Debt reconstruction
Debt reconstruction – a way to
get your finances in order
This is how we normally explain debt reconstruction – a way for people
who are heavily indebted to get their finances in order. Our intention is for
this brochure to provide you with answers to the most frequently asked
questions about debt reconstruction. Because we know- that there can be
a lot of questions.
The Swedish Enforcement Authority is the place you
turn to in order to apply for debt reconstruction. In
this brochure, we describe what debt reconstruction
is, how it works and what you need to think about.
You can also find more information on our website.
tion came into force on 1 November 2016 – debt
reconstruction for entrepreneurs. This means that
there are now two types of debt reconstruction: one
that we call normal debt reconstruction and one for
entrepreneurs.
What is debt
reconstruction?
Those who are – or have been – involved in a business may have the possibility of applying for normal
debt reconstruction or debt reconstruction for entrepreneurs. This also applies to those who are closely
related to an entrepreneur. You can decide yourself
which of the two suits you best.
Many people wonder what debt reconstruction actually involves. The basic point of debt reconstruction
is that you pay off some of your debts over the course
of several years. You don’t have to pay the rest. When
the debt reconstruction is complete, you no longer
have the debts that were restructured – the idea is
that you will be debt-free.
The first part of the brochure deals with normal
debt reconstruction and the second part covers debt
reconstruction for entrepreneurs. At the end of the
brochure, you can read about records for payment
default and where you can find more information
about debt reconstruction.
An entirely new law concerning debt reconstruc-
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Normal debt
reconstruction
How to apply
You apply for debt reconstruction by filling in the
form “Ansökan om skuldsanering” (in Swedish only).
The form is available on our website. The website
also tells you where to send the application. You can
also apply online via our website.
Who is eligible for normal debt reconstruction?
For us to tell you if you are eligible for debt reconstruction, we need to go through your application
and you need to fulfil a number of conditions:
Help is available
You can apply yourself or contact a budget and debt
advisor in your municipality to get help. You can
learn about budget and debt advice at konsumentverket.se and search for a local budget and debt advisor
at hallåkonsument.se. You can also call our customer
service department.
• You are so indebted that you are in no way able to
pay your debts for many years.
• The debt reconstruction is reasonable with regard
to your personal and financial circumstances.
• Your principal interests are in Sweden, for example because this is where you live or -where
your debts are.
Suggestions to simplify the process
Your application has to contain a list of the debts you
know about and to whom you are in debt. You also
have to estimate the size of your debts. This section
contains suggestions that may help you remember
what debts you have:
• If you are self-employed, the finances of the business must be simple to investigate. Bear in mind
that you may also have the opportunity to apply
for debt reconstruction for entrepreneurs.
• You can not have a current trading
prohibition(legally not allowed to run your own
business).
1. Get your latest income tax return. This lists some
of your debts.
2.Go through any demand letters you have saved
from recent years.
Even if you already have had a previous debt reconstruction, it may still be possible for you to get
another one, for example if you have incurred new
debts or the previous debt reconstruction was
unsuccessful. But you need to have specific grounds
to get debt reconstruction again. Otherwise, there is
no fixed answer to the question of who can –get debt
reconstruction.
3.Include foreign debts and debts to relatives,
friends and acquaintances. Debts of this kind are
also -covered by debt reconstruction and therefore
need to be included in your application.
You can also contact our customer service department to obtain a statement from our register. On this
you can see all the debts that have been – handed in
to us, but please bear in mind that we do not have
You can read more about what we do when we
process your application a little further on in the
brochure.
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all of your debts. Consequently, you can also contact
a credit reference agency in order to see if they have
more information about your debts.
to be. Instead we look at your total debt in relation to
what you are able to pay.
Your ability to pay is affected by many different factors, including
What to bear in mind once you have
submitted your application
• the size of your debt
• your current and future income
It can take a few months to decide if you will be given
debt reconstruction. During this period, it is important that you do not take on new debts. Also bear
in mind that you have to pay your normal expenses,
for example rent, electricity and telephone bills, television licence fee and any maintenance for children.
• your age
• your capacity to work and level of education
• any illness and unemployment.
If your salary or income is subject to attachment,
it will continue until we have made a decision to
initiate debt reconstruction. You can find out more
about what this decision involves a little further on in
the brochure.
We assess your application
When we receive your application, we check whether
you fulfil the conditions for debt reconstruction.
Two of the conditions require a little more extensive
investigation than the others. This applies partly
to your debts and your prospects of repaying them,
partly to whether debt reconstruction is reasonable.
You can read more about these two conditions below.
Your debts and your prospects of
repaying them
We first look at your prospects of repaying your
debts in the future. -This means we go through all
the circumstances that may affect your ability to pay.
There is no limit to how small or large the debt needs
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Are your personal and financial
circumstances reasonable?
We initiate
If you fulfil the conditions, we decide to initiate debt
reconstruction. This is a preliminary decision and
means that you have the prerequisites to obtain debt
reconstruction. In this decision, we also –tell you
how much you have to pay each month. In order to
get the debt reconstruction process started as quickly
as possible, you have to start making payments to us
at this time.
