Internationell beskattning av pensionsförsäkringar : – det svenska skattesystemet i gränsöverskridande situationer

Abstract: The question at hand throughout this thesis is how the Swedish system for taxation of pension insurances – in both individual and occupational private pension schemes – interacts with other tax systems in an international context. This question includes several aspects. What are the outcomes when the Swedish system interacts with another Member State’s tax system in a cross-border situation? To what degree does the Swedish taxation of pension insurances live up to the underlying objectives of the system? Does the Swedish system constitute a restriction to free movement in the internal market for pension insurances? In order to be able to answer these and similar questions, a number of concrete situations that arise when the Swedish tax system meets a differently designed tax system of another Member State – Finland – are analysed. The Swedish taxation of pension insurances differs from that of a number of Member States as the Swedish system not only subjects the pension capital to a yield tax but also taxes the benefits upon disbursement to the beneficiary. In most other western European Member States – among them Finland – only the disbursed benefits are subjected to tax.The results of the situation into the tax consequences in cross-border situations show that the Swedish system for taxation of pension insurances is not functioning in an international context. Sweden only manages to maintain the reciprocity within its tax system in a few of the analysed situations. The taxpayers are subjected to double taxation – sometimes even triple taxation – which is not eliminated by double taxation agreements or by regulations on credit-of-tax in national law. In the internal market for pension insurances, free movement is restricted and from a strictly national perspective, the underlying objectives of the Swedish system are not achieved.