Field Notes

concept

Arbetsgivaravgifter

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Arbetsgivaravgifter are the social contributions a Swedish employer pays on cash pay and taxable benefits. They sit on top of the wage rather than inside it, and that distinction governs how a business budgets for staff: the employee’s income tax is withheld from the agreed salary, while these charges are an additional cost the employer carries. A salary of 100 SEK therefore costs the employer 131.42 SEK before any pension or insurance the company provides voluntarily.

The obligation begins once an employer pays a person 1,000 SEK or more during a year.1

The ordinary rate and what it funds

The full rate is 31.42 percent for 2026.1 It is not a single tax but a bundle of statutory charges, the largest being the old-age pension contribution at 10.21 percent, sickness insurance at 3.55 percent, and parental insurance at 2.00 percent, with further components for survivor pension, work injury, and the labour market, alongside a general payroll charge.

Only the pension component builds an individual entitlement. The rest funds general social insurance, so treating the whole 31.42 percent as deferred pay for that employee overstates what the employee gets back.

Rates that depend on the employee

Three groups pay something other than the full rate.

Employee Rate Basis
Ordinary case 31.42% Full contribution
Aged 67 or over 10.21% Old-age pension component only, from 1 January 2026
Born 1937 or earlier 0% No contribution due
Aged 19–23 20.81% On monthly pay up to 25,000 SEK, 1 April 2026–30 September 2027

The reduction for 19–23-year-olds applies only to the first 25,000 SEK of monthly compensation. Pay above that threshold carries the full rate in the same month for the same person.1

Where it sits among the other charges

An employer meets this charge alongside Preliminärskatt on its own surplus or profit. A sole trader pays Egenavgifter on their own work instead, which is why the choice of business form changes what the same hour of the owner’s labour costs. Paying an owner through salary rather than dividends brings this charge into the comparison with Utdelning i fåmansföretag. Swedish business tax map routes between the layers.

  1. Skatteverket, arbetsgivaravgifter, captured 2026-07-29 in Skatteverket business tax pages 2026. ↩↩↩

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