In order for us to decide whether debt reconstruction
is reasonable, we make a comprehensive assessment
of your personal and financial circumstances. We
call this a reasonability assessment. We look at your
entire situation and three areas in particular:
• how and why your debts have come about
• that you have done what you can to repay your
debts
How much you have to pay depends on how much
you can pay. To decide this, we calculate how
much you and any family members need to support
yourselves. This decision is also preliminary and we
can change it while your case is being processed. At
this stage, we do not have all the information about
• that you are active, for example that you answer
the questions we ask in order to assess your application.
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your financial situation and we therefore need to be
somewhat careful when deciding how much you have
to pay. It is only at the next stage that weinvestigate
more thouroughly. At this stage we may get more
information and decide that you have to pay more or
less.If you already live on the subsistence minimum
when the debt reconstruction process begins, you
can get debt reconstruction without paying. In this
case you do not repay any of your debts.
In these months you don’t pay at all. The idea is to
give you breathing space in your debt reconstruction.
It is normal to pay over a period of five years, but if
you have good reasons we may decide that you have
to pay for a shorter period. If you have made your
payments as you are supposed to since we initiated
your debt reconstruction, we of course deduct these
months. Once you have approved the proposal, we
sendit to all of your creditors.
We announce the decision to intiatie debt reconstruction by publishing the decision in The Official
Swedish Gazette (Post- och Inrikes Tidningar). We
also inform the creditors (the people you owe money
to) that we are aware of. The creditors are then to
notify us of your debts. They can also notify us of any
debts you have not included in your application.
We decide
When your creditors have had the opportunity to tell
us what they think, we decide whether or not you are
to be given debt reconstruction. We can decide to
grant you debt reconstruction even if some of your
creditors do not agree to it. They then have the opportunity to lodge an appeal with the district court.
It is no longer possible to appeal the decision (it has
gained legal force) three weeks from the date on
which we or the district court made the decision.
A debt reconstruction process includes all the
debts that you have when we decide to initiate debt
reconstruction. However, debts that arise after the
decision are not included and you need to repay these
in full.
We draw up a proposal
When you have received the decision on debt reconstruction, you continue to pay us once a month.
Once a year, we pay out the money to your creditors.
We also then charge you a fee of SEK 500 which we
deduct from the sum you have payed to us.
At this stage we complete our investigation of your
application. Together with you, we draw up a proposal for how the debt reconstruction is to take place.
This proposal states which debts are included in the
debt reconstruction, exactly how much you have to
pay and for how long you have to pay. There are two
months that are payment-free – June and December.
Remember that you have to pay even if someone appeals the decision. However, if you do not have to pay
anything at all, all your debts are written off –when
your debt reconstruction is complete.
The decision to initiate debt reconstruction means
that any attachment of your income ends.
If you do not pay as you are supposed to, you will
receive a reminder from us. In which case, we also
inform your creditors that you have not paid.
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If you do not fulfil the conditions
change, we can extend the repayment period. However, we do not do this you are the one to ask for the
change.
If we assess that you do not fulfil the conditions
for debt reconstruction, we deny your application
and state the reasons why. This can take place both
before and after we initiate debt reconstruction. If we
have initiated your application and you have paid us,
we give you back the money you have paid in. If your
salary was subject to attachment prior to the initiation, the money goes instead to the creditors included in the attachment.
Your creditors can also apply for us to cancel your
debt reconstruction, for example if you aren’t paying
what you should be. In which case, your debts remain
the same as they were prior to the debt reconstruction, minus what you have already paid.
It is important that you do not get new debts, even if
you have temporary repayment problems. Be particularly attentive if you have requested a tax adjustment, applied for housing allowance or are liable for
maintenance payments. The fact is that you do not
have the right to change your debt reconstruction as
a result of new debts – we can enforce these as with
any other debts.
You have the opportunity to appeal our decision. In
which case, a court reviews your case.
Even if your application is -denied, you can reapply
for debt reconstruction. Our reasons for rejecting
your application can provide you with guidance as to
whether it is appropriate to apply again.
Following the debt reconstruction
If your financial circumstances change during the debt reconstruction
Your debt reconstruction is complete five years after
the date when we decided to initiate the debt reconstruction. This also applies to those who have been
given a shorter plan or no repayment plan. If you
have to pay for longer than five years, the debt reconstruction is complete on the day you make the final
repayment. The idea is that you will be debt-free once
your debt reconstruction is complete.
Both you and your creditors can apply to have the
debt reconstruction changed. We call this reassessing
the debt reconstruction.
If your financial circumstances deteriorateyou may
no longer be able to pay what you are supposed to.
In which case, you can apply to have the debt reconstruction changed by us so that you pay less.
If your financial circumstances improve a lot, your
creditors may want to have more or you might want
to pay more. If it is your creditors who apply for a
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Debt reconstruction for
entrepreneurs
close relatives includes spouses, cohabitees, parents,
siblings, children and the children or a spouse or
cohabitee.
