Taxes in Sweden

  Ones we have found where Sweden is on the Map after we have been told about our new assignment , the first thing what we do is to check how good is the saving potential in Sweden and if I can get enough for me to payoff the home mortgage in India within the next few years. That brings the question on how much will be my take home and in order to come to that figure you need to know about how much is deducted in taxes.  Before I jump into taxes , lets first see if you need to pay taxes or get away with it.. One think you can be happy about is that compared to 10 years back we are paying less tax now and has gradually been reduced every year and I hope it continues.

    Normally we have two types of assignments that we are sent over and is always decided upon what the incentive is for the person deciding to send us here ie so called our "Manager" and what is cheaper for the employer as always

On Per Diem : ( Per Diem is a daily allowance that is a specific amount of money an organization gives an individual, often an employee, per day to cover living expenses when traveling for work) .
Per Diem is Tax free and the amount is decided by the Tax authority as its expected that it is the minimum amount that is needed to sustain you in Sweden and is expected to be spent but normally we try to save close to 50 % as we have obligations I spoke about earlier. The last I remember it was close to 550 SEK  per day. The accommodation or hotel is provided by the employer along with transport allowance. So don't bother about Taxes if you are on Per Diem , think about ways to save every öre possible.

Change of Payroll to Sweden : I am not sure what it is technically called but this is the option that makes us searching for what is the take home after tax is deducted. In this you get a fixed salary based on how well you negotiate but you can be sure that you would be provided the minimum needed to get your work permit.
There are lot of websites that give you the calculation , I have listed one below, just fill the first box with your CTC per month amount and put the Kommun or Municipality where you plan to live and uncheck the box for Member of Swedish Church as you have to pay extra tax if you are a member

Ekonomifakta

The other place you can check is at the Skatteverket or Swedish Tax Authority Website , you just have to put the assessment year and Kommun  and in the table that is shown in the next screen see the column 1 for the monthly income range mentioned you get the tax amount that would be deducted.

Skattetabeller och preliminärskatt

In Sweden you also pay a Burial Tax that is 0,08 % of your yearly income. I am yet to find out how to claim it back as I wont be buried in Sweden for sure and be cremated maybe in India. There is still a long time for me to think about it.

Pension is a topic I will cover some other day and is one thing that we all look forward for whole of our lives while loosing our present . Pension is a important topic as its a considerable amount of money and has to be managed well.