Response to interpellation 2024/25:558 on crime in the workplace and inspections
Translated from Swedish by AI; the translation may contain errors. The Swedish text is the original.
Summary AI, written in advance
The debate concerns work-life crime and the need for controls. L argues that the crime threatens companies and society 1 and that the government has strengthened agency cooperation as well as invested 100 million kronor 1 2. L emphasizes that Skatteverket prioritizes complex controls 2 3 and that crime reports as well as clawbacks have increased 3. L argues that the government has increased resources and strengthened the legal possibilities 4. S argues that the number of controls has fallen sharply and that the government is not doing enough 5 6. S wants to increase the supervision of risk industries, be able to blacklist companies, raise sanction fees, and counter fraud in wage subsidies 7.
Written by AI in advance and may contain errors. The numbers lead to the speech a statement builds on; check against the text below.
Statsrådet Nina Larsson (L)
Madam Speaker! Marie Olsson has asked the Minister for Finance which measures she considers most prioritized moving forward to combat crime in the labor market. Furthermore, she has asked the Minister for Finance how she views the fact that crime in the labor market is increasing while the number of controls carried out by Skatteverket is steadily decreasing. The interpellation has been handed over to the Minister for Equality and Employment, and therefore I stand here.
I would like to begin by thanking Marie Olsson for the pertinent questions. Crime in the workplace constitutes a threat to Swedish companies, employees, vulnerable workers, and society as a whole. It causes great suffering for the individual and great insecurity in the labor market, distorts competition, and contributes to the criminal economy.
The Government has extended and strengthened the mandate on lasting agency cooperation against crime against the labor market. The mandate applies until 2026. The nine agencies, one of which is Skatteverket, shall during the same period continue to broadly conduct and develop the work against crime against the labor market and the work at the labor market crime centers, based on each agency's area of competence.
In the annual reporting on the mission to establish regional centers against labor market crime and on lasting agency cooperation, it is reported that the joint agency controls increased during 2024. This has resulted in more identified crimes and significant economic claims – several million kronor have been recovered. The Swedish Tax Agency reports, among other things, in the report that they visited more companies and that the number of controls of personnel records and cash registers increased in relation to the previous year.
In the budget bill for 2025, the government added 100 million for agency cooperation against crime against the labor market, and investments have also been made to strengthen the justice system and the Swedish Tax Agency. The government has also taken measures to facilitate information transfer between agencies.
In July 2024, a new law on reporting obligations entered into force. It concerns countering incorrect payments from the welfare systems as well as fraud, rule violations, and crime in the working life.
The cooperation between authorities within agency cooperation against crime in the working life shall be developed to strike harder against the criminal economy, organized crime in corporate environments, human trafficking, human smuggling, and human exploitation in work. By striking at the opportunities to enrich oneself economically through crime, society can reduce the drivers to engage in crime and counteract the fact that criminal profits build up even stronger and more well-organized criminal activities. The Government continues to work to choke the criminal economy and increase safety in society.
Marie Olsson (S)
Madam Speaker! I would like to begin by thanking the Minister for the answer to the interpellation and also welcome the Minister to this forum for what I understand is her first interpellation debate as Minister. This forum is extremely important for us as Members of Parliament, as part of our oversight power.
The interpellation was addressed to the Minister for Finance because it largely concerns the Swedish Tax Agency. The Swedish Tax Agency is the Minister for Finance's responsibility, not the Minister for Equality and Employment's. The Minister for Finance chose not to come here and answer the questions, which I regret.
Unfortunately, it happens to us Members of Parliament that certain ministers, including the Prime Minister, choose to send forward other ministers other than the minister to whom the question is addressed. This hinders our opportunities as Members of Parliament to exercise the oversight power to which we are entitled. Note that this is not criticism of the minister who is here today to answer the questions.
Workplace crime claims new victims all the time – the victims are many and of various kinds. It concerns people who suffer greatly, serious companies that collapse, and public activities that are drained of resources.
The Swedish Tax Agency shall be at the forefront when it comes to combating crime in the working life. Several of the government's ministers emphasize that it is a priority for the government to combat crime in the working life and that the Swedish Tax Agency has received more resources and better tools to intensify the work.
One way to clearly increase the pressure on unserious companies that threaten healthy competition is to carry out more controls. Nevertheless, the number of controls that Skatteverket carries out has steadily decreased in recent years.
The Minister writes in his response that the joint authority controls have increased – but from what levels? Skatteverket's controls decreased from 13,964 in 2018 to 3,449 in 2023. The increase has therefore occurred from extremely low levels.
Madam Speaker! A written question has been submitted to the Minister for Finance on the same theme, namely what measures the Minister for Finance, who is responsible for the Swedish Tax Agency, intends to take to strengthen the Swedish Tax Agency's work with audits and inspections. In the response from the Minister for Finance, she seems quite satisfied with the Swedish Tax Agency's work with controls; she argues that they are fewer but that the control tools are used more effectively. The Minister for Finance also states, just as the Minister, that the government has given the Swedish Tax Agency an increased budget.