Debt reconstruction for entrepreneurs has approximately the same format as normal debt reconstruction, but there are some differences. On the one
hand, you repay your debts over a shorter period; it is
always three years. On the other hand, the conditions
for obtaining debt reconstruction for entrepreneurs
are somewhat stricter, for example the business
needs to be run in a serious manner.
What are the conditions?
The conditions that you need to fulfil are dependent
on the way in which you are – or have been – involved
in the business. There are three different categories:
• People who are currently involved in a business:
The business has to be going well and your debts
must not have been caused by this particular
business.
The idea behind this law is that people should be
less hesitant to start businesses. If it doesn’t work
out, they should be able to quickly get debt reconstruction in order to get their finances in order and
perhaps start a new business. Accordingly, it is the
individual’s finances that are reconstructed, not
those of the business.
• People who have been involved in a business previously: Seventy per cent of your debts are to have
come from the business.
• People who are closely related to someone who
is – or has been – involved in a business: Seventy
per cent of your debts are to have come from the
entrepreneur’s business.
Who can obtain debt reconstruction
for entrepreneurs?
You also need to fulfil further conditions. These
apply regardless of the category to which you belong:
You can obtain debt reconstruction for entrepreneurs
if you are – or have been – involved in a business.
What we mean by ‘involved’ is a person who is either
• You are so indebted that you are in no way able to
pay your debts for many years. As an entrepreneur, it is common for your future income to be
uncertain, but we still make an estimate of your
ability to pay. For example, we look at your qualifications, the salary situation in your industry and
your own assessment of your future income.
• self-employed or represents a legal entity, for example a limited company or a partnership
• has previously been self-employed or has previously represented a legal entity.
• Debt reconstruction has to be reasonable in relation to your personal and financial circumstances.
We conduct roughly the same assessment as for
normal debt reconstruction, but we also have to
assess the way that debt reconstruction would increase your chances of running another business.
The term representative includes, for example, the
head of the business, the owner, the board of directors and the managing director. In addition, people
closely related to the two groups here can also obtain
debt reconstruction for entrepreneurs. The term
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• The business has to be run – or have been run – in
a serious manner. This means that you have taken
care of the bookkeeping and paid tax continually.
example, you need to specify your debts and submit
attachments of various kinds.
Aside from the conditions and the application itself,
the process is very much like that for normal debt
reconstruction. The idea is that you will get started
with the debt reconstruction as quickly as possible
and therefore you start making payments to us as
soon as we have decided to initiate debt reconstruction. However, there are some important differences.
The following applies to debt reconstruction for
entrepreneurs:
• You need to have your principal interests in Sweden, for example by living here, working here or
having your debts here.
• You may not be subject to a currenttrading prohibition.
• You need to be able to pay at least one seventh of
the price base amount every third month. Statistics Sweden works out the price base amount that
applies each year. You can find more information
on scb.se.
• You pay over a period of three years.
• You do not have the opportunity to have a shorter
payment period or payment-free months.
Even if you have gone through a previous debt
reconstruction, it may still be possible for you to
getanother one, for example if you have incurred new
debts or the previous debt reconstruction has been
unsuccessful. But you need to have specific grounds
to obtain debt reconstruction again.
• You cannot receive debt reconstruction without
paying anything.
• You normally repay your debts every third month.
The reassessment rules are largely the same as
those for normal debt reconstruction, but if you are
no longer able to pay one seventh of the price base
amount, you can apply to have your debt reconstruction cancelled.
If you do not fulfil the requirements for debt reconstruction for entrepreneurs, you may be able to
obtain normal debt reconstruction.
How to apply
When do you receive a record for
payment default because of your
debt reconstruction?
You apply for debt reconstruction for entrepreneurs
by using our form or online service. You can also contact a budget and debt advisor for assistance.
A record for payment default is a record with a credit
reference agency that someone has not made their
payments. A record for payment default is registered
with the credit reference companies when we here
at the Enforcement Authority decide to initiate debt
reconstruction.
The application for debt reconstruction for entrepreneurs is more extensive than the normal application for debt reconstruction. You need to provide
more extensive and more detailed information. For
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Do you want to know
more?
The records disappear from the credit reference
agency’s registers within five years of the date we
initiated debt reconstruction. If your payment period
lasts longer, they disappear on the day you make the
final repayment, at the latest.
You can find more information on kronofogden.se.
The website has answers to more questions about
debt recovery, the online service, application forms,
help to fill them in and a function to calculate the
amount you are permitted to retain during your debt
reconstruction. You can use the search function to
get to the pages about debt recovery.
For entrepreneurs, the record of payment default
disappears within three years of the date we initiated
debt reconstruction. If your payment period lasts
longer, they disappear on the day you make the final
repayment, at the latest.
You are also always welcome to call our customer
service department on 0771-73 73 00 or email [email protected].
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Telefon 0771-73 7 3 00
www.kronofogden.se
Kronofogden 2016 - KFM 935 (en) Debt reconstruction – a way to get your finances in order