Information from Försäkringskassan, 01.01.2017
The information in this fact sheet applies to those who receive or apply for sickness compensation in
accordance with the rules that apply from July 2008 onwards. If you receive sickness compensation that is
not time-limited in accordance with the rules that applied before July 2008, you can read the fact sheet
“Working with sickness compensation”.
You can receive sickness compensation if you are aged between 30 and 64 and your work capacity is
reduced by at least a quarter due to illness or another reduction of your physical or mental capacity.
You can receive sickness compensation if you:

Will probably never be able to work full-time as a result of illness, injury or disability.

Are aged between 30 and 65.

Are insured in Sweden and were insured when you became sick. You are insured in Sweden if you
live or work here. You can have worked in another country and still be insured in Sweden. There
are also cases where you can have worked in Sweden but be insured in another country. Call our
customer centre to find out more about what applies in your specific situation.
To be able to receive sickness compensation, your work capacity must be permanently reduced, i.e. for the
foreseeable future. This reduction of work capacity shall apply to all work available in the whole labour
market. This also includes employment arranged for people with disabilities, for example, wage subsidy
employment.
Full income-related sickness compensation provides you with 64,7 per cent of your assumed income
[antagandeinkomst], the income that Försäkringskassan [the Swedish Social Insurance Agency] calculates
that you would probably have earned if you had continued to work.
If you have had low income or no income at all, you can receive guarantee benefit. In 2017, you can
receive at most SEK 107 520 (2.4 price base amounts [prisbasbelopp]*) per year in full guarantee benefit.
You can receive full, three-quarter, half or a quarter sickness compensation. The amount you receive
depends on how much your work capacity is reduced and your ability to earn your living.
Income-related sickness compensation and guarantee benefit are both re-calculated in January every year
when the price base amount is adjusted.
* The price base amount is based on the cost of living. In 2017, the price base amount is SEK 44 800.
You can apply for sickness compensation yourself. You do this on a special form which you can obtain
from Försäkringskassan or download from www.forsakringskassan.se. You must also include a doctor’s
certificate.
If Försäkringskassan considers that you are eligible for sickness compensation, we may decide to replace
your sickness benefit by sickness compensation. Försäkringskassan will have had continuous contact with
you and the doctor treating you before considering this replacement.
When you apply for sickness compensation, you must have a doctor’s certificate. In the first place, the
doctor you normally consult should describe your state of health in a medical certificate. However,
Försäkringskassan may also ask another doctor or expert to examine you and make an assessment of your
ability to work.
We investigate both your work situation and social circumstances. We will accordingly ask you questions
about your family circumstances, childcare, household work, leisure activities, education, secondary
employment or other commissions that may affect your entitlement to benefit.
Your work capacity can change. During the period that you receive sickness compensation, which is not
temporary, Försäkringskassan will therefore carry out a new investigation every third year to find out
whether you are still entitled to compensation at the same level. Försäkringskassan will also investigate
whether anything has happened which improves the possibilities of rehabilitation.
If you were granted sickness compensation before 1 January 2005, Försäkringskassan makes subsequent
checks when needed. These checks are made to find out whether your work capacity has improved or
whether your possibilities for rehabilitation have improved.
Sickness compensation is paid into the account you have notified to Försäkringskassan. It is paid out on the
18th or 19th of each month. If the payment date is a Saturday, you will receive sickness compensation on
the Friday. If the payment date is a Sunday, a public holiday or Midsummer Eve [midsommarafton], you
will receive payment on the following weekday. If you are resident abroad, your sickness compensation
will be sent from Sweden on the payment date.
If sickness compensation is at most SEK 2 400 kronor per year, you will receive it in arrears in June and
December each year. Amounts exceeding SEK 2 400 per year may also be paid out twice per year if you
ask Försäkringskassan to this.
The survivors are entitled to collect sickness compensation for the full month even if the death occurred on
one of the first days of the month. However, they may not collect the following month’s compensation.
During the period you have sickness compensation, you may work or study without losing your entitlement
to compensation. This is called dormant sickness compensation. The fact that compensation is dormant
means that it is not paid out. You must apply for dormant compensation before you start working or
studying. If you start working, you can also apply for a test period of up to three months with a wage and
sickness compensation at the same time.
If you work when your compensation is dormant, you will receive a monthly amount corresponding to 25
percent of the compensation that is dormant. This amount will be paid out for a maximum of twelve
months.
If you receive full sickness compensation, you can still use a small remaining work capacity in, for
example, voluntary or political work. This means that you may work for an hour a day and earn at most an
eighth of the normal full-time income in the employment you carry out and still be entitled to full
compensation. Contact Försäkringskassan and discuss what is possible for you before you start working.
If you receive three-quarter sickness compensation, Försäkringskassan is responsible for you being able to
find employment corresponding to your remaining work capacity. The Employment Service
[Arbetsförmedlingen] shall find you a place on the ordinary labour market within six months, possibly with
the aid of a wage subsidy. If this is not possible, you will be offered employment at Samhall AB.
When you are granted full sickness compensation, you are no longer entitled to sickness benefit. If you
have been granted a quarter, half or three-quarter sickness compensation and have an income from
employment of at least SEK 10 680 per year (24 % of the price base amount), you may, however, have a
sickness benefit qualifying income established and thus be able to receive sickness benefit if you are unable
to work due to illness.
Your sickness compensation may be reduced if you also have a foreign disability pension
[invaliditetspension] or other foreign disability benefits at the same time.
Income-related sickness compensation is paid to you regardless of the country you live in. However, you
can only continue to receive guarantee benefit within the EU/EEA, Switzerland and Canada. Consult
Försäkringskassan for more information about when you are entitled to continue to receive guarantee
benefit after moving to another country.
You must notify Försäkringskassan if you move abroad permanently. It is important that you state the
address, bank and account number to which the sickness compensation is to be sent.
To continue to be entitled to sickness compensation, you must send Försäkringskassan a “life certificate”
once a year, if you live abroad. This is done as follows:
You will automatically receive a form from Försäkringskassan. Fill in the form, take a valid passport with
you and go to any of the authorities or similar listed on the form. They must certify that your information is
correct. You should then return the form to Försäkringskassan.
In certain cases, you may not receive a form for certification. At present, this applies to people living in
Finland, Norway or Germany. Information about you is instead collected through exchange of data between
Sweden and your country of residence.
When you live abroad, you may receive “Special income tax for non-residents (SINK)” [“Särskild
inkomstskatt för utomlands bosatta” (SINK)]. Please contact the Tax Agency [Skatteverket] for more
information about SINK.
Income-related sickness compensation is based on your previous income from work, but also on previous
benefits from Försäkringskassan such as sickness benefit [sjukpenning] and parental benefit
[föräldrapenning]. Somewhat simplified, you can obtain income-related sickness compensation if:


