The Swedish Tax Declaration Ritual
I guess today is the right day to start my little series about Swedish peculiarities. It's the day when all Swedes with a taxable income perform a the hand-in-your-tax-declaration ritual (or, to make it sound more exotic: the skatteverket-ritual).
It is the last day that you can hand in your income tax declaration for 2007 and why would you want to do it one day too early? And so on this special day you can observe cars, pedestrians and cyclists queuing in the road near the local tax office with a paper-form on the passenger seat, waiting for one of the tax office staff to pass by to collect it. Of course, you can also walk or cycle right up to the the big red plastic container that looks like a garbage can and throw in your declaration yourself.
I was told that people like to perfom this ritual even though these days it is possible to make your declaration via internet or even by SMS if you agree with the way the tax office has filled in your declaration and you simply wish to confirm it.
Yes, it's the tax office that helps you do your declaration and if you don't have special things like two households because of your job or work time abroad without getting compensated for it by your employer, all you have to do is to sign the form (or send an SMS).
And even though you would think that making your tax declaration is about trying to get as much money back as you can, it seems that for most Swedes this is not so much the point (although I know nobody who is not happy to get some money back).
Swedes like to be a big community and it seems that even when you are making your tax declaration, asking some money back from the state, you better get a confirmation that everybody is doing it so that it’s ok. And at the same time, the whole ritual is also about demonstrating the importance of the tax system and that you are actually paying taxes. And paying taxes is still considered important by a vast majority of Swedes. And not only that the others should pay taxes but also oneself is prepared to pay taxes in order to receive good public services.
A recent survey by the newspaper Göteborgs Posten showed that a vast majority of Swedes are happy to pay more taxes in order to get public services. So, I guess that's why making your tax declaration is such a ritual.
That's one of the things I like about Sweden.
It is the last day that you can hand in your income tax declaration for 2007 and why would you want to do it one day too early? And so on this special day you can observe cars, pedestrians and cyclists queuing in the road near the local tax office with a paper-form on the passenger seat, waiting for one of the tax office staff to pass by to collect it. Of course, you can also walk or cycle right up to the the big red plastic container that looks like a garbage can and throw in your declaration yourself.
I was told that people like to perfom this ritual even though these days it is possible to make your declaration via internet or even by SMS if you agree with the way the tax office has filled in your declaration and you simply wish to confirm it.
Yes, it's the tax office that helps you do your declaration and if you don't have special things like two households because of your job or work time abroad without getting compensated for it by your employer, all you have to do is to sign the form (or send an SMS).
And even though you would think that making your tax declaration is about trying to get as much money back as you can, it seems that for most Swedes this is not so much the point (although I know nobody who is not happy to get some money back).
Swedes like to be a big community and it seems that even when you are making your tax declaration, asking some money back from the state, you better get a confirmation that everybody is doing it so that it’s ok. And at the same time, the whole ritual is also about demonstrating the importance of the tax system and that you are actually paying taxes. And paying taxes is still considered important by a vast majority of Swedes. And not only that the others should pay taxes but also oneself is prepared to pay taxes in order to receive good public services.
A recent survey by the newspaper Göteborgs Posten showed that a vast majority of Swedes are happy to pay more taxes in order to get public services. So, I guess that's why making your tax declaration is such a ritual.
That's one of the things I like about Sweden.
tophee - 5. May, 21:25
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