Star writers required 4 million from the Swedish Tax Agency

It was in connection with the so-called Paradise Leak 2018, which showed extensive international tax planning in the low-tax country of Malta, that the Cultural News was able to reveal that one of Sweden's most renowned writers was on the list of Swedes suspected of tax fraud.

Now, according to a decision from the Swedish Tax Agency, which the Cultural News has taken note of, the author is forced to pay back about SEK 4 million to the Swedish Tax Agency, which Aftonbladet was the first to report.

A relative of the author who owned shares in the companies must also pay more than 3.5 million to the Swedish Tax Agency. In total, this is about SEK 7.5 million.

In the 2010s, the author invested tens of millions of SEK in his companies in Malta, where corporate taxes are low. During that period, the author lived abroad, but after returning to Sweden, the companies began to be emptied in the form of dividends before being liquidated. None of the payments, totaling more than SEK 14 million, were reported to the Swedish Tax Agency.

This information, which emerged in connection with the Cultural News review, gave the work reason to look more closely at the author's financial progress.

In the Swedish Tax Agency's decision, which came in mid-December, it appears that the agency instructed the author to submit information on matters relating to the foreign companies, such as annual reports, specifications on the type of business conducted in the companies, and more. According to the Swedish Tax Agency, this information has not been received.

In the Swedish Tax Agency's decision, the author disclaims personal responsibility and claims that it is advisers who have taken care of the formation and operation of the company in Malta, as well as taxation. The author admits that the payments made after the author moved home to Sweden should be taken up for taxation, but that this was not done because the counselor was ignorant.

Earlier, the author said that tax has already been paid in the countries where the income has been earned, and that the author should therefore not have to declare his dividends in Sweden. But in the Swedish Tax Agency's decision, the author claims that they now "want to do the right thing for themselves".

In an email to the Cultural News, the author declines to comment on the Swedish Tax Agency's decision and instead refers to previous comments on TT.

“My foreign company - where no money has gone in since I became taxable again in Sweden - would have been liquidated at my request before I moved home in January 2013, but he (the adviser, red's request) failed to provide this. He also takes full responsibility for what happened. ", The author wrote in an email to TT and continued:

“For my part, I am almost a financial idiot, this and the above said as a statement, not an excuse, and I am fully aware that I myself am ultimately responsible for my finances and my taxes. Never have it ever been my intention to violate Swedish tax law ”.