Sweden's tax hunt abroad yields 'record haul'
Published: 13 Mar 13 13:29 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/46710/20130313/
Swedish tax authorities recovered a record high 800 million kronor ($125 million) owned on money moved abroad to avoid paying tax in Sweden, with funds sheltered in the UK yielding the biggest chunk of cash.
- Swedish taxpayers least honest in the Nordics (8 Feb 13)
- Sweden gets tough on millionaire tax dodgers (6 Oct 12)
- Americans in Sweden suffer US tax crackdown (6 Mar 12)
Last year, the agency's efforts paid their biggest dividends yet, yielding 800 million kronor in unpaid tax revenues, the Dagens Nyheter (DN) newspaper reported.
The biggest share of the previously unpaid taxes came from the UK, where Swedes had stashed enough cash to bring in 249 million kronor in tax.
Next in line was Luxembourg, where the agency reaped 160 million kronor, followed by Switzerland (158 million) and Cyprus (128 million).
In most cases, the money has escaped the long arm of the Swedish tax man through secret payments to overseas accounts or through complicated transactions involving multiple shell companies.
"Many countries can be involved in the same case," the agency's Göran Haglund told DN.
"A company in Panama can, for example, have a parent company in Cyprus and a bank account in Switzerland or Luxembourg."
However the UK is "still used most frequently" as a go-between country for different transactions, according to Haglund.
According to the tax agency's own estimates, the Swedish state is owed a total of 133 billion kronor in tax that hasn't should have been paid but hasn't yet reached the agency for one reason or another.
The figure amounts to 5 percent of Sweden's gross domestic product (GDP).
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Presumably, even if the search had yielded nothing, taxpayers still pay for it
You can bet that the proceeds of the tax hunt vastly exceeded the costs, thanks to regulations that allow governments to request information from each other on financial assets and transactions to track funding sources for terrorism and money laundering.
A couple of years ago the USA said to Switzerland: 'Hey, we think some terrorists have money in Swiss bank accounts. Tell us about all of your account holders who are living in America', and just like that the Swiss handed over information on tens of thousands of US tax dodgers, despite Switzerland's centuries-old history of offering secret Swiss bank accounts.
Unless you keep your money in your pillow case, then everything you do with your money leaves an electronic paper trail, which can trace that money back to you. Either find legal loopholes that reduce your tax burden, or pay your taxes, or elect people who will change the laws so that your tax burdern is reduced.
My problem is that I pay about 50% of my UK based income, in various taxes, to Sweden (according to current legislation) but feel that a) I personally see very little in return and b) as a non-Swede, ex-pat, although I can vote in local elections, I'm NOT allowed a vote in the national elections, where quite a lot of tax laws may be made.
Ever heard of "No taxation without representation"?
Lol!
I hate the high Swedish taxes, but the glass half full view is this: The most tangible benefit to living in Sweden vs the UK may likely reveal itself several years into the future, because Sweden is way ahead of the UK and most of europe in terms of living within its means (debt to GDP ratio).
In other words, the UK will eventually be forced to enact a major devaluation of its currency to deflate the value of its unsustainable debt holdings, which would also deflate the real value of your pension there, along with large reductions in Government services there.
The most hideous Swedish tax in my opinion was the wealth tax (1.5% payable every year your entire net worth, including your home, except for the first 1 million SEK). The re-introduction of this tax would have me pack my bags and head for the exit ASAP.
The re-introduction of the wealth tax would have many heading for the exit. Some already have their bags packed in anticipation of a Soc.Dem. comeback in the next election.
Agree about the impact of the wealth tax. Jeez!
As for the UK's 'major devaluation of its currency' I reckon the policy of QE (quantitative easing) has the same effect as printing more money.
Lol! I could get nearly 14 SEKs to the GBP, a few years ago - now its nine point something