You are working in Sweden at the time of the claim. The claim is when you comply with the
conditions to obtain sickness compensation.
You have had a pensionable income – or a pensionable amount of sickness compensation –at least
a year during what is referred to as the time frame [ramtid]. The time frame is a set period back in
time from the year before the claim. If you have a pensionable income, you will receive an annual
decision every year (the orange envelope).
When we calculate your sickness compensation, we start by calculating your assumed income. This is the
income that we assume you would have had if you had continued to work. We base this calculation on the
three years during the time frame when you have the highest income and calculate an average income.
The time frame is a set period back in time from the year before the claim. You may only count income that
you have had during the time frame when we calculate your sickness compensation. The time frame is
between five and eight years depending on age:
We base the calculation of the assumed income on your gross annual income which we then recalculate at
the current value of money. The gross annual income is your pensionable income plus the pension
contributions that the Tax Agency has deducted. You are notified of your pensionable income in the orange
envelope every year. You obtain your gross annual income by dividing the pensionable income by 0,93.
However, there is a ceiling on the amount of income you can take up. Income over SEK 333 250 (7.5 price
base amounts) is not taken into consideration.
The income-related compensation entitles you to a future income-related old age pension. If you have had
full sickness compensation, you will receive pension entitlement for 93 per cent of your assumed income,
the income that Försäkringskassan calculates you probably would have had if you had worked.
If you have not had any income, you can obtain sickness compensation in the form of guarantee benefit.
You can also obtain guarantee benefit if you have low income-related compensation. In this case, the
guarantee benefit will be as large as the difference between your income-related benefit and your guarantee
level.
Somewhat simplified, it can be said that you are entitled to guarantee benefit if:


