Requirement for preservation of accounting information in original abolished
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate concerns the abolition of the requirement to preserve accounting information in original form, which means that receipts and invoices can be stored digitally 1. SD argues that the proposal is in demand, saves 3.9 billion SEK annually, and reduces the regulatory burden for companies through technology-neutral rules 1. M considers that it lifts a regulatory burden, is environmentally friendly, saves archive costs, and increases accuracy 2. M also emphasizes that the proposal simplifies the accounting and modernizes the rules for the auditor's independence 2. S argues that there is total consensus that the bill should be approved and reminds that simplification and digitalization of accounting has been a goal since 2020 3.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Mikael Eskilandersson (SD)
Mr. Speaker! Today we are debating the government's bill Abolishing the requirement to preserve accounting information in original. Perhaps the most important proposal in the bill is that receipts, invoices and other documents to be booked can now be photographed and in that way be saved digitally instead of the original.
It has been called the abolish receipts bill, and that is perhaps the best way to describe it. It may seem like a small change, but it is a change that has very great significance. The proposal is extremely in demand by companies, foundations, and associations. This change is estimated to save 3.9 billion kronor annually for the companies - 3,900 million kronor less in expenses every year!
Technology has already existed and been developed to handle accounting entirely digitally, but the development has been slowed by unnecessary requirements to preserve the original, that little piece of paper that one received in the store. Even though it is barely legible and has lost the text, it is the original that must be preserved as a basis.
This bill is perhaps the one that affects the most people in everyday life. Several can testify to the problems that arise when receipts are to be sent by mail or handed over physically to the right person in the company. It becomes even worse if an original happens to get lost.
In the future, however, a receipt can be quickly transformed into a digital document that is sent via mobile directly into the bookkeeping, and the supporting document is saved automatically without risk of fading or getting lost along the way. It is smooth, simple, and an enormous time-saver.
The parties in Tidö have been and are in agreement that the regulatory burden and bureaucracy for companies must be reduced. Now we are also delivering on that area.
Many entrepreneurs can testify to an everyday life with a lot of red tape that stands in the way when they want to engage in their core business. The bill is a clear step towards making it easier for all entrepreneurs. We in the Tidö parties are in complete agreement about actively working to remove unnecessary rules.
In this bill, some other changes are also made for so-called combined missions so that companies can use the best technical solution. The rules become technology-neutral, which facilitates for companies to apply the regulatory framework.
In conclusion, Mr. Speaker, I would like, for the sake of all companies, foundations, and associations, to vote in favor of the bill.
Jennie Wernäng (M)
Mr. Speaker! I want to start by saying "Finally!" – finally we get digital receipts. The requirement to archive, store, and work with all paper receipts is a regulatory burden that is now being lifted from the shoulders of many entrepreneurs.
The Moderates have championed issues regarding regulatory simplification for entrepreneurs for many years. Digital receipts are a proposal that specifically simplifies things for entrepreneurs. Everything that makes it easier to run a business drives development, creates jobs, and builds welfare.
For several years, this proposal has lain dormant as one of the deprioritized proposals on the table. Therefore, it feels extra good that our new government already in year two has a proposal so that we can soon vote for simplification for the entrepreneurs. Voting makes a real difference in everyday life as a citizen, but above all now as an entrepreneur.
Mr. Speaker! Within the EU, there have been challenges over the years with not over-implementing the legislative changes that come from the union. They have sometimes stood in complete opposition to how the proposal was intended. It has become bureaucratic, tangled, and complicated for, among others, entrepreneurs in Sweden.
This is what we want to change, and therefore a committee, a so-called implementation council, will be introduced and invested in shortly, which shall be able to follow and monitor but also regulate so that one does not complicate but simplifies, does not delay but accelerates, and does not make it complicated but facilitates.
Regarding just digital receipts, for everyone out there who has missed what this legislative change entails, I shall read a few lines from the proposal: "Through the legislative changes, the requirement that original accounting material be preserved for a certain period is abolished. This means, among other things, that accounting material - - - in paper form does not need to be preserved if it is digitized."
I would like to summarize the positive picture of the introduction of the new legislative amendment in four points:
It provides an efficiency that means a rapid reduction in handling, that it becomes easy to search digitally, and that it saves time.
It is environmentally friendly through reduced paper use.
It entails a cost saving in archiving, storage and printing.
It provides increased accuracy, which reduces the risk of incorrect data entry.
Mr. Speaker! In summary, digital receipts are a step forward for companies economically and environmentally. In addition to provisions on receipts, the rules regarding the auditor's independence in so-called combined assignments are being modernized. The current rules are today difficult to apply in a modern Sweden. The modernization shall make it easier for companies to hire an auditor and use the technical solutions for their accounting.
Mr. Speaker! The year 2024 is the year where we offer some hope. It is a step forward for reduced red tape, dampened inflation, and a soft recovery in the Swedish market. We Moderates stand on the entrepreneur's side, and in the government's work, we continue to simplify and improve our Swedish economy. Together we build a better Sweden.
Markus Kallifatides (S)
Mr. Speaker! I did not intend to take part in the debate because there is total consensus in the Swedish Riksdag that this bill should be approved. But for the sake of argument, I am taking part in the debate and remind that a simplification policy has been pursued here in Sweden for a very long time. As recently as in September 2021, the then parliamentary majority updated the goals for the policy.
Regulations shall promote growth, competitiveness and innovation.
The costs arising from regulations shall decrease.
Processing times shall be shortened.
Service and treatment shall be good.
Companies' submission of information and contacts with authorities shall be simplified through digitalization.
In that vein, Mr. Speaker, the Social Democratic-led government decided on 30 April 2020 to appoint a special investigator who would, among other things, consider and propose certain measures to simplify and modernize the Accounting Act (Directive 2020:48, Simpler rules for micro-entrepreneurship and a more modern Accounting Act).
In the committee directive, the Social Democratic-led government stated that since the Accounting Act entered into force in 2000, technical development has progressed. It was argued that there are, for example, new possibilities today to store and access accounting information electronically. There was therefore reason to investigate whether the accounting rules needed to be changed to be adapted to today's conditions and the technological development that has occurred.
The investigator should, among other things, propose the changes in requirements for archiving accounting information that are deemed necessary, propose the relaxations that are deemed necessary in the requirement that the original material, for example paper receipts for accounting information, shall be preserved, and investigate and report on how corresponding rules are designed in other countries.
The assignment was reported in the report in June 2021, Simplifications for micro-enterprises and modernization of the Accounting Act (SOU 2021:60), and has since been out for consultation and processed further in the Government Offices.
Mr. Speaker! Now there is, to our Social Democratic joy, a government bill from the current government. All parties in this Riksdag agree that the proposed legislative changes should be implemented.
The deliberation was hereby concluded.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.