I believe everyone understands that a reduced number of inspections leads to more unserious companies getting away with their criminality. This is stated in the Swedish Government Official Reports 2024:61, where it clearly says: "How the regulatory framework is applied in practice is crucial for how effective it is. For the regulatory framework to function effectively, it is required that inspection visits are actually carried out in the affected operations to a significant extent." Note the phrasing "to a significant extent". Unfortunately, no inspections are being carried out to a significant extent now.
Furthermore, we are all well aware of the major reduction that the government has previously carried out regarding the Swedish Tax Agency. When the Minister and also the Minister for Finance answer that the budget has been expanded, it is after significant cuts. The supplements that have been added during 2024 and 2025 are far from compensating for the savings that have been made previously.
The Swedish Tax Agency notes in its budget basis that one is approaching control levels that are unsustainably low, which gives fraudsters room to maneuver. My question to the Minister is then whether the government, despite all this, is satisfied with the number of controls.
Statsrådet Nina Larsson (L)
Madam Speaker! This issue of crime in the working life spans several policy areas and falls largely within my ministerial portfolio. These are also issues where I and my staff and colleagues collaborate extensively with the other departments.
The Government has, in the extension of the joint agency mandate against crime in the labor market, emphasized that it is particularly important to combat complex forms of crime in the labor market, just as the questioner touched upon and had received previous answers about. To tackle this type of complex activity, high-quality controls are important.
The Swedish Tax Agency has prioritized directing controls towards the most serious tax evasion and more complex crime in the labor market. Instead of control visits regarding personnel lists, the agency has prioritized, for example, conducting more so-called desk audits and increasing the control of F-tax and company registrations. The Swedish Tax Agency has acted to meet more complex societal challenges to counter the criminal economy and prevent companies from being used as tools for crime.
I can also recommend a reading of the annual report on agency cooperation against crime in the working life for 2024, which was recently submitted to the government. The report provides a picture of how the cooperation and control activities of Skatteverket and the other agencies have developed in a positive direction.
The new legislation on removing secrecy barriers between authorities, which the government has initiated, has been particularly highlighted by the Swedish Tax Agency as an important way to combat crime in the labor market more effectively.
The government has also, as I mentioned earlier, extended the assignment to the nine agencies regarding a-krim centers and on lasting inter-agency cooperation until the end of 2026. Skatteverket is an active participant in that inter-agency cooperation. The inter-agency cooperation has also been ongoing since 2018 and was started by the previous government. But the government has also invested 100 million in work against labor market crime in the budget bill for 2025. Skatteverket and the justice system have also received increased resources in addition to this.
Marie Olsson (S)
Madam Speaker! The Delegation against crime in the working life writes in its final report under the heading Controls and supervision: ”Even though there may be reason to make certain adjustments and reviews regarding the authorities' tools, the delegation already wishes to emphasize here that it is also central that the tools that exist are actually used in an effective way. To some extent, it is a matter of sufficient resources being allocated to, for example, control and supervision work.”
We now have two investigations that emphasize the importance of controls to tackle crime in the labor market. It is remarkable that the government then appears quite satisfied with the number of controls and the control activities when crime in the labor market is actually growing all the time.
The government talks a lot about organized crime and gang crime, but when it comes to taking a crack down on crime in the labor market, not enough is happening. There are investigations. There are good proposals that could address crime in the working life to a significantly greater extent. Why does the government not use these investigations and proposals and ensure that there is progress and order on the labor market?
Labor crime is an important source of income for actors within organized crime. We know that. By, among other things, exploiting underpaid foreign workers and black labor, prices are dumped. This means that we have both many people who suffer and serious companies that cannot compete.
We have known for some time that certain industries are more vulnerable than others. This applies to sectors such as construction, restaurants, transport, personal care, cleaning, and certain parts of the green industries. If the Swedish Tax Agency had the opportunity to increase the number of inspections within just these industries, we would reach a significantly larger portion of crime in the labor market.
The Minister of Justice took up the 2024 report from Agencies in Cooperation against Organized Crime. In it, it is described which of the participating agencies have been particularly active during 2024 in the work against organized crime, of which crime in the working life is a part. In the report, Försäkringskassan, Arbetsförmedlingen, Tullverket, and Ekobrottsmyndigheten are listed. Skatteverket, which is supposed to be in the front line when it comes to combating crime in the working life, is unfortunately not included in that list.
The government thus has at least two investigations, Skatteverket's own budget basis and the report from Myndigheter i samverkan to base its continued work on. Based on them, I cannot draw any conclusions other than that significantly more controls are needed from Skatteverket's side. I find it strange that the minister and the government do not share that assessment. At least in none of the answers has it been stated that they consider it to be a problem that so few controls are carried out. This makes me doubt a bit how serious the government's efforts are when it comes to tackling crime in the labor market.
