How Sweden's 2024 budget could affect your finances
Many people are feeling the financial squeeze in Sweden, with high inflation, high interest rates and a high cost of living. How will the Swedish government's new budget affect your finances for the coming year?
Working tax credit
The government is earmarking 11 billion kronor in its autumn budget for a working tax credit: essentially, a tax cut which benefits all workers, but primarily those earning around 38,000 kronor or less.
According to the government, a couple who are each earning the minimum salary under trade union Kommunal's collective bargaining agreement, 20,220 kronor per month, would pay 5,600 kronor less tax each year under the new policy, while a family consisting of a police officer and a nurse would pay 14,000 kronor less in tax.
It has not yet presented any more details as to how this tax credit will be applied, so it is difficult at this point to say to what extent exactly it will benefit the average worker in Sweden.
Lower tax on fuel
Originally an election promise, the government have pledged to forego 6.48 billion kronor in tax income by cutting the tax on petrol and diesel from next year. Diesel prices will go down by 43 öre per litre, and petrol will drop by 1.64 kronor per litre.
Lower tax for pensioners
The government has proposed in its new budget a raised tax-free allowance, alongside the automatic hike in the tax-free allowance due to indexation. This means that a pensioner on 8,333 kronor a month would hold on to an extra 105 kronor each month.
This benefits those with higher pensions more: someone with a pension of 16,667 kronor would pay 192 kronor less in tax a month (with 16 kronor of this due to the tax cut), and a pensioner on 25,000 kronor a month would pocket an extra 289 kronor each month.
Lower tax on snus (but higher tax on cigarettes)
Tax cuts on the snus nicotine pouches much-loved by Swedes will under the new budget proposal cut the price of a tub of snus by three kronor, from November 1st, 2024. Those who prefer to get their nicotine hit through smoking, however, can expect to pay an extra four kronor per pack, while users of tobacco-free products such as vapes or white snus won't be affected.
Money for scrapping your car
The government is also proposing a temporary cash bonus for people who scrap an older car with an internal combustion engine and replace it with a bought or leased electric car. It's expected that the proposal will cost 250 million kronor per year over the next two years, but there are not yet any clear details on how large the bonus will be, when it will come into force, or if there will be any other requirements.
Pause to automatic hike in national tax threshold
In the autumn budget, the government has proposed pausing an automatic hike in the brytpunkt - the threshold at which high-earners in Sweden are liable to pay national tax.
Currently, you're only liable to pay this tax – 20 percent on all income over the threshold – if you earn over 51,000 kronor a month. According to estimates from Swedbank economist Madelén Falkenhäll, around 800,000 people paid this in 2023, compared to 1.2 million in 2022, when the threshold was just 46,000 kronor a month.
From the turn of the year, an automatic adjustment to national tax due to Sweden's high inflation rate was due to kick in, which would have raised this threshold from 51,000 kronor a month to 57,000 kronor, further cutting the number of people liable to pay national tax to around 650,000 in 2024.
The adjustment wouldn't just have meant that those earning between 51,000 and 57,000 kronor would no longer need to pay national tax, it would also have been a tax cut for anyone earning above the threshold, as they would only have been liable for national tax on their earnings above the new, higher threshold.
Taxpayers in the latter group would have had a tax cut of over 1,100 kronor a month if the adjustment had gone ahead.
Raising the ROT and RUT tax deductions
Sweden's ROT and RUT tax deductions mean that you can get a significant chunk of money - 30 percent of the labour costs - off the cost of a range of services, repairs and maintenance costs.
RUT stands for cleaning, maintenance and laundry (rengöring, underhåll, tvätt) and applies to domestic work like gardening, laundry or cleaning. ROT stands for repairs, conversions and extensions (reparation, ombyggnad, tillbyggnad) and covers this type of building work.
From July 1st next year, the rotavdrag, which currently stands at 25,000 kronor per year, will be increased to 75,000 kronor a year to match the rutavdrag. At the same time, the cap for both tax deductions combined will be raised from 75,000 kronor to 150,000 kronor.
