(edit title) UK pensions and Swedish Tax Law UK taxation in Sweden Options

[Letty]

I am new to this forum so please forgive me if this subject has already been covered but any help would be gratefully received. I am in receipt of a UK teachers pension and am resident in Stockholm. I have recently got the opportunity to get some work. It is not paid very much and I would earn below the Swedish personal tax allowance. The benefit for me is that I would then be able to the ubiquitous Person Number. If I proceed with this will the Swedish government tax my UK pension which is already taxed at source. Is there some sort of reciprocal arrangement whereby the Swedish tax office will contact the UK tax office? Should I leave well alone and just hope that I can survive in a country where I have no health entitlement? Have to say the Swedes don't make it easy!
Thanks in advance

[Essingen]

It really isn't too smart to try and circumvent the system. You can't get by without a Swedish personal number here so you might as well get one. In terms of your UK teacher's pension you may well have an additional tax liability on it here, but in that case you will be able to deduct the tax that the UK government has already taken on your behalf. This is the general principle of taxation that you have you are taxable on global income in the country where you are ordinarily resident. Of course you can still omit to declare it on your tax return, as I am sure others so, but that action is illegal.

[Polly]

If you are a UK national who is a resident in Sweden then you will not pay any tax on your UK Teachers pension which is classed as a Government pension. You have to declare the pension in Sweden by law and it is then dealt with by Skatterverket by way of 'alternative exempt' so you do not pay any tax on it in Sweden. ( If you are a Swedish national then you will be taxed on it.)
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/taxtreaties/dtdigest.pdf

[SimonDMontfort]

It doesn’t seem quite fair to me why a ‘government pension’ – which in many cases could be higher than one offered by a ‘non-government’ organisation – should be exempt from tax in another country of residence

Having said that, no ‘sour grapes’ here, the document quoted above seems to indicate that the OP has ‘scored’ on this one.

My former company is described as ‘government-owned’, but HMRC told me my pension is not a ‘government pension’. I would check with HMRC what your position is: in my experience the Skatteverket will follow the line set by your previous ‘native’ country as to definitions of ‘government pensions’

Its legally up to the individual to notify tax agencies – they don’t necessarily ‘share notes’ with each other

[Mb 65]

I have an UK pension and had to pay tax in Sweden. Sweden and the UK have a double taxation agreement so you will pay I think it is 4/5s to the UK and then Sweden take the the rest. How Sweden works this out is they take your pension before tax in the UK take their 30% and then deduct the UK tax. I will warn you this will take a long time to get it sorted. The UK tax offices get things wrong all the time, and you never get to speak to the same person twice when you ring them. The Swedish tax office is just as bad you will get different info with different tax offices. It took me 8 years to sort out the UK tax offices. In the end I wrote to Gordon Brown at No10 downing street before it was sorted out. That lasted one year and then it all started again. Now I have dual nationality I only pay my tax in Sweden. I hope this helps Good Luck.

[Essingen]

It doesn’t seem quite fair to me why a ‘government pension’ – which in many cases could be higher than one offered by a ‘non-government’ organisation – should be exempt from tax in another country of residence

To say the least, this is a very polite way of saying it. I would be more inclined to say that is is a ridiculous state of affairs.

[Letty]

Thank you for all your comments. You have been very helpful