Based on this, I want to ask the Minister: What concrete measures does the government intend to take so that it is not just a lip service, but shows that you are serious about countering crime in the labor market and removing the exploitation of people, human trafficking, and unscrupulous companies from the labor market? How will the government ensure that the inspections become significantly more numerous and that they become an effective tool to counter crime in the labor market? They could be that.
Statsrådet Nina Larsson (L)
Madam Speaker! I believe it is important that the discussion on Skatteverket's controls does not focus solely on the quantitative, the number of controls, but also on the fact that more complex controls are performed, i.e., the qualitative parts. This was also an important aspect in the government mandate regarding the extension of the agencies' mandates.
Control visits is a term that is frequently used. It covers two things: control of cash registers and control of personnel records on-site at the companies' premises. Control visits are thus one of several tools in the Swedish Tax Agency's toolbox.
The Swedish Tax Agency reported that desk audits against companies had more than doubled during 2024. Revocations of F-tax, audits of newly started companies, and reports of incorrect payments resulting from audits, as well as demands for repayment regarding rut, rot, and deductions for green technology, have increased during 2024.
In the 2022 tax procedure investigation, several proposals were submitted to streamline and strengthen the Swedish Tax Agency's control possibilities within the rot- and rut-systems and the systems with personnel registers. This includes, among other things, expanded control tools for the Swedish Tax Agency, for example, third-party orders during audits of rot- and rut-payments and an expanded scope of use for data in the personnel registers. The report has been referred and is currently being prepared within the Government Offices.
In a number of areas, the Swedish Tax Agency's controls have increased. During 2024, the Swedish Tax Agency focused on reporting crimes, which resulted in an increase in the number of crime reports. Also, reports of incorrect payments from welfare systems as a result of controls increased, as did the reclamation of rut, rot, and deductions for green technology.
This government is concentrating its efforts to strangle the criminal economy and stop companies that are exploited for criminal purposes. With better Fskattekontroller, it is countered that companies are used as a tool for the criminal economy.
It is important that only serious companies are approved for F-tax. The Swedish Tax Agency has prioritized the control of F-tax and company registration. This is also a positive direction. The revocations of F-tax increased, as did the controls of newly registered companies during 2024.
Marie Olsson (S)
Madam Speaker! If the government is serious about wanting to counter crime in the labor market, Skatteverket's controls must increase significantly. There is no contradiction between quality and quantity. It is through the controls that crime in the labor market is most often detected. Fewer controls lead to fewer detections – more controls lead to more detections.
The government has every opportunity to join the proposals we Social Democrats are putting forward to counter crime in the workplace. It is precisely about increasing the supervision of high-risk industries and about further strengthening the joint agency work against crime in the workplace.
It is about being able to blacklist companies that cheat. It is about ensuring that the sanction fees are increased and broadened to more areas. It must cost to cheat. It is about countering cheating and abuse in the use of RUT and ROT services and wage subsidies.
If the proposals from us Social Democrats are implemented, we will turn off the tap and tighten the grip on crime in the working life significantly more.
Madam Speaker! We Social Democrats are far from satisfied. We are not satisfied until every unserious company is gone from the labor market. We are not satisfied until every worker on the labor market has wages according to collective agreements. We are not satisfied until every worker has tolerable working conditions and a work environment where one does not risk being injured or dying at work. We are not satisfied until we no longer have labor being exploited and arriving here via human traffickers.
We are not as satisfied as the government is, and we are not satisfied with the government's work in countering crime in the workplace. We Social Democrats are not satisfied until we have brought order and clarity to the Swedish labor market.
Statsrådet Nina Larsson (L)
Madam Speaker! Crime in the labor market affects many areas of society and often consists of complex schemes with links to organized crime and welfare crime. The delegation against crime in the labor market has produced a very extensive knowledge base, which summarizes four years of investigative work. This report is also currently being prepared in the Government Offices.
Operational agency cooperation is an important success factor in the work against labor market crime, and the so-called a-krim centers located in seven Swedish locations are the hub of that activity. The work is coordinated by Arbetsmiljöverket, and Skatteverket participates actively in this.
The government has extended the assignment until 31 December 2026, as I mentioned.
In the annual report for 2024, which was presented, a positive picture is given of agency cooperation against crime against the labor market. The picture given by the agencies is that it requires persistent, knowledge-based and committed work from the operationally cooperating agencies, the parties in the labor market and many others.
I would like to conclude by thanking the questioner Marie Olsson for the commitment she shows in these issues. It is incredibly important that we, on a broad front and across all levels, really work committedly to tackle crime in the workplace.
This government has increased resources, strengthened the legal possibilities and focused on high-quality controls. I believe that is a very important success factor moving forward.
Source: The Swedish Parliament. The speeches come from the open data of the Riksdag, translated into English by AI, which may contain errors.