Phase-out of the Swedish Payments Authority's system with transaction accounts
The whole debate at riksdagen.se, in Swedish (opens in a new tab)
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Speakers
Swedish Payments Authority system phase-out and 200 million cost AI
S considers that the government has handled the establishment of the transaction account in a serious manner since warning signs regarding costs and questionable added value existed already in 2022 and 2023 1. S argues that taxpayers have had to bear nearly 200 million kronor for a system that is never put into operation 1. S wants the agency's competence to be used to map gang criminals and choke off money flows 1. M considers it necessary to dare to try new methods to combat the criminal economy 2. M argues that it was bad to spend so much money on the transaction account when payments can be better stopped at the relevant agencies 2.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
The law's path
- Government bill (opens in a new tab) (done)
- You are here: Debate in the chamber (done)4 November 2026
- The Riksdag said yes (opens in a new tab) (done)4 November 2026
- The government issues the law (next step)
- Comes into force (not yet)1 January 2027, according to the Riksdag's decision
The debate on the Riksdag's web TV (opens in a new tab)
The video, in Swedish, comes from the Riksdag's web TV and loads from riksdagen.se only when you click. The Riksdag may then count the playback in its visitor statistics.
Joakim Sandell (S)
Madam Speaker! Today we are debating a proposal from the government to decommission a system that has actually never even been put into operation. It is a system that was intended to contribute to combating incorrect payments from our welfare systems, a system that the government decided to build despite clear warning signs, and a system that is now being decommissioned after taxpayers have had to bear costs of nearly 200 million kronor.
For us Social Democrats, the fight against welfare crime is a central issue. Money that is supposed to go to health insurance, families with children, and pensioners should not end up in the hands of criminals or unscrupulous actors. It was also the Social Democratic government that took the initiative to establish the Swedish Payments Agency, and the current government subsequently completed this work. It is precisely for that reason that it is so serious that the government has handled the construction of the transaction account in the way it has been done.
Madam Speaker! The most remarkable thing is perhaps not that the government eventually changed its mind, but that the warning signs were there early on. As early as 2022, Försäkringskassan and Pensionsmyndigheten raised objections against the system. During 2023, the establishment inquiry also pointed out that the transaction account risked becoming cost-driving and that the added value was questionable. Despite this, the government proceeded, and the agency began building up the system. In the autumn of 2025, the government changed its mind – suddenly, the same system was to be phased out.
In February this year, an interpellation debate was held here in the chamber on this very issue. Finance Minister Elisabeth Svantesson claimed then that a new information situation had arisen, but when my former colleague Ingela Nylund Watz asked what actually was new, the answers became less clear. It is actually still the central question. What did the government know in 2025 that it did not already know in 2022 or 2023? Which risks were new, and why did the work continue for so long if the utility of the system was so doubtful? These are reasonable questions to ask of a government that claims to safeguard every tax krona.
Madam Speaker! The development work has already cost around 110 million. In addition, there are additional costs of 68 million kronor for preparations before the decommissioning. In our special statement, we note that up to 200 million kronor have been spent on the system's construction. That is a lot of money. We Social Democrats are often told by the government parties how important it is to be economical with the taxpayers' money, and we naturally agree with that. The same requirement must apply to the government itself.
There is an almost absurd dimension to this. The Disbursement Authority was established to protect taxpayers' money from incorrect payments, but due to the government's own handling, taxpayers have had to bear a very large cost for a system that will never be used. The Finance Minister himself admitted in the interpellation debate that it would have been best if the development of the system had never been started. The question then becomes why the government did not draw that conclusion earlier.
Madam Speaker! The Swedish Payments Authority shall be an important part of the work against the criminal economy. We Social Democrats want the authority's competence to be able to be used to map out and pinpoint gang criminals and contribute to choking off money flows to organized crime. The fight against welfare crime is not just about detecting individual incorrect payments but also about striking at the economic conditions of organized crime.
In conclusion, Madam Speaker: We Social Democrats, despite this, support that the transaction account system is now being phased out, but the responsibility for what has occurred does not disappear simply because the system is being phased out. The Swedish National Audit Office's ongoing review will be important. We need to get clarity on what went wrong and why the warning signs did not lead to earlier measures. Protecting the taxpayers' money is not just about combating those who cheat to obtain benefits. It is also about the government itself being able to manage the taxpayers' money in a responsible manner.
Ida Drougge (M)
Madam Speaker! It is not often that I quote Magdalena Andersson, but today I shall do so: To combat the criminal gangs, we need to turn over every stone.
This is and remains true. But unlike the Social Democrats, the Moderates, along with the other blue-yellow parties, have had the opportunity to also do so. A decisive focus has been to combat the criminal economy. That work is far from finished, but we have come a good way. From being an area we hardly identified, talked about, and understood, we have today begun to reclaim crime proceeds. In 2025 alone, the state saved 800 million kronor through the reclamation of crime proceeds, through clawbacks, and by stopping various types of fraud.
The Swedish Payments Agency, which was established by the government in 2024, had by 2026 discovered incorrect payments amounting to 105.5 million kronor and stopped an additional around 50 million kronor from being paid out.
The potential is around 20 billion kronor per year – 20 billion that could remain in the taxpayers' pockets, finance welfare, or go towards payments of support to people who are entitled to it and need it. It is a lot of money.
When one turns over all the stones, it is possible that some become wrong and that in hindsight one can see that one should not have done certain things. For example, spending so much money on Utbetalningsmyndigheten having a transaction account when the payments can better be detected and stopped at the relevant authorities was bad. But it lies in the nature of the matter that when one turns over all the stones, not all stones are good and not everything bears fruit.
It is nevertheless my full conviction that it is with this determination and this courage that we must continue this work. The one who is afraid of making mistakes and does not dare to take measures will also never succeed in fighting something that one has never previously succeeded in fighting. If one wants to achieve better results than before, one must dare to try new methods for it. This is what our Moderate-led government has done, and it is my hope that we will be able to continue to do so.
With these words, I move for approval of the committee's proposal for a decision.
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.
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