Living in Sweden, Working for a Foreign Employer: Tax and Social Insurance

Moving to Sweden and keeping your job abroad works, but two Swedish agencies care where your desk is. This guide covers who taxes your pay, which country insures you, who pays the contributions and what changes in 2027.

When you need this

You are moving to Sweden with a partner and your employer says “sure, work from there”. Or HR wants to know what it will cost before saying yes. Maybe payroll back home keeps withholding home-country tax after your move, or someone has handed you a socialavgiftsavtal to sign. Maybe you live in Skåne and commute to Copenhagen two days a week.

One thing this guide does not settle is whether you may work in Sweden at all. The Aliens Act requires a non-EU citizen to hold a work permit for work in Sweden, whether the employment is here or abroad. EU/EEA citizens, and people whose permit includes the right to work, are fine. If that is your open question, start with working remotely from Sweden: permits and the missing nomad visa.

Two questions, two agencies

The most common mistake is treating this as one question. It is two, and they can land in different countries.

A teleworker inside the EU can be taxed in Sweden and still stay insured at home. You cannot, however, be covered by two countries’ social insurance at the same time.

Tax: why Sweden taxes your pay

Skatteverket’s test today: you are fully tax liable (obegränsat skattskyldig) if your real home is in Sweden, or if you stay six months in a row. Short trips home do not break the stay. A resident pays Swedish tax on income from every country, though a tax treaty can change the outcome. If you will live here a year or more you are generally required to register in the population register too; see registering your address in Sweden.

Even before you are resident, the work itself matters. A non-resident’s pay from a foreign employer is exempt only if all three conditions of the 183-day rule hold:

• at most 183 days in Sweden in any twelve months,
• paid by a foreign employer,
• not charged to a Swedish permanent establishment of that employer.

Hired-out staff cannot use the rule, except for stints of up to 15 working days in a row and 45 a year. For non-residents who are taxable here, see SINK, the flat tax for non-residents.

What your employer has to do

Since 1 January 2021, a foreign employer without a permanent establishment (fast driftställe) in Sweden must withhold Swedish preliminary tax on pay for work done in Sweden. That covers all work physically done here, including at your kitchen table. The default is 30% unless Skatteverket has decided otherwise. The employer reports the withholding in monthly PAYE returns (arbetsgivardeklaration) and must tell you what it withheld.

You can change the rate. Apply for a jämkning (an adjusted withholding rate) so the withholding lands close to your real final tax. If a treaty means the pay is not taxable here, ask Skatteverket for a decision that no tax should be withheld. Either way, give the written decision to payroll.

The trap is a payroll department that carries on withholding home-country tax only. Tax withheld abroad is not Swedish preliminary tax. The Swedish tax stays unpaid until your annual assessment, then arrives as one bill. Foreign tax on the same pay can be credited on the return with form SKV 2703; see your first Swedish tax return.

Social insurance: the 25% and 50% tests

Försäkringskassan’s starting point is that remote work usually counts as work in the country where you sit. Working only from Sweden puts you in the Swedish system.

Inside the EU/EEA, Switzerland and the UK, the coordination rules handle people who work in more than one country:

• At least 25% of your working time in your country of residence moves you to that country’s system.
• Below 25%, you stay under the system of the country where your employer has its seat.
• Under 50% telework from your residence country can keep you insured in the employer’s country under the 2023 framework agreement. The work must be IT-based, both countries must have signed, and you must apply for an A1 certificate (intyg A1). Agree it with your employer first.

Sweden signed the agreement with effect from 1 July 2023. The depositary’s list has 23 signatories, among them Germany, Norway, Finland and the Netherlands. Denmark has not signed, and the UK has said it will not. The A1 is not automatic: without the request, the ordinary 25% rule applies.

Outside the EU, Sweden has social-security agreements with 13 partners, among them the USA, Canada, India, South Korea and Israel. Each has its own rules. For what Swedish insurance pays once you are covered, see Försäkringskassan explained.

The socialavgiftsavtal: when you pay the contributions

If Swedish social insurance covers you, someone owes Swedish employer contributions (arbetsgivaravgifter) on your pay. A foreign employer must in most cases pay them. Because the general payroll levy (allmän löneavgift) does not apply to employers without a Swedish establishment, their rate is lower than a Swedish employer’s.

Many employers will not register for this. Skatteverket’s answer is the socialavgiftsavtal, a social-contribution agreement in which you take over reporting and paying the contributions. Only employers without a Swedish permanent establishment can use it. Skatteverket says it also covers freelance assignments for a foreign client without a Swedish establishment.

What the agreement does and does not do:

• You register within two weeks of signing, on form SKV 4738.
• You get a separate number starting with 66 and a tax account used only for this.
• The employer still withholds income tax. The agreement moves only the contributions.
• The contributions become your liability. If you stop paying, Skatteverket may pursue the employer.

Budget for it. Signing without planning for 18.80% on top of income tax is the classic surprise.

A common work-around when a foreign employer will not register is a Swedish employer of record, a company that hires you in Sweden on your employer’s behalf and turns the job into ordinary Swedish employment.