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Working tax credit
The government is earmarking 11 billion kronor in its autumn budget for a working tax credit: essentially, a tax cut which benefits all workers, but primarily those earning around 38,000 kronor or less.
According to the government, a couple who are each earning the minimum salary under trade union Kommunal's collective bargaining agreement, 20,220 kronor per month, would pay 5,600 kronor less tax each year under the new policy, while a family consisting of a police officer and a nurse would pay 14,000 kronor less in tax.
It has not yet presented any more details as to how this tax credit will be applied, so it is difficult at this point to say to what extent exactly it will benefit the average worker in Sweden.
Lower tax on fuel
Originally an election promise, the government have pledged to forego 6.48 billion kronor in tax income by cutting the tax on petrol and diesel from next year. Diesel prices will go down by 43 öre per litre, and petrol will drop by 1.64 kronor per litre.
Lower tax for pensioners
The government has proposed in its new budget a raised tax-free allowance, alongside the automatic hike in the tax-free allowance due to indexation. This means that a pensioner on 8,333 kronor a month would hold on to an extra 105 kronor each month.
This benefits those with higher pensions more: someone with a pension of 16,667 kronor would pay 192 kronor less in tax a month (with 16 kronor of this due to the tax cut), and a pensioner on 25,000 kronor a month would pocket an extra 289 kronor each month.
Lower tax on snus (but higher tax on cigarettes)
Tax cuts on the snus nicotine pouches much-loved by Swedes will under the new budget proposal cut the price of a tub of snus by three kronor, from November 1st, 2024. Those who prefer to get their nicotine hit through smoking, however, can expect to pay an extra four kronor per pack, while users of tobacco-free products such as vapes or white snus won't be affected.
Money for scrapping your car
The government is also proposing a temporary cash bonus for people who scrap an older car with an internal combustion engine and replace it with a bought or leased electric car. It's expected that the proposal will cost 250 million kronor per year over the next two years, but there are not yet any clear details on how large the bonus will be, when it will come into force, or if there will be any other requirements.
Pause to automatic hike in national tax threshold
In the autumn budget, the government has proposed pausing an automatic hike in the brytpunkt - the threshold at which high-earners in Sweden are liable to pay national tax.
Currently, you're only liable to pay this tax – 20 percent on all income over the threshold – if you earn over 51,000 kronor a month. According to estimates from Swedbank economist Madelén Falkenhäll, around 800,000 people paid this in 2023, compared to 1.2 million in 2022, when the threshold was just 46,000 kronor a month.
From the turn of the year, an automatic adjustment to national tax due to Sweden's high inflation rate was due to kick in, which would have raised this threshold from 51,000 kronor a month to 57,000 kronor, further cutting the number of people liable to pay national tax to around 650,000 in 2024.
The adjustment wouldn't just have meant that those earning between 51,000 and 57,000 kronor would no longer need to pay national tax, it would also have been a tax cut for anyone earning above the threshold, as they would only have been liable for national tax on their earnings above the new, higher threshold.
Taxpayers in the latter group would have had a tax cut of over 1,100 kronor a month if the adjustment had gone ahead.
Raising the ROT and RUT tax deductions
Sweden's ROT and RUT tax deductions mean that you can get a significant chunk of money - 30 percent of the labour costs - off the cost of a range of services, repairs and maintenance costs.
RUT stands for cleaning, maintenance and laundry (rengöring, underhåll, tvätt) and applies to domestic work like gardening, laundry or cleaning. ROT stands for repairs, conversions and extensions (reparation, ombyggnad, tillbyggnad) and covers this type of building work.
From July 1st next year, the rotavdrag, which currently stands at 25,000 kronor per year, will be increased to 75,000 kronor a year to match the rutavdrag. At the same time, the cap for both tax deductions combined will be raised from 75,000 kronor to 150,000 kronor.
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