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Ministers admit nanny tax dodges

TT/The Local
TT/The Local - [email protected]
Ministers admit nanny tax dodges

Two ministers in Fredrik Reinfeldt's new government have admitted that they have had nannies without paying the employer's tax for them.

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Many of the new ministers have people helping to run their households - something which was publicly criticised by former prime minister Göran Persson.

Among them are foreign minister Carl Bildt, EU minister Cecilia Malmström, social welfare minister Cristina Husmark Pehrsson and employment minister Sven Otto Littorin - all of whom have given assurances that they followed the appropriate employment regulations.

Two other ministers admitted on Fridat that they have had help at home - for which they paid cash-in-hand, reported Svenska Dagbladet.

"It's just as well that I say this right away. If you want to remove me because of that, go ahead," said culture minister Cecilia Stegö Chilò, who did not declare the tax for the help she had at home when her children were small.

Chilò said that she knew this issue would crop up.

Trade minister Maria Borelius said that she paid a nanny cash-in-hand, or black, during the 1990s, and that she could not have afforded the help otherwise.

"I'm a mother of four and I was running my own company. It never would have worked otherwise," explained Borelius.

Today, Borelius and her husband employ a nanny who is accounted for in their annual tax declaration.

Since there is a prescription time on using cash-in-hand labour of five years, the ministers will not face a bill from the tax board.

While the previous government appeared to frown on the use of domestic services

Before the election, the Alliance argued that it should be cheaper to hire domestic services, such as cleaning, gardening and childcare. The new government plans to introduce tax breaks on such household employment.

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