In total, VAT, employer's contributions and tax deductions for just over SEK 8.6 billion have been deferred by Western Swedish companies by the Swedish Tax Agency.
For the whole country, the figure is close to 41 billion.
This means that companies have an extra year to pay off their debts caused by loss of income during the corona pandemic.
5,677 companies have applied for this when the opportunity opened earlier this year.
At most, they could apply for a three-month deferral between January and August.
The last opportunity was in connection with the financial crisis in 2009.
- The vast majority could pay again then, but there are always some companies that will never be able to do so, says Eva Bodén, business developer at the Swedish Tax Agency.
Many companies in trade and restaurant
Most of the tax debt comes from the manufacturing industry.
There, 359 companies have applied for a total deferral of 3.9 billion.
But it is in the retail and hotel / restaurant segments that most companies have taken advantage of the opportunity, 1,148 and 806.
- This means that there are many victims there, but that they have not applied for the same amount, says Eva Bodén.
"Believed in higher amounts"
The economic situation for companies in western Sweden varies, according to a survey conducted by the state-owned company development company Almi Väst together with the University of Gothenburg.
Among the companies contacted are both those who describe the crisis and those who describe growth.
Sara Wallin, CEO of Almi Väst, puts the tax debt at 8.6 billion in relation to the fact that the total tax revenue from companies in the country is usually 1,000 billion per year.
- It is of course an enormous amount of money.
But I think there were many in the spring who thought that the applications would be for much higher amounts.
The effects on our economy have been great, but perhaps not as bad as was feared last spring.
In the clip, Sara Wallin answers three questions about how the West Swedish companies are doing.