 billion) in tax revenues annually because of people placing their money offshore.

However, the new agreement won’t affect tax revenues in Sweden, according to Fensby.

“What will likely happen is that capital will shift to another state which has secrecy laws. But the inescapable fact is that every new agreement reduces the playing field for those who devote themselves to international tax avoidance,” he said.

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TAXES

Beskæftigelsesfradraget: What is Denmark’s employment allowance?

Denmark's government may soon announce changes to its tax reform plans, which will give all wage earners a bigger employment allowance. What is this and how will it affect foreigners' earnings?

Beskæftigelsesfradraget: What is Denmark's employment allowance?

What is the employment allowance? 

The Beskæftigelsesfradraget (from beskæftigelse, meaning employment, and fradrag, meaning rebate) was brought in by the centre-right Liberal Party back in 2004, the idea being that it would incentivise people to get off welfare and into a job.

Everyone whose employer pays Denmark’s 8 percent AM-bidrag, or arbejdsmarkedsbidrag, automatically receives beskæftigelsesfradraget. Unlike with some of Denmark’s tax rebates, there is no need to apply. The Danish Tax Agency simply exempts the first portion of your earnings from income taxes. 

In 2022, beskæftigelsesfradraget was set at 10.65 percent of income with a maximum rebate of 44,800 kroner. 

How did the government agree to change the employment allowance in its coalition deal? 

In Responsibility for Denmark, the coalition agreement between the Social Democrats, the Liberals and the Moderate Party, the new government said it would set aside 5 billion kroner for tax reforms.

Of this, 4 billion kroner was earmarked for increasing the employment allowance, with a further 0.3 billion going towards increasing an additional employment allowance for single parents.

According to the public broadcaster DR, the expectation was that this would increase the standard employment  allowance to 12.75 percent up to a maximum rebate of 53,600 kroner. 

How might this be further increased, according to Børsen? 

According to a report in the Børsen newspaper, the government now plans to set aside a further 1.75 billion kroner for tax reforms, of which nearly half — about 800 million kroner — will go towards a further increase to the employment allowance. 

The Danish Chamber of Commerce earlier this month released an analysis in which it argued that by raising removing all limits on the rebate for single parents and raising the maximum rebate for everone else by 20,300 kroner, the government could increase the labour supply by 4,850 people, more than double the 1,500 envisaged in the government agreement. 

According to the Børsen, the government estimates that its new extended allowance will increase the labour supply by 5,150 people.  

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