The National Pension Service will receive 11.5 billion won in dividend income tax paid to Sweden's tax authorities. This is the basis for consistently pointing out taxation equity based on the Swedish public pension being exempted from taxes.
According to the National Pension Fund Management Headquarters on the 20th, the Swedish tax authorities recognized the tax exemption status of the National Pension Service's Sweden-listed stock dividend source tax on the 28th of last month. Previously, the National Pension Service did not enjoy tax exemptions from the Swedish National Pension Fund because it was a foreign institution. In response, the National Pension Service applied for an exemption to the Swedish tax authorities in 2021 based on the European Union's anti-discrimination law, which states that "foreign institutions similar to domestic institutions should not be treated unfavorably."
With the recognition of tax-free status, the National Pension Service will regain 11.5 billion won in dividend income tax on stocks invested in 2016-2020. The annual tax of 8.6 billion won, which had to be paid in the future, will also be reduced.
It is the second time since the Finnish public pension that an overseas public pension has been recognized as tax-free in Sweden. The National Pension Service had suffered from a five-year delay in screening, but in May, it urged Sweden to decide on a refund after the Finnish public pension fund won the case earlier this year.
The National Pension Service is also undergoing additional refund procedures for 11.8 billion won in taxes paid from 2021 to 2024.
The National Pension Service received about 8 billion won back from the Finnish tax authorities in a similar way last year. Tax refund procedures are also underway in Germany, Italy, Austria, and Poland.
"This refund is the result of the government's persistent efforts to preemptively capture tax-saving opportunities by countries to increase the people's retirement assets despite the difficulties of the international tax environment," said Seo Won-joo, director of the National Pension Fund.