Your employer’s home-office worry

If HR hesitates, this is often why. Skatteverket’s 2022 position is that an employee’s home office may become the employer’s permanent establishment if the employer explicitly or implicitly requires the work to be done from Sweden. Swedish clients served from your desk count in that assessment. Working from home by your own choice, with no business reason for the location, is not enough on its own. The position is Skatteverket’s reading, not binding law.

The Skåne–Denmark case

Living in Skåne and working for a Danish employer? The EU telework agreement is out, because Denmark has not signed. A separate Öresund agreement between Sweden and Denmark applies from income year 2025. Skatteverket reads it as keeping the pay taxable in the normal work state if at least half of your working time in every rolling twelve-month period is spent there. Read it first, then ask Skatteverket about your own pattern.

What may change in 2027

A government bill (prop. 2025/26:306) would replace “six months in a row” with a day count from 1 January 2027. You would be tax resident with more than 160 overnight days in Sweden in a calendar year, or more than 120 if the previous year also passed 120. Only days with an overnight stay count.

The Riksdag’s Tax Committee report is dated 6 October 2026, and the chamber vote is scheduled for 25 November 2026. Until a law is in force, Skatteverket’s six-month test applies. The practical lesson is the same either way: keep a day log of where you slept and worked. The 25% and 50% tests need it too.

Step by step

1. Confirm your right to work in Sweden.
2. Work out your tax status: real home here, or six months in a row.
3. Tell your employer the date you start working from Sweden.
4. Apply for a jämkning, or a no-withholding decision, and give it to payroll.
5. Identify your social-insurance country with the 25% and 50% tests.
6. EU telework under 50%: agree it with your employer, then apply for an A1 through Försäkringskassan’s e-service or form 6220.
7. If Swedish insurance applies, settle who pays: the employer, or you under a socialavgiftsavtal.
8. Under an agreement, register on SKV 4738 within two weeks.
9. File the Swedish return each spring and claim credit for foreign tax on SKV 2703.

Practical information

FAQ

Do I pay tax in Sweden if my employer is abroad?

Usually yes, for days you work here. Since 2021 a foreign employer without a Swedish establishment must withhold Swedish preliminary tax, 30% unless Skatteverket decides otherwise, on pay for work done in Sweden. If you live here or stay six months in a row, Sweden taxes your worldwide income, and a tax treaty may adjust that. Foreign tax on the same pay can be credited.

What is a socialavgiftsavtal?

A social-contribution agreement between you and a foreign employer that has no permanent establishment in Sweden. You take over reporting and paying the Swedish employer contributions, 18.80% of pay in 2026 for people born 1959 or later. You register on form SKV 4738 within two weeks and get a separate 66-number. The employer still withholds income tax.

Which country’s social insurance covers me when I telework from Sweden?

Remote work usually counts as work where you sit. Inside the EU, working at least 25% in your country of residence normally moves you to that country’s system. Under the 2023 framework agreement, telework below 50% can keep you insured in the employer’s country, if both countries signed and you apply for an A1. Sweden signed; Denmark did not.

Does my foreign employer have to register in Sweden?

If it pays you for work done in Sweden, yes in practice: it must withhold Swedish tax and report it in monthly PAYE returns to Skatteverket. If Swedish social insurance covers you, it must in most cases also pay employer contributions, unless you sign a socialavgiftsavtal and pay them yourself. Skatteverket can decide no withholding is needed where the pay is not taxable here.

Is the six-month tax rule changing in 2027?

Probably. A government bill proposes that from 1 January 2027 you are resident for tax if you spend more than 160 nights in Sweden in a calendar year, or more than 120 if the previous year also passed 120. The Riksdag vote is scheduled for 25 November 2026. Until then, Skatteverket’s test is six months in a row.

Can working from home in Sweden create a tax problem for my employer?

It can. Skatteverket’s 2022 position is that a home office may become the employer’s permanent establishment if the employer explicitly or implicitly requires you to work from Sweden. Working from home by your own choice, with no business reason for the location, is not enough on its own. That risk is why some employers refuse cross-border remote work.

I live in Skåne and work for a Danish company. What applies?

The Öresund agreement between Sweden and Denmark, applied from income year 2025. Skatteverket reads it as keeping the pay taxable in the normal work state if at least half of your working time in every rolling twelve months is spent there. Denmark has not signed the EU telework agreement, so the A1 route for under-50% telework does not apply.

Related guides

• Working remotely from Sweden: permits and the missing nomad visa — settle the right-to-work question before the money question.
• Registering your address in Sweden — the step that makes you resident on paper.
• Your first Swedish tax return — where foreign pay and the foreign tax credit go each spring.
• Försäkringskassan explained — what Swedish social insurance pays once it covers you.
• Starting a business in Sweden — the freelancer’s alternative: F-tax and own contributions.

---

Facts verified 2026-10-15. Sources: Skatteverket, Försäkringskassan, FPS Social Security (Belgium), Regeringen and Sveriges riksdag (prop. 2025/26:306, bet. 2026/27:SkU4, Utlänningslag 2005:716), Migrationsverket — full register in this topic’s source file. Found something outdated? Tell us and we’ll fix it.