(edit title) Tax and tax relief in Sweden Confused kiwi needs help! Options

[kiwijo2000]

I'm moving to Sweden in two weeks, and was hoping to get some advice about tax and cost of living. I'm a New Zealander, and am moving to Kalmar to start post-doctoral research at Linnaeus University. I've been told my salary will be 29,000 SEK per month - I am wondering approximately what my take home pay will be? Are salaries quoted before or after the employer contribution has been removed do you think? i.e. what percentage of that 29,000 will be taken away before I get paid?! Also, as a scientist and a researcher, I think I will qualify for the tax relief for foreigners - this seems to apply to these work categories (i.e. http://forskarskattenamnden.se/forskarskat...800018147.html).
Does anyone have any experience with how easy it is to claim this? Seems that this would mean the first 25% of my income would be tax tree - is this true?

Also wondering about how liveable I will find my salary? The apartment I have found will be 6500 SEK per month including all bills (it is furnished). So would be good to know how much I am going to have left over, and whether I am going to need to look at finding somewhere cheaper quite quickly! The apartment was described as "2 rum och kök" which Google translate says means 2 bedroom apartment, but later in the details it says "ett sovrum" which Google translate says is one bedroom. Anyone have any ideas about this? Does it mean 2 room - i.e one bedroom and one living room?

Any advice gratefully received!!
Thanks,
Jo

[Yorkshireman]

Salaries are normally quoted before tax. For 29.000 per month you will get after tax approx. 21.600 :-

For the special income tax relief that has to be agreed with skatteverket (the tax authorities), an application would need to be made. There is an automatic fast track, but You dont qualify for the automatic relief since the monthly salary is way below the level required. On top of the agreement is a condition that You will only stay in Sweden for less than 5 years. Stay over that and they will slap a large bill on You for back taxes for the previous years since arrival.

[copperbirch]

Hi Jo,

I recently moved to Sweden to begin work as a post doc and had the same query as you. The tax relief is not dealt with directly by Skatterverket, but by Forskarskattenamnden. I too was under the impression that, as a researcher, I would qualify for the tax relief. However, following conflicting advice from Skatterverket and the HR dept at my university, I contacted Forskarskattenamnden directly to ask them to clarify their position on postdoctoral researchers. Essentially, if this is your first postdoc, it is extremely unlikely that you will qualify for the tax relief - it tends to be reserved for more senior researchers.

Hope that's of some help to you. Good luck with the move and your new job

[kiwijo2000]

Thanks to you both for your very helpful replies!

Yorkshireman, I am a little confused. I thought income tax in Sweden was around 48%, but you estimated I will get about 21600 per month, which would equate to about 25.5%? I know there is an employer contribution to tax, which was why I was asking about whether that came off the 29,000 salary or not. Will be interesting to see what my first pay cheque shows, lol.

Copperbirch, thanks for the advice re tax relief - I had just assumed I would be eligible, didn't realise it was based on experience. I wonder if they base that on age - it will be my first postdoc per se, but I am 35 and have been working as a scientist for a couple of years in New Zealand since finishing my PhD. Will make some enquiries when I get there, but will be prepared to be turned down!

[Silberfüchschen]

Yorkshireman, I am a little confused. I thought income tax in Sweden was around 48%, but you estimated I will get about 21600 per month, which would equate to about 25.5%? I k ... (show full quote)

Yorkshireman, I am a little confused. I thought income tax in Sweden was around 48%, but you estimated I will get about 21600 per month, which would equate to about 25.5%? I know there is an employer contribution to tax, which was why I was asking about whether that came off the 29,000 salary or not. Will be interesting to see what my first pay cheque shows, lol. ... (hide full quote)

Salaries in Sweden are usually quoted with the employer contribution excluded. The contribution is 31.42% of the gross salary but since it is paid by the employer, you will not see it on your pay check.

With a salary of 29000 per month, you will pay no state tax, only municipal tax. In Kalmar, it is 32.46%, but due to "grundavdrag" and "jobbskatteavdrag", the effective tax rate is lower, about 25%.

[Yorkshireman]

Copperbirch, thanks for the advice re tax relief - I had just assumed I would be eligible, didn't realise it was based on experience. I wonder if they base that on age - i ... (show full quote)

Copperbirch, thanks for the advice re tax relief - I had just assumed I would be eligible, didn't realise it was based on experience. I wonder if they base that on age - it will be my first postdoc per se, but I am 35 and have been working as a scientist for a couple of years in New Zealand since finishing my PhD. Will make some enquiries when I get there, but will be prepared to be turned down! ... (hide full quote)

It's a mix, not just experience/competence. At it's heart is that whatever You are doing there is a basic requirement to obtain the Tax Relief that it would be difficult to recruit someone within Sweden to do the very same things. So, if there was no applicants from within Sweden for the research position, they might possibly have a case to prove that. If You were selected over other applicants that are in Sweden, then there is no difficulty in filling the position here.

[Etheric]

There is a tax calculator at

http://www.ekonomifakta.se/sv/Fakta/Skatte...a-ut-din-skatt/

Which is normally pretty accurate. It needs your birth year and commune (probably just Uppsala) as there is a some local income tax. 21,600 sounds about right though, plus or minus a small amount. The top rate of tax is 55%, but you will not pay anything like that overall. I do pay 55% on some of my income, but my total tax is only about 31% and you can get a chunk back from pension contributions and mortgage interest as well (you can pay up to 12,000 SEK a year into a private pension and not pay tax on it)

That salary is pretty normal though, so you should not have any any real problems living on it.

"2 rum och kök" is literally 2 rooms and kitchen, so you will have 1 bedroom, 1 living room and a kitchen, plus the bathroom, it is the way they count in Sweden.

One strong recommendation for living in Uppsala though is try to get a membership of one of the Nations (student societies) as a postdoc you are not directly eligible, but if you do one course on something or if you are lucky and ask nicely (as you are a postdoc) they will let you in. You need to be a member to go to the student bars, and as students dominate the town that is needed.

[kiwijo2000]

Thanks again to everyone for such helpful replies. I feel much more confident that I will be able to live on my salary now I know that I'm not going to see 48% of it disappear in tax!