You were resident in Sweden at the time of the claim. The claim is when you comply with the
conditions to receive sickness compensation.
You have an insurance period in Sweden of at least three years. Your insurance period is
calculated on the basis of the length of time you have lived in Sweden. See the section What is the
insurance period?
The highest guarantee level is SEK 106 800 per year (2.4 price base amounts). If you have lived in Sweden
for the whole of your life, you receive benefit at the highest level. If you have not always lived in Sweden,
your benefit may be reduced, depending on the length of your insurance period. If you have an insurance
period of less than 40 years, your benefit will be reduced by 1/40 for every missing year. However, this
does not mean that you must have lived in Sweden for 40 years to receive benefit at the highest level. You
can have an insurance period of 40 years without having lived in Sweden for 40 years.
You may count the insurance period for the time you have lived in Sweden. This is called the actual
insurance period. However, you may also count the insurance period for the time that you are expected to
live in Sweden. This is called the future insurance period. Sickness compensation in the form of guarantee
benefit is based on both the actual and future insurance period.
You receive the actual insurance period for the time you have lived in Sweden from attaining the age of 16
until the year before the claim. You receive the future insurance period for the time from and including the
year of the claim until you attain the age of 64. However, your future insurance period also depends on how
long you have lived in Sweden. To be able to count the future insurance period for every year between the
claim and the year you attain the age of 64, you must have lived in Sweden for at least 80 per cent of the
time from the year you attained the age of 16 until the year before the claim.
Special rules apply to refugees and others in need of protection which enable them to count the period they
have lived in their previous home country as actual insurance period.
If the claim occurs before you attain the age of 18, your insurance period may be calculated according to
special rules. You do not need to have been insured at the time of the insurance claim and can count the
whole time from and including the year that you attained the age of 16 until the year you attain the age of
64 as insurance period. However, you may not count any period that you did not live in Sweden as
insurance period.
You pay tax on sickness compensation. Försäkringskassan deducts the tax. The amount of tax deducted
may be affected by other income you have. You should therefore notify us if you have taxable income from
any other source than Försäkringskassan, for example, income from employment.
You do not need to send your tax certificate to Försäkringskassan. Försäkringskassan receives this
information directly from the Tax Agency.
If you would like Försäkringskassan to deduct less tax (for example, if you have large interest expenditure),
you can apply to your tax office for tax adjustment. You should then send the decision you receive to
Försäkringskassan. Contact Försäkringkassan if you would like the amount deducted in tax increased. The
higher tax deduction from your sickness compensation will continue to be made until you request
otherwise.
In January every year, you will receive a statement of tax paid and earnings from Försäkringskassan. This
states how much sickness compensation you have received and the amount of tax deducted. If you have the
compensation paid into an account, you will receive the statement of tax paid and earnings together with
the deposit statement for January. Contact Försäkringskassan if you do not receive a statement of tax paid
and earnings.
More information about sickness compensation and tax is available from your tax office or at
www.skatteverket.se.
You must notify all changes that may affect your entitlement to or the amount of your compensation. This
is the case, for example, if







you start to work or study
you start to work to a greater extent than before, for example, if you have been granted half
compensation but start to work full-time
you are given additional voluntary work or your voluntary work changes in scope
you continue working after a decision on dormant sickness compensation has ceased to apply
your work capacity improves even if you are not working
you receive a new or changed foreign pension, annuity [livränta] or similar
you move abroad.
You must notify us in advance of changes that affect how much you work. You should notify us of any
other changes as soon as you know about them.
If you do not notify us of changes, you may be obliged to pay money back if you have received too much
money or if you have received money that you are not actually entitled to.
When you receive sickness compensation, you may also receive benefits through contractual insurance.
You should therefore ask your most recent employer or trade union organisation whether there is any
insurance and what applies in your case. If you had other employers previously, you should ask them as
well. Försäkringskassan is not responsible for contractual insurance and cannot answer questions about this
insurance.
If you receive sickness compensation, you may be eligible for housing supplement. You apply for housing
supplement at Försäkringskassan. See the Swedish fact sheet “Bostadstillägg till dig som har
aktivitetsersättning eller sjukersättning” [“Housing supplement for those with activity compensation or
sickness compensation”], which you can obtain from Försäkringskassan or download from
www.forsakringskassan.se.
Fact sheets are not legislative texts on the subject. You can find more information about sickness
compensation in the following Swedish fact sheets:

Vilande sjuk- och aktivitetsersättning vid arbete [“Dormant sickness compensation and activity
compensation upon work”]

Vilande sjuk- och aktivitetsersättning vid studier [“Dormant sickness compensation and activity
compensation upon studies”]
You can find all information materials at Försäkringskassan and on our website,
www.forsakringskassan.se. You can also use the self-service functions on our website to quickly and easily
deal with various matters. You can call our self-service phone line on 020-524 524 to request certificates,
forms and brochures. You can also notify us of certain circumstances.