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If you get sick

If you are unable to run your business for a period of time due to illness, you may receive compensation from the Swedish Social Insurance Agency (Försäkringskassan). How much compensation you receive will depend on how much profit you withdraw or how much salary you get from your company.

If you get sick and are a sole trader, run a general partnership or limited partnership

  1. Report sick to the Swedish Social Insurance Agency on the first day of illness
    If you are a sole trader or run a general partnership or a limited partnership, you are not an employee. This means that if you get sick, you should report sick to the Swedish Social Insurance Agency on the first sick day. 

    Report sick to the Swedish Social Insurance Agency (in Swedish) 
     
  2. Once you have reported sick you can apply for sickness benefit
    How to report sick and what information you need to give to the Swedish Social Insurance Agency (in Swedish)

How the compensation is calculated

If you are a sole trader or have a general partnership, the Swedish Social Insurance Agency decides your sickness benefit qualifying income (SGI) based on your expected income. If your business is new and your income is low, you may be entitled to an SGI corresponding to that of an employee with the same tasks, education and experience for your first three years in business. This is called a build-up period. It is the Swedish Social Insurance Agency that decides whether you are entitled to a build-up period.

How compensation and SGI are calculated at the Swedish Social Insurance Agency (in Swedish)

Qualifying days

Qualifying days are days in the beginning of a sick leave period for which you receive no compensation. If you are self-employed, you may choose to have 1, 14, 30, 60 or 90 qualifying days. If you do not indicate a preference, you will automatically be given 7 qualifying days. The more qualifying days you opt for, the lower your health insurance fee will be. The health insurance fee is included in the self-employed contribution that you pay to the Swedish Tax Agency.

1 qualifying day: 29.25 %
7 qualifying days: 28.97 %
14 qualifying days: 28.87 %
30 qualifying days: 28.67 %
60 qualifying days: 28.43 %
90 qualifying days: 28.25 %

If you wish to change the number of qualifying days, do so using "My pages" at the Social Insurance Agency (in Swedish) 

If you get sick and have a limited company

Day 1-14

If you own a limited company, you are considered an employee of your business. This means that your company will pay yousick payfor the first 14 days that you are sick.

How to apply for sick pay for limited company owners at the Swedish Social Insurance Agency

When an employee becomes ill

Day 15

When you have been sick for 14 days, you should report sick leave to the Swedish Social Insurance Agency.
Report sick using Arbetsgivartjänsten (the Swedish Social Insurance Agency’s electronic services for employers, in Swedish)

If your company does not have e-identification, you can report sick using a different form
Report sick at the Swedish Social Insurance Agency (in Swedish)

Once you have reported sick you can apply for sickness benefit.
Apply for sickness benefit at the Swedish Social Insurance Agency (in Swedish)

How the compensation is calculated

The compensation you receive from the Swedish Social Insurance Agency as of the 15th sick day is calculated based on the salary you pay yourself from your limited company. This means that if you pay yourself little, or not at all, you risk getting no compensation if you get sick.

If your business is new and your income is low, you may be entitled to a sickness allowance-based income corresponding to that of an employee with the same tasks, education and experience for the first three years. This is called a build-up period. It is the Swedish Social Insurance Agency that decides whether you are entitled to a build-up period.

How compensation and SGI are calculated at the Swedish Social Insurance Agency (in Swedish)

 

Use the service "Ersättningskollen" to quickly find out roughly how much you could get in sick pay and other types of compensation. You will get just under 80 percent of what you plan to pay yourself from the business and no more than SEK 706 per day.

Ersättningskollen